Confession 5

      We're going to continue on the subject of confessing the Word. As we have been saying, there is power in words.

     I. Speaking the Word of God does several things.

                  A. When you speak the Word of God out of your mouth, then you are planting seeds.

                              1. & the more you speak the Word, the more you believe it. The more you believe it, the more you speak it.

                              2. 2COR 4:13

                                          a. I like it how the NIV puts it (2CO 4:13) It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, (NIV)

                                          b. It is believed that Paul was quoting an O.T. scripture in (PSA 116:10) which says in the KJV, “I believed, therefore have I spoken:”

                                                      i. Paul said, “We also believe, and therefore speak;” (KJV)

                                          c. To say it one more time, “What you believe, you will speak. If you believe the Word, you will speak it. If you speak it, you will believe it, & if you believe it you'll speak it.”

                                                      i. This is God's cycle for producing faith as well as planting seed for harvest.

                                                      ii. This is the way that you get the process going. It's in your mouth & it's in your heart.

                  B. Jesus said in (MAR 4:26) That the kingdom of God, is as if a man should cast seed into the ground; (KJV)

                              1. You need to understand this that God is not sowing seed for you.

                                          a. He said a man should cast seed into the ground.

                                          b. Your harvest depends on your seeds sown.

                              2. The earth does not produce anything good to eat by itself. You have to force it to produce things good to eat.

                                          a. Other wise, all you will get are weeds.

                                          b. You have to do the planting of good seed.

                              3. There are times that we have unwanted seeds.

                                          a. Unwanted seeds are statements of doubt & unbelief.

                                          b. Things like, “Everything I do ends up a mess.”

                                                      i. “Everything I do turns out bad.” Or, “It's flu seasons. I'll probably catch it.”

      II. When Adam & Eve were created they were placed in the Garden of Eden. It supplied them w/ everything they needed.

                  A. But Adam sold out to Satan, & Satan became the God of This World.

                              1. Through the work of Jesus we can now have God's best again.

                              2. The born again spirit which God has placed on the inside of you is a garden that will produce everything you need in this life.

                                          a. 1COR 3:9

                                          b. The word “husbandry” means “Field or Garden”

                                          c. You are God's garden & that garden will produce everything that you will need.

                  B. (GEN 2:15) Says, “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” (KJV)

                              1. The words “dress it” means “to work it, labor over it, to till it.”

                              2. & the words “Keep it” means to “guard it, protect it, & to attend to it.”

                                          a. The Lord is telling us to labor over & till our heart, to keep it, guard it, protect it, & to attend to it.

                                          b. To speak out things like, “Everything that I do is a failure,” is planting the wrong seeds in that garden.

                              3. PSA 141:3

                                          a. We need to guard our heart.

                                          b. Don't let the things that are contrary to the Word of God come out of our lips, but speak the Word of God.

      III. MARK 4:26-29

                  A. In this passage of scripture Jesus is telling us that you are the one that is planting the seed.

                              1. That's why you need to take God's Word & put it in your mouth.

                              2. When you speak it, it becomes a seed, it goes into the heart - the human spirit - & there it begins to grow & produce.

                  B. Notice that Jesus said, in (MAR 4:28) “For the earth (the heart of man) bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” (KJV)

                              1. We know that the word “earth” in (V 28) is the heart of man or his spirit because of what Jesus said in V 15. (look at it)

                                          a. The last part of that V says that “the word that was sown in their hearts.”

                                          b. So again Jesus is saying in (V 28) that, “For the earth (the heart of man) bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.”

                              2. Sometimes people give up before the harvest.

                                          a. Probably all of us have done that & don't even know it.

                                          b. There is such power in words that you may have said something that stopped the growth process.

                                          c. (MAR 11:23) Says, “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.” (KJV)

                                                      i. This is a law of Faith.

                                                      ii. Let me put that V. little clearer to you. “Whosoever shall say, shall believe, & shall not doubt in his heart, but believes what he says will come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he says.”

                                                      iii. That's how it works.

                                          d. Some people think, “It's going to happen just because I say it.”

                                                      i. But it won't happen just because you say it.

                                                      ii. People get a hold of (MARK 11:23) & run off into left field w/ it.

                              3. It won't work just because you say it, But saying it is involved in working it.   (repeat) (You don't drive a car just by starting it)

                                          i. One of the key points that (MARK 11:23) makes is that when you confess the Word, you must believe it in your heart & not doubt.

                                          ii. Faith is very much involved in confessing the Word.

      IV. Turn to GEN 1 In this chapter we see something that is called the law of Genesis. This is something that God put into existence in the book of Genesis & it is still so today.

                  A. This law that God put into motion is the law of seed time & harvest.

                              1. GEN 1:11-12

                              2. Now look at GEN 8:20-22

                                          a. God says that this is the method He has chosen for this planet, & it will be that way as long as this planet is in existence.

                                          b. God's law of Genesis, is that everything produces after its kind.

                                                      i. The seed is in itself.

                              3. The seed of strife is in strife itself.

                                          a. If you want to create more strife than sow words of strife.

                                          b. If you want to reap love sow words of love.

                  B. The Bible has already told us that words are seeds. Those words will produce whatever they are seeds of.

      V. You have probably heard the statement, “just tell it like it is.”

                  A. That is not a Bible method.

                              1. The Bible method & the law of faith is that you say it the way the Word of God says it.

                              2. When you see lack & problems in your life, speak abundance & peace.

                                          a. Go to the Word of God, find the promise, & plant that seed.

                  B. What the problem has been w/ confession is that people have planted a few good seeds & gone off left them.

                              1. 1st of all, when you find the promise of God, you don't just plant one seed. You continue planting seeds, you continue to confessing the promise.

                              2. 2nd you need to care for that seed.

                                          a. You need to stay in faith over that promise of God that you have been confessing.

                  C. Look at LUKE 17:5

                              1. Wouldn't it be great if all we had to do is ask for more faith. But that's not how God does it.

                              2. Look at V 6 & we end w/ this.

                                          a. The KJV says, “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say... ”

                                          b. But in the Greek it's a little different.

                                                      i. The Greek interlinear says, “If you had faith as a seed you would say...”

                                          c. The ASV bears this out. It says, “And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye would say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou rooted up, and be thou planted in the sea; and it would obey you.”

                                                      i. Faith speaks & when it does the circumstance will change, it must obey you.

TFC 8/15/90 WED PM & WOLCC 9/13/92 SUN AM from confess6.doc