The Word To Live By:9-18-26
Phil Waggoner
WTLB 9-18-26
Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds Matthew 13:18 New Living Testament
The Word To Live By: Remember what I said yesterday about the meaning of the word “hear” when it comes to Romans 10:17? It means to listen with the intent to accept it, understand it, and do it. Let me say this first - understanding it doesn’t necessarily come before accepting it or doing it. Sometimes you understand it after you do it (see Proverbs 3:5-6). That’s where the scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:7 comes into play, “We walk by faith and not by sight.” So how do we prepare the soil of our hearts to become the good soil that yields thirty, sixty, and a hundred-fold? The first one is obvious - Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” I used the analogy of the streets around me being torn out and new roads put in. That’s exactly what happens when you proclaim the Lordship of Jesus over your life and believe that God raised Him from the dead (see Romans 10:9,10). But that’s not the end of the journey; it’s the beginning. You are then an example of the next soil mentioned, “The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.” You can’t quit; you can't give up. Notice why the problems and persecution are there - for believing God’s Word. Hang on to what you believe. Give the Word of God time to bear fruit. I’m literally surrounded by cornfields for more than a mile in every direction. This spring when it was planted, we had just enough rain to get it up and growing. Then we hit a hot, dry spell for about a month and the need for rain was getting critical. It forced the roots deeper. Then at just the right time, it began to rain, and now, the farmers are ready to harvest a huge crop. What would have happened if just before it started to rain, they would have said, “It’s no use! This planting thing didn’t work this time,” and they went out and plowed it up? Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” 1 John 5:4, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcomes the world - our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” That’s you assuming you did step one and tore up the old hard surface of your old spirit and were ‘born again.’ I don’t care how depressed, angry and frustrated you are, and you are thinking this isn’t working. Let the seed of God’s Word mature.
Well, this went differently than I thought it would. We’ll tackle the weeds tomorrow.
Read through the Bible in a year: John 18:38-19:16; 2 Chronicles 29; Psalms 85;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 18, Mark 12:23-44, Ephesians 1
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160