Taking Root

August 24, 2013

Taking Root

Matthew 13:1-9

New King James Version (NKJV)

The Parable of the Sower

13 On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.  3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Commentary:

The Word of God needs to be planted deep into our hearts so that when troubles come, we will stand firm.  Otherwise, we will fall away when we face trials and tribulation.  The Word of God is Jesus and Jesus is the solid rock, the sure foundation.  If we daily build on our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and spend time in His Word, we will grow, mature and take root in our faith.    

Our mind is like a garden.  If we don’t take care of it and cultivate it  properly, weeds will grow and take over.   If we don’t renew our minds with the Word of God daily, it will be filled with evil thoughts.  The Word of God is the seed.   Our mind is the soil.  We need to cultivate the soil by giving it water.  This means that we read the Word of God, meditate on it and ponder on it day and night.  This is how we cultivate the seed (the Word of God) that is planted into our  minds and hearts.  

The mind is the battlefield.   This is why God tells us to renew our minds daily with His Word.    This is why we need to meditate on the things of God.  Philippians 4:8 tells us:

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.  (Phil 4:8, NKJV)

Feeding on the things of the world such as television, worldly magazines, secular music and ungodly conversations are detrimental to the mind.  You must protect your mind.

Your heart houses the Spirit which directs your mind to think on the things of God and thereby carry out godly actions accordingly.  The Word tells us in Luke 6:45b (NKJV)  “For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”  What feeds your heart is what you allow to come into your mind.  If you allow garbage to go into your mind, your heart will be filled with garbage.  If you allow the Word of God to go into your mind, your heart will be filled with Jesus.  Therefore, we are to renew our minds with the Word of God and guard our hearts always.  

The devil takes no vacation.  He will bombard your mind with all kinds of trash.  It is up to you to resist the devil.  James 4:7 tells us to “submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”   When your mind is totally filled with God, His word and the things of God, there is simply no room left for the devil to come in to fill your mind with trash because you are already FULL with God.  That’s why the idle mind is the devil’s workshop.  It is so because it is either empty or lacking focus on the things of God.  So the devil comes in like a roaring lion and he puts garbage in your mind.  If your mind is not filled with God, it will  have plenty of room to be filled with those evil things.  The mind cannot stay empty.  It will either think on the things of God or on the garbage sent by the devil through TV, worldly conversations, secular music and magazines.  

Here are some questions to ponder on --  

What do you think about all day long?

Is it Jesus?  The Word?

Or is it your job? your money or lack of it?

Your problems?

Your enemies at work?

Be careful what you allow to go into your mind.   Because eventually, you will act out what your mind dwells on.  Beware of false teachings.

You have heard preachers make the statement “once saved, always saved.”  Did you know that there is not one single verse in the Bible that supports that fallible statement?  Philippians 2:12 says,

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;  (Phil 2:12, NKJV)

We are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.  If once saved means always saved, then everyone can just say the sinner’s prayer today and live like the devil tomorrow and still be saved.  This is heresy.   Yes, we are saved by grace through faith.  

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Eph 2:8-9, NKJV)

But after we have received the free gift of salvation, we must work hard everyday to keep it.  We must do our due diligence daily and work it out with the Lord.  Confessing the Lord Jesus is only the beginning.  It does not stop there.  There are many people who think and believe that asking Jesus into their hearts is like getting a ticket to Heaven.  You do it once and then you are home free.  This is how the devil has deceived so many believers.  It sounds good.  It preaches well, but it is simply NOT THE TRUTH.  The truth is how you live after you are saved will determine if you go to Heaven or hell when you leave this earth.  This is what the Bible has to say about it.  

Romans 2:5-9  New King James Version (NKJV)

5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who“will render to each one according to his deeds”:[a] 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath,9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;

Don’t be deceived, brothers and sisters.  God’s Word is truth.  You will be rewarded for your good deeds and punished for your evil deeds.  There is such a thing as falling out of grace.  If a person continues to sin and ignores the warning of the Holy Spirit, he can and will fall out of grace.  When that happens, there is no more sacrifice for his sin.  He has lost his salvation.    This  person is headed for hell.   Jesus had made Himself a sacrifice once and for all for humanity.  Shall we put Jesus back on the cross again?  Did He not suffer and die a horrible death?   

