and that will cause you to wreck your life. We have a whole generation that’s been taught to live that way.
Faith has to do with what can be. Faith has to do with what is yours and you have to bring it to you. You
have to call it to you. You’ve got to believe for something; to hope for something.
And Paul says, “If we have no hope, we are of all men most miserable.” If you don’t see anything in
your tomorrow, misery sets in today.
> Because you look around and say “This can’t change.”
>> God said, “Your tomorrow will be greater than your today.”
>> God said, “Your tomorrow will be greater than your past.”
BUT, you’ve got to see something in your tomorrow.
✔ You’ve got to believe.
✔ You’ve got to hope something out there for your tomorrow.
✔ You’ve got to seize it and bring it into your today.
Faith is the mechanism of means that God has given you to move future things into NOW.
When is Faith? When you activate it. Right NOW!
Mark 4 (New King James Version)
The Parable of the Sower
1 And again He began to teach by the sea.
And a great multitude was gathered to Him,
so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea;
and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea.
2 Then He taught them many things by parables,
and said to them in His teaching:
3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.
4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside;
and the birds of the air came and devoured it.
5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth;
and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.
6 But when the sun was up it was scorched,
and because it had no root it withered away.
7 And some seed fell among thorns;
and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up,
increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
9 And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
The Purpose of Parables
10 But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve
asked Him about the parable.
11 And He said to them,
“To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God;
but to those who are outside, all things come in parables,
12 so that
‘Seeing they may see and not perceive,
And hearing they may hear and not understand;
Lest they should turn,
And their sins be forgiven them.’”
Jesus is saying in verse 10, “until now, I’m cracking open information, that only God has possessed.”
We talk about the Kingdom. Well, right here, it shows how it works.
The Parable of the Sower Explained
13 And He said to them,
“Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
( > Jesus is saying, “If you can’t understand Algebra I, then you can’t take Algebra II.”)
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.
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.
I’ve looked at churches that don’t say nothing, and they never seem to have no problems. Don’t say
nothing. NOTHING! I mean, I can’t believe everybody sitting there, listening to nothing. By the
thousands. And they seem to stroll through life. And everybody is happy.
Persecution arises to people who have Word.
The enemy don’t mind if you feel good, because “feel good” doesn’t crack open your tomorrow.
✔ WORD opens up your tomorrow.
✔ WORD opens your destiny.
And the devil doesn’t care about things that DON’T pertain to your destiny. But when you begin to get
food, that fuels your destiny, then all of a sudden, you begin to get the enemy’s attention.
Why? Because when you begin to go into destiny, you’re taking up enemy-hell territory.
Why? You have to DRIVE your enemies out of your promise land. They have to be driven out. That’s a
territory that you take.
How do you that?
Mark 4
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.
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.”
Now, the Bible says we have to HEAR Word for Faith to arise.
✔ You can’t pray Faith in.
✔ You can’t praise Faith in.
Faith comes from Word. You have to get Word to have Faith.
And the Bible says, “Faith pleases God.”
Do you see the house I’m building right here?
People that PLEASE God, are Word-people.
✔ Because you have to have FAITH to please God.
✔ You have to have WORD to have Faith.
Ron Carpenter, Redemption World Outreach Center