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Thursday 23 December 2021

Sudden Disaster

Luke 13:1-5 MKJV And some were present at the same time reporting to Him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. (2) And answering, Jesus said to them, Do you suppose that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things? (3) I tell you, No. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (4) Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were sinners above all men who lived in Jerusalem? (5) I tell you, No. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Ecclesiastes 9:12 MKJV For man also does not know his time; as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.

Sudden disaster can come upon anyone at any time, just as it came upon the Galileans who were killed by Pilate as they were sacrificing in the Temple and upon the eighteen upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell. These were not especially wicked people. They were average, normal people suffering the common fate of mankind.

The Fall means, among other things, that we cannot control our lives. Life is slippery and uncertain, and all the power or riches in the world cannot make your life predictable. Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon, the richest and most powerful person in the ancient world. But Daniel 4 tells of the day it all left him, the day Nebuchadnezzar came to sudden ruin, and how a severe and terrible judgment came upon him because of his pride:

Daniel 4:29-37 ESV At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, (30) and the king answered and said, "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?" (31) While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, "O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, (32) and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will."

This mighty king was driven from his palace and lived in the field like a wild animal for seven years until he acknowledged God and his mind returned to him.

Nebuchadnezzar thought he had everything under control – then it was all gone! We are not God, nor do we have things under control. We exist by grace alone. If God removes his hand we are soon overtaken by evil and disaster. Our natural unsaved spiritual state is one of decay. The Bible calls it perishing:

John 3:16 ESV "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

2 Corinthians 2:15-16 ESV (15) For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, (16) to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 ESV (3) And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. (4) In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Jesus told his audience: But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Life 'as usual' will not do. It will end in sudden disaster sooner or later. Death will come and with it the challenge of giving an account to a holy God. If we are not ready, we will perish as surely as those who Pilate murdered.

You cannot just cruise through life hoping to make it to Heaven. You are on the Hell-Bound Train and you have to get off! You are going in the wrong direction, you are headed off the cliff and into the Lake of Fire. You must repent and you must repent now!

The cure for spiritual disaster is Christ. It is as we embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior that we will find eternal life. It is those who believe in the Son that God sent into the world that receive everlasting life!

The Christian life is difficult, sometimes exceedingly so. We may have to lose everything in this world in order to follow Jesus - but we will have eternal life in the age to come and great glory with it. But without Christ, all the possessions of this world are like a sinking life-raft which we cling to desperately, but in vain:

Mark 8:34-37 ESV And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (35) For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. (36) For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? (37) For what can a man give in return for his soul?

Jesus said: Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it. Your life is not yours to save. You simply cannot save it, its impossible. It will slip away from you. It will vanish like smoke. You are not in control. Though you hoard and save and insure and take every precaution under the sun, there will come a day when your life will be taken from you.

Jesus also said: But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. You have to toss this life away for God. Forget about your agenda and your own will and ambitions. Ask God what His agenda is for you and what His will and ambitions are for your life. Your plan must go out the window. Lose it now.

Don't grasp at this life, don't cling to it or fight for it. It’s not about you, it’s about God. It’s not about you getting money, possessions and power but about God getting all the glory. And as you give God the glory, he will glorify you in return - not with a temporary earthly glory but with a true and eternal glory:

Romans 8:16-17 ESV The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (17) and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Romans 8:28-30 ESV And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (29) For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (30) And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

There is no sudden disaster that can completely overtake us and ruin us if we are in Christ:

Romans 8:35-39 ESV Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? (36) As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." (37) No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (38) For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, (39) nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In Christ we are safe, He is the only true shelter from the storm, the only one who can say “Peace, be still”; the only one who can stop us from perishing along with this world. Tomorrow is not certain for any of us (at least in terms of this earthly life) and we can easily be overtaken by evil times. But no evil can penetrate to the core of those who dwell in Christ and who have Christ dwelling in them:

1 John 5:18-20 ESV We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. (19) We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the

power of the evil one. (20) And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Parable of the Dragnet

Matthew 13:47-50 MKJV Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered some of every kind; (48) which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. (49) So it shall be at the end of the world. The angels shall come out and separate the wicked from among the just, (50) and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The sea is the world, full of teeming creatures, and in ancient Jewish thought the sea was an evil and chaotic place. Out of the world are gathered 'some of every kind' and when the net is full, when the end of the age has come, there is a great separation as the angels first toss the wicked into the lake of fire then the righteous who are left and remain are kept with God, to rule and reign with Christ.

We see a mixed world now, a chaotic world now, but God will not tolerate it that way forever. God is pure and holy and wickedness is not being given a free pass. One day the wicked will be cast away forever. Paul gives us a few more clues about this separation:

2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 MKJV (5) For this is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer, (6) since it is a righteous thing with God to repay tribulation to those who trouble you, (7) and to give rest with us to you who are troubled, at the revealing of the Lord Jesus from Heaven with the angels of His power, (8) in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, (9) who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, (10) when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all those who believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that Day.

We see here that the wicked, those who persecute and trouble the saints, are dealt with when God returns with His holy and powerful angels (v.7) this will be a time of absolute revenge, of flaming fire and everlasting destruction (v.8,9) and the wicked shall be cast away from the presence of God (v.9).

Those who are punished are: “those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v.8). On the other hand those who are given rest include Paul, and the Thessalonians (v.7), His saints and “all who believe” (v.10).

There will be an absolute and total separation between the righteous and the wicked. There will be no wicked people left in the Kingdom of Heaven. They will all be in the furnace, suffering punishment and everlasting destruction.

God loves sinners enough to die for them on the cross and to patiently wait for them to repent. But those who do not repent are utterly doomed! The wrath of God abides on them:

John 3:36 MKJV He who believes on the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.

Romans 2:5-8 ESV But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. (6) He will render to each one according to his works: (7) to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; (8) but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

Colossians 3:5-6 MKJV Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness (which is idolatry), (6) on account of which things' sake the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience,

Now the wrath of God is a severe topic. We frequently shrink from mentioning it lest we be termed fanatics. Would a loving God send people to Hell forever? If God is righteous and just then the wicked must be separated from the righteous. They simply cannot dwell together. The wicked will always persecute the righteous. That is their nature, they create misery everywhere they go.

Galatians 4:29 MKJV But then even as he born according to flesh persecuted him born according to the Spirit, so it is also now.

1 John 3:12-13 MKJV not as Cain who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. And for what did he kill him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's things were righteous. (13) Do not marvel, my brothers, if the world hates you.

The wicked hate the righteous and cannot long dwell with them in peace. So the wicked must be separated out from among the righteous and given a place of their own.

I imagine the final judgment as perhaps being in four phases: Firstly there will be the judgment of Truth when God will say 'become what you really are' and when the wicked will be revealed to be wicked and abominable sons of the Devil and the righteous will be revealed to be glorious sons of God.

Then God will issue the judgment of Likeness and say “Gather together with your own likeness and your own kind” and this will group the wicked on the left hand of God and the righteous on the right hand of God.

Then God will assign territory and say “Go to the place assigned to you for all eternity” and the wicked will be cast into the Hell of fire and the righteous will receive the Kingdom.

Finally I imagine the judgment of Recompense and Reward where God says “Receive the recompense for your deeds whether good or evil”. The wicked will then be punished with eternal torment and the righteous will receive eternal life.

Hell is not merely a place of passive confinement, it is a place of eternal destruction:

Revelation 14:9-11 MKJV (9) And a third angel followed them, saying with a great voice, If anyone worships the beast and its image, and receives a mark in his forehead or in his hand, (10) he also will drink of the wine of the anger of God, having been mixed undiluted in the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented by fire and brimstone before the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. (11) And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night, those who worship the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.

Isaiah 66:24 MKJV And they will go out and see the dead bodies of the men who have sinned against Me; for their worm will not die, nor will their fire be put out; and they will be an object of disgust to all flesh.

Jesus talks often about the judgment of fire - in fact more than anyone else in Scripture! He tells us that we can end up in the judgment of fire if we are angry with our brother without cause or call him a empty-headed fool (Matthew 5:22); that those who do not bring forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire (Matthew 7:19); as are those who do not abide in Christ (John 15:6); and that if our eye or our hand or our foot causes us to stumble we should cut them off rather than be cast into the Hell of fire (Matthew 18:8,9). Jesus also describes the kind of selfish lifestyle that leads to Hell:

Matthew 25:41-46 MKJV Then He also shall say to those on the left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. (42) For I was hungry, and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink; (43) I was a stranger and you did not take Me in; I was naked, and you did not clothe Me; I was sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me. (44) Then they will also answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to You? (45) Then He shall answer them, saying, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me. (46) And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.

