PASTOR DARRYL BAKER

2 Corinthians 3:14
But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.

In Christ we can now receive insight and revelation of the things of God, for God’s Word is foolishness to those who are perishing, but God reveals all things He has freely given to us (believers) through the Holy Spirit who now lives in us. As you receive in your heart the revelation of what the Word of God says, it begins to transform your life into the Truth of the Word, which brings freedom, and the manifestation of what He has given to you.

There are two ways we have this happen in our lives. One is through the reading of the Word of God, and the other is through hearing the teaching of God’s Word. But for this revelation to come, we must do as Jesus said in Luke 8:18. Jesus said take heed how you hear, for whoever has more will be given. If you want to receive revelation now available to you as a believer when you read the Word or hear it preached, you must give the Word your full attention.

When you read the Word don’t have your focus on other things, and don’t just read it to fulfill some religious duty. Take time to fellowship with God. When you hear the Word preached listen carefully to what God is saying to you through the scriptures, not just sitting and listening to another sermon. The veil for the believer has been removed. Have a desire to hear from God, and you can receive revelation that will change your life from faith to faith, and from glory to glory.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

2 Corinthians 2:14
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

If you want to triumph in life, you must allow God to lead you. God never loses, and if we will let Him lead us, we will always triumph. Jesus has provided your victory, but you will not obtain that victory without submission to God’s ways. Allowing God to lead you is how you put your faith in Him, and in what Christ has done for you. We overcome this world by faith, but we are not in faith if we are not yielding our life unto God and His way of doing things.

We must learn to follow the inward witness of the Holy Spirit. As His Spirit bears witness with our spirit, He will direct our steps. Listen to and obey the voice of your spirit man, your conscience. You will have perfect peace, or you will have a check in your spirit, helping you to know if you are in God’s will or not. We must also walk in the light of God’s Word. His Word is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path, and when we walk in line with His Word, He is leading us into a life of victory, for His Truth sets us free.

Last but certainly not least we must walk in the love of God. God is love, and when we walk in the love of God, we are walking with Him and He is then leading us, and love never fails because God never fails. When you allow God to lead you by the Holy Spirit, when you follow His Word, and when you walk in the love of God, He will lead you to triumph in this life.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Hebrews 4:12
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.

As a believer we are told in Galatians 5:16 if we live a life governed by our spirit man within, we will not walk in the ways of the flesh, which the ways of the flesh lead us out of God’s will. When led by our spirit man we will always follow God’s ways, for the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit. We are a spirit being, we have a soul made up of our mind, will, and emotions, and we live in a body. Whenever we allow our soul to lead us, not looking to our spirit man, we go the way of the old fallen Adamic nature.

For many they may not know if their soul is leading them (old nature), or if it is their spirit man (new nature). Many believers may think they are being led by their spirit, but how can we know whether our spirit man or our soul is leading us? Most will refer to how they “feel,” which is often their soul and not their spirit. Well, we have the ability to know whether it is our spirit man or our soul we are following. Hebrews 4:12 tells us how. God’s Word is the very thing that separates what is from our spirit man and what is from our soul, for His Word not only divides the two, but shows us the very thoughts that come from our heart, which the word heart here refers to our own will.

Whenever we are making decisions that go against God’s Word, we are following our soul (our will), not our spirit man. Your new born again spirit will never lead you to do things opposed to God’s Word, for the Holy Spirit who lives in your spirit will always lead you in line with God’s Word. So, when you want to know if you are following your soul (old nature), or your spirit man (the new born again nature), just look to God’s Word. When your choices line up with God’s Word, you are being led by your spirit man, which will always lead you in the direction God has planned for your life.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

2 Corinthians 5:7
The path we walk is charted by faith, not by what we see with our eyes.

Are you walking by faith, or are you walking by sight? Walking by sight means our decisions in life are determined (guided) by what we see in the natural, and what man tells us, instead of what God has told us in His Word. It is allowing our circumstances in life to dictate how we live. Walking by sight is choosing to believe what we are seeing above what God has said.

