The Bounty of God Part Three

Jesus spoke something else of importance to us with regard to this word in:

Mark 4:26 And He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, 27 "and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. 28 "For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. 29 "But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

What is He trying to tell us about the way that the Kingdom works?

It goes back to the whole principle of sowing. If the earth is right and the conditions right then seed produces.

Only God knows when these things are all in place in the Spirit.

In the Psalms 65:9 You visit the earth and water it; You greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, for so You have prepared it. 10 You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.

It is God making this increase. It is the work of God making this take place.

All we need to do is to be faithful with what is ours to do. We are His laborers, we are the ones who are to sow seed wherever we go. In doing so He will reveal where there is already a harvest to be brought in.

VS.11 was key for us, “You crown the year with Your bounty; Your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.”

This is the picture of a farmer who has so much in his wagon it leaves ruts in the softened earth.

This paints a portrait of soft ground, not hardened ground. Ground that has had sufficient rain fall so as to make it fertile. It has been such a good year that the wagon is full and it is leaving it’s mark in the softened soil.

Abundance! Even though there is talk of recession this is a word of hope for all of us. God is our provider and He knows what it takes to care for our needs.

But in this word there is that which is beyond our needs. Abundance exceeds needs.

The Bounty of God Part Two

I am reminded of what Jesus spoke in the Scriptures in:

Matthew 9:36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 "Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

There is a harvest out there. There are souls in need of Jesus Christ and just don’t realize it yet. They need someone to come along and share the truth with them. They need a missionary.

There has always been a need for laborers in God’s kingdom. Those who will not stay silent but will be moved with compassion for the lost and unashamedly witness to them regarding the work of Christ.

This is what missions is all about. Missions is not about where one goes, it is about what one does. Missions is to take place in every part of the world and that means where you and I currently live as much as across the world.

Jesus siad the Holy Spirit would empower us to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the utter most parts of the world. If the church does not begin to rethink missions in such a way that empowerment and vision can be released for the place the local church lives Christianity will continue to decline in America because the church will continue to think that only other parts of the world need the gospel.

There are lost souls right here where I live in Knoxville, TN. There are souls who think that they are okay but have never truly tasted the abundant life Jesus offers in every town and every city.

The gospel is good for every geographic location on earth so wherever we find ourselves is where it needs to be shared. We need to pray that laborers will be sent out into the harvest here at home and abroad. Every believer is a missionary, there are no elites.

The work place, the schools, the grocery store and our neighborhoods are all mission fields in need of someone who will simply share the good news and live loudly for Jesus Christ.

It's time to let a little life leak out to others. God calls us to labor.

The Bounty of God Part One

A couple Sundays ago we brought in Joe Ewen to minister via Skype on the big screen. He gave us a word as a church for the year 2009.

It was taken from Psalms 65:9 You visit the earth and water it; You greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, for so You have prepared it. 10 You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. 11 You crown the year with Your bounty; Your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

Joe told us that this was for us this coming year. That the Lord was going to open up the heavens and pour out on us.

Now whenever we hear pour out on us we think of Holy Ghost moments where people are touched by the Spirit in powerful ways and everyone gets excited.

This could well happen, and we would welcome the Holy Spirit to do as He pleases, but I personally do not think that was the point of the word given.

I believe the point of the word had to do with the harvest. Even before the year ended we had the privilege of rejoicing over a soul entering into the Kingdom, a fortaste as it were of what is yet to come.

Many are unaware of how odd it has become for the church to witness salvation occurring in lives of lost people. It has been as though the ground of hearts has been very hard of late.

The point of watering the earth in the Psalm is for the purpose of softening the soil to help it to bring forth fruit.

People do not get saved on their own, it requires the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts for it to take place.

Backsliders do not just up and one day decide they will return to the Lord, they must be worked on in their hearts and drawn in by the Holy Spirit.

I want to break this word from the Psalms down for us as I believe it will produce faith to in us to reach out to others and share the gospel with them.

The gospel is still the power of God unto salvation. It is the means by which men and women are brought to faith in Christ. It is the seed we are to sow wherever we go and when that seed lands on good heart ground it produces.

The Real Incarnation Part Four

As a man of flesh and blood capable of feeling pain and rejection, Jesus embraced the death of the cross. His coming as a baby was merely a launching pad for the plan of redemption and salvation.

When the story of Christmas begins and ends with Shepherds, angels, animals, and manger scenes it comes up short. Those make for wonderful theatrics and story lines. But it is so much more.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

The light of the world came into the dark abyss of fallen humanity. He who knew no sin came into a world filled with sin.

Why did He come?

1Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

Reconciliation could come no other way!

2Corinthians 5:21 & 6:1&2
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
1 ¶ And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain— 2 for He says, "AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU." Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME," behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION"—

Salvation was costly to God not us. It cost God His Son. But it made the way clear for all of us who will believe to be reconciled to God.

God went to the greatest lengths there is to secure man’s salvation. To reject what Jesus did would be the ultimate offence.

The hope of salvation came as a babe in a stable, in a manger, a Messiah with humble beginnings and a humble end. He is the Lamb of God.

The Son of God became a human being, lived as a man, suffered and died as a sacrifice for sin, and rose from the dead on the third day.

He ascended into heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the Father and ever lives to make intercession for the Saints! Hallelujah!

Incarnation is more than just the birth, it the whole life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you put your faith in what Jesus has done and made a public confession of your faith in Him?

Romans 10:8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

The Real Incarnation Part Three

Sometimes I think the idea that God made Himself vulnerable is too uncomfortable a subject for many. It is like a small child seeing their daddy being weak. They just can’t handle that image of him. Being a baby is a pretty vulnerable place to be.

In the silly movie from Disney called Sky High there are super heroes who are endeared for their amazing strength and powers. But an evil villain has a device that zaps the greatest of them all and turns them into little helpless babies.

Turning these heroes into helpless babes is viewed as ghastly and evil beyond imagination. It is the lowest of the lows. Why?

Because to be so all powerful, and so invincible and then be reduced to the helpless state of being a baby is humbling to greatness.

Well, you can’t get more powerful than Almighty God, or more invincible than Almighty God.

Think about this for a minute now. He came to earth, through the womb of a woman, as a little helpless baby!

But even more than that, He came to a regular family, born of a regular woman, and a man who was a simple carpenter.

Jesus came as regular people. He mixed it up with the peasants so to speak.

He came from boundless time into measured time in order to walk the same journey we all as human beings walk.

He chose to experience humanity from the start to the finish. God put Himself out on our behalf.

In the incarnation He began as a human being and He continued His life as such. He continually humbled Himself by being identified with us the human race.

He did so all the way to the cross, where He died to pay for the sin of all mankind.

Jesus had to even embrace the obedience of death on the cross on the terms of His humanity, not His divinity. He was not allowed to step out of His cloak of humanity in order to make the choice and process easy.

As second Adam He would live His life and fulfill His purpose without finding a way around it.

The Real Incarnation Part Two

The Incarnation is the fact that God became a mere human being, but the most amazing part of the fact is that He came as a baby born from a woman’s womb.

He came to us in the most humbling and helpless of ways. Now this makes me marvel because in the New Testament Jesus is referred to as the second Adam.

We know about the first Adam, how God formed him from the dust and then blew into his nostrils and man became a living soul.

Adam was full grown and ready to go. Ready to tend the gloriously wonderful garden of God called Eden.

Adam had no clue of what it meant to be a baby, he never was one himself. He and his wife Eve were allowed to embark on their journey from the best starting place there is, adulthood.

Jesus on the other hand, the second Adam, would not come in such a manner. Instead He would come and experience humanity from the womb. He would lower Himself as far as he could possibly lower Himself. That my friend is incarnation!

God who needed nothing, is self sufficient in all that He is, became a baby dependent on His mother for survival and care. She changed His diapers, nourished Him with her milk, clothed Him, taught Him all that she knew. His earthly Father had to provide for Him and teach Him as well.

