WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.000 The big push I've given you over this time has been that the Word of God is a seed that a farmer plants, looking for good soil in which to plant the seed, 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:30.000 which means that you can have productive and unproductive sons and daughters in the kingdom, some accessing the power of the kingdom of God and some not accessing the power of the Kingdom of God at all, 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:40.000 accessing the exact same seed. And so what Jesus does is he starts to show us that there are characteristics of the Word of God 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:55.000 and he uses parables as stories to show us. And can I just say this and please hear what I'm saying? You can literally walk in as much power and revelation of the Kingdom of God as you choose, 00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:05.000 because our God does not withhold from a single person. So you'll walk in as much power, revelation, grace, freedom, forgiveness, authority as you choose. 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:20.000 And I will tell you, I'll preach this one day. But I think the biggest danger to the church is not Satan, it's lazy Christians. It's Christians who just do not own what the Bible shows us. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:35.000 But to those who do and who are diligent, you find that you land up in every new season reaping a harvest through 30, 60 hundredfold of what you've sowed. 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:50.000 You can never out give or out expect God when it comes to his kingdom because he's more committed to it than you and I are. God cannot ask you to be a good steward, and he's not. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:02:05.000 And he will be a good steward of His Word. He'll be a good steward of his promises. He'll be a good steward of everything he's ever spoken to you and I, as long as we partner and we walk with him. 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:20.000 And the Scriptures use text like keep in step with the Holy Spirit, seek first the kingdom of God, etc. That kind of language. So for this morning, characteristics of the Word. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:35.000 When the Word the seed gets implanted in your life, characteristic number one, you can expect it divides soul and spirit. Mark closes this series of Jesus parables with these words. 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:50.000 In Mark 4:33, Jesus used many similar stories and illustrations to teach people as much as they could understand, as much as they could understand. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:03:05.000 Their understanding was open to the degree their ears were open. Would you say that's true of all of life? Your understanding is open to the degree your ears are open. 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:20.000 And notice that Jesus speaks the Word in parables. One word, many parables. What is the one word? W O R D what is the one word? Jesus preached more than any other? 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:35.000 It is the kingdom of God, just Google it. Not right now. I want you to concentrate. But if you just Google it right now, you will discover that the one thing Jesus spoke more than anything else was the kingdom of God. 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:50.000 He announced the kingdom, demonstrated the kingdom, preached the kingdom, and told us to enter the kingdom by being born again. The kingdom of God is a big deal to Jesus. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:04:05.000 And I just want to say, as I do the series, I'm still doing the intro and I'm in week seven. I understand how long it is. If you ever just look books on the kingdom of God, just search it, 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:20.000 you will find there are thousands of books describing the kingdom of God. And there are some outstanding books all about that thick, each volume trying to understand the kingdom of God 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:35.000 because it was the primary source material of Jesus preaching. And so you have to. If you want to know what Jesus understood about the kingdom, you actually have to start in Genesis, 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:50.000 because Jesus wasn't talking to a Gentile community. He was talking to the people of God who understood kingdom. And you and I have got to, in a sense, go back there. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:05:05.000 So whether you're reading George Eldon Ladd or whoever, the volumes are this thick. If I were to preach on the kingdom of God, I'm telling you now, it would probably take me about eight years. 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:20.000 I'm not joking. And I don't think I'd finish preaching on Sundays just as the important source material available. So what did Jesus do? Because he obviously knows what we're going to face. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:35.000 He takes parables, he takes little stories, and he says, if you grasp some of these stories, you actually get the whole kingdom. And I'm a farmer, and you're a farmer. 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:50.000 And I'm the farmer who takes seed and gives it to you. And you're the farmer who takes the seed and puts it in your heart. And if your heart's good and your ears to open and you're responsive, 00:05:50.000 --> 00:06:05.000 I will bless that seed and that seed will produce a harvest for you. How many times? Every time. To him who has ears to hear, Jesus said to him or her who have ears to hear, Jesus said. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:20.000 And that's why the Christian race that we run is always one towards Jesus. And you need to understand that the level of fruitfulness that you experience is 100% determined by the state of your own soil before your king. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:35.000 I hope you're hearing me. Jesus spoke in parables. The word of God is God speaking. And let's take a good look at the word. Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 12 is described as being the most analytical verse of any in the Bible, 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:50.000 laying out what we mean when we talk about the Word of God. And analytical means logical. So when you look at what. How can you best describe what the Word of God does? 00:06:50.000 --> 00:07:05.000 It's given to us by the writer, to the Hebrews in chapter 4, verse 12. We all know the passage well, so let me read it. For the Word of God is alive and powerful. 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:20.000 It is sharper than the sharpest two edged sword cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. What is the point of the Word coming into your life? It's to separate and it's to divide. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:35.000 It's to cut. The point of the Word coming in. The first thing the Word does when it hits you is show you where you are and show you who you are. 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:50.000 And that's why we always say you don't read your Bible. Your Bible reads you when you sit. I just want to say the words. I want to say the Word. I just want to tell you the Word says I shut up. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:08:05.000 It doesn't matter what you think the Word says. Are you living what the Word of God says with the resulting fruit? Opinions are many. The issue is, are we allowing the Word of God to read us 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:20.000 because it ends with these words. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. And I want to tell you, most people never get close enough to you to figure out what your innermost thoughts and desires are. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:35.000 Can I say this often? You and I don't know because the heart is deceptively wicked. We don't even know what our innermost thoughts and desires are. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:50.000 The the problem is the weeds and the wheat that's growing up together is a fruit of that stuff. And if we don't know it, we're struggling here and there. On the outside we look so pretty. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:09:05.000 On the inward we are. And there's a whole lot of stuff going on. And what the Lord wants to show us is the power of the seed, the power of the Word of God as it gets in there. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:20.000 The Word of God is alive and powerful. This is scary. It is sharper than the sharpest two edged sword cutting between soul and spirit, between joints and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:35.000 When God speaks a word, it has a unique quality. You know what? It's living. The Word of God is alive. Other translations use the word instead of living. They say it is quick. 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:50.000 The word quickens. Have you ever heard that? And it's meaning like the quick of your thumbnail. It's the place at the bottom of a fingernail that's still Alive, you're quick. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:10:05.000 You press at the top. It ain't sore. Do it to your neighbour, it's not sore. But when you press the quick, it hurts because it's alive. And he's saying the word of God is alive. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:20.000 The word of God quickens. It has a response inside of you and I. It is living. It's powerful. It's sharp enough to divide the parts of the mind and the personality from one another. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:35.000 When it says cutting between soul and spirit, it's a delicious phrase. You can look into a bit. Divides between soul and spirit. The soul is described as the fundamental life principle of any individual person given by God. 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:50.000 It makes your mind and your body function. Your soul is you. In a sense. The spirit is the element, especially given by God, that holds the soul and the mind together in relation to him. 00:10:50.000 --> 00:11:05.000 So a person who's not born again has a mind and has a soul, it has a body, it has all of that. But it has no relation to God. To foreign gods maybe, but not to God, because that person's spirit is dead. 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:20.000 It's only when that spirit becomes alive in which you're born again that the body and the soul is brought back into friendship and relationship with God. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:35.000 For how many of you listening to me today would you have had it that when the Bible was preached or the word of God was given, you couldn't care until the moment you got born again and suddenly everything in you came alive. 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:50.000 Your spirit connects your body and your soul to the king who made you. In the Bible, the soul is referred to as the whole person. It encompasses mind, will, emotions. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:12:05.000 The spirit is the divine inner part of the person, connecting you to God and allowing for spiritual awareness. Are you okay? When Jesus said, when he died, he said, father, I entrust my spirit to you. 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:20.000 Father, I give you my spirit. He didn't say his body or his soul. I give you my spirit. When God describes himself In John chapter 4, verse 24, he says God is spirit. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:35.000 God is spirit, not soul, body. In defining God, he is spirit. And what's interesting is the soul and the spirit occupy any space invisible to the naked eye. 