The Power of the Gospel VII - Living Grace Fellowship

Sunday 05/17/15

Series: The Power of the Gospel VII

Message – The Power to Bear Fruit unto Godliness III.mp3

Today we are going to review and then talk about the stony heart in Jesus’ parable of the Sower and the Soil (heart).

Review:

Since Easter we’ve been looking at the power of God leading up to this teaching on God’s power toward and in us to produce fruit unto godliness.

Christ was raised in power and lives by God’s power
That the Gospel IS God’s power unto salvation because IN IT rightness with God is revealed.
- We are to anticipate power in the preaching of the Gospel. If we share the gospel with someone, we should anticipate God’s power being present to deliver, heal and set free.
We should be inclined & pre-disposed to anticipating God’s power in our personal lives.
We are to anticipate Power in regards to healing – not just our own either.
- Many of you have been subject to doctors and medications which have you dependent upon a chemical to regulate things in your body. God, as the Creator of that body needs to be consulted PRIOR to consulting a doctor.
  - Should I go?
  - If I go is it just for information or to follow every thing they tell me to do?

I asked the hypothetical question – one that applies to each and every one of us – “We may have anticipated God’s intervention to keep us from tragic illness, but what is it that has kept us from approaching God with anticipation concerning total and complete healing?”

And this anticipation of God’s power for healing is not just for us –
- The other day, Teri and I saw a beggar with his eye swollen shut and very red with a cut on it. We were at a light that had just turned green when we got near to him. I handed some cheese & peanut butter crackers out to him as we always do and asked him to receive it as from the Lord Jesus. I then sensed in my spirit – pray for him to be healed. Well I had traffic behind me and could not legally hold them up so I circled the block, grabbed a pint of Gatorade and water and then parked adjacent to where he had been. It hadn’t been 10 min. but he was gone. We looked for him but he could not be found anywhere (in this particular place they usually congregate in the parking lot). We did not get to pray for him and haven’t’ seen him since…but the point is that the Lord spoke to me and it seemed to me that it was to anticipate this man’s healing. While this may not be a common thing, I serious wonder if it should be in the life of a Christian.

and Finally,

We are to look to, anticipate and rely upon God’s power for living Godly lives. (Not having a form of godliness but denying it’s power).

COVER STATEMENT

While Godliness is not specifically mentioned as a fruit of the spirit – the net result of those fruits IS god-likeness or godliness.

Consider Gal. 5:22-23,

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.”

So how do we produce this fruit?

Colossians 1:3-8,

“We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints, based on the hope laid up for you in heaven. Some time ago you heard about this hope in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and spreading all over the world, so it has been doing among you from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth. You learned about this gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf. He has told us about your love in the Spirit.”

The 1^st Key is to hunger, thirst, desire, inquire and hold onto what you hear.

The 2nd of the 4 Hearts

The Stony heart:

Mat 13:20-21/Luke 8:13 As for what was sown on the stony ground, this is the person who hears the word, welcomes it and accepts it at once with rejoicing, but since he doesn’t have any root in himself, he believes for only a short time, but when times of testing come like trouble or persecution, he immediately falls away. This testing comes because of the Word that was sown – it is a test of the ground (heart). I test of its integrity (worthiness of the revelations given) or its faithfulness – in trusting the revelation giving and its Giver.

Key words:

Rejoicing – It is largely emotional and circumstantial. Not the kind of thing one can safely build their life upon. The next key word shows why we know that the rejoicing is only surface…
No root – Jesus said they had not depth of heart (no root in themselves). Though this is an improvement over the wayside heart which had no understanding – these people’s understanding is shallow and full of self-interest.

The motive of their rejoicing was self- which is why it had no endurance under opposition.

Example: Those who left the Word of Faith movement because all they had heard and been promised never came to pass though they “tried” everything they were taught did so for one of the following two reasons.

Because they were shallow.
Because the teaching was promising something beyond the Word.

In either case they became offended and walked away.

Offended – To offend & vex, but specifically to shock or horrify (someone) by a real or imagined violation of propriety or morality.

Weak faith – This is faith that has a short duration. In fact, it is the belief a fair-weathered friend places in “friend”. They are all for you and appear to be in it through thick and thin until opposition arises – then they are nowhere to be found.

Example: Early on, Peter was an impetuous man. He was quick to believe and quick to stumble.

In Matt. 16:16 – Peter get’s the incredible revelation that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
A few moments later in verses 22-26 – Peter pulls Jesus aside and rebukes Him for saying that He was going to die. “You will never die”, Peter told Him. In reply Jesus rebuked Peter and told him that he was an offense to Him since he was mindful of the things of man and not the things of God.
Later still in Matt. 26:30-35 Jesus warned Peter that he would deny Him. Peter replied, “Even if everyone else is OFFENDED – I will never be, though I die I will never deny You”.
That very same evening Peter denied Him with cursing and then the rooster crowed, as is seen in Lk. 22:54-60.

Before this Peter’s denial of Jesus, He had offered Peter the key to overcoming temptation in the garden. “Watch and Pray, least you give int to temptation.” We will mention that later.

Testing or persecution – James 1 (first-fruits of His creature – Christ-like)& 1 Peter 1:3-9 (saving of the soul); Heb. 10:35-39 (saving of the soul)

“Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” ~ 1 Tim. 4:15,16

The Key to not being the Stony heart is INTIMACY, not shallowness.

What did Jesus tell His disciples – Pray…lest you fall into temptation. Prayer is one of the most intimate acts any human can enjoy. Prayers is a dialogue with God, not a monologue AT Him. Prayer is the interaction of the hearts of God and man, where you both speak and hear each other.

Jesus was here saying, that INTIMACY….open vulnerability with and to God was the key!

This is where we ended this week. We will begin with hurtles to bearing fruit in our next message.

I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

You have a special place in God’s family & kingdom. If you do not know Him, please use our ‘Contact Us‘ page and reach out so we may have the privilege of introducing you to the Lord. Attendance at our church will NOT even be mentioned nor will money.

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Blessings!

Pastor Mark

View posts by Pastor Mark

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!