We must allow our minds and hearts to grasp the utter humanity of Christ or else we cannot grasp the sympathy of God expressed in the Incarnation.

We fail to see just how low God had to go when He left heaven to become flesh and blood. We fail to understand the message of Philippians 2 when it says,

5 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. 6 He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. 7 Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, He became human! 8 Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.

The Real Incarnation Part One

This Christmas I have been meditating on the reality of the humanity of Jesus.

There are carols that applaud the coming of Christ Jesus as a babe. Artists painted glorious images of what they imagined the moment of the manger to be, and they show us a babe all peaceful, with halo, perfectly formed.

One carol has the line it, “the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.”

The truth is there is very little out there that gives us the image of Jesus being a baby like any other baby. You know, the kind those of us who are parents had. The kind that cries when they mess their diapers, have gas, can’t sleep, get hungry or want affection.

There is a quote I recently was reminded of when I read Noel Pipers post on the Desiring God blog. It comes from the classic story, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

A church allowed poor, rough cut, uneducated children to participate in their Christmas play. Real down to earth children without pretension and no idea of how to put on a good face. I am using excerpts from pages 73-74

Imogene had the baby doll but she wasn't carrying it in the way she was supposed to, cradled in her arms. She had it slung up over her shoulder, and before she put it in the manger she thumped it twice on the back.

I heard Alice gasp and she poked me. "I don't think it's very nice to burp the baby Jesus," she whispered, "as if he had colic." Then she poked me again. "Do you suppose he could have had colic?"

I said, "I don't know why not," and I didn't. He could have had colic, or been fussy, or hungry like any other baby. After all, that was the whole point of Jesus—that he didn't come down on a cloud like something out of "Amazing Comics," but that he was born and lived...a real person.

When we allow Christmas to be an idealized, sanitized, and polished up portrait of the coming of Christ as a babe, we do a disservice to the whole idea of the Incarnation.

Never Say, "I Can't" Part Five

Being instant in season and out does not imply that we are walking in abundance in order to give out to others. It implies that we forever be ready to be used.

The poor widow that Elijah was sent to had a little flour, a little oil, a couple of sticks, and a lot of discouragement. Doesn’t sound like much does it?

In God's economy even a very little if used properly can go a long way.

She brought what she had and God multiplied it many times over. God sustained her, and her son till the end of the drought!

The church will move more in the gifts when it begins to give out the little it currently has.

If you will step out in faith trusting God He will meet you, and give you what you need to be more than an over comer, more than able to bless others!

But, if you develop the “I can’t” syndrome, if you refuse the revelation of His love and allow ourselves to become the victim you will become convinced you have nothing to give.

Needs will go unmet, spiritual blessings will be missed, and divine opportunities squandered away. The means by which God desires to sustain will be wasted.

God has more than enough to go around. He is a God of great abundance who has promised us He will take care of us.

He has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness in His Son Jesus Christ. All His promises are yes and amen in Christ!

It might look like a famine out there! But there is more than enough flour and oil in our dwelling!

Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus who is the author and the finisher of our faith! Not on what we seem to not have!

You have more than enough! You have the bread of life living in you!

Never say, “I can’t.”

Never Say, "I Can't" Part Four

Like in the life of the widow of Zarephath, opportunity knocks at some of the seemingly most inopportune times in our lives. If opportunity finds us walking in a victims mentality we risk missing out.

Because of the victim mentality in the widow, Elijah had to say do not be afraid.

When we are in a season of lack, we know all too well what do not have. We begin to wonder where the money will come from to pay the next bill, buy the next meal, etc. Where will we get the energy to do this or that. I do not have the talent, etc.

Giving of ourselves, our time, and our resources is a means of demonstrating our trust in God. It is magnified when we do so out of what appears to be our lack.

This is the only way that Paul’s statement, “in my weakness He is made strong,” makes any sense at all.

God never just leaves us hanging with no where to turn for help. Elijah didn’t just leave the widow hanging on bring me a cake first. He gave her words to believe in.

