PASTOR DARRYL BAKER

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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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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Mark 4:14-15
14 The sower sows the word.
15 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.

Parable of the Sower – Part 1
One of the areas that can be overlooked when it comes to faith is the condition of your heart. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Kenneth Hagin who was a great man of faith once said, “Faith always comes, but faith is not always received.” When the Word is preached, faith is there, but if the heart upon which the Word comes is not good ground, that seed of the Word does not produce faith.

In the parable of the sower there are two things revealed. The seed of God’s Word, and the condition of the soil (the heart of man). The first of the four soil or heart conditions Jesus mentions is wayside soil. Wayside soil is the outer perimeter of the farmer’s field. This soil becomes hardened because it was not plowed like the rest of the field. Because the ground was hardened the birds of the air would come and immediately take the seed that was scattered there. Jesus compares this to satan, who does the same thing with believers whose hearts are not plowed and prepared for the Word.

This happens when those who are in church are not listening intently when the Word is preached. Many today are on their cell phones or daydreaming about other things. They are believers who are ruled by their flesh. They are yielding to their fleshly nature. Jesus said to take heed HOW you hear, for to him who hears more will be given, but to him who does not hear, even what he has will be taken away. If your heart is set on God and not your flesh, you give your full attention to the preaching of God’s Word.

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1 Peter 1:18-19
18 Realize that you weren’t set free from the worthless life handed down to you from your ancestors by a payment of silver or gold which can be destroyed.
19 Rather, the payment that freed you was the precious blood of Christ, the lamb with no defects or imperfections.

Several years ago, I was watching a car auction, and they had a very rare car that sold for 1.2 million dollars. Because it was rare, someone was willing to pay a lot of money for it. What makes something valuable? There are basically two things that determine value. How rare something is, and how much someone is willing to pay for it. How valuable are you to God? According to verse 19 above, very valuable.

The most valuable thing ever known to man was the precious blood of Jesus. The word precious means very valuable. That is the price God paid for every human to be liberated from their old fallen spirit man. How valuable does that make you to God? Many who are born again do not truly understand how valuable their life is to Him. There has never been a higher price paid for anything than what Jesus was willing to pay so that you could become a child of a God, get to know Him, and live a new life.

In verse 18 above it says you were set free from a worthless lifestyle that came from our fathers, which was passed down from Adam because of his sin. The word used for “set free” is redeemed. It means to be liberated by the payment of a ransom. The payment Jesus made by shedding His blood for us was all that was needed to free us from the old fallen nature. Stop trying to find you worth in this world. Find your worth in Christ Jesus through relationship with Him, and you can live a life that is worthy of Him, for you are very valuable to God.

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Mark 11:23b
…but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

Many believers do not realize how powerful their words are. When you believe something in your heart, and you confess it as yours, Jesus said you will have whatever you say. Notice He did not say you would only have what God’s Word says, but that you would have whatever you say. Because many do not understand this spiritual law, they continue to live with and put up with things that really don’t belong to them as a believer.

When you say things like my arthritis, my anxiety, my depression, my (name a sickness), etc, you are going to continue to have what you say. It is like when a package is delivered to your home, your confession saying it is yours is like signing for the package, and you give satan the right to leave it with you. Psalm 45:1 says your tongue is the pen of a ready writer. You must learn to agree with what God says about you, change what you believe in your heart and what you speak with your mouth, and get in agreement with God.

Romans 4:17 tells us that God calls those things which do not exist as though they did. God’s Word says you are healed, you have peace, that you have the joy of the Lord. Start saying what God’s Word says until you believe it in your heart, and then keep saying it. In doing so you are now agreeing with what God says about you, and you are now signing for the package God has given you and rejecting what the devil wants you to have. What are you claiming in your life? What you believe in your heart and speak with your mouth, you will have.

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Psalms 9:10
Your loyal followers trust in you, for you, LORD, do not abandon those who seek your help.

One of the most key elements of faith that is often overlooked is revealed through the understanding of this simple word, trust. Years ago, a great man of God Dr. Lester Sumralll was asked by a young minister what faith was. Dr. Sumralll looked at the young man and asked him, “How far can you trust God”? When you define what trust is, it is simply another word for faith. It means you are fully convinced.

For example, if someone made you a promise to do something you needed done and you had developed a personal relationship with them having spent quality time with that person, you would have no problem trusting them and could take them at their word. So it is with God. Many struggle in their faith walk because they have not really gotten to know the One who they are to put their trust in. They just know about Him. A loyal follower is one who has made the decision to know God.

The best way to develop this relationship is through daily time in His Word, especially in the New Testament where we learn about our covenant, and about Jesus, and in doing so we can get to know God. Jesus said if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. Whenever you open the Word of God you should treat it as if you just sat down to spend time with Him. God’s Word is God speaking to you. Take the time to develop a genuine relationship with your God through the Word, and you can learn to put your trust in Him, and receive the help He has promised to give you.

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 James 1:22
But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth].

Hearing what God’s Word says about any subject that relates to what scripture teaches us and not being a doer of the Word in our life leads to self-deception. This self-deception comes by reasoning contrary to the Truth of God’s Word. Scripture teaches us God’s way is perfect, and proven. For example, this is exactly what king Saul did after being directed by God to deal with and wipe out the Amalekites for what they had done to God’s people.

Saul took his men and went to battle, but Saul spared king Agag, the sheep, the oxen, and all that was good. God then spoke to Samuel and told him that He regretted making Saul king for he had not obeyed God’s Word. Samuel was sent by God to deal with Saul. When Saul first saw Samuel, he declared that he had fully obeyed the Lord. Samuel then asks about the sound of the sheep and the oxen in the background, and why king Agag was with them still alive. Saul blamed the people for this disobedience saying they wanted to sacrifice the animals to the Lord.

When we are no longer obedient to the Word of God and confronted by spiritual leadership, we often think we have obeyed God, but when proven wrong we may even begin to put the blame on others around us. Don’t just hear what God’s Word says, be diligent to obey His Word. Don’t allow human reasoning to lead you astray from the Truth. As James 1:25 tells us, those who do what scripture teaches, they will be blessed in what they do. Be a doer of the Word.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas