GERMINATING THE SEED
October 7, 2001 pm
MF Blume
1 Peter 1:23-25 Being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which
liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory
of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof
falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the
word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
James 1:18-21 Of his own will begat he us
with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his
creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness
of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness,
and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your
souls.
We read that the Word of God we heard that saved us is an incorruptible
seed.
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This is contrasted to the life those without God live.
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Flesh is as grass that is here today and gone tomorrow.
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I don't want to be here today and gone tomorrow.
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I was to stand for eternity with the Lord.
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Thank God that whereas flesh is as grass that appears and vanishes, the
word of the Lord that saved us endureth forever.
Since this is a seed that is incorruptible, it is a seed from the tree
of Life.
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This life is eternal life.
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Seeds are miracles.
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Think of a small acorn and the potential within it that reproduces a monstrous
oak tree.
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Its all within that seed.
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The very tree from which the seed comes is the tree that the seed will
reproduce given what it requires.
We were born again of this seed of Life.
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We are said to be the firstfruits.
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These are terms used in agriculture, dealing with seeds.
It is very important that we understand that we must receive the seed of
the word.
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God created soil and seed to work together.
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The soil has all the elements within itself to germinate the seed.
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And we as people made from dust of the ground, are spiritually capable
of receiving the seed of life and germinating it in our lives.
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Unless we germinate this seed, it will lay there in our hearts accomplishing
nothing.
In Genesis, God spoke a word and that word, like a seed, accomplished
and brought something forth.
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Similarly a word comes ot us of salvation.
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If we receive the word it will actually work inside our lives and save
us.
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It grants revelation.
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And James noted our need to receive the engrafted word with meekness.
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Meekness is part of the very thing the word requires to germinate in our
lives.
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A proud person will never seek to repent and yield one's life to the Lord.
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If anything will hinder a soul from germinating the seed is a proud spirit
of rebellion.
John 1:1 informs us that Jesus is the Word.
The God that the heaven of heavens cannot contain, is manifested in Christ.
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And like the acorn, this seed that contains so much will reproduce within
you the very source of "tree" it came from.
When you receive the word of God concerning the death of Christ, it is
a seed you are receiving.
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And seeds reproduce their own kind.
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The actual death of Jesus is reproduced in your life when you receive it.
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This is not a second death of Jesus, but goes beyond even the idea of reproduction
in a sense.
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You are actually made part of the death of Christ through this kind of
reproduction.
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You can say you actually were crucified with Him!
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Talk about a harvest!
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This harvest is the death of Jesus Christ, Himself, absorbing you into
it and making you as much a part of what died as was Jesus, Himself.
The idea of seeds shows us this.
We receive and accept this word, and it is so!
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FAITH is a germinating factor, also.
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Hebrews 4 spoke of people who received a promise (WORD), and it did not
profit them since they failed to mix the word with faith.
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The seed is the word and the germinating factor of the soil is our faith.
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We must not simply hear the word with our ears and nod our heads in agreement.
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We must germinate that word with faith.
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Make it part of our lives by faith.
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Include ourselves, personally, in the truth!
In the tombs of the Egyptian Pharaohs, archaeologists discovered many items
that were buried with the ruler in superstitious hopes that the man would
have these to enjoy in the world of the dead.
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Among the times found were servants buried alive, and pets and other belongings.
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Chariots and furniture were found there.
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And there was also found grain brought forth from crops of thousands of
years ago.
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Those seeds of grain laid there for millennia, dormant.
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And when taken and planted it was discovered they germinated and grew!
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What a wonder!
The seeds laid there for thousands of years, holding the potential for
growth inside them all that time.
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But until they germinated in soil, their potential was never manifested.
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So it is with the Word of God.
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You may have heard a truth spoken to you years ago, and never germinated
it with your faith.
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It was useless all that time.
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But thank God its still there.
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And as soon as you germinate it with your faith, you will find it will
work!
I am preaching right now and throwing out the seeds of the word as a sower.
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Your lives are the soil.
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Some of you will not mix this word with faith while others will.