"For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.’"

This poor widow was not asked to give what she could not give. God was willing to work with what little she had. We can only give whatever it is we have, however little, or much it happens to be. If she had refused to feed Elijah, the flour and oil would have run out. Her words would have become a self fulfilling prophecy.

It is not the size or the magnitude of what we bring that pleases God, it is the faith to bring whatever we are asked to, simply because we trust Him.

I mentioned the gifts at the beginning of this story. How does this widow woman and her lack of provisions play into the gifts?

It teaches us a principle to live by. She could only bring what she had at that moment and time. The same is true with regard to the gifts the Holy Spirit has given to each of us. We must begin with an obedience in the smallest way until it matures into an obedience in larger ways.

Never Say, "I Can't" Part Three

Remember the old Hee Haw song? Gloom despair and agony on me, deep dark depression excessive misery, if it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all, gloom despair and agony on me.

This widow could have written that song! Now in reality no one is denying that this poor woman has it bad.

She only has a handful of meal, a little oil, a couple of sticks and no prospects for more. She is identifying herself as a, VICTIM!”

She didn’t ask for this drought. She didn’t do something to stop the rain from coming down. She was suffering because of something she had absolutely no control over. She is giving up.

“I can’t” is the mantra of victims the world over! Victims are those who do not walk in a revelation of the love of Christ.

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

What is most interesting in our story is what precipitated this widows response to Elijah.

When Elijah saw this woman he asked her to give him a drink and bring him a morsel of bread to eat. He did not pay attention to her poverty, he likely expected she was walking with God.

Basically this poor widow with little was asked to give and to serve.

Listen very carefully to me. Many people think only the talented, the gifted, and the wealthy should be the ones to give of themselves and their resources. Here is a very clear lesson that even the poorest person, with very little, has something to give.

Give what, you might ask? Well let me finish my story.

After the widow tried to get out of feeding the Elijah by going into her statement regarding her condition. Elijah told the woman “do not fear, go and do as you said but make a small cake for me first, and afterward make some for yourself and your son.”

Giving of ourselves and what we have is not what we do after we have taken all that we need first.

Never Say, "I Can't" Part Two

Way back long ago, many, many generations ago. Way back around 1Kings 17 in the bible, there was a severe famine in the land due to a long drought. Whenever it doesn’t rain for years the crops just will not grow.

During this drought there lived a man of God named Elijah. The Lord spoke to Elijah and told him to go to Zarephath and a widow would feed him. So he went.

Now already the request of God seems so absurd. Why Zarephath which by the way means, smelting shop, and why a poor widow? Why wouldn’t God send Elijah to a wealthy household which would be more likely to have goods?

Could it be God was about to smelt the widow? Maybe He was going to do a refining work in her?

When Elijah came to the city he saw the widow gathering sticks and asked her to fetch him water and a morsel of bread. She told him, "As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die."

Now Jesus once said, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

Look at what this widow said. “As the Lord your God lives.”

Have you ever had someone say to you, “well, that might work for you in your walk with God, but it doesn’t work for me?”

That would be the same type of thing. She says, “As the Lord your God lives.” Maybe at one time He was considered the Lord her God and the hard times have made her bitter against Him.
Maybe she never had real faith in God at any point and time and so she does not believe in Him.

The total reason for her statement is not made evident but we do know this, she definitely did not own God as her own, she clearly referred to Him as being Elijah’s, God.

But even more revealing is the attitude she is walking in.

“I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die."

There it is! This poor widow is far too aware of what she doesn’t have. If you were to find her on the street and ask her how things were going she would be able to tell you how bad she has it. She could list all the things she lacks.

There is no silver lining around her cloud that she can see. This woman is defeated, depressed and discouraged looking only towards dying.

Never Say, "I Can't"

My Mom used to say to me, “I can’t never could do anything.”

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Now let’s not divorce that statement from it’s context by reading the two preceding verses that led up to Paul’s thought.

Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

“Everywhere and in all things”

For a believer to say “I can’t,” is like saying God is not enough.

To say “I can’t” is to accept defeat before you’ve even fought the battle.

The attitude of “I can’t” is what keeps believers on the sidelines instead of in the game.

Most people will never engage a process if they expect failure before they begin.

For instance the church is not in need of yet another teaching on the gifts and how to use them, or a gift quest for folks to discover what gift they have.

What the church needs is for the saints to abandon the “I can’t” syndrome!

There are two responses sparked when it comes to “I can’t.”

There are those who take someone saying you can’t do that as a challenge. They set out to prove it can be done.

Then there are those who are told you can’t and it stops them dead in their tracks.

The difference between the two is a matter of faith.

Sowing Precious Seed Part Five

Reading further in Mark 4 reveals the motive of Jesus in telling the parable of the sower.

Mark 4:21 ¶ Also He said to them, "Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lamp stand?

Hidden lights cannot light up the darkness. We are meant to light up darkness with the light of the truth!

Only light can push back darkness, darkness just blends in with darkness. But light and darkness are opposites and the distinction is clear.

The Gospel is our light and He delights in seeing it given out. In other words do not hide your light! Share the Gospel!

Sow your seed. Seed that remains in the bag has no chance of producing anything. My wife had been given a huge bag of flower seeds from our friends in Faith NC. They were on the shelf for quite a long time until one day she asked me to till two patches in the yard and she scattered them. Most fell in the area tilled but others fell outside of it. There was a multitude of beautiful flowers to enjoy within the tilled area! But not outside it. The amazing thing is that until the seeds came out of the bag, there were no flowers at all!

We should delight in the Gospel and celebrate that we have it.

The seed of the Gospel is to be sown on every type of ground without worry that it might be wasted. We can be lavish with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we can know it is what delights the Father.

Be encouraged to share as often as you can the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ knowing, in simply sharing it you are pleasing the Father!

Sowing Precious Seed Part Four

The parable of the Sower is a very important one to all believers. Interpreting this parable correctly provides encouragement and strength for being faithful in sowing the seed of the Gospel. But more than that, Jesus said if we did not understand this parable how would we understand all the others. This parable is a key parable in Kingdom understanding.

This parable shows us that the worth of the message of the Gospel is not measured by the result it produces in men. It is measured in the message that it is.

It is the truth about the work of Jesus Christ the Son of God to redeem mankind, and set them free from being enemies under the wrath of God due to sin, to becoming children of God who enjoy a right relationship with the Father. We go from being labeled sinners to actually being called the righteousness of God in Christ.

The result of sharing the Gospel will produce men and women who become followers of Jesus Christ, but remember these positive results were just one fourth of the soils. Two thirds of the soils receiving seed were unfruitful.

But here is the beauty in that. Although only 25% of all those who heard became fruitful, their level of fruitfulness makes up for them being the smallest percentage of fruit at the beginning.

The outcome ends up becoming multiplied many times over. But never forget that the Sower had to throw seed on the three poor types of soil before he reached the good soil.

So we should not be discouraged when we share the Gospel with as many as we can, and yet not many have acknowledged Christ as of yet. God is pleased with us for the sake of the seed sowing alone.

How shall they hear if there is no preacher the Bible says.

Not preacher based on the way we think of preachers today. Preachers in the Bible were simply those who shared the gospel with others.

If you are one who shares the Gospel with others you are a preacher and the Father delights in what you are doing.

The whole body of Christ is to be such. Spirit filled, seed sowing, love sharing, mercy showing saints who know and love the truth they have been given and generously share it with others.

Sowing Precious Seed Part Three

In the Parable of the Sower Jesus was communicating the pattern of the ministry these men and any witnesses of His to come after them would have.

It also reveals the ongoing condition of people throughout the world, for all ages. These four types of people are present with us today, and will continue to be with us till the end of the age.

This parable is meant to enable us to be faithful to the Lord as His witnesses of His Gospel till He comes.