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:50.000 Even under a microscope, set to the highest power, it can't be seen. Even the sharpest and most intricate knife can't separate them. You can't find them, but the word of God can. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:13:05.000 You can be in any situation and you open the word of God and this living power gets into the soul of a person and separates soul and and spirit. 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:20.000 And whenever Jesus speaks a word to you from the Bible in A quiet time from a preacher, whatever, when he speaks a word, the word's coming in to cut between soul and spirit every time. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:35.000 Which is why Jesus said, pay attention. If you have ears to hear, you need to hear. When the word of God comes into the midst of a person's life or comes into a group or a home cell or a church environment, 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:50.000 the word of God is so sharp, it divides, distinguishes, it clarifies the difference between what is spiritual and what is simply an expression of an individual's own strength and life. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:14:05.000 Now, you and I listen to this today. We think, what? Where is this going? Come on, get on to some other stuff. We know all this. Do you know that to Jesus, the apostles and the early church, 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:20.000 this was very important because they had to figure out, in terms of growing a new church, the early church, what is being birthed in the soul and what is being birthed in the Spirit, 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:35.000 what is coming from below and what is coming from above. Because Jesus only builds what his Father gives, nothing else. We see a huge difference in the condition, the health, the power, 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:50.000 the influence of the early church in the times of the apostles compared to most of church history. And that difference is seen in the power of the Spirit. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:15:05.000 You see, for the early church, it was important to distinguish what is the work of the Spirit and what is the work of the flesh, because the work of the flesh amounts to nothing. 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:20.000 And the Word of God distinguishes between the two. You've heard passages like build on the rock and don't build on the sand. And you know, we've heard all those things. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:35.000 It is God warning us that when a word is comes to you, it's going to do a dividing work before it does anything else. And you hold on to what God gives and not what the enemy does. 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:50.000 You got to understand, the word of God comes into a person's life and suddenly all things are made open. The world runs away from the word of God. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:16:05.000 Go into a coffee shop tomorrow, act intelligent, open up marks, or, you know, anyone clever and open up that book with a cup of coffee. And you know, always sit a certain way and start to read and see who's watching. 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:20.000 You read your book, and they're all impressed with you. Open a Bible, watch. It's like you got the plague even in your workplace. Just open a Bible, start to use the word of God immediately there's discomfort 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:35.000 because that word comes to divide, doesn't come to unite, it comes to divide. Have you ever noticed, even when it comes to a subject like sin, the world doesn't Know what to do with sin, isn't it? 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:50.000 You and I know that we are born and bred in sin. And we know that sin is destructive. And we know that we can go to a God who always forgives, always welcomes, always heals, always forgives. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:17:05.000 We know that when King David took a census, remember, and he was going to be judged for it, he had a choice between falling into the hands of man with two options or the hands of God. 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:20.000 And he said, I'd rather fall into the hands of God than the hands of man. Why? Because. Because God is always kind. I know I can always go to God. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:35.000 I know no matter what I do in my life, because that's what we. The Word of God separates soul and spirit. And where the soul would condemn and judge, the Spirit says, I know to go back to my dad. 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:50.000 I know to go back to my Father. That's why the door is always open for you and I. We're not perfect, but our God looks after us. And the point is that the Word, the seed of God is there to help us. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:18:05.000 It divides. It shows us the difference between what is God doing in your life and mine, and what am I doing in my life. What am I inadvertently feeding that's producing weeds that look just like wheat 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:20.000 until harvest when I don't even know the difference? The Word of God is there to help us. That which is spirit originates by God in your inner being. Because God speaks to you through His Word, which releases faith. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:35.000 I'll get there. Now. Now. But whatever is soulish, whatever originates with man does not please God, doesn't carry his power, doesn't carry his approval. 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:50.000 And the implication for that today is this. The Holy Spirit becomes your counselor, your friend, your helper, your advocate. He helps you to walk by the Spirit, not by the flesh. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:19:05.000 It's the Holy Spirit who takes the power of the Word of God, the seed of. Of the Word of God, and plants it in good soil so that it can produce good fruit. 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:20.000 The Holy Spirit, friends, will always deal with heart, attitudes and motives. The Holy Spirit will always help you to treat the Word well and to treat people well, 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:35.000 to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself. It will always originate there. So Jesus was saying, when you want to understand the kingdom, 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:50.000 please allow the seed in, to come in and do whatever it wants to do. Sometimes it liberates you, sometimes makes you uncomfortable, sometimes it challenges you. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:20:05.000 But allow the Word of God to be living and active. Allow this book to shape you by its very power. When God gives you a Word. I got a word. I received a word. I just. I got a word for you. 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:20.000 We are too flippant in how we say we have a word. I've got a word. Who's got a word? Do you have a word? I got a word. I almost think we will never do this, 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:35.000 but I almost think it's something that. I got a word. I want to write it down. I want to look at your life over the next 12 months to see what you did with that word you said you got. 00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:50.000 Because the word of God, he looks after to perform it. I think so many times, it's safer to say, I think I heard a word. Maybe I heard a word. Could be. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:21:05.000 Because when you know you got one, it will produce something and I think you're responsible for it. Remember, the centurion came to Jesus and said, I too am a man under authority. 00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:20.000 I tell that person, go, he goes. I tell that person, come, he comes. So don't come to my house. Just speak a word. And Jesus said, I've never seen such great faith speak a word. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:35.000 You have no idea how the spirit hovers over you. Your family, your life, your business. And you have no idea how the spirit of God wants to release word and power and plans and purposes over you 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:50.000 if you just hold onto them. That's all. Number one, thank you for your radical excitement here this morning. Got to tell these people not to put the lemon in. I'm going to choke on it one day. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:22:05.000 And that's not a word. So when the word of God comes into your life, the first thing it does, it separates soul and spirit. The second thing we know. 00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:20.000 I can see we're not going to get past point three, is the word is living and intentional. The word of God bringing the kingdom of God is a power that's present in the Word. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:35.000 You see in Psalm 107, the people of Israel were in a mess. They drifted away from God in rebellion. They get judged and all this. And then God speaks a word to them. 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:50.000 From Psalm 107. 15. Let me read it to you. Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them. For he broke down their prison gates of bronze. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:23:05.000 He cut apart their bars of iron. Some were fools. They rebelled and suffered for their sins. They couldn't stand the thought of food. They were knocking on death's door. 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:20.000 Lord, help. They cried in their trouble. And he saved them from their distress. He sent out his word and he healed them, snatching them from the door of death. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:35.000 Friends, as we go into our new season. I would love you to read those verses again and again and again and again and again. There are millions of people who have drifted far from God in their rebellion, 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:50.000 where there are bars of iron that separate them from God and they cannot get to him. And they're at death's door and the only thing they can say is, lord, help me. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:24:05.000 Are you there? I don't know. And they're crying out and God says his word is living, it is intentional. And he says, I want to send my word to heal them. 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:20.000 I want to save them from their distress. I want to snatch them from the door of death. And part of what we do through the preaching of the Word to the world is when they hear this word, 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:35.000 it's living and it's intentional. Like a heat seeking missile, it goes for them. And that's why we tell you, bring your friends to church. Can I say this? And I'm so sorry it's on air. 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:50.000 But inviting your friends to church is the biggest setup in history. Because when they get here and they arrive, they are disarmed. And the word of God, the living, intentional word of God, 00:24:50.000 --> 00:25:05.000 like a heat seeking missile, gets in there and crashes open doors of iron. Resistant people, they may not cross the line on week one, but resistant people, 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:20.000 their lives are made open through the power. And you know, it's separating soul and spirit. You know, it's living and intentional. And all you do is get your friends into a place where the word of God is preached. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:35.000 And God starts to mess them up. Isn't it beautiful? He gets inside there and they come struggling and fighting. I don't want to go to church. That's not so bad. I had. 00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:50.000 And God starts to. Do you notice when Jesus preached the word, the very crowd's resistance started running towards him. They suddenly say, hey, there's something here. 00:25:50.000 --> 00:26:05.000 Because the word of God is living. It knows what it's doing. It's intentional when it says, he sent out his Word and healed them. It's God speaking in his kingdom. 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:20.000 And I want to tell you where the word of the king is. There is power. Ecclesiastes 8:4 says, Since a king's word is supreme, who can say to him, what are you doing? 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:35.000 Because the king's word is supreme. That's what distinguished the word of Jesus when he came and ministered. Do you Remember Luke chapter 4, verse 32? 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:50.000 The people were amazed at his teaching because he spoke with authority. Mark 1:27. Amazement gripped the audience and they began to discuss what had happened. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:27:05.000 What sort of teaching is this? They asked excitedly. It has such authority, even evil spirits obey his orders. The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee. 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:20.000 The word of God is living and intentional. The implication for that this morning is this is where the word of God grips our hearts, that it burns within us. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:35.000 God wants you and I to see and to accept spiritual truth about a present supernatural kingdom. Yesterday, I didn't leave home. From morning to evening, it was heaven. 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:50.000 But every day, when you drive around and you look at our society, do you realize the clock's ticking? And I'm here, here I'm driving, obeying the rules of the road, obeying the laws of our land. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:28:05.000 And while I'm doing that, I'm a citizen of another land, of another kingdom. And I live knowing that every day my clock ticks, I'm closer to the king and his kingdom. 00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:20.000 And my king, who lives inside me by his holy Spirit, is edging me through his word to a closer understanding of this present kingdom in which I live. 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:35.000 When Elisha's. Elisha was surrounded, remember? And his servant was freaking out. And all he said was, lord, because the enemy is all around him, remember? He says, lord, do me a favor. 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:50.000 This little freak next to me who's freaking out like this won't just open his eyes, remember? And the servant's eyes were opened, and he saw the horsemen, the chariots of God, angels all around. 00:28:50.000 --> 00:29:05.000 He was like, whoa, you and I live. You need to understand where the kingdom to come lives with your kingdom. He's here. And whenever he speaks a living and intentional word, 00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:20.000 he's bringing not the kingdom from there here, the kingdom here, he's bringing right towards you, saying, this is my promise to you. Come and live now in my kingdom. 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:35.000 And lastly, for today, it has to be my third point. The word is a substance. When you enter God's kingdom, his word becomes a substance. That's why Jesus likened it to a seed. 00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:50.000 Because a seed is something you can see, feel, and touch. Said, my word is like a seed that was planted. Do you remember when the Israelites ate manna in the desert? 00:29:50.000 --> 00:30:05.000 Manna, by the way, means, what is it? They've never seen this before. The stuff landed looks like flakes, aniseed oil, honey, if you like that stuff. And they look at this. 00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:20.000 What is this? And that's what they called it in Hebrew. What's this? Every day you went and got some. What's this? Every day it's manna. What is this? 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:35.000 And on Friday, you got two lots of what's it because you need it for? And that's why it's very biblical. When your wife or your mom puts this food on the table, what's this? 00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:50.000 God gave Israel something they'd never seen before or since. He. He manifested it. The what's this? And he created manna in a wilderness. 00:30:50.000 --> 00:31:05.000 But Jesus later on, remember, said man doesn't eat on bread, doesn't live on bread alone, remember? And he's likening it to here, where in a wilderness where there is nothing, 00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:20.000 God literally speaks. He creates from his word, Substance. That's a miracle. When you pray for someone, their eyes are open, they get healed. Substance, Faith becomes real. Boom. Something happens. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:35.000 There it is. So faith is the substance of things hoped for, remember? So what it means is you. You trust in God for something. You get a word. 00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:50.000 And when the thing God said starts to happen in your life, it's just become substance. And the word is substance. It manifests. God looks after his word to perform it. He makes it happen. 00:31:50.000 --> 00:32:05.000 God supernaturally provided for the Israelites by speaking the manna into existence, same as he spoke the universe and our planet into existence. God spoke, and there it was. That's what it does. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:20.000 When Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by Satan, the devil basically said, turn these stones into loaves of bread like your mother used to make you. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:35.000 Jesus said, no. The scriptures say people do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4. And Jesus spoke about the word as a substance. 00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:50.000 When the disciples returned from going into the city of Samaria to get something to eat, they offer him food. And Jesus says in John 4:32, I have a kind of food you know nothing about. 00:32:50.000 --> 00:33:05.000 What's the point Jesus is making? He's saying to us that God's word is a substance that offers sustenance the same as food does. You want to start backsliding? 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:20.000 Just drift from your study of the word of God. Just drift from church for three, four weeks and watch the difference in your life. Because you're not being sustained by the word of God. That is a substance. 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:35.000 And don't come and tell us we're being religious with you when we tell you you could come to church, read your Bible, because I'm under grace. I'm not under law. No, you're under stupidity, plain and simple. 00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:50.000 Jesus said. Jesus. Jesus said, man will not live on bread alone, but man will live from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Your king said so. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:34:05.000 So? So get off your little throne and start Serving the king who told you to get into the Word. He fought the enemy on the Word. He lived on the Word. 00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:20.000 We live in two landscapes, the physical and the invisible. And can I tell you something? When you fast, that's what Jesus said in Matthew. When you give, when you fast, when you pray, 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:35.000 when you fast, you literally taking a withdrawal from the invisible world around you and choosing to live in that, the visible world you're finding yourself in. 00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:50.000 And you're getting supernatural sustenance from the invisible world that you're allowed to access at any time because it's yours. And some people never fast. I get a headache from coffee. 00:34:50.000 --> 00:35:05.000 And we don't realize that when we fast, Jesus is saying, I'm going to give you food that the world doesn't know. I'm going to sustain you with my Word. 00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:20.000 We learn to live on the nourishment of the Word of God. We feed on God's Word more than on food. We feed on God's Word more than social media. We feed on God's Word more than on distractions. 00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:35.000 I want to tell you, the person who says I'm too busy to have a Bible reading plan and to study my scriptures will spend a lot of time on other things when this could give you literally the life giving word of God. 00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:50.000 You can ask Vanessa. Every day of my life, seven days a week, the very first thing I do in the morning, is it not true, even before I put the kettle on, is I take the Word of God and I open the Bible seven days a week. 00:35:50.000 --> 00:36:05.000 I want to be nurtured by my Father because this sustains me. It cuts and divides. It's intentional. It's my sustenance. Can you cope with one more? Yeah. Thank you. 00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:20.000 Last one for this morning, I promise. The fourth thing the Word of God does today, it begins to shape or create reality for you. The Word of God begins to shape or create reality. 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:35.000 I mean John 3:3. Jesus said, to be born again is to be born of the Word of God. Literally, the Holy Spirit does something to make your dead spirit alive again when you hear the word of the Lord. 00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:50.000 Romans 10:14. But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they've never heard about him? 00:36:50.000 --> 00:37:05.000 And how can they hear about him unless someone tells him? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the scriptures say how beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news. 00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:20.000 But not everyone welcomes the good news. For Isaiah, the prophet said, lord who's believed our message. So faith comes from hearing. That is hearing the good news about Christ. 00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:35.000 Can I tell you something? It is 100% impossible to be born again unless you hear the good news about Jesus. Isn't that amazing? But every person who has heard the good news of Jesus Christ has believed and responded in that moment. 00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:50.000 You are born from another realm. You're born again in the realm of the Spirit. You're given a new life, a different kind of life, being born again. Some people say, I'm born again, I got a fresh start. 00:37:50.000 --> 00:38:05.000 You don't get a fresh start, you get a whole new life. Everything becomes new, not a new start. Something new has been implanted inside you in the Garden of Eden. 00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:20.000 God said to Adam, the Lord warned him, you may freely eat the fruits of every tree in the garden except the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die. 00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:35.000 Did Adam and Eve die when they disobeyed? They were alive, but they died spiritually. Remember, God used to walk with them in the cool of the garden. 