At the end of the age there will only be two groups of people. One group shall be in everlasting punishment and the other group shall have everlasting life.

Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Are you obeying His gospel, bearing fruit to righteousness and abiding in Christ? Are you loving, open, kind and generous? Do you feed the hungry, clothe the needy and visit those in distress? If you are simply living for yourself in unbelief, then you must change your ways, straighten up your life, and believe and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ!

If you are saved – are you warning those who do not yet believe? This is not just a parable, it is the Truth. It is what will happen. Let's share the gospel with others while it is still Day!

The Wheat and the Tares

The Wheat and the Tares

Matthew 13:24-30, 36- 43 EMTV Another parable He set before them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man sowing good seed in his field. (25) But while the men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away. (26) But when the stalk had sprouted and produced fruit, then the tares also appeared. (27) So the servants of the master of the house approached and said to him, 'Sir, was it not good seed you sowed in your field? From where then does it have tares?' (28) "He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Do you wish then that we should go and gather them up?' (29) "But he said, 'No, lest gathering up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. (30) Leave both to grow together until the harvest; and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares, and bind them into bundles to burn them, but gather together the wheat into my barn." '….

Then having dismissed the crowds, Jesus went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." (37) He answered and said to them: "He that sows the good seed is the Son of Man. (38) And the field is the world, and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the evil one. (39) The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. (40) Therefore just as the tares are gathered and burned with fire, thus it will be at the end of this age. (41) The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who work iniquity, (42) and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (43) Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

Jesus tells us that the field is the world – not the Church! This world contains both the sons of the Kingdom and the sons of the Devil. The Church is meant to only contain the sons of the Kingdom (but some children of the Devil sometimes sneak on in!). At the end of the age there will be a separation, in this world, between God's children and the Devil's children. It will be light and dark!

Notice that the angels take the Devil's children (the tares) first. It is the children of the Kingdom that are left behind! Then they reign and rule on the Earth with Jesus for a thousand years. Let's look at what Paul says about the timing of the resurrection, the man of lawlessness and the rapture of the saints to be with Jesus:

2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 EMTV (1) Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we beseech you, (2) not to be

quickly shaken from your mind, nor be disturbed, neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ has come. (3) Let no one deceive you by any means; for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is unveiled, the son of perdition, (4) who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or every object of worship, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God....(8) And then the lawless one will be unveiled, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth, and will destroy by the brightness of His coming,

1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 EMTV (15) For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall by no means precede those who are dead. (16) Because the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. (17) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (18) So then comfort one another with these words.

a) The rise of the man of lawlessness and the great apostasy precedes the resurrection of the dead. (2 Thessalonians 2:3 above)

b) The resurrection of the dead precedes the rapture of those who are alive at the return of Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:15-16)

c) Paul included himself among 'those who remain alive' as he thought Christ might come in his lifetime. He anticipated being raptured AFTER the resurrection of the dead. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

d) Thus Paul did not think he would be raptured before the rise of the man of lawlessness but rather that he would go through this period and still be alive when Christ returned.

e) The man of lawlessness tries to deceive the elect, but fails and is destroyed by the brightness of the coming of the Lord. (2 Thessalonians 2:7-12) f) So Paul anticipated seeing events in this order – the rise of the man of lawlessness, the tribulation, the return of Christ, the slaying of the Anti-Christ, the resurrection of the dead, then he would be raptured among those who were alive and then he would be with Christ. g) Paul is very definite that no one who was alive would precede those who were asleep in Christ. “Shall by no means precede” (1 Thessalonians 4:15). So there is definitely no rapture of living saints prior to the resurrection of the dead. And since there is no resurrection of the dead until after the tribulation, then the saints who are alive must pass through the tribulation. h) The man of lawlessness is not the Roman general Titus in 70 AD or any historical Roman emperor because he has to fulfill at least three conditions 1) He must be seated in the Jewish temple claiming to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4) 2) He must perform great miracles signs and wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10) 3) He gets

slain at the glorious return of Christ and does not die an ordinary death like Titus or the Roman emperors. (2 Thessalonians 2:8)

Thus the wheat remain until after the tares have been dealt with. The sons of the Kingdom meet Christ in the air and then come with Him in glory (Jude 1:14) to rule and reign on the earth. The saints take over the field – which is this world, while the tares are removed completely from the field and cast into the fire and consumed.

Thus the lesson of the parable of the wheat and the tares is that the sons of the Kingdom will have to share this world (the field) with the sons of the Devil for a long while. In fact right up to the time of the total maturity and perfection of God's people amid the severe testing of the Tribulation.

God will NOT intervene and remove all evil because he wants His Church to grow to full maturity. God wants people of all tribes, nations and tongues to hear and be saved. If sinners are to be saved, then the sinners must be allowed to exist for a while in the first place! The saints also need to have their love and patience tested and strengthened by the trials and tribulations of this life. So while God is growing and perfecting his Church the tares are allowed to exist.

Some may cry out - “But we are not made for God's wrath!” - and indeed that is so: 1 Thessalonians 5:9 MKJV (9) For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Indeed the saints do not experience the wrath of God but they do experience the wrath of the Devil! Revelation 12:12-17 MKJV (12) Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and those tabernacling in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and in the sea! For the Devil came down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a little time. (13) And when the dragon saw that he was cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who bore the man child. (14) And two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, so that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the serpent's face. (15) And the serpent cast out of his mouth water like a flood after the woman, so that he might cause her to be carried away by the river. (16) And the earth helped the woman. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth. (17) And the dragon was enraged over the woman, and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The Devil comes down with great wrath and makes war on the saints. The woman is still on the earth when she is persecuted - because the earth helps her! God thus preserves His saints on earth for the first three and a half years of the Tribulation and in the final three and a half years of bitter persecution the saints are slain. Yet

the martyrdom of the saints is not to be viewed as a sign of God's wrath. It is in fact the Lord appointing them to a place of great glory!

Revelation 14:13 MKJV And I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they shall rest from their labors, and their works follow them.

Now the saints are yet kept from God's punitive judgments. The severe bowl judgments of Revelation 16 are only poured out on those with the mark of the Beast. This is similar to the plagues in Egypt that only fell on the Egyptians, but spared God's people. The Anti-Christ will be like Pharaoh and God's people will suffer from his cruel persecution but not from God's wrath.

I am aware that this directly contradicts much popular teaching in churches today. But if there was to be a secret pre-tribulation rapture for the holy saints then surely Paul would have qualified for it! But instead Paul sees saints like himself being around until after the return of the Lord, after resurrection of the dead, and after the slaying of the evil one, therefore after the Tribulation.

God does not promise us total comfort at all times. Much of the Church is being severely persecuted today, and that has been the case throughout Church history. As Tertullian said: 'the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church'. But persecution is not the wrath of God. It is the wrath of the Devil as he loses ground to the Kingdom of God! It is a sign of the destruction of the wicked and of our ultimate victory and triumph (see v. 28 below)!

Philippians 1:27-30 ESV (27) Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, (28) and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. (29) For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, (30) engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

Verse 29 above tells us that it has it been granted to us not only to believe – but also to suffer for His sake. Indeed it is the children of God, the children of the Kingdom, who suffer for the sake of the gospel:

So it seems we will have to endure the presence of wickedness until the very end; and then we shall be saved and glorified and become heirs with Christ. We will shine with glory, indeed we will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of the Father!

The Benefits of Complaining (to God)

The Benefits of Complaining (to God)

1 Samuel 1:10 MKJV And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Jehovah, and wept sorely.

Psalms 55:1-3 MKJV Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not Yourself from my cry. (2) Attend to me, and hear me; I wander and I moan in my complaint, (3) from the voice of the enemy, from the oppression of the wicked, for they shake trouble over me, and in wrath they hate me.

Psalms 77:1-3 MKJV I cried to God with my voice, to God is my voice; and He gave ear to me. (2) In the day of my trouble I sought Jehovah; my hand was poured in the night, and ceased not; my soul refused to be comforted. (3) I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit fainted. Selah.