Jesus does not make the goal the fruit itself. The goal is the spreading of the Gospel. Why spread the Gospel?

Most would say because it is what will bring men and women to Christ, and there is truth in saying this. In fact Scripture tells us that it is the very power of God unto salvation. But there is more.

The Gospel needs to fall on every heart and confront mankind concerning the reality of God, the faithfulness of Jesus Christ the Son, and the work He accomplished.

Every ear is entitled to hear the word, and every heart is given a chance to allow it to work. Each soil will reveal what nature it is. But the goal for sharing the Gospel needs to be in the sharing itself.

This makes success much different from modern Christianity has made it out to be.

Modern Christianity has convinced it’s followers that unless people are receiving Christ we are not getting anything done. I beg to differ with this ideology.

In the parable of the Sower I find that a faithful sowing of seed regardless of outcome is what pleases the Father. Jesus in no way indicates that the Sower was wrong for throwing seed on all the types of soil.

Nothing in the parable spoke of what to do about the types of soil. In no way is there any instruction on how to change the type of heart a person has at the moment we share the Gospel with them.

On one hand we say that salvation is the Lord’s business, but on the other we want to be able to share with someone, have them pray to receive Christ, and then take the credit for their coming to know Him.

What if Christians got a revelation that success according to Jesus is found in faithful seed sowing without demanding a certain outcome?

I wonder how many believers would become empowered to share the Gospel for the first time if not more than they have already?

Sowing Precious Seed Part Two

The seed of the Gospel is for everyone and is never wasted when it is being sown. The Gospel seed is the type that is meant to be scattered everywhere. There is more than enough to go around.

Understanding the point Jesus was making in this parable was difficult for the disciples, so He went on to explain it.

Mark 4:10 But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. 11 And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12 "so that ‘Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them.’" 13 And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 "The sower sows the word. 15 "And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16 "These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 "and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. 18 "Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 "and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 "But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."

On thing Jesus said should haunt us. If you do not understand this parable how will you understand all parables. Understanding the parable of the Sower is of utmost importabce to us because failure to do so is like a garauntee that we will do likewise with all the others.

Let’s break it down: The seed is the word or we could say more specifically the Gospel.

Wayside soil is those people who hear the word but Satan steals it from them before it can sprout. Nothing ever comes from it.

Stony ground soil is people who hear the word and receive it with gladness, but they have no root and so endure only for a short time. If tribulation or persecution comes they stumble.

Thorny soil is people who after hearing the word have the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, desires for other things choke the word so that it becomes unfruitful.

Good ground is people who after hearing the word accept it and bear fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty and some a hundred.

In our American mass production and efficiency mindset we could likely be tempted to ask the question why did this man sow seed on ground that would be unproductive?

Is it possible that although fruit is enjoyable it is not the primary and only purpose of a Sower of the word?

Sowing Precious Seed Part One

Mark 4:2 Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching: 3 "Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 "And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. 5 "Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6 "But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. 7 "And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 "But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred." 9 And He said to them, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

Here we have a parable regarding a Sower, not a farmer. There are two things that are consistent throughout the story, the Sower and the seed. All other things in the story vary.

The Sower is spreading the same seed everywhere he goes, and he is not checking the condition of the soil he is throwing his seed on. The soil conditions are not the focus of the Sower, spreading seed is what the Sower is consumed with. The goal of the Sower is to simply sow seed.

Obviously the Sower has more than enough seed to throw around. How else could he be so wasteful in throwing it on poor ground? In the Spirit every believer has a seed bag strapped over their shoulder. It is filled with the precious seed of the Gospel. Like the widow and Elijah when he told her to go get jars to fill and her cruze of oil did not run out until she had no more jars to fill. Until there is no more ground without seed our spiritual seed bags will stay full. Every time you dip your hand in that bag there will be seed to throw.

It appears that the Sower is only seeing a 25% return on his work and effort. So someone might ask, isn’t he casting his pearls before swine?

Before we can rightly answer that question we must first understand the issue of casting pearls. Pearls are not the same as seeds.