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6, NKJV)

What this is saying to the believer is that you will lose your salvation if you continue to live in sin and  refuse to repent.  Jesus already died for humanity, once and for all.  To continue to live in sin is to reject what Jesus did on the cross.  That means you have made your choice, the choice for hell.  Therefore, if you hear the Holy Spirit talking to you right now, repent from your sins and be saved.  And make sure you live every single moment for the Lord Jesus Christ for the rest of your life.  

17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved,  Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” 9 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator. (1 Pet 4:17-19, NKJV)

We will all be judged one day by our works, whether good or  bad.  Don’t make the mistake of trading your eternal salvation for anything of this world.   Hold on to Jesus and never let go.  Be true to Him and serve Him with all of your heart, soul and might.   And when you have chosen to love the Lord Jesus with all your heart and live fully and completely for Him, you will spend eternity with God.  

6 And He said to me, “It is done![a] I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things,[b] and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8 But the cowardly, unbelieving,[c] abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.  (Rev. 21:6-8)

How do we overcome satan, sin, the world and the flesh?  It is through the word of God.  We must continue to study and study and study the Word of God.   We must turn off the TV and open up the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the truth found in God’s word.  When we hold on to the Word of God which is the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall overcome.  

Conclusion:

Repent today of your sins. Cultivate the soil in your mind by dwelling on the things of God.  Love the Lord Jesus with all your heart, soul and might. Renew your mind with the Word of God daily.  Guard your heart.   Do good.  Shun evil.  Pray. Meditate on Scripture.  Live fully for Jesus.  Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.  Put Jesus first.  When you live like this, you will be rewarded with eternal life.   So let the Word of God take root.

Poem:

Did you know that the battlefield

is really in your mind?

And that satan, the enemy of your soul

is bombarding you all the time?

How does a believer win this war

to have peace of mind and rest

It is by submitting to God and resisting the devil,

for dwelling on the Lord Jesus Christ is best

So with each and every passing moment

that fills your busy day

Make sure that your mind is focused on

God’s word and what He says

For an idle mind is the enemy’s playground,

dwelling on worry and on strife

But a mind that is full of Jesus

leads to a happy, prosperous life

Byword:   The Word of God will keep you away from sin.  Sin will keep you away from the Word of God.  

Aldwin and Wendy Naruse

The Body of Christ Jesus Fellowship

Makaha, HI USA

A Person of Influence

August 21, 2013

A Person of Influence

2 Kings 5:1-15

New King James Version (NKJV)

Naaman’s Leprosy Healed

5 Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. 2 And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife.3 Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.” 4 And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel.”

5 Then the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”

So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6 Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said,

Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.

7 And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me.”

8 So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

9 Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ 12 Are not the Abanah[a] and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him; and he said, “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.”

Naaman was influenced by his servant girl who urged him to follow the orders of the prophet Elisha.  Elisha told Naaman to dip 7 times in the River of Jordan.  And if he does that, he will be cleansed from his leprosy.  However, Naaman became angry.  He was too proud to dip into the muddy waters.  But his servant girl influenced him and he changed his mind.  He went into the Jordan River 7 times.  And after the seventh time, he was cured of his leprosy.

But something else happened.  Naaman did not only get cured from leprosy.  Because he was willing to humble himself and followed Elisha’s orders, God also healed his heart.  God cured him from pride.  Naaman was full of pride before he dipped into the Jordan River.  After he was healed, he became grateful to the God of Israel.  The God of Israel is Jesus Christ.  

When Naaman followed the prophet Elisha’s orders, he was healed of leprosy and his skin was restored.   When an unbeliever accepts Jesus as Lord, his soul is heal and he gains eternal life.

We as believers are to influence people for the kingdom of God.  

Here is something that is noteworthy.

God performed a miracle when He healed Naaman of leprosy.  God demonstrated His power to the people of Israel.   Israel was missing the blessings of God because  they were stubborn and stiff-necked.  They were prideful.  But God influenced them when he healed Naaman, a heathen, of leprosy.  Naaman was prideful too, but he humbled himself and submitted to the prophet and was cured.  In the end,  Naaman’s skin was restored, but more importantly, his heart was restored as well.  He ultimately acknowledge and gave thanks to the God of Israel.  

The prophet Elijah was a messenger of God.  When you heed the words of God’s messenger, you will be blessed.

Who can you influenced for Jesus today?

Poem:

Naaman was suffering from the ill of leprosy

He was a man who was full of pride

The prophet Elisha ordered him to dip in the muddy waters

Naaman became angry.  “Why there?”  He cried.

