2Corinthians 5:17-18 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition has passed. Behold! all things are made new. But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ has reconciled us to Himself (received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself) and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation (that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him)."
Before ascending into Heaven and being seated at the right hand of the Father, Jesus told His followers in John 14:18,26 (Amplified), "I will not leave you as orphans (comfortless, desolate, bereaved, forlorn, helpless) I will come (back) to you." He continues in Verse 26 saying, "But the (Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby) the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name (in My Place, to represent Me and act on My Behalf). He will teach you all things; And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you."
According to the above scriptures (along with many more), the Holy Spirit is to be the Teacher of the Church. The Holy Spirit is also God, as the Word is God. Our Awesome God is the Creator of Heaven and earth and He is also our Father. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus said that He "would not leave us as orphans. An orphan has no parents to raise him and he has no home. In the world, we have orphanages, in order to care for and raise these children who have no parents.
Sadly, it's been reconized that not all of these orphanages were good for, nor good to, the children. In many of these homes, the children were abused and mistreated, by the people who were in charge. Many caretakers tried raising the children, the best they knew how, but they were still not the children's parents. Many orphans had parents who couldn't or wouldn't raise them, so they required foster parents.
In today's Church, many of God's family have been raised by foster parents. For them, the world has taken over the raising of God's kids for Him, telling them what is to be believed and what isn't. Much of our religious doctrines haven't been determined by the Holy Spirit, but have come from foster parents (the world). Even after we were grown-up in the natural, we were still students of our foster parent's (the world).
We usually quote only half of Romans 10:17 (Amplified) (like we do with many scriptures). Paul says "So faith comes by hearing." This is the part we mostly quote, but the entire Verse says, "So faith comes by hearing (what is told) and what is heard comes by the preaching (of the Message that came from the lips) of Christ (the Messiah Himself)." Since God's Word is Truth, this scripture is also true. "Faith comes by hearing (what is told)" It doesn't matter if "what is told" is God's Word or what our foster parents (the world) says. Hearing produces faith.
Jesus tells "The Parable of the Sower" in Mark 4, which is about the sower sowing the Word. The subject of this Parable is God's Word, but the principal is the same with any word. Words are seeds that are planted into the soil or spirits of the people and all words are seeds. If these are seeds of Communism or other gods, then they are still seeds. As long as these seeds are being sown and the people continue hearing, then "faith comes by hearing what is told." Whatever is being told (or sown) in the hearts and minds of the people, is what they place faith in. They will place faith in the Word of the Father, if that's what they're hearing. Or, they will place faith in the words of their foster parents (the world's), if that's what they're hearing.
The compromising and unbelief that is going forth in today's Church, comes from listening to what the world says, instead of the Holy Spirit. Mark 4:24 (Amplified) says, "And [Jesus] said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure (of thought and study) you give (to the Truth you hear) will be the measure (of virtue and knowledge) that comes back to you-and more (besides) will be given to you who hear."
This principle is a Spiritual truth, that pertains to the "thought and study" that you give it. Jesus said in John 8:31-32 (Amplified), "If you abide in My Word (hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them) you are truly My disciples." Many of us stop reading, but we can fully understand Jesus' teaching, if we read on. Thus, Verse 32 goes on, "And then you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free."
Only God's Words can set us free. The words of the world (the foster parents) will not only place us in bondage, but will keep us in bondage. Man's ideas (the world's ideas, the foster parent's ideas) can never set God's people at liberty. We have failed to follow Jesus' instructions and "Be careful of what we hear" and have begun placing faith in and having faith in the words of man's religion and the world's ideas of what God has said. This is the same deception satan used with Eve, in the Garden of Eden. Eve wasn't careful about what the Father had said and she began doubting and listening to other words (or seeds) that were being broadcast in her heart. The first seeds were seeds of doubt, concerning faith in God's Word as Truth.
Genesis 3:1-5 (Amplified) says, "Now the serpent was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And he (satan) said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the Garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit from the trees of the Garden, Except the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of the Garden; (God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die)." Verses 4-5 say, "But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity."
Faith truly comes by hearing and Eve wasn't faithful about what she heard or listened to. She knew God said, "Eat not of that tree of knowledge," but she began to put "thought and study" into what the serpent said. Satan's words didn't set Eve free, but damned mankind with the sin of trespass and separation from God. The same doctrine of the world (the foster parent) is being spoken today and is being sown into the hearts of many of God's children. Jesus said in John 8:31-32 (Amplified), "If you abide in My Word (hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them) You are truly My disciples And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free."
The seeds (words) being sown throughout the world, aren't the seeds (or Words) of Jesus and the Father. They are all seeds though and Genesis 1:11 (Amplified) tells us, "And God said, Let the earth put forth (tender) vegetation; plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in itself, each according to it's kind upon the earth, and it was so."
The Law of Genesis is that, "Everything bears fruit after it's kind or seed." 1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) says, "You have been regenerated (born-again) not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm) but from One that is Immortal by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."
This is why it's imperative that we are careful what we hear. Each seed produces after kind. Apple seeds bear apple trees. Peach seeds bear peach trees. This is true for everything God has created. God's Word produced the trees and their seed reproduced what God's Word said it to be. The words we hear (especially words we put thought and study in), produce many things that do not set us free. We must be careful what we hear.
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