Matthew 7:6 (The Message) "Don’t be flip with the sacred. Banter and silliness give no honor to God. Don’t reduce holy mysteries to slogans. In trying to be relevant, you’re only being cute and inviting sacrilege.

A good example of this would be trying to help an unbeliever understand communion by saying we are going to eat crackers and drink juice. By saying this the person deduces that communion is insignificant and silly. It is taking something holy and making it common. Pearls are the Holy things given to us by God that are precious because they are for us as believers.

No Compromise Part Four

2Corinthians told us; Come out! Be separate! There needs to be something about us that stands out not just one time, but continually. Periodically standing won’t get it done.

Moses is a great example of this coming out without compromise.

In the story of the Exodus Moses had to debate with Pharaoh over the release of the Hebrew slaves. The interaction between Moses and Pharaoh reveals the tactic of the enemy to get us to give in to an easier solution.

Moses came to Pharaoh saying, “Let my people go!”

When Pharaoh realized that Moses wanted to lead the people out of Egypt for good he used cunning to frustrate Moses.

Basically Pharaoh began by saying, “Worship God if you will just don’t leave Egypt to do so. In modern language that is the equivalent of saying, “Christianity is okay and socially acceptable but you don’t need to give up the world for it.”

Satan is all too happy to allow believers the freedom to worship as long as they do not come out and be separate from the world.

But Pharaoh didn’t stop Moses. Moses rejected Pharaohs offer. Moses persevered at insisting on the release of the slaves. So the second time Pharaoh said, “If you must go out of Egypt to worship that’s fine, just don’t go too far.”

Satan tests us to see how far we will go. How far we will go in our walk with God. He’ll let us occasionally meet, occasionally pray, and occasionally read Scripture. Just don’t go too far!

But Moses perseveres, he keeps insisting on a full release. So the third time Pharaoh says, “Okay, let the men go, but the women and children stay here.”

Here again, the offer of a compromise. It’s the same as Satan saying, go on and serve God for yourself just don’t expect your family to follow your example of faith. Satan is happy to let a man or woman get on with God if they will sacrifice their children to do so. The New Testament reveals household salvation for many who believed. Satan will gladly give up one to keep several. He fears the work of the Spirit through an uncompromising believer. He does not want us to be witnesses!

Moses of course perseveres. He wants all the Hebrews free.

So Pharaoh appeals to that big temptation in man. Greed! He says, “Okay go, but the flocks and herds stay.”
Here it’s like Satan saying, “you should not mix your faith with business and the making of money. Go ahead and worship God on Sunday but know you have to come back to Egypt for your livelihood. If you want the good life you will have to get it from me. Your God is not enough.

Why would Pharaoh use all these tactics with Moses?

Because he knew if Moses gave in to just one of them the slaves would still be bound to Egypt. He would inevitably maintain control because they would not have fully come under another master.

If Moses had failed to persevere the Israelites would have remained as slaves in Egypt!

Fully surrendering to Christ is not like adding accessories to a car package so that it is more comfortable and fun to drive.

It is the only way to fully realize the worth and wealth of the life of Christ that has been offered for us.

No Compromise Part Three

We have lost the fascination that we should have with the idea of the glory of God!

The glory of God was a primary motivation for saints throughout the ages Old Testament as well as New and beyond. We read in Romans 5 that character is the root of this hope for us.

Our generation has witnessed a decline in the development of character because we have walked away from the practice of the Spiritual Disciplines. The passage we read in Romans 5 is like that old saying, “sow an act and reap a habit, sow a habit and reap character, sow character and you reap destiny.”

No musician who is about to be invited to play Carnegie hall regrets all the days of difficulty they encountered on the way to becoming good enough to be invited. Discipline led to destiny!

This generation seems to have a take it or leave type of attitude that is not producing the fruit of perseverance and hope and they seem oblivious to what it is costing them spiritually.

Our walk with God, or the lack of it, affects us more than we realize. This is why we cannot afford to allow ourselves to walk in this kind of deception.

