THE SOWER SOWS THE WORD
Mark Chapter 4Evelyn Brooks
This week we will continue to grow our faith and learn how to operate in the Kingdom of God by studying Mark chapter 4. Jesus in verse 11 referred to this parable as the mystery or the secret to the Kingdom of God. And in verse 13 He told His disciples that if they could not understand this parable they would not be able to understand any of the parables. I think you would agree that this parable warrants an extra close look. We will begin this look today and will continue it next week.From this parable we will learn how to have faith to operate in Gods Kingdom. Everything in the Kingdom of God operates by our faith. If we don't have faith, we can receive nothing from God. (James 1:5-8)
It even takes faith to be born again. We hear the word of salvation until faith comes, receive our salvation by that faith, and confess our salvation with our mouth. This is the same way we receive any and all of Gods other thousands of promises found in the word of God. I have heard it said that there are over 7,000 promises for us in the Bible. I can't verify this, I have never counted them, but i know there are a lot. His benefits are many. And we receive each one the same way; by faith.
James 1:5-8
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.Faith and fear are exact opposites. It is impossible to have both at the same time. If you are worrying or in fear, you are not having faith. If you are at peace, without fear or worry, knowing that Gods word is truth and will work for you in your present circumstances then you are in faith and in line to receive a miracle from God! I promise you, God is till in the miracle working business!
If you have not read Mark chapter 4 verses 1-26, please do so now. Whenever Jesus taught in parables he would use things that the people understood. Everyone understands at least the very basics of farming. Planting a seed in the ground, caring for the growing seed and getting a harvest from the seed. Lets look at what these things represent in this parable.
seed: The word of God - (actually all words are seeds, but we will discuss this later)
ground: our heart - It is what receives the seed. The soil that causes the seed to grow. A believing heart is good soil-it will produce a harvest. A doubting, fearful heart is bad soil, it will produce nothing good.
harvest: Faith which comes by revelation and understanding of the word. When Gods word becomes heart knowledge rather than just head knowledge this is called revelation or understanding. When we get revelation, faith is born. Knowing something with your head is good but knowing it with your heart is faith. You know that you know that you know. In other words you believe it with all your heart. Once faith has been born into our hearts we can freely and easily receive whatever it is we are believing God for.thief or enemy: Satan - Satan knows how Gods Kingdom works. He knows if you can keep the word abundantly in your heart it will give birth to a harvest of faith. Without faith you won't be a threat to his kingdom. He can keep you spiritually immature, ineffective as a Christian and defeated in your own personal life.
Satan knows that we are growing a mountain moving harvest of faith when we hear and hear and hear the word as we believe with our head with the measure of faith God gave us when we were born again. Once this faith explodes in our heart there is nothing he can do to stop us from crushing him out of our life and receiving everything God has freely provided for us on the cross. Which is much, much, much!
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. KJV
How does Satan steal the word?
Jesus' parable makes satans game plan crystal clear. see verses 15-19
1)He will come immediately to snatch away the word. This is when we hear the word either by reading it or by hearing it preached or taught. We hear it but don't think another thing about it. We let distractions take our mind of off it, then it is forgotten.
Or this can also be when we hear the word but let it offend us either because it don't line up with our doctrine or it is something we are guilty of and we just let it go without consideration or thought. Verse 24 instructs us to consider carefully what we hear. We will discuss these verses more later.
2) He will steal the word if we are spiritually immature and we have no root. We will receive the word with joy but easily let it go when trouble and persecution comes and chokes out the word. Because of your belief or faith troubles and persecutions rise against you. In order to please other people you let the truth of the word go. Trust me Satan will find someone to send your way with some persecution. You have to determine that pleasing God and believing and living truth is more important than mans opinions of you. If you can't do this, you will never grow in the things of God. Satan will use it to keep you down.
3) Jesus lumps these three together
a. worries of life
b. deceitfulness of riches
c. desires for other thingsThese are the biggies and if the others don't cause us to let go of the word these will unless we determined not to let them. Everybody will experience the cares of life but we cannot let them cause us to look more at the bigness of our cares or problems than the bigness of our God and His provisions for us. We can even let the cares of life distract us from God and His promises when our cares are not problems but just normal day to day life cares.
