“Four Soils of Discernment” – R. Nelson
BIBLE REFERENCE:
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” Galatians 6:7-8
WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT:
The Bible is a book that needs to be read and studied over and over again, it is not a book to be read once and then tucked away somewhere never to be read again. When Jesus gave the parable of the sower, He explained what happens to those that just hear the word, but never really listen to what is being taught. This, I believe is where most of the so-called Christian body is at today, especially in America. Sure, they may go to church for an hour a week, but the rest of the week they are involved in worldly events, which has nothing to do with Gods Word. We read in Matthew where Jesus speaks a parable about a sower (teacher of God) to sow (teach the Gospel). The first group that He describes are those who hear some teaching in passing, but because of their lack of interest or understanding, what they heard will pass away just as quickly as it was received. Jesus says in Matthew 13:4; “And when he (The Sower) sowed, some seeds (Word of God) fell by the wayside (Those that hear only), and the fowls came and devoured them up” This is in reference to those that just hear words and they go in one ear and out the other.
The second group that Jesus describes are those who hear the Word of God and understands bits and pieces, but not enough to take root and blossom into action. We read this in Matthew 13:5-6; where Jesus explains it this way, “Some (Bible teaching) fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth” And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.” These are those that listen and had a little understanding, but because the Word did not have any depth, it faded away almost as quickly as it was received. Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 13:20-21; “But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.” We are now seeing this at an alarming rate in America with most of the churches closing down because of fear from the oppressors (those that crush or burden us by abuse of power or authority) of the Word of God. Jesus says in Matthew 10:33; “But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Many churches have fallen into this category.Apparently, they have not read the verse above or they just simply lack faith.
The next group are those that receive the Word of God with fairly good understanding, but when confronted with those that teach false doctrine, they fall into apostasy of the truth. We read this in Matthew 13:7; “And some fell among thorns; (false teachers) and the thorns sprung up and choked them” The riches of this world have crept into their life because they didn’t get into the scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to teach them because they would rather worship stuff instead of God. This is where most of the Christian body lies. If you ask a person that attends a church in one of the mainline denominations, have you read the Bible for yourself, the answer is usually, “No, I go to church and listen to what the pastor or priest teaches). You are actually putting your salvation in the hands of a human being instead of in the hands of the Holy Spirit. The consequence with be eternal all because you trusted in man over God. We read Jesus’s explanation in Matthew 13:22, we read, “Now he who received seed (The Word) among the thorns (Unbelievers) is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.” We read the importance of why we need to search the scriptures for ourselves in Acts 17:11; where the Apostle Paul tells us the following, “These (The Bereans) were nobler than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Paul isputting high emphasis on searching the scripture daily to make sure that what you are being taught is indeed the true Word of God. And in most cases that I have witnessed in mainline denominational churches that I had attended; the truth is not being taught in the context in which it is written. In a lot of cases, it is actually contrary to what the Bible teaches. This doesn’t surprise me because Jesus warned us that this would happen just before His second coming where we read in Acts 20:29; “For I (Paul) know this, that after my departure savage wolves (false teachers) will come in among you, not sparing the flock.” 1 Timothy 4:1; “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; This is now worldwide and only those that are grounded in the true word of God will recognize what is truly taking place and what is on the near horizon.
The last group that Jesus describes is found in Matthew 13:8; “But others (True believers) fell on good ground (the solid teaching of God’s Word) and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” Those that persevere until the end will find themselves at the Bema Seat of Christ where they will receive rewards for their service to Jesus Christ once they were saved. Like it says, “some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” depending on your willingness to serve Jesus Christ while being here on earth. Here is what Jesus says about those that are grounded in the Word, Matthew 13:23; “But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” Those that surrender their lives to Jesus Christ and walk according to His will, will receive the blessings that Jesus Christ created them to come into possession of.
