Plant Seed in Soil

Plant Seed in Soil - Foundational Strategy

Eat God's Word

Genesis 2:7:  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

2 Corinthians 4:6–7: For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

Luke 8:11: The seed is the Word of God.

Mark 4:14–17: The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.

• We are soil to receive the seed of God’s Word!

God’s Word is seed that contains the mystery of living, reproducing life.  We are flesh made of the earth and return to the earth. There are four kinds of flesh soils—hard, rocky, thorny, and fruitful.  Our bodies of flesh are the soil for the Word Seed that is necessary to produce the right conditions for the Word to sprout, grow, and bear a crop of reproducing Word Seed.  Using God’s Word as seed, you start with something small and hidden in the earthy depths of the heart that slowly manifests itself in the transformational miracle of reproducing life.  This is a mystery! But the Lord Jesus explained this mystery to those who stayed close to Him. 

Mark 7:6–13: He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.” He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”—’ (that is, a gift to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

Isaiah 55:8–11: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Hebrews 4:12–13: For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Mark 4:14:  The Sower sows the Word.

John 14:24: The word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

• Make God’s Word your Words! Plant God’s Word, not men’s word! Make God's Word your Sermon!

God’s ways and Words are much higher than the ways and words of men.  The sowing of God’s Words produces both more seed and bread for the one who sows them. Even Jesus only spoke God’s Word – the Words that Jesus had received directly from His communion with the Father. 

In much spiritual teaching, men’s words and comments are the words that are shared, and God’s Word is used as a weapon in afterthought to support positions and opinions against the positions and opinions of other men. Not only are men’s words often what is planted as the teaching, but men’s words and ways are often contrary to God’s Word and ways.

If we teach and preach like Jesus, then whose words will we use?  If God’s Word is the Word we teach and preach, God’s Word is the naked and powerful weapon with which people will directly wrestle and engage. Whose word is discerning, effective, and life-giving?

Amos 8:11–12: “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD, “that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, but shall not find it. 

Deuteronomy 8:3: So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

Luke 4:3–4: And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”  But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”

John 1:1–4: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John 1:14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory…

John 4:32–34: But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.

John 6:51: I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

• According to Jesus, if you eat God’s Word in your body you will live forever!

• According to Jesus, EATING God’s Word means DOING God’s Word!  

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His Work.” What was Jesus’ food?  Eating God’s Word was for Jesus the food necessary to sustain life.  For Jesus, doing the will and work of His Father was eating God’s Word in His body to give it life. 

The Word was with God and was God.  The Word made everything.  The Word gives life.  This same Word became flesh and lived among us.  Jesus said that He is the living bread that came down from heaven.  Whoever eats this bread, which is His flesh, will live forever. 

Can we live if we do not eat? The worst kind of famine, according to the prophet, is the famine of hearing the Words of God! If it was necessary for the Lord Jesus to eat God’s Word by doing His will, then how much more necessary would it be for us? If Jesus needed to eat God’s Word by doing His will, then how much more necessary would it be for us to eat God’s Word by doing His will?

Habakkuk 2:20: “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

John 1:14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory…

John 2:19–22: Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

Romans 8:13–16: For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…

1 Corinthians 6:19–20: Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

2 Corinthians 4:6–7: For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

Ephesians 2:19–22: Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

• Plant God’s Word in your body, which is the temple of God!

Jesus is the Word that became flesh.  His body was God’s temple (Jn. 2:21).  He looked like and dressed like the people around Him.  He taught in the common language.  He kept His Father’s Word in His body. He lived as a teacher within the religious culture of his day. He was in many ways so normal that people were shocked when he acted like God – forgave sins, healed; raised the dead.

Jesus made His Father present to the people around Him. He has shown us the Father. We call this the Incarnation, which is the Word becoming flesh, or present in our physical reality.

More than 5% of the Bible is devoted various instructions concerning the tabernacle and temple, showing how important the idea of the temple is to God. The temple of God is where His presence dwells. God ultimately moves us to the understanding that our bodies are the temples where He dwells, where we meet God, and where we bring God to the world around us. “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.” The purpose of our bodies is to enable us to meet God in this life, and bring Him to the people around us, now!

Our bodies are the temples, or the instruments, with which we interact with and worship God.  Engaging and embodying God’s Word in our body-temple begins with the discipline of silent awareness that enables us to hear, see, and sense God’s Word Presence in our bodies.  God-given senses, emotions, and mental processes literally are our bodies and act on our bodies, so using these senses, emotions, and mental processes are basic and essential to worship of God in our body-temple.  We enter God’s presence just as we are, along with all these sensations, feelings, and thoughts.  We bring them to God through Jesus. 

Emotions and sensations are what move (e-motion) our bodies and are an integral, God-designed part of our body-temples.  Often our method of dealing with undesired emotions or senses is simply to deaden or disassociate from them, which ultimately deadens our ability to respond to God’s Word. God’s Word will move and change us in our bodies as it interacts with our emotions and senses. This process is part of the Word becoming flesh in us. 

Jesus wants to become flesh, or be incarnate, in our lives today. His goal for us as disciples is to be like Him.  As we plant the seed of God’s Word in our lives by hearing and doing, Jesus is living incarnationally in our body-temple.  Embodying God’s Word is being and doing God’s Word in our physical bodies - making the Word flesh in our bodies, God’s Holy Temple.

What was the difference between Mary and Martha? (Mary had already come to Jesus in her temple.  Martha just came to Jesus in her temple later.) Martha was a whirlwind of emotions, thoughts, and feelings as she approached Jesus, but she really did not seem to be aware of this.  Jesus called her awareness to what she was paying attention to, saying, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.” We must first become aware of and notice what is distracting us before we become present with Jesus and His Word.  This is the discipline of silent awareness.

What was the same with Mary and Martha? (Both of them came to Jesus and heard His Word. 

When we embody God’s Word by hearing it, keeping it, sharing it, and bearing fruit, we have indeed become a pulsing, glowing Temple of the Holy Spirit covered with a pillar of fire.