Must Christians always be happy? Must they never complain aloud? Is having a Stoic attitude and a stiff upper lip a great sign of emotional and spiritual maturity? Sometimes not. Sometimes these things can be delusional and can indicate that we are either self-deceived or in denial; or even worse that we do not believe that God will act so we are suffering in silence. While we are to be content with our wages and free from the love of money, we are not to be content with the state of this world. The Bible never tells us to be content with wickedness, injustice, and sin, or with demons or disease.

Great men and women of God such as Hannah, Job, David and Jeremiah brought their complaints before the Lord. They complained because they had faith. They believed that they could ask for changes in their life situations from a God who was good and all-powerful and who had the solutions to all of their problems.

Some of the greatest writing in the Bible (Job, Psalms, the prophets) is seemingly 'negative' and complaining (see Psalm 88 for a powerful example). There are 'laments' and even imprecations. Even in Heaven the souls under the altar complain to the Lord:

Revelation 6:9-11 ISV When the lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given. (10) They cried out in a loud voice, "Holy and true Sovereign, how long will it be before you judge and take revenge on those living on the earth who shed our blood?"

These section of the Bible arise out of the perception of the vast discrepancy between the goodness of God and the state of this present evil age:

1 John 5:19 ISV We know that we are from God and that the whole world lies under the control of the evil one.

Galatians 1:4 ISV He gave himself for our sins in order to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father.

This spiritual sense of disparity and discord gives rise to prayers, prophecy, apocalyptic literature, and to the strong desire for God's Kingdom to come, and for His will to be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

This perception that things are terribly, terribly wrong is even essential to prevailing prayer. If you are content with the way things are then you cannot intercede. If you are content with wickedness in high places you will never pray for it to be removed. There is a proper and holy discontent where people groan and cry out to God and He hears them:

Luke 18:1-8 ISV Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray all the time and never give up. (2) He said, "In a city there was a judge who didn't fear God or respect people. (3) In that city there was also a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' (4) For a while the judge refused. But later he said to himself, 'I don't fear God or respect people. (5) Yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice. Otherwise, she will keep coming and wear me out.'" (6) Then the Lord added, "Listen to what the unrighteous judge says. (7) Won't God grant his chosen people justice when they cry out to him day and night? Is he slow to help them? (8) I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

The importunate widow complained so long and so loud and so often that the unjust judge gave in and granted her request. Her complaining was successful. Since God is better than that judge He will speedily avenge His elect! You can go to God's throne for justice and for grace and help in time of need:

Hebrews 4:16 ISV So let us keep on coming with boldness to the throne of grace, so that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

We should bring our requests to God, and we should 'keep on' doing so, and boldly! This does not mean we should grumble. Grumbling against God or murmuring against His servants is very dangerous spiritually and is grounded in unbelief. Grumblers and murmurers never look to Heaven nor do they go to the throne of grace. They look solely at the situation and go to one another to amplify their miseries.

Neither are we to be anxious:

Philippians 4:6-7 MKJV Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. (7) And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Complaining to the Lord is thus distinct from grumbling, murmuring or fretful unbelief. In Psalm 73 David goes through a few stages from a 'brute beast' enraged at the state of things, to an adoring worshiper understanding the justice of the Lord. The turning point was when David went into the Temple and beheld God and laid his complaint before Him there:

Psalms 73:12-24 ESV Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. (13) All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. (14) For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. (15) If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed the generation of your children. (16) But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, (17) until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. (18) Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. (19) How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! (20) Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. (21) When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, (22) I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. (23) Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. (24) You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.

Our complaint should be grounded in the biblical facts about God's love and faithfulness. If you truly believe that God loves you and is working all things together for your good and has given you many precious promises then, at some point, you will ask for better than you currently have. You will ask God to improve your lot! You will believe that God can deliver you out of your mess and do good things concerning you. Like the man who was 'full of leprosy' you will cry out “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean”.

Luke 5:12-13 MKJV And it happened, as He was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy! And seeing Jesus, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, Lord, if You will, You can cleanse me. (13) And stretching out the hand, He touched him, saying, I will! Be clean! And immediately the leprosy departed from him.

Do not just sit there and take it. Do not accept the bad things in your life as they are! Nor march around with a stiff upper lip in total denial of the facts. Take your terrible situation (and what could be worse then being full of leprosy) to our good God and pour out your heart before Him. God is faithful and kind and he will hear you and He will answer you from Heaven:

1 John 5:14-15 MKJV And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (15) And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.

Being Astonished By God

Mark 7:37 ESV And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

Luke 4:32 ESV and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.

Luke 5:9 ESV For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken,

Luke 9:42-43 ESV ... But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. (43) And all were astonished at the majesty of God…

Something has gone wrong if we are no longer astonished by God! His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8,9) and our minds cannot comprehend or understand Him (Romans 11:33-36). So His actions should leave us staggered with awe and wonder! A God who simply meets expectations is hardly God at all.

The ministry of Jesus is full of people who were surprised by what Jesus said, did or taught or by the miracles He performed or by the new ideas He brought to them. For instance when the paralyzed man on the pallet was healed (the one let down through the roof) people were astounded that Jesus could forgive sins:

Luke 5:24-26 EMTV But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." (25) Immediately he rose up before them, taking up the bed which he had been lying on, he went off to his own house, glorifying God. (26) And amazement gripped them all, and they were glorifying God, and they were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen extraordinary things today!"

Matthew adds the comment: Matthew 9:8 EMTV Now when the crowds saw, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

The gospel accounts are littered with words such as: 'marveled', 'surprised', 'astonished', 'perplexed' , 'rejoiced' and 'glorified'. Jesus was never routine! The whole thing was extraordinary!

The Kingdom of God is a place of constant surprises – and they are good surprises! Satan ambushes us with evil but God overtakes us with good!

Deuteronomy 28:2 MKJV And all these blessings shall come on you and overtake you, if you will listen to the voice of Jehovah your God.

Isaiah 51:11 MKJV Therefore the redeemed of Jehovah shall return and come with singing into Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their head. Gladness and joy shall overtake them; sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

God is incomprehensibly good! God even blesses sinners and forgives the wicked and covers their iniquities justifying the ungodly without them doing any works:

Romans 4:5-8 MKJV But to him not working, but believing on Him justifying the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (6) Even as David also says of the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works, (7) saying, "Blessed are those whose lawlessnesses are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; (8) blessed is the man to whom the Lord will in no way impute sin."

God wants to astonish the angels and other heavenly beings by the sheer magnitude of His grace and forgiveness towards us who were once dead in our trespasses and sins:

Ephesians 2:4-7 ASV but God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, (5) even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved), (6) and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus: (7) that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus:

God wants to astonish the world with the changes He will make in your life. And God also wants you to be astonished at His grace towards you! Your Christian life is not ordinary, instead it is an extraordinary act of grace! God purchased your salvation at great cost.

If we are bored with God it is our own fault. Like the Israelites in the wilderness we want the presents not the Presence. The mystics are never bored. They may be tormented souls, even agonized souls - but they are not dull souls. The disciples who decided to tag along with Jesus and to find out who He was and who suffered with Him and left all to follow Him – these were precisely the ones who became most delighted with Him and who got to see all the miracles. On the other hand the fickle crowds in John 6 moved elsewhere once they realized that Jesus was not going to give them any more free bread.

Job found God to be dangerous and unpredictable and Job's friends could not figure out what was going on either. Everyone in the book of Job wants an orderly God. But at the end of the book YHWH appears in the whirlwind and forcefully tells Job that He is far beyond human comprehension and will not be neatly contained by

anyone's theology. God may not be predictable but He is just and in the end Job is restored double.

The inclusion of the Gentiles in the Kingdom astonished even Christian Jews: Acts 10:45 ASV And they of the circumcision that believed were amazed, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit.

This astonishment soon turned into a controversy that raged for over thirty years (from AD 38 to AD 70) simply because God had done something that was utterly incomprehensible to one section of the Church.

God does not amaze us for our own entertainment. Entertainment implies a sort of comfortable astonishment that fits our personal likes and dislikes. But God has absolutely no intention of leaving our worldly minds intact! He amazes us so that we may learn and grow and appreciate His glory! Jesus constantly confused His disciples – for their own good! They were bewildered by the Cross, disbelieving of the Resurrection and still hoping for a Jewish revolution when Pentecost arrived.