00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:50.000 And God would, they came one more time and he said, where are you? And they suddenly realized they were naked and they covered themselves. And that's the last time God ever face to face spoke to Adam and Eve. 00:38:50.000 --> 00:39:05.000 They had a life in them that they lost. That was the death. They were put out of the garden of God's provision and they had to go make it work for themselves. 00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:20.000 And this created the need for a new birth, an additional birth, a new life from above. And so I'm going to read you three scriptures now that help you understand the availability of the life that God wants to give you, 00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:35.000 that you understand that when you're born again, when you receive the word of God and you listen to the teaching of Jesus and you receive his teaching, the seed of eternal life is planted inside you. 00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:50.000 Now, I'm going to bang this for one minute. For this reason we see between 250 and 350 people respond to the Gospel every single year new day, which means we should be a church in the thousands. 00:39:50.000 --> 00:40:05.000 We send. If you've responded in this church to a salvation call. Number one, we prayed with, prayed with you in here. Number two, we prayed with you outside there. Number three, we got your details. 00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:20.000 We sent you rooted material. Number four, we phoned you on Monday. Number five, we invited you to a course. Number six, we run a course for you. 00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:35.000 And number seven, we stay in touch with you for the next four to eight weeks. And our response is less than 20%. Whose fault is that? What more can we do, Tattoo? What more do we do? 00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:50.000 And I want to reverse it back to say this. On the day of Pentecost, when 3,000 were added to the church in one day, who got saved? I'm not too sure they had salvation teams. 00:40:50.000 --> 00:41:05.000 But I'll tell you what they did have. Every person who responded to the gospel and got born again, received a new life. And I want to tell you this because I know from personal experience, 00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:20.000 when you have a new life in your hand, all that thing does is cry for milk. You know, a baby only cries when it's thirsty, tired, or it's wet itself. Am I right? 00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:35.000 And you know what? You don't have to tell that baby. Listen, I know we just gave birth to you, but would you mind coming on Wednesday? We just want to build into your life that little baby's like your spirit in you is alive. 00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:50.000 And you know what the Bible says at the end of Acts 2 chapter, verse 42, when 3,000 were added, do you know what they did? You know what their follow up program was? You want to hear it? 00:41:50.000 --> 00:42:05.000 They devoted themselves to When God has put new life inside you, you hunger for God, you don't come home. I question whether you're a son or daughter of the kingdom. 00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:20.000 And I question you're taking seed and planting it in there because that seed wants to birth reality inside you. I can't finish. I'm going to do this next time. Stand with me. 00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:35.000 Thank you so much for being a part of our meeting today. Can I just ask two things? The first is if today the message has in any way been useful to you, 00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:50.000 would you mind just maybe liking it or putting perhaps a statement down or a comment down that we can know how the ministry has helped you. Maybe a thumbs up, maybe you can subscribe to the channel, 00:42:50.000 --> 00:43:05.000 whatever, just so we can know what impact this message may be having on you. And secondly, you may be someone who's saying, greg, I hear you and this hope that Jesus has for us can come into my heart and it can change me. 00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:20.000 But the reality is that I don't even know if I know Jesus. I want to say two things to you right away. The first is he's near you right now. 00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:35.000 The Bible says if you believe in your heart that he is the Lord and if you confess him with your mouth, you will be saved. Which means you just need to where you are, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ even now and just say, 00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:50.000 lord, here I am. I recognize who you are. I confess my sin to you. I acknowledge you as Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, the son of the living God. 00:43:50.000 --> 00:44:05.000 And I want to follow you. I want to become a disciple of yours. I want to give my life to you, Lord. And you can pray that prayer right now between you and the Lord. 00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:20.000 Secondly, you can get hold of us, you can see the telephone number. You can get hold of us and say hey, I've given my life to the Lord. Can you help me from here on out? 00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:35.000 And we could either send you some material, we can put you in touch with a really good church near you. If you live in our area, you can come to us, you can follow us on YouTube. 00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:50.000 But it is good to get connected into the family of God, to get connected into a local church that your life changes being surrounded with a few family of God. Please stay in touch. God bless you.