March 2020

faith byHisword | GOD’S NATURE

listen to Pastor read below and watch the conversation about the letter with Jann + Sam

READING: faith by His word | God's Nature

by Pastor Jann Butler | 2020 NEWSLETTERS

I made a decision to stick with the subject of faith this month because it is so important for our lives. I think I’ve studied the subject of faith for over 52 years and still feel like I’m missing something that may help me understand it more clearly.
I want to share some insight that has helped me over time concerning my faith. First of all, Faith responds to what we have heard as believers in Jesus Christ. But what about unbelievers; do they have faith? Sure, I believe they do, but not the God kind of faith; the measure we all have received when we were born again. (Romans 12:3)
When we received Jesus as Lord and Savior, (born again) our “inner man”, which is our human spirit, was cut away from ourouter man, which is the body. This is called circumcision in the spirit. (Romans 2:29) I’m not speaking of a physical circumcision in the flesh; the outward man, but the inner part of us. (verse 28) But how was this accomplished?
We were born of the spirit by the Holy Spirit entering our inner man. (human spirit) This is what the bible refers to as “a new creature in Christ Jesus” (2 Corinthians 5:17) In the Greek the word creature is actually creation; meaning “the original formation”.
Now, our human spirit has been given back his own identity; alive to God; completely separate from his physical /carnal being. The Holy Spirit not only made contact with my spirit he also deposited His divine nature in our spirit (Romans 5:5)
When we look into Mark chapter 4, we learn some interesting things about this parable: the outcome of the seed is determined by the type of “ground” it was sown into.
The different types of grounds mentioned are examples of the outward man and the inward man.

The outward man carries with it:

hard ground­—lacking humility, easily offended, and unwilling to change; as well as the thorny ground—cares of this world, deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things. 

The physical (outward) man contains these attributes. It has the potential to remove the life of that seed, which could eventually grow and produce fruit. (Mark 4:19 to choke, squeeze the life of the seed and it becomes unfruitful.)
But notice Mark 4:20, the good ground. The reason Jesus appeared was to qualify us, to be the good ground. God is able to give an increase to the seed of His word when it is planted in the spirit of someone who is born again. (1 Corinthians 3:5, 6)
This is why our faith is called the spirit of faith. (2 Corinthians 4:13) The good seed of the Word of God must take root and grow out of our born again spirit (good ground), and will then show up in our life and way of thinking. Take a look at Mark 4:26-32. Notice verse 32 “it grows up and is greater than all herbs….and shoots out large branches…” It also increases our capacity to bear more fruit, more than anything we could have grown from our natural life.
Let me explain something about what our New Testament faith is based on. Remember, faith is a response from where one hears. (Romans 10:17) We as Christians are confused at times as what to believe in. Simply put, we have too much wrong teaching and false prophets and teachers that have given us many doctrines that destroy our faith and leave us without results.
Matthew 13:24-30 speaks of the parable of the wheat and the tares. Jesus was asked by the apostles the meaning of this parable in verse 36. So Jesus begins to give further explanation in verses 37-42.
There was something that caught my attention about the wheat and the tares; thoughts as to why our faith may not be growing and not getting the results we desire. In our April letter we will pursue some interesting thoughts that might help us understand more from this parable.

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