God still astonishes His people today: A drunkard gets saved, the local atheist repents, the cancer patient on her deathbed is suddenly and gloriously healed, the demon is cast out with a word, a revival breaks out in a most unlikely place.

I am also astonished at God's patience and restraint. How He allows this world to continue doing what it does, is quite beyond me! But it was not beyond the apostle Peter who had personally experienced the grace of His Lord:

2 Peter 3:9 MKJV The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not purposing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

God wants to do astonishing things in you, with you, around you and for you! But this will require great faith. Sarah having a child in her old age was astonishing – but it took faith. As did the parting of the Red Sea, the collapse of the walls of Jericho, and the victories of Gideon, David and Jehoshaphat. God astonishes when we believe. And if we seldom see the astonishing perhaps it is because we seldom believe God for the impossible!

When Peter, James and John reluctantly obeyed Jesus and set out into the deep and threw their just-washed nets back in the water for a catch they were 'astonished at the size of the catch'. This was the obedience of faith leading to the miracle of God!

Similarly it was when the perplexed disciples obeyed and started breaking the loaves and fishes and handing them out that the astonishing feeding of the five thousand took place.

In both cases their initial expectations, based on reason and deduction, were low - “we caught no fish' and “how can we feed so many..” yet they obeyed and God supplied.

God is powerful! God will do far more than we can ask, think or expect! Let us launch out into the deep and cast our nets in faith so that we may be astonished by the catch!

Ephesians 3:20-21 MKJV Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, (21) to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, forever. Amen.

Seeking the Specific Goodness of God

Seeking the Specific Goodness of God

Matthew 7:7-11 MKJV Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. (8) For each one who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened. (9) Or what man is there of you, if his son asks a loaf, will he give him a stone? (10) Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a snake? (11) If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him?

Our goals and problems in life are specific to our personal situations. The needs of one person can be entirely different from the needs of another. Different factors such as our callings, personalities, ministry situations, relationships and physical constitutions all mean that we are unique in the particularly good things we need from God each day.

A good Father knows each of His children and gives them different gifts. One child may get a chess set, another a football and another a dollhouse and each would be delighted with what they received. But mix them up and see what happens! Now if earthly fathers know what gifts to give each of their very different children in order to please them, then how much does our Father in Heaven know these things? God wants us to enjoy life and to delight in His Creation, yet being aware it is not Mammon or earning ability that supplies the good things in life - but rather it is God Himself:

1 Timothy 6:17 ESV As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 ESV (18) Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. (19) Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil--this is the gift of God. (20) For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

Now how do you get your earthly father to give you an electronics set instead of a football (or vice-versa)? You ask, you seek and you knock! And you do so specifically, in a targeted way. For instance: “I want a red road bike for Christmas with ten-speed gears, and with size 26 inch wheels”. And you believe that because

your earthly father is good and kind and gracious that he will give you the desires of your heart!

In some ways our prayer life need be little different from a grown-up version of our child-like requests at Christmas time and can contain very specific items such as: “Lord I need wisdom on how to handle the Williams contract, please show me if they are telling the truth and lead me to the right pricing structure and time for delivery”

If that is the wisdom you need for that day, then that is the wisdom you should ask God for! In Hebrew thinking wisdom and knowledge were not abstract but were tied to practical outcomes. When God revealed wisdom to Joseph or Daniel it was specific knowledge that was made known in order to solve specific problems that were brought to them by the King:

Daniel 2:20-23 ESV Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. (21) He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; (22) he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. (23) To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter."

Our trust is not to be in our own wisdom, riches, might and power but in God who guides us and provides all good things for us, both spiritual and material. We have specific needs for wisdom, provision, deliverance, healing and many other things and we should be bold and ask God for what we need:

Hebrews 4:16 ESV Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

1 John 5:14-15 ESV And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. (15) And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

And not just what we need but that which will bring delight to us. God is not stingy or mean. God wants His children to be happy as long as they continue to be faithful to Him:

Psalms 20:4-7 ESV May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans! (5) May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the LORD fulfill all your petitions! (6) Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. (7) Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Psalms 37:3-6 ESV Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. (4) Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (5) Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. (6) He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

We should seek all our good from the hand of God. We should look to Him for all we need! Yes we may still have to work, but He will provide the work and we will delight in our tasks. We will know the joy of life and the joy of success in what we do because our God will be with us in all things.

Many Christians lack confidence in God's goodness or they dismiss it as 'the prosperity gospel'. But the goodness of God is a major theme of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation and was part of Paul's preaching at Lystra:

Acts 14:17 ESV Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness."

and Jesus contrasts His goodness with the destructive work of Satan:

John 10:10 ESV The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Here are some of the good things that you might want to ask God for: salvation of yourself, your friends or your family members; joy, hope, increased faith, daily bread, increased ministry results, favor with God and man, particular items of provision, a specific job, wisdom concerning a relationship, wisdom in work or business transactions, the ability to be a peacemaker, increased patience and forbearance, understanding of God's Word, understanding of life situations, negotiating skill, greater delight in worship, a good bible study to join, physical healing, growth in grace for your children, academic success for your children, and so on and so forth.

These are all good and legitimate things to ask for. Bring them before the Lord in detail and ask for them passionately and specifically, promising to give God the glory when the prayer is answered. Prayer that is limp, vague, overly general (so that it is 'safe') and half-hearted is powerless. But fervent, specific, commanding and righteous prayer is powerful:

James 5:16-18 MKJV Confess faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much. (17) Elijah was a man of like passion as we are. And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for the time of three years and six months. (18) And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth caused its fruit to sprout.

When you pray you should ask, seek and knock being confident of the goodness of God, waiting and persisting (Luke 11:5-13), with all godly patience and fear of the Lord, never doubting or wavering in faith. This is what Abraham did when he specifically asked for a son and heir in his old age:

Romans 4:18-22 MKJV (19) And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead (being about a hundred years old) or the deadening of Sarah's womb. (20) He did not stagger at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, (21) and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was also able to perform. (22) And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

Do not be discouraged. God has not forgotten you. He simply wants you to ask Him for the good things that you need and to truly believe that you will receive it from Him. Mark 11:24 EMTV For this reason I say to you, all things whatsoever you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive them, and they will be yours.

Parable of the Sower

Matthew 13 explains the parable of the sower in great detail, how the seed is the Word of God, the four soils are four kinds of different hearers with different responses to the gospel and how the Devil interferes through stealing the Word, persecution and making us full of the cares and anxieties of this life. But it leaves me with a few questions such as:

1. Why didn't the sower just sow into the good ground?

2. Why is the Devil allowed to mess with our spiritual growth?

3. Are the four soils (spiritual states) predetermined or can we change from hard ground to good ground?

4. What does it mean to bear much fruit?

5. How come some bear thirtyfold while others bear sixty or a hundredfold?

Here are some of my answers. God allows the sower to 'waste' the Word of God on hard and unproductive ground in order to display the justice of God. Everyone gets a chance to hear. Nobody should be able to say to the Lord “I never was told about there being a good God who made all things and who requires reverence and awe and a life of love.” Even the heavens themselves declare the glory of God. The existence of God should 'be obvious'. Paul even says that they are 'without excuse':

Romans 1:18-20 MKJV For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, (19) because the thing which may be known of God is clearly revealed within them, for God revealed it to them. (20) For the unseen things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being realized by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, for them to be without excuse.

Romans 10:18 MKJV But I say, Have they not heard? Yes indeed, their voice went out into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

This last quote is Paul quoting Psalm 19 which concerns the general revelation of God to man (particularly in Creation). So the word goes out, but it is not heard because of the hardness of heart and the dullness of the spiritual senses of humankind. Jesus states this directly in a question and answer interlude in the middle of the parable of the sower:

Matthew 13:10-15 MKJV And the disciples said to Him, Why do You speak to them in parables? (11) He answered and said to them, Because it is given to you to

know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. (12) For whoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whoever does not have, from him shall be taken away even that which he has. (13) Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not; nor do they understand. (14) And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which said, "By hearing you shall hear and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive; (15) for this people's heart has become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."