God created all of us with the same opportunity to choose whether or not we would to serve Jesus Christ or the flesh. When I was younger, I was told as long as I was good and believed in God, I would go to heaven. What I didn’t know until I took it upon myself and read and study the Bible, being good and believing in God has absolutely nothing to do with going to heaven. If you say that you believe in God, my question to you is this, “What God?” Everybody believes in some sort of god. Even Satan is worshipped as a god in many of the cult religions around the world. When I hear someone that obviously has an evil heart and they tell me that they believe in god, I don’t argue with them because they do believe in a god, and in most cases their god is Satan. Satan is just as real as anything that we can physically see or hear. Satan has one purpose in this world, it is to destroy mankind and eliminate the world population until there is no good left on earth. Obviously, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has a different plan, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that Gods plan will win out. Here is a verse from 1 Peter 5:8; where we read, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” This is Satan’s only goal. Here are the main weapons that Satan has to help him succeed in his mission, 1 Corinthians 6:9; “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicator, (sex outside the boundaries of marriage between a man and a woman), nor idolaters, (worshippers of anything other than God) nor adulterers, (sex with another married person other than your own spouse) nor effeminate, (having feminine qualities untypical of a man) nor abusers of themselves with mankind,” This one is self-explanatory. These are Gods words so before you fly off the handle with this verse keep that in mind. These truths are not a very popular nor even taught in our society today. Satan’s job is quite easy because most of the sins of the world fall in one of these five categories. Are you living one of them? If so, you still have time to repent and turn to Jesus Christ for salvation. Remember the thief on the cross, he received Jesus minutes before his death and Jesus told him that he would be with Him in paradise that day. Luke 23:43; “And Jesus said to him, (The thief on the cross) “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
ACTION POINT:
If you are living one of these lifestyles and don’t believe that you can be forgiven and saved, you need to know this, that is a message from the pit of hell. That is what Satan wants all of us to believe to. Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, (Jesus) all you who are weary and burdened, and I (Jesus) will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” There is hope for everybody right up to their death, however, I wouldn’t wait until you are on your death bed to repent of your sins, you never know what tragedy might be waiting right around the corner that could take your life immediately. Jesus Christ loves you unconditionally and that is why judgement has not come to America yet. 2 Peter 3:9 “The LORD is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” But the day will come, and I believe it is soon where God will say enough is enough and if you haven’t repented of your sins, you will be left behind to deal with the evil that is foretold from prophets of old. Use your time that is left wisely, it’s all up to you who you will serve. “Written To the glory of God and Inspired by the Holy Spirit!” Amen!
Four Souls of Discernment — R Fritz
Discernment is a gift from God. People have different degrees of discernment. The discernment I am going to talk about is spiritual. Man’s understanding of discernment does not give them spiritual understanding. This is given by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” This is why the truth of Jesus Christ is missed by a lot of people. They are looking at the message and do not have the understanding to see how it can save them from their life they are living. Most people are not ready to hear the truth, they are happy where they are. These people will not hear what you tell them. It does not matter what you say, they are not listening. Until we get to that point of having enough with how our life is going, we are not going to hear we might have to change. When our life is turned upside down, we start to look or if we see somebody who we see looks like their life is going great do we get interested in seeing how they are doing it.
There is a saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” This did not come from Jesus Christ or is not in the Bible. When we are ready to move on and change, God sends the teacher. The student needs to be humble, your mind pliable (ready to hear things new to you) and ready to study. I say this because it happened to me 3 times. I had 3 different men with a different degree of knowledge. After the 2nd man, the Holy Spirit said he would teach me. Each person taught me what they knew, and it was time to move on to the next. Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” When you rub 2 pieces of iron together, they sharpen each other. The same is said for 2 people who study the bible, they also sharpen their skills and knowledge of each other. That’s why we should study or get together with other people. A problem I see is people do not know where and how to start to study. I say that because I started to look at myself before I started to write this blog. Knowledge comes with reading and asking questions with people with different gifts and talents. The Lord brings people together and the Holy Spirit instructs people through the words spoken through people who have the Holy Spirit.
Small groups can teach, and we need to ask other people to get together. We can now have online video conferencing of people in homes. The Holy Spirit still can affect people using any tool we have. You have to embrace new things. I say that because in the last couple of months, I have tried a couple of different venues and was just asked to be on conference of 27 people and asked to read a scripture. Sometimes our apprehensions or fear of trying something new stops us in doing what God really wants us to do. We cannot justify anymore of not getting involved with other people! We sometimes have to be uncomfortable to do what God wants us to do. We have to trust God that what you are asked to do, goes well. Psalms 9:10 says “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” We need to seek God when we are unsure of something and ask for his help in overcoming the issues we have or think we have. I say “think we have” because sometimes we are being tested. Tested in doing more than we think we can do. God knows us and knows our God-given gifts and spiritual gifts. We do not necessarily know them till we are pushed into doing things that are not thought to be God-given gifts. Sometimes you do not find out about your gifts or talents till later in your life. They are on God’s timing. Sometimes we are not ready for God-given gifts.
Discernment of spirits is also a gift given by God at birth and used according to our thinking because a lack of knowledge. When you get the Holy Spirit, it brings life to the gift of discernment of spirits. It is a gift where you see or sense spirits, on or around people and deal with them. It is one of my gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:10 says “To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongue; to another the interpretation of tongues;” These are part of the spiritual gifts given at birth. They come to life with the knowledge and teaching of the Holy Spirit. These are gifts given to overcome Satin and his spirits. If we all came together and put our gifts to use, we could change things for God. He knows who will obey him.
The 4 souls of discernment speak about groups of people, all these people have made a choice. We have to decide if we made the right choice. Change requires a loving and pliable heart. God’s “Love” can change any heart. It is a “Love” that people do not know. It is a Love that we do not deserve. Our God “Loves” us no matter what we do. If we “Love” him back and follow him and obey him, we get eternal life. God is “Love.” 1 John 4:7-8 says “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” Most people do not understand God’s love. It is beyond man’s understanding of love. We have too many people who have been hurt physically and mentally. Our past hurt has a way of coming into our present and future. God’s “Love” has a way of breaking that hurt. We just need to be the ones to show somebody God’s “Love” through the Holy Spirit. I pray that people will study about God’s “Love” and show somebody who needs it. God Bless.