The deceitfulness of riches is also dangerous to the word in our heart. Many people serve mammon (money). The deceitfulness of riches can be a word thief whether we have plenty of money or lack it. If we have plenty, we may neglect the word because we put our hope and trust in our money and not in God.. If we don't have money we can be consumed with getting it, neglecting the word and still putting our trust in money. Either way if we are not careful the word will be stolen from us by Satan through the deceitfulness of riches which is thinking that money is our provision rather than knowing that God is our provider. We must put our trust in God, not in our money or our means of obtaining money.
Satan also will use mans lust for things to steal Gods word out of hearts. As we are consumed with a drive to have bigger and better toys, we won't give the word its proper place. That lust can out weigh our desire to do things Gods way. Don't think for a second that I am saying that God does not want us to have good things. In later lessons I will prove by the word of God that He wants us to have every good thing. But He does not want those things to have us. He wants us to put the Kingdom of God first and then He will add all these other things to us and when He adds them to us there will be no sorrow with them.
How to have good ground
If a farmer is to reap a harvest when he plants seeds then he must have proper soil and he must care for the plants until they mature.
Good soil is a believing heart, a receiving heart, not a stubborn, religious or rebellious heart. We must receive or believe Gods word when we hear it. If we hear the word and see that it is different than we thought it to be, we must change our minds. Gods word is always truth. If there is a discrepancy in interpretation of the word, we must go to God in prayer asking for truth. He will give it and when he does we must believe it regardless of what anyone else says or thinks.
We care for our crop by:
1) Continue to hear the word and mediate on the word. This keeps our faith level up.2) Speak the word of God, not words of doubt and unbelief. If you really believe what Gods word says you will speak it. Whatever comes out of your mouth is what is in your heart. Make a conscious effort to have Gods word in your heart not fear and doubt. Fear and doubt will destroy the seeds you have planted, (Gods word)
3) Thank and praise God as though you have already received the victory. This is an act of faith in Gods word being truth. To you it is not a matter of if Gods word will be done in your life but only a matter of time because you believe Gods word is truth and will come to pass. Never grumble or complain, this is an act of doubt and shows a lack of gratitude for Gods goodness toward us.
The harvest
If we plant the word of God in our heart, take care of the seed and protect it from the
enemy, in due time we will produce a crop of faith by revelation or understanding of the word.Verse 20 tells us that some crops are thirty fold, some are sixty fold or even a hundred fold. This shows that there are levels of faith and the different levels produces different results in the harvest. Here is an example using healing:
Because of the amount of word that has been planted in your heart you may have faith that God can heal. This may not even be enough faith to get you healed once in a while but it is the first step.
Then if you continue to plant the seed of the word of Gods healing power into your heart , your faith will grow and you will know than not only can God heal but that he will heal you. Now you are operating at a higher faith level concerning healing and now some of the time when you get sick you will be healed. (according to your level of faith)
You continue to study and learn of Gods will concerning your health and by the planting of Gods word into your heart you get revelation that not only can God heal and that God will heal you, but that it is his will that you never be sick. He sent His son Jesus to die on the cross not only that you would be saved from hell but that your body would be totally healed as well. You now know in your heart that it is Gods will for you to be healed every time. Now you are really getting somewhere in your faith walk concerning healing. Now, almost every time you get sick you get healed and you rarely get sick.
You press on and continue to study the word in various ways. You learn more and more about God and His healing power. After awhile you get revelation that not only can God heal you, and that God will heal you, and that it is always Gods will that you be healed, but now you know that He already healed you 2000 years ago when he died on the cross. All you have to do is receive it . That you are not the sick trying to get healed but the healed that Satan is trying to make sick. Now you are operating at the 100 fold level of revelation and faith that Jesus spoke of, and receiving the 100 fold harvest! When you do this, you can and will live in divine health. Never getting sick! I know this sounds impossible to most of us but not only is it completely possible as proven by many people but it is Gods perfect word and His perfect will for each of his children. Sadly most will never even come close. It is up to us.