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Those of you who mix it with faith will already be feeling it working in
your heart.
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Germinate it, church.
God made the soil and seed to work together.
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Don't think that you cannot see this kind of life germinated in you.
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You are made to be abel to work with the seed of the word.
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All of us were.
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God is no respector of persons.
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And if you think your faith is small, that is alright.
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Jesus said the mustard seed is the smallest of seeds, but reproduces a
tree larger than many.
Not only does a word come to us of Jesus' death, and being germinated to
reproduce His death in us, but the word of His burial and resurrection
are given to us.
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We bring forth a harvest of His death, burial and resurrection in our lives!
Its wonderful to notice a truth in Genesis 1.
God spoke words in each day of the first week.
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His word like a seed accomplished a work.
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They brought forth life!
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In one day, his Word caused a firmament to exist.
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And there is an interesting thought here.
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After the firmament existed, God spoke to the firmament and the firmament
actually assisted God in His work!
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We read that the firmament divided the waters above from those beneath.
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It assisted God's work.
Genesis 1:6 And God said, Let there be a
firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from
the waters.
We also read of the word causing the earth to do a work.
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The earth brought forth grass and herb.
Genesis 1:11-12 And God said, Let the earth
bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding
fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was
so. And the earth brought forth grass, ...
The word also caused stars (lights) to divide the day from the night.
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It caused the water to bring forth the moving creatures.
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It caused the earth to bring forth beasts and cattle.
But in man's creation, God does not speak to anything already created to
assist Him in creation.
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In man's creation the picture is completely different and unique.
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GOD ACTUALLY SPEAKS TO HIMSELF.
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He speaks not as though He was comprised of three persons necessitating
a plural use of pronouns such as "US" and "OUR".
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No.
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He is making man.
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He is speaking a word of a SEED.
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And that SEED is going to contain and hold very many elements within itself
to be able to reproduce all the qualities He sees in Himself in that man,
for man will be in the image of God.
God speaks His word to Himself, and just as the word spoken to the firmament
caused the firmament to divide the waters, God's word causes Himself to
make man in His image.
Genesis 1:26-27 And God said, Let
us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon
the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created
he him; male and female created he them.
Awesome!
And God said it was VERY GOOD as opposed to the "IT IS GOOD" stated
after creating and making everything else.
Man was not created as a three-personed conglomerate!
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He was one person with three parts (spirit, soul and body) with one name,
Adam.
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God is also one person with one name, JESUS.
Only God would do the work of making man.
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No creature assisted Him.
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Nothing made would help.
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God, Himself, did the work.
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And since nothing in the creation helped God make man, nothing in this
world could help man get back to the place he fell from since sin.
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You cannot save yourself.
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You cannot raise yourself up to righteousness with God again.
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God made you on His own by His word and its going to be by nothing other
than His own power and His word that will save you!
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Praise God!
And since God alone saved you, and made you, taking no assistance from
anyone, once you are saved nothing in creation can take it away!
The world did not give it to you, and the world can't take it away.
Romans 8:35 Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? [shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded, that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
Man came from God, whereas beasts and seal life came from the earth and
water.
Incorruptible seed is seed from t he tree of life.
In Revelation we read of a River of Life with the Tree of life on either
side.
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Ezekiel 47 refers to the same river but with many trees on either side!
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Those trees are you and I.
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Reproductions of the Tree of Life, Jesus!
Revelation 22:2 In the midst of the street
of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which
bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the
leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Ezekiel 47:7 Now when I had returned, behold,
at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the
other.
Ezekiel 47:12 And by the river upon the
bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat,
whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed:
it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters
they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat,
and the leaf thereof for medicine.
Jesus was dead, buried and rose again into everlasting life.
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The seed of that truth and experience is implanted in us and we, too, repeat
that very experience and are joined to Him.
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He's driving our vehicles and will take us right on into glory one day!
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The devil is driving the lives of sinners and will take them to hell with
him one day.
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Oh, let's receive this seed into our lives and germinate it with faith
so we actually die, are buried and resurrect with Jesus.
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Let's germinate this seed!