But his little servant girl was full of compassion for him,

“Please reconsider.”  She implored.

She influenced Naaman to follow the prophet’s orders.  

And when he did so, his skin was restored.

We meet people everyday, going to and fro.

Not a word to them we would say

We keep silent of the greatness of God

We say to ourselves, “I will just pray.”

But did you know that you have the power

to influence people, great and small

Because you serve a God who is great and mighty,

So go with boldness and answer the call.

Byword:  We can influence people in small ways to make an eternal difference.

Aldwin and Wendy Naruse

The Body of Christ Jesus Fellowship

Makaha, HI USA

Trust in the Lord, the only True One

August 3, 2013                        

Trust in the Lord

Proverbs 3:5-6

New King James Version (NKJV)

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.    (Keyword:  Trust in the Lord)

Proverbs 3:11-12

New King James Version (NKJV)

11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,

Nor detest His correction;

12 For whom the Lord loves He corrects,

Just as a father the son in whom he delights.   (Keyword:  Be correctable)

Commentary:

Proverbs 3:5-6 says to trust in the Lord with all your heart.  There must be a basis first.   How can you trust someone unless you know him or have a relationship with that person such as a close family member or a long-time friend?

However, make sure you know which lord you are to trust in.  There are three lords.  

(1) The Lord Jesus Christ - the only one true and living Lord

(2) the devil - whom satanists have chosen to worship

(3) the self, the ego - that is yourself when you deem what you want as more important than what God wants (Miyagi)

So which lord are you trusting in?

I can trust the Lord Jesus Christ because I have spent time with Him and have gotten to know Him more and more with each passing day.  I get even closer to Him when He answers my prayers.  (Miyagi)

To lean on your own understanding means that you are trusting in yourself.  You rationalize, justify, and defend your own actions.  This is not the way of God, but of the devil.   (Miyagi)

In all your ways acknowledge Him.  That is simply saying “thank you, Lord” or “praise the Lord.”  (Miyagi)   

To acknowledge God is to be fully aware of and in fellowship with Him.  (Hayford)    

We must go to God for everything.  We must seek direction from Him, not only in difficult cases when we don’t know what to do, but in every case.  We must ask success of Him and always acknowledge Him with thankfulness.  (Henry)

We were facing the issue of pest control in the kitchen even though we do our best to keep the kitchen clean.  There is a brand of roach trap that we normally use and it is quite effective.  But one day, another brand was on sale and we bought that other brand.  I was disappointed when the roaches didn’t move in and the trap was empty.  God showed me what to do.  He showed me that the bait was not strong enough.  He showed me to use different bait which I did and in a couple of days, roaches moved into the trap and stayed off the kitchen counter.  I was  happy because God showed me what to do and it worked.   I was able to make use of the new roach traps after all.  Praise the Lord!!  

Proverbs 3:11-12  urges us to be teachable and correctable.  In life, we will make mistakes.  But if all we do is defend and justify our mistakes, we will never learn.  Being correctable is learning from our mistakes and be willing to change.  And when we are correctable and teachable, we shall gain wisdom.  

Have you ever known someone who just despises correction?  One who does this is not interested in gaining wisdom.  He just wants to do his own thing.  This is an example of a fool.  Fools despise wisdom and understanding.  They much rather go through life with absolutely no purpose and live aimlessly.  For a person to be teachable and correctable, he must be humble.   But how few in this world who are truly humble.

Conclusion:

We must trust God with everything that is in us and be correctable before Him.  If not, we will never gain wisdom, but remain fools for life.

Poem:

There are really two choices in life

To trust the Lord Jesus or to trust in self

The former will lead you to God

The latter will lead you to hell

To be teachable is to gain wisdom

far beyond your years

To despise correction is to be a fool

resulting in regret and tears

So make sure that you are diligent

in seeking the Lord’s direction

and following His every guidance

and Holy revelation

For on that blessed day

when you are standing alone before the Lord

you will be glad that you had trusted Jesus

and depended on His every word  

Byword:  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, but make sure you are trusting in the right Lord.  

Work Cited

Henry, Matthew,  Matthew Henry Commentary, http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs%203:5-6&version=NKJV

Hayford, Jack W., Spirit filled Life Bible NKJV,  Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991.

Miyagi,  Miyagi’s Commentary, The Body of Christ Jesus Fellowship, Makaha, HI.,  2013

Aldwin and Wendy Naruse

The Body of Christ Jesus Fellowship

Makaha, HI USA