In the justice of God all must hear. So the Sower must sow, even on the hard soil and in the stony places. But the justice of God also operates on how we hear. Those who are spiritually receptive will receive even more, while those who turn away from the gospel will have even what they have taken from them!

This leads to my second question “Why is the Devil allowed to mess with our spiritual growth?” The Devil does not mess with those who have a good heart, but with the others he is very successful: a) stealing away the word from their minds, b) discouraging folk so they quickly give up on the Christian life and c) distracting then with concerns over money and the things of this life.

Why do such tests come? Does God want people to perish? Certainly not! His will is that none should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). But God wants us to develop true faith and true faith must necessarily be tested. Those tests may involve suffering and other challenges to our priorities in life.

The first test is – do we care at all about spiritual things? Do we want to learn? Do we even realize we have a problem with sin and need to change? If we don't care less about spiritual things the Devil has an easy job. He just picks up the seed of the Word from our hearts and minds and flies away with it. It's gone, never to bother us again.

The second test is – do we really believe that God is good even when life is bad? Is our faith precious to us? This is the test of persecution and hard times which come because of the Word. If we throw away our faith when life becomes difficult then we never really valued it in the first place.

The third test is – do we value God enough to make Him first and foremost, even above our worldly concerns and daily priorities? And do we believe that He is sufficient for every need – or will we try and do everything in our own strength? This is the test of

'the cares of this world' – of anxieties and worldly pursuits. If we are God absorbed we can get the eternal perspective and focus on the Kingdom and on His righteousness, but if we are self-absorbed then we cannot focus on such things or bear much fruit at all.

These three are the tests of our priorities and of our true faith. God wants real saints who depend on Him for all things and who have godly priorities. The quality of our souls is proved by the quantity of our testing.

Jesus allowed Peter to be severely tested:

Luke 22:31-32 MKJV And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired you, that he may sift you as wheat. (32) But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not. And when you are converted, strengthen your brothers.

The testing broke Peter completely so that he wept bitterly, yet after he had been restored by Jesus (meeting Him on the shores of Lake Galilee) Peter became a much greater and more gracious servant of the Lord.

It seems that there is more to it than just testing. The testing can produce change in the nature of the soil. It can deepen it like a plow does when it breaks open a new field of ground. Many a person has said “I used to be a shallow Christian until I was broken and now I have a much deeper and more real Christian faith”.

This helps us to answer the third question – can the nature of the soil be changed or is it fixed and hopeless? As one who has battled with shallow topsoil and lots of clay in his own small garden I can tell you that soil can be changed! You create lots of compost and dig it in. Eventually even totally useless soil can grow a productive fruit tree. The farmers of Israel knew this as well. They knew the soil of their lives could change – it just takes a lot of work.

This leads to our fourth question – what does it mean to bear much fruit? The first place to go is to Galatians:

Galatians 5:22-23 MKJV But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, (23) meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

The most important fruit of Christ within us is Christ-like character. If we are so busy in ministry that we are impatient, unkind, unloving, restless, peace-less and unable to suffer the slightest inconvenience at all – then we are out of God's will. We need to slow down, take Sabbaths, spend time in prayer and get back our godliness.

Perhaps this is related to what Jesus meant when he addressed some with powerful ministries of exorcism and prophecy and said to them 'Depart from me ye workers of iniquity for I never knew you'. They seem to have gone off track ethically and in their character and in their doctrine (Matthew 7:16-23). Quantity cannot replace quality.

That is also why Paul says that working in precious things of quality (gold, silver, precious stones) is more important than having low quality structures made out of wood, hay and stubble which will be burned up on Judgment Day (1 Cor 3:10-15).

A lesser known verse is: Ephesians 5:9 MKJV (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth),

Here the ethical aspects are emphasized – goodness and righteousness and truth. The fruitful person is the truthful person. See also Hebrews 12:11 and James 3:18 which talk about 'the fruit of righteousness'. The righteous and good life is the fruitful life.

Similarly Romans talks about 'bearing fruit to holiness': Romans 6:22 MKJV But now, being made free from sin, and having become slaves to God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end everlasting life.

The fruit of your life is primarily found in the quality of your character.

The final question is: How can some bear thirty-fold, sixty-fold and a hundred-fold? A good character produces abundant good works, just as a gentle person does many gentle deeds of kindness and a patient loving person makes many feel accepted by God and by man. The good works flow from the good character like oranges from an orange tree.

A wise person of good character does more good works than an unwise person of the same good character because he or she thinks carefully about how to do things best. This is what Paul means when he writes:

Ephesians 5:15-17 MKJV See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, (16) redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (17) Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Goodness finds its maximum fruitfulness when wisdom is added to the mixture.

Jesus tells us that prayer is part of producing the abundant and fruitful life:

John 15:7-8 MKJV If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you. (8) In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you shall be My disciples.

If the Christian is of good character and abides in God's will and commandments then prayer becomes a multiplying factor. It enables the obedient saint to 'ask whatever you will' for the glory of God.

So the fruit God seeks is the fruit of a good character, doing good works in all wisdom, and prayerfully asking God for even more fruit for the glory of God the Father. That is the 'hundredfold' life!

The Small Important Things

John 15:12 MKJV This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

I just read a friend's blog today (ponderworthy.org) – full of poetry and ideas and emotions. Not a huge ministry, but to those who are part of it, very “real' and very much part of their lives, a place to share. A bible study group that is 'real' can be a greater ministry than a mega-church that is shallow.

There is a wonderful Greek word in the NT ( allelown) – “one another”. There are over 30 commands featuring this word. Commands such as 'wash one another's feet', 'love one another', 'be of the same mind toward one another', pray for one another and so forth.

This 'one another' life is supposed to be active. At no point in the Bible do I see the command 'just sit next to one another and be quiet for that is your whole duty in church'.

If we are to encourage one another, comfort one another, love one another fervently from the heart and wash one another's feet – then we need to be in small groups. You simply cannot do this in a 'meeting'. The Christian life is not just about glory filled meetings. It's about glory-filled relationships and glory-filled lives.

These small places in which we can be real and authentic and give and receive the love of Jesus Christ are at the very heart of the Kingdom of God. The small acts of kindness are what touch lives and turn them around. Twice in my life I have been saved from deep almost suicidal despair by such acts of kindness. One was a birthday card when I was desperately lonely, the other was someone bringing me a hamburger when I was feeling at my very lowest after a broken relationship. These small acts, that these people hardly thought about, are part of the reason I am still here and ministering today. You may have similar stories in your own life.

We need a lot more than information and emails if we are to grow in God. We need human love. We need encouragement, hope, and counsel. We need the reality of another human being 'being there for us'.

When Jesus loved people He loved each one individually. He did not say “Oh that's just another blind guy, bring him here and we will do the opening of the eyes thing”. Jesus knew names of people like Bartimeus, Mary, Martha and Lazarus. He

ate with them, stayed with them and got to know them. His disciples did not just sit in rows in a classroom – they lived with Jesus, walked with Jesus and got into boats with Jesus.

The small things are often the big things. To the thief on the cross Jesus said: “Today you will be with Me in Paradise”. Just a single sentence to a dying man – and it made all the difference in the world.

When Jesus told His disciples: John 15:12 MKJV This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you He was not talking about programs and buildings. The next line makes that clear - John 15:13 MKJV No one has greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

We have retreated far from self-sacrificing, foot-washing, life-giving love! And our retreat has been into what? Into ourselves and our materialism? Into 'not bothering'? We have to start bothering. We have to start doing the small acts of kindness and love that the whole Kingdom of God is built upon. Jesus was 'moved with compassion' and we should be too! And not just to people in far-off places on mission trips (though that is also good) but to those closest to us, those right next to us who are hurting and lonely and desperate.

Our bible study should lead us into acts of love. It should get us to reflect on what it means to “love one another as I have loved you”. Paul wrote to Timothy, the pastor of the church at Ephesus about what the goal of ministry was: 1 Timothy 1:5 MKJV But the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned,

This kind of love and maturity is built into us by other people who care for us. Nobody is matured in a theater, nobody becomes strong just by watching someone on a stage! We have to live out our faith and love in true relationship and in small daily actions that are full of the love of Christ.

