Embassy in Christ Blog

“And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while and in time of testing fall away”. Luke 8:13

No doubt, so many believers are now filled with promises and prophetic words

for 2012.  “This is definitely going to be much better than the last year”, we typically say.  With varying degrees of optimism, we set on our way starting to expect good changes to occur in our lives.  The seed of the word has been sown with hopefully a corresponding harvest that will manifest all the good things we expect.

This year, the LORD drew me closer through my time with Him and fellowship meetings with other believers that we need a deeper dimension of diligence in our approach to His teachings and transition away from shallow expectations that lead to disillusionment, which ends up hurting our faith and trust in Him.

In the parable of the sower and meaning (Luke 8:4-21), the LORD exhorts us to realize that we can only indeed inherit His promises through faith and patient continuance.  This realization results in a corresponding action which gives life to our faithful disposition.  The corresponding action is the act of doing (obeying and taking heed to) His word.  The parable of the sower focuses on the seed, which is the word of God and the soil, which is the human heart.

We have four patterns showing the state of the heart after the word is released by the Holy Spirit.

Pattern 1: The word falls on deaf ears.  The enemy (Satan and evil forces) steals the word before any type of faith can develop.

-          This is very prevalent in cases where there is a stronghold against the would-be recipient.  Things like fear, pain, wounds, disappointments, intellectualism with wrong philosophies make this a clear miss.  The word is simply not received!  In fact, it many cases, it is trampled upon!

Pattern 2: The word is heard and gladly received with joy! On the surface, this looks like success.  There is some outward evidence as the seed of the word produces some growth.  Sadly, the growth ends abruptly as it becomes evident that all the growth was above the surface, without any supporting root structure.

-          The seed of the word could only germinate on the surface as the ground underneath (heart) was not ploughed, was hard and lacked moisture.

-          Many of the teachings today that do not provoke a prerequisite brokenness and repentance from sin, facilitate this pattern.  All it takes is some testing, and what is really lacking underneath is unveiled.  This happens at all levels in the church; including to the minister, who appears to shine for a while and fizzles away, the next.   The truth is that we must allow the word to penetrate deeply into our hearts and then allow upward growth to also occur.

Pattern 3: The word is planted into a wild garden – with thorns and thistles.  This is almost like planting wheat in the midst of tares.  The tares may seem complementary at first but will overwhelm the wheat as time progresses.

-          It seems we live in a continent (North America) that is like an environment filled with thorns and thistles ready to choke any true and sustained growth leading to the harvest.  There are so many cares, pleasures and riches – Just enough to distract and get even the best of us off-track!   This pattern also showed up during the time of the Apostle Paul.  Remember Demas, who loved the world so much and backslid. 2 Tim. 4:10? This happens over and over today.  Many people are so comfortable that they only show up in church to sooth their consciences every now and again.  They participate in some philanthropy and give themselves really good scores for good behavior.  Unfortunately, these also make up the class of individuals that do not know the LORD and have virtually become apostate in ignorance.   

-          In our part of the world, people work endless hours in order to have the finer things in life and fulfill the “American Dream”.  What’s wrong with that?  Nothing, except we could end up gaining the world and losing our souls.  Many have compromised the principles of God for gain.  The righteous have so much aligned with the world that both sides are almost beginning to possess similar characteristics.  Majority simply do not have enough time to worship the LORD with the level of diligence required.

-          Some fruit is produced but the fruit does not ever mature because of all the distractions.

Pattern 4:  The word is received and adhered to by a good, humble sincere heart. A sustained harvest is produced through faith and patient continuance.

-          The state of the heart (good, humble, sincere) with strong adherence (obedience) and endurance (patience) are the keys to the multifold (30, 60, 90) harvest!

-          The first three patterns (anti-patterns really) were lacking in one or more of the components described above.

It is my sincere prayer that we do not do business as usual this year.  The word of the LORD commands us to come out from among the world and be separate. 2 Cor. 6:17.

