Where faith comes from!
Mt. 13:3. And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow.
4. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.
5. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil,
6. but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away.
7. Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
8. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
9. He who has ears, let him hear."
18. "Hear then the parable of the sower.
19. When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path.
20. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
21. yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
22. As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
23. As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."
Notice the sower is only mentioned once at the very beginning of the parable and not mentioned again.
The rest of the time Jesus is talking about the hearer.
1st group When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path.
Persecution always comes for the Words sake. Satan comes to steal.
Jesus said, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart.
2nd group As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
3rd group As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
4th group As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."
In each of these 4 groups, the people had one thing in common,
they each heard the Word of God.
But, according to Jesus in Matthew’s accounting of this parable, only one forth of the people bear fruit, and of that one forth, only one third bear 100 fold.
He told us how we can be part of the ones that bear fruit. He who has ears, let him hear.
You have to hear the Word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields hundred, in another sixty, and in another thirty fold.
You hear it, then you understand it, then you bear fruit.
1. The sower sows the Word.
2. The Word is heard.
3. Faith is produced, as a result of hearing Gods Word.
Don’t let Satan steal the Word from your heart. Don’t let him do it!
In 100% of these people, the Word was sown in their heart!!!!!
Why are we praying for faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. If we are praying for faith, we are praying wrong.
When we hear the Word faith is produced, we simply need to act to see the results
Think of faith as a seed, and think of prayer as water, you can water the ground till the ground is saturated , but if there is no seed in the ground you won’t grow any thing. Basically, you’ll just make mud. Good for mud pies, or adobe bricks, but not much else.
Your ears are a conduit to your heart!
Ro.10:8. But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach); or sow
9. because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved.
11. The scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame."
12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him.
13. For, "every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved."
14. But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?
15. And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!"
You can’t believe if you don’t hear.
If you do hear, (the Word of God) you will have the opportunity for faith to bear, 30, 60, or 100 fold.
Another example
Ac. 8:4. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.
5. Philip went down to a city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Christ.
6. And the multitudes with one accord gave heed to what was said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs which he did.
7. For unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, crying with a loud voice; and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.
8. So there was much joy in that city.
1. The Word was proclaimed or spoken out of Phillip’s mouth.
2. They gave heed when they heard and saw.
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When is faith?
Faith is now. Faith is always now. Never in the future,
it is always in the present tense.
God is now! When Moses asked Him, who should I say sent me?
God said them, I am sent you. Not, I will be sent you
Hebrews 11:1 NOW FAITH is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
The A.S. Worrell translations says, a sure persuasion of things not seen.
The New English Bible says, faith gives substance to our hopes, and makes us certain of realities we do not see.
This is saying, things that you do not see, are real.
Just because we do not see something doesn’t mean it is not real.
It is not a lie to say you are healed, while in the natural you have physical symptoms saying you are sick, if what you are saying is a confession of faith based on the Word of God. We know that healing is part of our redemption, therefore we have the right to line our confession up with the Word of God.
God is a Spirit , and He created all matter. Isn’t that right.
He.11:3. By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.
They did appear!
On the other hand, hope is future tense, always looking ahead. Things hoped
for, are things that we have not yet grasped in this physical realm. Things our senses can not grasp. You can’t see it, touch it, smell it, etc. Something we want, but have not yet possessed in the natural.
Faith is:
I. Evidence of things not seen.
II. Faith says we have it even if our physical senses tell us no.
Let me clarify--- if it is based on the Word of God, not on our own feelings or wants.
III. Faith is the proof that we have the goods.
a. substance is tangible. Spiritual tangibility.
b. Faith is the proof that we have the substance until the natural manifestation takes place.
IV. Faith is the substance giver.
a. Spiritual things are real just like physical things.
b. I believe if we could see faith we could see the physical proof
of the substance. Faith is the substance of hope just like steel is
the substance of a bridge, if you take the steel from the bridge, then you take away the substance of the bridge. Without the physical substance steel, you could never have a steel bridge, could you? And why is that? Because, steel is the substance of the bridge. Just like faith is the substance of our hope. Do you see this?
Therefore, you will never obtain the thing you are hoping for (future tense) unless you add the tangible evidence, and that tangible evidence is faith
When you see the thing as done ( if it is based on the Word of God.) in your inner man, then you will see the manifestation in the natural!
The manifestation is not the evidence, faith is the evidence!
V. Faith makes us certain of realities we do not see.
a. We have the title deed to our hopes and know we are possessors of them.
b. We will loose confidence in the things seen, and our confidence will be in the integrity of Gods Word.
Faith is changing hope into reality, and giving substance to our hope.
Faith is grasping the expectations of hope and bringing them into the present.
Faith is counting things done before we have seen the physical evidence.
Faith is simply acting as if the Gods Word is true!
Faith is not mental ascent. It is assurance, and our assurance will grow deeper as we meditate on, and spend time the Gods Word.
Remember Ro. 10:10 With the heart man believeth. Not with your head.
Pr. 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding.
Our mind will tell us no, when our heart is full of faith. We must bring our mind in line with the Word of God. This is renewing your mind.
Ro.12:2. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
You will prove the will of God when you renew your mind.
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How faith grows!
Did you know faith can grow?
-- Revised Standard
2 Thessalonians 1:3 We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, as is fitting, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.
Faith growing abundantly, and love for one another increasing, goes together. They work together. Faith works by love.
Gal. 5:6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love.
First and foremost love is the key to it all. Without love its just a bunch of noise.
Assurance becomes deeper as we meditate on the Word of God.
Also, as you exercise your faith, and see results, your confidence will grow.
Ep. 3:12. in whom we have boldness and confidence of access
through our faith in Him.
He.10:35. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
1 Jn.5:14. And this is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to His will he hears us.
His Word is His will. His will is His Word.
This is saying if we ask according to His will, or we could say if we ask according to His Word He will hear us.
If you want confidence, when you ask, then ask according to his will,
And according to His Word He will hear you.
We have to follow God’s directions if we are going to get God’s results!!
So many times we pray amiss, or in other words not according to Gods Word, and we wonder why we don’t get results.
Ja.4:3. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
You can’t receive if you are asking amiss! Asking for the wrong reasons.
I truly believe we often pray too soon. We often pray without knowing the promises of God, or if we do know them, we don’t have it settled
in our heart, or inner man, our spirit man.
This can be presumptuous, and it can get you in trouble. It can give faith teaching, and faith people a bad name. Worse it discourages people from wanting to step out on God’s Word. You hear all kinds of bad stories.
We’ve all probably heard stories of people who stepped out and failed.
But God’s Word is true.
You have to have God’s Word settled in your heart before you step out,
if you want to have the God kind of results!
Psalms 119:89 For ever, O Lord, thy word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
We have to have confidence that Gods Word is true.
Remember Pr.3:5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.
After we have the Word settled in our heart, we must act on it. One way you act on the Word is by speaking the Word, This is the main way we release our faith, our actions should be corresponding.
Constant confession of the Word of God, out loud with your mouth, will bring reality to your inner man, and results to the outward circumstances. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the spoken Word of God, --
That’s one of the definitions of Rhema --- The written Word of God spoken.
Out of your own mouth, is one of the best ways to hear.
When we speak God’s Word, we line our words up with God’s Word. We put ourselves in agreement with God. That’s when God can act.
He.3:1. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
Jesus is the high priest of our confession. (Same word in the Greek.)
Jeremiah 1:12. Then the Lord said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."
He can’t do that if our words are not lined up with his Words.
Another way of saying it, He can’t watch over His Word to perform it
when we are speaking contrary to His Word! AMEN