Now God gives us plenty of opportunities to live out our faith by placing needy people directly in our path; just like Lazarus who lay day and night at the gate of the rich man. The poor will always be with us because God places them among us to see how we will react to them. Are we kind, compassionate, forbearing and caring? How do we react to the disabled, the mentally ill, and those with lives full of torment and confusion? That tells us a great deal about how real our faith is: James 1:27 MKJV Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Bumper stickers and big black bibles are not the same as living faith that results in good works at the daily individual level of Christian community. God has saved us by grace but also in His grace he has made us new creations to do good works that He has prepared beforehand for us to do:

Ephesians 2:8-10 MKJV For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, (9) not of works, lest anyone should boast. (10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.

Most of these good works are 'ordinary' in that God places us right in front of our nose, because He has for ordained that we should walk in them. When your wife needs companionship or your son needs you to hear him out, that is a good work that God has put in front of you for you to do. It might not seem 'religious' but it is good.

Think back over your life – it is these small acts of care that have mattered most. Whether your parents loved you or neglected you, whether your boss appreciated you or did not appreciate you, whether people took time to genuinely care about you, or whether they just passed on by. Go to any funeral and listen to the stories people tell. The stories are not about how many bridges that person built or about how many books they wrote or even about how much money they made – but about who they were as a person, and how they touched human lives.

Do you want your children to say: “We never really got to know our Dad because he was just so busy with the church all the time?”. Stop and think about the small important things, the relational things, the acts of kindness, love, encouragement and foot-washing. Think of the service that you can perform because it is in these small scale acts that you will find the true Kingdom of God.

The Woman Bent Double

The Woman Bent Double

Luke 13:10-17 EMTV Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. (11) And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bent over and was not able to straighten herself up. (12) And seeing her, Jesus called her to Him and said, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity." (13) And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and was glorifying God. (14) But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, "There are six days in which one should work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day." (15) The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? (16) So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, lo, these eighteen years, should she not be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?" (17) And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things which were done by Him.

What does the woman do in order to be healed? Nothing. She is just an ordinary person with no special qualities that are mentioned in Scripture, not even faith. The only thing that Scripture mentions is her need. Her long-suffering, her pain and humiliation, her spiritual affliction at the hands of the Devil! Jesus sees the need and He has compassion!

God is good to us, not because we are good, or because we have great faith, or because we have done a special good deed, or “sown a seed” in an offering plate - but because He is good. No one who was healed by Jesus had to first give an offering. We cannot buy God, impress God or deserve God. God loves us first and is good to us first.

Goodness comes from God because He is compassionate, merciful, kind and faithful. Your miracle is already in God's heart. God fills our emptiness and blesses our neediness. He gives faith to the poor. The meek inherit the earth. Those who mourn are comforted.

Miracles are not 'deserved'. You cannot earn a miracle. Miracles are God's gracious initiative that come from His love. This includes the miracle of salvation:

1 John 4:9-10 MKJV In this the love of God was revealed in us, because God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. (10) In this is

love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation concerning our sins.

1 John 4:19 MKJV We love Him because He first loved us.

Lazarus did nothing to deserve resurrection except to lie wrapped in cloths in the grave! The demoniac of Gadara was in a terrible state of multiple possession. Legion had no faith, no virtue and no sanity – yet Jesus delivered him! And the Israelites in Egypt were not delivered because of their greatness for they were the least of all peoples (Deut. 7:7,8) nor because of their goodness - for they were “stiff-necked people” (Deut. 9:6). The Israelites were delivered because of their groaning and great bondage and because of God's faithfulness to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ex. 3:6-9).

Our need is the point at which God's grace meets our life. In fact we only receive as much grace as we think we need! In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax-collector in Luke 18, the Pharisee who thinks he needs nothing receives nothing, while the humble and needy tax collector who knows he needs everything goes home justified before God! The woman bent double turned up at the synagogue because she knew that she needed God! And God met her need! Miracles come to those who know they need them!

Hebrews 4:16 MKJV Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The unconditional love of God infuriates the ruler of the synagogue. Instead of rejoicing at grace, he argues with grace. Like the 'elder brother' in the parable of the Prodigal Son he is annoyed at God's goodness to another and explodes in rage - picking the Sabbath issue as his point of complaint.

Spiritual pride and religious envy is everywhere. God's grace, we think, should be rationed out to those who most deserve it. We can be envious of God's blessing on another servant of God – so we find fault with their dress or their doctrine or their level of income or the style of their church building. Or we can wonder why the new Christian got the healing, while we lack a miracle, and so we find some occasion to 'put them in their place'. This is plain wrong; God is huge and His grace is infinite. There is plenty for all and we should not be jealous of His goodness to another. In the parable of the vineyard owner the first laborers are paid the same denarius as the last and the owner (God) replies:

Matthew 20:15-16 MKJV Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with my own? Is your eye evil because I am good? (16) So the last shall be first, and the first last, for many are called, but few are chosen.

Jesus deals with the Sabbath issue swiftly by pointing out that if we release an ox from its bondage and water it on the Sabbath, then how much more should the woman be able to be released from her long bondage and given living water on the Sabbath.

The bondage was Satanic. It was a 'spirit of infirmity”, a bondage from Satan that held her for eighteen years. It was not her fate, or her cross, or her instrument for teaching and growth. It was devilish, crippling, painful, humiliating and demonic. Jesus got rid of it because it was an evil thing. God does not want anyone to be 'bent over' and held in bondage. God wants you free. God wants you to stand straight and tall. No matter what your bondage is, Jesus wants you to be released from that bondage into His image!

Jesus told her that she was free – and she was! Jesus laid hands upon her and she was healed!

(12) And seeing her, Jesus called her to Him and said, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity." (13) And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and was glorifying God.

God speaks to you, God touches you and you are free and you rejoice and glorify Him!

The woman rejoices, and the crowds rejoice (v17) and all the crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things which were done by Him. But those who oppose grace are put to shame! And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame;

If you are on the side of grace you will rejoice as others are set free. If you are opposed to grace you will weep and wail at the wisdom of God! You will envy His goodness and snarl at His mercy. You will say 'but she was not worthy'! But grace is NOT about worthiness. Grace is a gift. A free gift, given by God, as He wills and as He chooses:

Romans 9:15-16 MKJV For He said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." (16) So then it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of God, the One showing mercy.

Romans 11:6 ESV But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Ephesians 2:8-9 MKJV For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, (9) not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Do not despair – if you are saved you are one of those that God has chosen to have mercy and compassion on - and with Christ He will give you all good things:

Romans 8:31-34 MKJV What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (32) Truly He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (33) Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies. (34) Who is

he condemning? It is Christ who has died, but rather also who is raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

If you feel like the woman bent double, if you feel that your life is being lived at a level far below what it should be, and that you are in bondage to Satan in your mind, in your body, in your spirit, or in the habits and patterns of your life - then now is the time for deliverance!

You must believe that God loves you, that He wants to set you free and that He will deliver you just as you are, in the very state that you are in now, without having to improve at all. Just like the Israelites in Egypt or Lazarus in the tomb, or Legion among the graves, or the woman bent double the word of God and the touch of Jesus can set you free right now, just as you are, while you read these very words.

Mustard Seed Ministry

There are five references to 'mustard-seeds' in the Bible, in two contexts. One referring to the Kingdom of God, and the other to our faith:

Kingdom of God

Matthew 13:31-32 MKJV He put out another parable to them, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; (32) which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.

Mark 4:30-32 ESV And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? (31) It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, (32) yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."

Luke 13:18-19 ESV He said therefore, "What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? (19) It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches."

Faith

Matthew 17:20 MKJV And Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief. For truly I say to you, If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Move from here to there. And it shall move. And nothing shall be impossible to you.

Luke 17:6 ESV And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

Yellow mustard seed is extremely small and fine, almost like flour. It is sold online at “100 mesh and up”. Which means the largest particle is 149 microns in diameter which is approximately 0.006 inches. This is around twice the thickness of a human hair. Black mustard seed is larger, about the size of the head of a pin. The resulting shrub can grow 12 to 15 feet high (4-5 meters).

In ancient Jewish thought the mustard seed was the smallest thing that had any real existence. It was, in some ways, their idea of the 'atom' or basic particle size. The mustard seed was also seen as a symbol of the humble ego. The thing that did not boast of itself.

