Citygate Ministries

We all know that God is like a farmer that planted a seed to fulfill the purpose of redemption. He puts the seed in the life of a man named Abram that would later become Abraham. Abraham would cut a covenant of faith with God and God promised to make him the father of many nations. This promise was made to a man that was 75 with no children. Also in that promise was another promise that God would bless the world through this covenant.

In this episode, Pastor David wants to teach us about the process of the harvest, especially in conjunction with the gift of salvation. Last week was the potential of the seed! Potential, potential, potential; this week it’s process, process, process.

They don’t put a picture of all the hard work required to produce a harvest on the seed package. They give you a picture of the potential outcome. This picture of the potential grabs the heart of the farmer and the hope in the potential of the seed motivates the man to do the work required. He values the seed and the work begins. He is willing to tear some stuff up and change the landscape, he is willing to fight the battle with weeds and bugs, he is willing to have faith for the rain and patient enough to wait til maturity not satisfied with temporary increase but protects all the way to harvest. Pastor David wants to talk to us about the power of the seed and its connection to harvest.

 

Jesus begins a new way of teaching in his ministry. He starts teaching through parables. A parable is putting something alongside something else to better understand it, the placing of one thing alongside another so that a comparison can be made.  What Jesus did was put a story alongside a spiritual truth to make it better understood. In this episode, we are challenged to seek the Lord on what type of soil does our heart represent of the four soils described in this parable.

For the past two Sundays we have tackled the subject of forgiveness and what the Bible says about what it is and what it is not. Today, Pastor David, is going to address how to outlive your past and learn to forgive yourself.

Last week Pastor David started diving into the subject of forgiveness and we ended by talking about What Forgiveness Is but today he is going to discuss What Forgiveness Is Not.

This week in our You Asked For It Series, Pastor David is starting on a two week study on Forgiveness. This is a big subject that affects everyone in this room. None are exempt from their life being touched by the need of forgiveness or the need to forgive.

Last week we talked about our original operating system that was driven by flesh, rooted in sin, self centered life but through the power of the cross we have now been given a new operating system driven by the Holy Spirit, rooted in Christ, God centered life.

We want to start the study of flesh vs. spirit and spend a couple weeks seeing what the Word of God says about the subject and the ongoing struggle that all of us deal with concerning this subject.

Our small groups have always been kind of an accessory that was valued but only mentioned during the couple weeks as an announcement during sign ups but today it’s worthy of an entire sermon. Pastor David wants to express through scripture everyone's need for someone.

Last week we studied how the Bible addressed fear and it declared that perfect love could defeat fear. We saw how God being with us and His love is the origin of perfect love, we don’t have to be afraid we are never alone. That was how God revealed Himself to Joshua as he was taking on the responsibilities of leadership. We learned that strength and courage could position you for success but to sustain success the Word of God was foundational and necessary.