Bottom line:  Ensure to first perform all the prerequisites needed for receiving the harvest God has for you this year:

1. Have to break the fallow ground of our hearts in repentance! We can no longer practice sin, make excuses and then expect the blessings of the LORD.
2. Have to detach ourselves from the world system by simplifying our lives and ensuring we are no longer distracted from worshiping the LORD with ALL our hearts.
3. Ensure we stay the course, no matter what and believe that He who has promised is faithful.  We must remain obedient and prepared to endure to the end. We will reap if we do not faint (lose heart).

Father, please help me to align with your plans for my life and others whose destinies are connected with mine. I surrender myself to you for deeper consecration and holiness as I prepare for your supernatural release in and around me this year!

with your work of faith, labor of love and enduring hope

It is so refreshing to see that the Word of God is truly alive and active (Heb. 6:12) and always relevant to whatever context we experience as we journey through life! Many times, I find the call and thrust to reach the world for Christ so over whelming and hard. Yes, we are supposed to keep speaking the language of faith – In God. But in all honesty it sometimes feels as if there is way too much missing for us to obtain proper traction especially in this part of the world – the US.

Just recently, I was looking through the first letter of Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians and my face lit up as hope began to flood my heart again! The very young church in Thessalonica, Macedonia was greatly commended for their work of faith, labor of love and steadfastness of hope! They took the word of God to heart so much that they became imitators of the missionaries (Paul, Silas and Timothy) and began to spread the gospel through all of Macedonia (Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea..) , Achaia and all over! 1 Thess. 1:2-8

I then began to wonder what made this church of relatively new believers so effective so quickly. The missionaries were no longer needed for spreading the gospel. All the church needed was to be undergirded and encouraged as they went forth!

Well, here are really important things I found. I truly now believe that if we all adhered to these things that we too will begin to see the saving gospel of Christ effectively propagate through our live, our families, communities, cities and nations. Here they are:

1. The Word of the gospel of Christ was preached – Not fables, or doctrines of man but the living word of God!
2. The gospel was proclaimed with power! 1 Cor. 4:20, Rom 1:16, 1 Cor. 2:1-4
3. The gospel was proclaimed in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Darkness can only be dispelled in the presence of God! Gen. 1:2-3, 2 Cor.3:17
4. The gospel was proclaimed with conviction! Truth faith was released as the word came forth. Rom 10:17
5. The gospel was received with Joy despite the afflictions and difficulties. They dealt with sorrow from the death of loved ones, Greek opposition and false teachings and also saw the challenges the missionaries faced. James 1:2-4
6. The gospel was manifested in the lives of those proclaiming the gospel. There was proof of the gospel in the lives of the people. 1 Thess 1:5
7. The gospel was contagious and there was replication as people became imitators of those manifesting the effects of the gospel. They were examples to believers everywhere. 1 Thess 1:6-8

How much of an example am I? How much of an example are you?

We do need to first personally align ourselves to what we have seen in the young Macedonia church and quit the things that hinder the propagation of the gospel of Christ.

There is no other way mankind can be saved without really coming to the saving liberation of the knowledge of truth – that Christ (Son of God) died for our sin(s) so that we can join with Him in his death – through faith and also live with Him eternally through His resurrection from the dead.

Spread the Word!

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Why are believers who have endured difficult times the ones who are most stable in their faith?I would recommend that all believers in the Western Hemisphere subscribe to the Voice of Martyrs and see how persecuted Christians in countries like China continue to grow despite the severe oppositions they face.Despite the abuse, injustice and imprisonment of house church leaders, the churches continue to thrive.  

However, most believers in the non-persecuted world are programmed to follow the path of least resistance concerning spiritual matters.The churches in these parts typically align more with the secular society.Churches are run like other corporations with a survival-of-the-fittest mentality. These churches with attendees have been hit really hard by the recent economic downturn in the west. We also observe that only a very small percentage of believers are selflessly dedicated to the causes of Christ.Over the years we have seen many depart from the faith with overall membership clearly in decline. This is true especially for those of college age.

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