It is Gods will that every born again believer walk in 100 fold victory in all areas of our life. Jesus provided the way, will we be diligent enough to hear, hear and hear the word to produce the 100 fold harvest of faith?
Verses 21-23 tells us that the hidden mysteries of God are to be brought out into the open. Yes they are hidden, but not from us, child of God. They are hidden for us. As we come to understand and operate in the mysteries of the Kingdom of God we are to teach others.
Verses 24 and 25 tells us to consider carefully what we hear. In other words, don't just hear the word of the Lord and let it go in one ear and out the other but spend time thinking about what you have heard, what you have learned. Meditate upon it. Revelation will be birthed by the Holy Spirit.
It also says to put the word into practice. Once the light comes on for you and you understand the word immediately put it into practice. It is very important to put the spiritual principle that you have learned into practice. Otherwise it will be of no us to you. That verse goes a step further by saying with the measure you use it it will be measured to you again and even more. Use the faith you have received and it will grow even more! If you don't put it into practice Satan will steal it.
Verse 25 says that to the one that has revelation or understanding of the word, more will be given to him. But to the one who does not have, even what little he has will be taken from him. Again, this is talking about Satan stealing the word. Many people misinterpret this saying God will take it -- not so! Satan is the thief not God.
Verses 26-29 -- Jesus recaps the life of the seed and how it grows both night and day by itself in the soil. Until one day the stalk comes up, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. Again, this speaks of how our faith develops in stages until completion. Then he says, as soon as the seed is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.
People don't understand why they don't see Gods word being manifested more than they do. Honestly, as a child I can remember reading the Bible and thinking, "if this stuff is true, why don't I ever see it". Lets be real, most Christians lives are no different from unbelievers. Generally speaking we get sick just as much, we are just as broke, just as depressed, just as mentally ill, just as stressed, just as often divorced as non-believers. This should not be!! The world looks at the church and laughs -- they say, where is your God? No wonder they are not lining up to get what we have. God is restoring the church. Revelation knowledge is being poured out. While it is truth that the darkness is getting darker it is also true that the light is getting brighter. Gods people are more and more beginning to learn Gods ways and operate in His ways rather than the ways of the world.
The return of our Lord will be soon. There is much work to be done. We have to put God and His word first place. We must learn to operate by faith. If we don't, we won't be able to withstand the perilous times that the Bible tells us lies ahead. We are already in perilous times -- just read the paper or listen to the news forecast. God is our hope, He is our joy, He is our health, He is our prosperity, He is our protection, He is our salvation -- He is our everything. The entire Kingdom of God operates by faith. Beginning with salvation and moving on to everything good God has for us. No need to ask God for faith. He has told us how to build the measure of faith he has already given us, but we can ask Him to help us as we set out to grow in faith by His word.
Lets Pray together:
Lord, teach me your ways. Teach me your thoughts. Open my eyes to see your truths. Lead me and guide me in my growth in you. Give me a hunger and a desire for you truths. Thank you for your precious word. Thank you for the harvest of faith that is growing in my heart right now. Help me to use this faith to receive your promises in my life as a testimony of your faithfulness. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.Next Week: Laying the sickle to the Harvest: Putting your faith in Action
Practical Application:
1) Continue to read Gods Word. Whether it is a little or a lot, don't give up. Press on. It gets easier and easier as time goes on and you will really begin to grow. Some of you are already very faithful in reading the word -- for you, take a topic and begin to learn all the Bible has to say about that topic. Let the Holy Spirit lead you in your choice of topics to study.
2) This weeks lesson will be fairly new to most of you, brand new to others. Please print this out and spend time meditating on its contents. Spend time meditating in Mark chapter 4. This is the key to the Kingdom of God. It teaches the fundamentals of faith, and faith is truly the key to the Kingdom of God.
By no means is this all of the teachings on faith--we will be looking at many more over the weeks ahead along with many other things. Remember, the knowledge of faith is not a denominational thing but a kingdom of God thing. This is how the Kingdom of God operates. No wonder Satan has tried so hard to steal our understanding of how faith operates. Determine to learn and put Satan to flight!