To walk by faith, we must walk in line with the Word of God. Faith believes in the heart, speaks with the mouth, and acts in line with God’s Word. Once you know what the Word of God says about any given situation you may face in life, you must then settle it in your heart, becoming one with the Word, and believe the Word above all you see in the natural; and then act as if it is so because God’s Word is the Truth, and that Truth acted on in faith will set you free.

Walking by faith does not mean we deny what may be true in the natural, but we choose God’s Truth instead. Like Abraham we do not consider (focus on) what is true in the natural (Romans 4:19). We consider Jesus, what He has provided for us as revealed in God’s Word (Heb. 12:3). Walk by faith believer and not by sight, and you can walk in what God has said is already yours.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Psalms 90:12
So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

The Bible reveals our life here on earth is but a vapor. When you take a look at the length of time we have here on earth it really is not that long. Moses in the above Psalm knew that if he had a better understanding of how short his time here on earth was, this would help him to live his life with greater wisdom. Wisdom means the knowledge and ability to make right choices. For those who do so, they will live their life with purpose and fulfillment, walking out what God has planned for their life.

Scripture teaches us in Ephesians 5:15-16 that we are to live our life not as fools but as wise, redeeming our time for the days are evil. Wise people redeem their time. To redeem your time means to make wise and sacred use of each and every day, for verse 16 states the days are evil. If you do not make wise choices with your time each day, the evil influences of the world will creep into your life and keep you from what God desires and has planned for you.

So, if we learn to number our days, realizing every day is significant, and we don’t want evil to take advantage of us, what should we be doing every day? We should make spiritual things a priority in our life. When God’s Word, prayer, and going to God’s house are not a priority, we are not living as the wise. You cannot get back the days that are gone, but if you learn to number the days you have left, you can live each day focused on what matters, God and His plan for your life, and live free from evil walking with God, and that is living like the wise, and not like a fool.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

1 John 1:6, 2:1
6 If we say, “We have a relationship with God” and yet live in the dark, we’re lying. We aren’t being truthful.
1 My dear children, I’m writing this to you so that you will not sin.

One of the struggles believers may face is overcoming sin in their lives. I have heard many different teachings on how one gets free from sin, but one of the most powerful truths in overcoming sin is found here in the book of 1 John. The first chapter tells us that the disciples had seen Jesus for themselves and had developed an intimate relationship with Him and with the Father also. John goes on to tell us that there is no darkness in God for He is light.

In verse 6 he says that if we say we have relationship with Him, which this word is also translated fellowship, and it refers to an intimate relationship with God, and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and not speaking the truth. You see if we have an intimate relationship with Him, He will rub off on you, and He is light, and there is no darkness in Him. It is the same in any relationship where someone spends a lot of time with another person, and as they do, they are going to have an influence on you.

This is why in chapter 2 verse 1 he tells us that he wrote this to us so we would not sin. The most important key to getting free from sin is to get close to God. Psalm 119:130 says that God’s Word is the door that lets light in, and God is that light. We develop this intimate relationship with God through the Word. If you do, you will come under His light, and that light will influence how you live, causing darkness to go from you. So, if you want to be free from sin and remain free, stay close to God. As you do, God and His very nature will rub off on you.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

1 Peter 3:10-11
10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.

If you want to love the life you are living and see good days, take note of what God revealed here through Peter, and you can live such a life. Notice the very first thing he addresses in these scriptures is your words. Proverbs 18:21 tells us that death and life are in the power of our tongue. What you are speaking is bringing forth a life you will love and good days, or it will bring the opposite.

Notice it said you must keep your tongue from evil and from speaking deceitful words. To stop speaking evil words, things contrary to scripture, you must stop feeding on such things, for out of the abundance of heart the mouth speaks. If you are skipping church and do not take time to feed on the Word each day, the world around you will make sure you hear plenty of things contrary to God’s Word.