The Roman historian Pliny describes the ancient mustard plant: With its pungent taste and fiery effect, mustard is extremely beneficial for the health It grows entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted: but on the other hand, when it has once been sown, it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once. (Pliny, "Natural History" 19.170-171)

Later (around 200 AD) the Mishnah forbade the planting of mustard seeds in domestic gardens because the tiny seeds would be spread everywhere by the wind (including the neighbor's yard) and the seeds would 'germinate at once” (in 3-10 days in cold moist soil) in turn producing a new mustard plant which would repeat the process until it was totally out of control like a noxious weed.

The Kingdom metaphors are obvious: small beginnings, becomes large, spreads everywhere, out of control, impossible to eradicate, blown by the wind of the Spirit, immediate propagation, 3 days in the earth (grave) before new life, fiery, pungent, cleansing, healing.

A mustard-seed ministry starts small and is full of faith and of the life of God so that it rapidly propagates in bible studies, small cell groups, house churches and is 'blown by the wind of the Spirit' to start in new places and spread new life there as well. Soon these small bible studies become churches on their own so that people can come and be at home there and they can be places of spiritual rest.

Mustard-seed ministry is fiery and holy and pungent and healing. It brings the gifts and the power of the Spirit to bear. It moves mountains and uproots the established order of evil and oppression and casts it into the sea.

Mustard-seed ministry is always counter-cultural to some extent. It is the outbreak of the Kingdom of God amongst the kingdoms of this world. It upsets the principalities and powers of wickedness that seek to control the governments, religions, media and business operations of this world.

The mustard-seed is small and humble and planted in the earth, the very opposite of the boastful self-exalting sin if the Devil who sought to set his throne 'above the most High' (Isaiah 14:13,14). Yet this radical humility brings great vitality and fruitfulness and in the end the mustard-seed becomes a substantial sized tree. The seed does not remain small forever. The idea is to get as many saved as possible. So God scatters many mustard-seeds, blown by the wind, and makes each into a large tree.

The tree with the 'birds of the air' nesting in it is used as an image of human empires in Ezekiel 31:3-6 (where it refers to Assyria) and Daniel 4:12 (where it refers to Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon). In both cases the birds of the air are the

people of the many lands that are conquered. In Ezekiel 17:23 the twig that becomes a great tree is the Messiah and the great tree is the Kingdom of God.

Ezekiel 17:22-24 ESV Thus says the Lord GOD: "I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. (23) On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar. And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest. (24) And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the LORD; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it."

My interpretation of this is that Ezekiel 17 refers to the Kingdom of God as a whole. This shall be massive and will defeat great empires such as Assyria and Babylon. In the end the Kingdom of God will be the 'stone cut without hands' that shatters the kingdoms of this world (Daniel 2). Within the Kingdom of God as a whole are many different mustard-seed ministries which are planted by the Holy Spirit. These can be in all stages of growth from just germinating bible studies to well established churches.

The common thing about all these mustard-seed ministries is that they have 'mustard-seed faith'. They do not move in the flesh. Instead they rely on the word of God and prayer. They see themselves firstly as spiritual organizations with a spiritual inner dynamic. They may need to consult architects, engineers, accountants and lawyers but they are not controlled by them in the same way as a human corporation would be.

Their leader is God, first and foremost and while there is leadership, and it is respected and financially supported, they do not look to any man or woman as a mediator between them and God. Their eyes are on Christ.

The mustard-seed analogy is very potent as we approach the End Times. We need to quickly propagate the gospel if the task is to be achieved. We cannot (metaphorically) wait for tiny acorns to turn into mighty oaks which then take 20 to 70 years to produce the first acorns of their own. That is the institutional model and it won't evangelize the world in time. We need to spread the gospel like a holy weed that plants itself everywhere and which cannot be eradicated. This will come about as we develop explosive faith, spiritual sensitivity to God's timing and methods and boldness in proclamation.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS LIKE LEAVEN

Matthew 13:33 ESV He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened."

There is a Greek word play here. Leaven (yeast) = zeo, whereas the word for God's life is zoe. The same letters in a different order, an anagram. So the leaven is the all-pervading eternal life of God working through the soul of the believer and then throughout society as a whole.

The three loaves are possibly, on an individual level the body, soul and spirit - and on the societal level the three divisions of mankind in the ancient world (sons of Shem, Ham and Japeth).

The woman in this parable, is the Church, the bride of Christ, which does the hard work both of getting the gospel into the hearts of men and women and of spreading the gospel throughout the nations of the world.

Since leaven was a well-known symbol of spiritual contamination and is associated with everything from immorality to hypocrisy, malice and evil (Deuteronomy 16:4, Matthew 16:6,11,12; 1 Corinthians 5:1-8; Galatians 5:9) it then seems a very unusual choice for a symbol of the Kingdom of God! Leaven symbolized the pernicious, corrupting nature of sin that could start small and then defile a whole church or society.

Jesus however used it in the opposite sense – of how a small amount of good could influence and take over a whole society!! This actually happened with the Roman Empire.

One of the things we need to understand about the Kingdom of God is that it cannot be defiled. It has too much life and power for that! When Jesus touched a dead person He was not defiled – rather the dead person was raised to life! When a woman with an issue of blood touched Jesus, Jesus was not defiled, rather the woman was made whole. When Jesus reached out to a leper, He was not made unclean, instead the leper was made clean and new. And when Jesus was offered as a sin offering on the cross and took all the sins, all the pain, all the sickness and all the uncleanness of the world on Himself -He still rose from the dead!

Thus when faithful Spirit-filled Christians are mixed into society, it is not the Christian that will be defiled – but rather society that will be influenced and transformed (providing that we stand firm in our faith and do not compromise). There is no food, drink or circumstance that 'automatically' taints us if we are seeking to be holy. We can reach out to lepers and to broken hurting people without fear of spiritual defilement.

Paul put the possibility of our victory over evil this way: Romans 12:21 ESV Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The abiding Spirit-filled Christian does not need to fear the world. Instead the world and its demons, powers and principalities should fear the powerful life of God that dwells in the heart of the believer!

Now the leaven has to be kneaded into the dough. So often we compartmentalize our faith and keep the leaven over in one part of our life, or the church over in one part of society unable to influence the rest. Every part of your life must be surrendered to God and filled with the transformational life of God.

Leaven is organic, exponential, fast-growing and powerful. My brother Peter and I found out just how powerful yeast is when as curious young boys we decided to have a go at making 'fermented orange juice wine'. We knew you needed orange juice and yeast and a bottle that could take the pressure. So we got an old champagne bottle from our parents,, two packets of baker's yeast and the orange juice and mixed it all together, wiring down the cork with an enormous amount of fencing wire.

A few hours later we went to check on it and found orange juice spurting out from under the cork and the wire stretched to breaking point. It was about to explode! Peter got some pliers and undid the wire. The cork flew out, juice sprayed everywhere, and the eaves of our house were covered with a revolting black mold that was impossible to remove. The yeast had quietly but powerfully created an enormous pressure inside.

This is the powerful hidden force of life. The force that disrupts the old order and even breaks through rocks and concrete. The leaven is 'hidden' in the flour. It is invisible at first but its effects soon take over, changing everything. A believer with the life of God within them will undergo an explosive transformation. Even though the gospel is hidden in the heart it will soon do its work and transform the whole person breaking up even the toughest areas of the human personality.

So we see the twin parables (mustard-seed and leaven) are about things regarded as pests because they were so rapidly propagating, powerful and all-invasive. The life of God is a powerful, explosive, world-invading force.

We have to have confidence in the Kingdom. We do not need to seal the leaven in a glass jar to protect it. Rather we are to mix it in. We are to get out there and encounter the powers and principalities being totally confident that we are the more powerful force.

The faith-filled believer knows that what he or she has can topple the walls of Jericho. There is a sense that our life is real and the world is just a shadow that is passing away. We are the agents of change, the quiet revolutionaries, the leaven and the mustard seed. The small, small, lively things that disrupt everything else.

LOAVES AND FISHES: CONSECRATION AND MULTIPLICATION

Luke 9:11-17 MKJV But knowing this, the crowds followed Him. And He received them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and He healed those who had need of healing. (12) But the day began to wear away, and coming up the Twelve said to Him, Send the crowd away so that they may go into the villages and farms all around, and lodge, and get food. For we are here in a deserted place. (13) But He said to them, You give them something to eat. And they said, We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people. (14) (For they were about five thousand men.) And He said to His disciples, Make them recline by fifties in a company. (15) And they did so, and made them all recline. (16) And He took the five loaves and the two fish. And looking up to Heaven, He blessed them and broke, and He gave to the disciples to set before the crowd. (17) And they ate and were all filled. And there was taken up twelve hand baskets full of fragments of that left over to them.

This story is repeated in all four gospels: Mark 6:35-44, Matthew 14:15-21, Luke 9:11-17 and John 6:5-15 , John's version adds the details of the small boy and the dialogue with Philip. It was a turning point in Jesus' popularity, after it some even wanted to make Him King by force (John 6:15).

There is an enormous need for Christ in the world, and the hour is late and evening is falling and the multitudes are hungry for the bread of life and Christ says to us ' go and feed them'. We cannot demur because we are only one, or few, or under-funded. For a small mustard-seed ministry, when blessed and consecrated, can 'feed the multitude' with the Word of God.

Jesus was not put off by the disciples questioning or by the lack of material resources. He had a lesson to teach them and a miracle to perform. His statement to the disciples 'you give them something to eat' was a deliberate test because Jesus knew all along what He would do (John 6:6). Jesus wanted them to appreciate the weight of the task, and to sense that it was impossible, before He made it possible.

The key to mustard-seed faith is believing that the impossible can be made possible. It is knowing that 'nothing is impossible with God' (Luke 1:37, Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27) and all things are possible to Him who believes (Matthew 17:20, Mark 9:23).

The resurrection is the greatest New Testament example of the impossible being made possible. In the Old Testament the conception of Isaac was an illustration of Abrahamic faith bringing the 'impossible' into reality. Other examples in the Bible include the parting of the Red Sea, the collapse of the walls of Jericho, the defeat of Goliath, the stilling of the storm on Lake Galilee and the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

Jesus constantly worked to increase the faith of His disciples and His sharpest rebuke was 'o ye of little faith' (Matthew 6:30, 8:26, 14:31,16:8). Jesus' main

method of teaching faith was via experience. Jesus would ask the disciples to do the impossible or put them into situations that were frightening, dangerous or increasingly difficult – such as encountering demon-possessed people who were so wild they could break chains. As they saw God's miraculous power demonstrated they grew in faith and eventually learned to walk in faith themselves.

In the miracle of the loaves and the fishes Jesus is asking the disciples to stick their necks out socially. The disciples get everyone into fifties, expecting to be fed, before there is any sign of food appearing. It would have been like having a family of six sit down for dinner, with plates and cutlery all out on the table, when all the food you have is one small potato chip. It would have felt incredibly risky, ridiculous and potentially embarrassing. It would have produced a situation of 'trust in the midst of tension'.

Trust in the midst of tension is an operational definition of how God grows us 'from faith to faith'. Mustard-seed ministries operate under constant tension over issues such as finances, security, spiritual attacks, workload, the need for volunteers etc. We have to trust God as we face problems that we are simply to small too solve on our own. The blessing of Jesus is the solution to our overwhelming sense of embarrassment and inadequacy when we are faced with the needs and demands of God's work.

It was as Jesus blessed and broke the bread that the miracle occurred. The blessing of Jesus on the loaves and fishes mirrors God's original blessing on Creation:

Genesis 1:22 ESV And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."

Notice the commands – “be fruitful and multiply and fill...” Blessing produces fruitfulness, multiplication and the potential to fill the designated area of operation (in this case the earth). With the loaves and fishes the area of operation was a crowd of 5000 people And they ate and were all filled. A blessed ministry – such as a church will 'fill' the people with the bread of life in the area of operation that God has assigned to it. We are not to be content with occupying a small patch of land when God has called us to fill a city or a region with the gospel!

Acts 5:28 MKJV (The High Priest) saying, Did we not strictly command you that you not teach in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood on us.

The out-poured revival blessing of Pentecost resulted in the first assigned territory (Jerusalem) being filled with the gospel and thousands coming to faith. Twelve consecrated men of God were enough to do the job.

So what does the story of the loaves and fishes teach us are the steps and stages to such blessing, to such multiplication and to the filling of our assigned territory?

1. Recognize the vast need

2. Recognize your own inadequacy to meet the need

3. Seek the solution from Jesus Christ

4. Do what He tells you even if it seems crazy, believe for the impossible to occur

5. Be part of the solution – consecrate yourself to distributing the loaves and fishes

6. Receive the blessing

7. Move outward to the people, confident in the blessing

8. See the miracle

9. Make sure everyone is filled

10. Measure the miracle (5000 men) and pick up the pieces (the 12 baskets)

Small ministries can have big impacts if they see the supernatural blessing of God on their 'loaves and fishes' - with all their heart.

JESUS AS THE MUSTARD SEED

John 1:14 MKJV And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth.

Jesus is the mustard-seed, the energetic life-source from which the whole Kingdom of God grows and spreads and becomes great. The Son of God, the Word of God, became flesh and dwelt among us and the name given to Him was Jesus, because He would save His people from their sins.

As a baby in the manger Jesus was insignificant, but as the mustard-seed of God, He was powerful, the King of Kings in swaddling clothes. He grew and became a man and dwelt unrecognized by the world until after His baptism. Then the mustard-seed blossomed and became a great tree and filled the whole earth.

Now all 'mustard-seed ministry' must be founded upon Christ. He must be the center of all that we do and say and teach and become. True ministry flows from who we are becoming in God. As we grow more and more into the image of Jesus Christ and go from glory to glory through the work of the Spirit, so the quality of our ministry increases in the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18 MKJV (18) But we all, with our face having been unveiled, having beheld the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord Spirit.

All our leadership, teaching, energy, and dignity flows out of being in the image of Jesus Christ. All our spiritual giftedness proceeds from the holy mustard-seed within us. All our righteousness, just-mindedness, and depth of character flows from Christ. We cannot construct such things on our own, they are imparted to us by

God. They are free gifts from Heaven given from the life of God dwelling in our the midst of our being.

Ministry has to proceed from the Spirit, it cannot be done in the flesh because the flesh has no knowledge of Christ or of holiness. It wants quantity when God wants quality. Look at the epistles! The apostolic concern is always with the quality and nature of the church and never even once with its numerical growth, its budget or its facilities.

In Acts, Luke reports numbers as historical facts but numbers are never central to what God demands of His ministers. Paul never writes to Timothy saying “you must witness to at least four people a day and bring at least two people to Christ a week”. Paul's concern is that Timothy stir up his gifts, teach the truth, walk in righteousness, flee youthful lusts and endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. These are all quality issues not quantity issues.

Whether Paul is writing to the Ephesians about being one in Christ Jesus or Peter is writing to the church elders telling them to shepherd the flock without compulsion - it is quality issues that count.

The issue is whether we are showing forth the life of Christ that has been planted within us, the 'seed' of the Word implanted in us.

1 Peter 1:22-25 ISV Now that you have obeyed the truth and have purified your souls to love your brothers sincerely, you must love one another intensely and with a pure heart. (23) For you have been born again, not by a seed that perishes but by one that cannot perish-by the living and everlasting word of God. (24) For "All human life is like grass, and all its glory is like a flower in the grass. The grass dries up and the flower drops off, (25) but the word of the Lord lasts forever." Now this word is the good news that was announced to you.

1 John 3:9 ISV No one who has been born from God practices sin, because God's seed abides in him. Indeed, he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born from God.

The Kingdom of God manifests itself as righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). these are inward qualities produced by the life of God dwelling in us; they are the fruit from the seed, and the seed is Christ:

Galatians 3:16 MKJV And to Abraham and to his Seed the promises were spoken. It does not say, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, "And to your Seed," which is Christ.

(the same Greek word family 'sperma' is used for mustard-seeds and for the Seed being Christ).

Christ is the incarnate Word, the Word is also the seed the sower sows, the Word is what saves us and that which plants the seed of God into us when we are born-again, and that divine seed within us, the holy mustard-seed, is Christ and from this small but eternal beginning we grow into maturity in all spiritual things.

It is not our human abilities that make a great ministry, rather it is our conformity to the image of God, our acceptance to being ruled by the life of Christ that is planted within our souls. When we get to Heaven our positions, possessions, looks and finances will be of no account. What will count, and what will be admired there is our likeness to our Lord.

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