Often, when I am attempting to encourage someone in the Lord, it is with great difficulty if I see any success at all. This not because they are not Christians.

It is usually due to the person feeling unworthy of receiving it because they have not persevered and walked intimately with God.

I can say all the right things I know to say, but the words do not mix with any faith in the person because the fruit of their lives does not reflect a work of righteousness in them.

This is what compromise does for us. Compromise prohibits us from partaking of all that Christ has done for us. Compromise has never been able to release people, it binds them.

Compromise is a faith drainer, not a faith builder. This is why the New Testament speaks so strongly against mixture with the world.

2Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people." 17 Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you." 18 "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty."

There will always be those who think they are the exception to the rule, but they are easy to spot. They do not walk in the confidence of Biblical hope and they do not reveal godly character when you are around them. They say things that sound good but they fail to produce righteous acts that confirm the righteous deposit of God in their lives. They are weak in faith.

Choosing to walk in the Spiritual Disciplines can produce tribulations in your life. It does so by encouraging us to say no to the things that are lawful, but not expedient. To do so with consistency requires perseverance. But this is when character comes.

Those I have met who are strong in their faith and walk in real hope have been men and women strong in their commitment to the Spiritual Disciplines.

It is lawful for me to miss gatherings if I wish. But it is not expedient. It is lawful for me to just pray when I can get an opportunity, but it is not expedient. It is lawful for me to read the Bible on occasion, but it is not expedient. It is lawful for me to hang around questionable companions, but it is not expedient.

No Compromise Part Two

Our character is of great significance to God. Because character is what testifies to this world whose we are, and more than that, it sets the stage for something every believer desperately needs to be able to walk in. Hope!

Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

People without hope are sick people. Sick at the very core of their existence.

But more than that those who fail to experience this process lack confidence. Whereas those who walk in it are bold.

Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion. There is something that is released in us through the Spirit when we walk uprightly before God.

Not that through right character we earn anything from God. This is matter of a personal effect, in our own conscience.

It is one thing to quote the Scriptures that tell us we are the righteousness of God in Christ. But if we are not seeing the reality of that imputed righteousness in our lives we are left to question it’s validity. We can’t help it.

In Romans 5 the Holy Spirit revealed two things that true believers were able to rejoice about.

1) The hope of the glory of God due to the work of Christ in us by which we were justified through faith and given access to the grace of God.

2) Tribulations which work perseverance, which develops character, which produces hope.

Modern Christianity has reduced the idea of hope to being like that which a child experiences at Christmas. They write out their list of desired treasures and with great hope they wait until that fateful morning when they tear open the gifts beneath the tree longing to find what they requested. That is a form of hope, but it is shallow in comparison.

The Hope the Scripture speaks of is so much richer than this!

It has to do with the formation of Christ in us who is the hope of glory! Not hope for a better job, or a better relationship, or a better car or house. Hope for the very glory of God!

No Compromise

Perseverance is a word of great significance in the New Testament.

Romans 5:1 ¶ Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Did we just read that right? Did Paul just say, we glory in tribulations?

What could there possibly be about tribulations that could cause a believer to glory? It tells us clearly. Tribulations produce perseverance;

Perseverance. That word is hard to spell and hard to pronounce and difficult to live out. There is nothing about the word perseverance that would rank it at the top of the list of most favored among words. Lazy people despise the word even more.

But Biblically it is a well favored word, a cherished and prized word for the fruit it renders in the life of a believer.

But isn’t it ironic that this unpopular word tandems with another well despised and avoided word, tribulations.

The word tribulation by itself is enough to scare the soul, but here it is put in the plural sense. You know what that means don’t you?

There is more than one! To the world tribulations are never intended to produce anything good in us they are simply inconveniences that are designed to make our lives more miserable than they already are.

But to a devoted follower of Christ tribulations are the fertilizer of perseverance. No tribulations, no perseverance.

But why is this thing of perseverance so all consuming important?

Because perseverance is what God uses to work into and out of us the life of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is at work forming Christ in us. In other words developing right character in us.