Secondly you must stop speaking deceitful words. James 1:26 teaches us that if you continue to say one thing and yet do another you are deceiving your own heart. Peter goes on to tell us to turn from evil, to seek peace and pursue it. If you are always causing strife with others, you are self-seeking, and James tells us this produces every evil work. You must choose to walk in love at all costs, and sometimes to do so you must walk away rather than fight and argue with others. Learn to address these keys areas in your life and you can live a good life.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Mark 4:20
20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.

Parable of The Sower – Part 4
Whenever the Word of God is preached faith is present, but it is not always received, and this is why many believers are weak in faith. In the parable of the sower Jesus teaches this truth as He reveals the Word is the seed, and the ground is the heart condition of man. The only way that faith will grow is the seed must be planted (received) in good ground.

As we have already seen seed on wayside soil will not produce faith, for that seed is immediately taken by the devil. Wayside hearts are those who do not plow up their harden heart. They don’t give their full attention to hearing the Word. Then there is the stony ground heart, which is the believer who is not a doer but a hearer only of the Word, not willing to give up their will for God’s will. Next is the thorny ground believer whose focus is on other things. The fourth heart condition Jesus reveals is good ground, which receives the seed and produces faith.

The good ground believer does not just hear the Word, they accept it. This means they take it as their own. They don’t question God’s Word; they simply believe what it says, and they act upon the Word of God as if it were already so. They do not walk by sight, by what they see in the natural, they walk by what God’s Word says. This is a believer who gives full attention to God’s Word, applies what they hear to their life, and God is the priority of their life. If you want to see the Word working in your life, become good ground for the seed of God’s Word.

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Mark 4:18-19
18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word,
19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Parable of The Sower – Part 3
In the parable of the sower we have already seen that those whose hearts are wayside soil or stony ground when they hear the Word of God preached, there is no results produced because the Word cannot fully grow. So it is also with this third type of heart condition known as thorny ground. This person like the first two hears the Word, but notice after the Word begins to grow it is choked out by thorns. What are these thorns?

Jesus teaches us these thorns are the cares of this world, deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things. This is a believer who is focused on the things of this world. Because their heart is set on worldly things, they are someone who may get caught up with the cares of life, and therefore they worry. Worry and faith do not mix. Worry will choke out faith every time. We are told to cast our cares upon God for He cares for us.

The deceitfulness of riches is someone who thinks money is their answer, but money cannot fix all things in our life, God can. These things happen when God takes a back seat in our lives. When God is not our focus in life, these thorns begin to grow, and they will choke the Word in our hearts and keep it from producing. They will cause us to speak words of doubt and unbelief, speaking contrary to the Word of God. If you do not want to be thorny ground, you must get your focus on God and off of this world.

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Mark 4:14, 16-17
14 The sower sows the word.
16 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17 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.

Parable of the Sower – Part 2
For faith to be received when the Word of God is preached, we must make sure our heart is good ground to receive the seed of the Word so it produces faith. As we saw yesterday, we don’t want to be wayside soil for the devil comes immediately and snatches away the seed. The second type of heart condition Jesus spoke about here was stony ground.

Stony ground in a farmer’s field is where there are rocks in the soil on which the seed falls, and as Jesus reveals these are people who hear the Word and receive it immediately with gladness, but because they have no root in themselves when persecution or tribulation comes, they stumble. The comparison He gave is like seeing a plant growing on a rock, which is not rooted in the soil, so when the sun comes up it withers away. The plant has no established root system.

If you are someone who hears the Word preached but you do not act upon the Word when challenges in life come, you stumble because faith without corresponding action is dead. In another parable, Jesus taught that if you hear His Word but don’t apply what He said, storms will come, but the storms will knock you down because if you are not a doer of the Word you did not dig deep and lay a good foundation. If you don’t want to be overcome in life you are going to need faith, and for faith to work you must be a doer of the Word of God and not a hearer only.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas