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We see that our Lord was referring to the sower going into the world which is Himself and He is making the call, He is sowing that greatest treasure as seeds around the world, He is sowing the call to come unto the kingdom and many receive that as He said on stony grounds that does not bring forth any fruit for the deceitfulness of this world absorb it. Some falls by the way side and that is devoured by the cares and the troubles of this world and other falls on good ground and brings forth fruit. Therein we see a great obligation that we must bring forth fruit. What is this fruit that we must bring forth? Is it the fruit that we ourselves can generate? No, it is the fruit that can be brought forth on this good ground that enables others who have received the call to be able to be drawn into the church to also be partakers of that great promise. The seed has to grow and has to be nurtured and has to ripen and then bring forth fruit of its own and in the world that we have today if there is no place where good ground can be found, then this call of the Lord is destined to be lost for the world is so full of all those things that will overshadow this call of the Lord.
The English Apostles meditated and studied on the obligation of us all as part of the church in relation to what we must set into place if we are to be a magnet to draw that seed into good ground and they set forth a guide for their members in their days; They said that there were four things that must be displayed within the church that every church member must firstly come to grips with and get clear in their mind before the fifth can come into play, which is the bringing forth of the fruit, and they ran them in this order.
Firstly that we must have the full display of faith, we must have faith to receive that which is given unto us and to acknowledge that it is only from the Almighty God. We must have faith in the Almighty God as the Creator, we must have faith in the Almighty God as being above all and giving unto us His Son who has given us that call. Now that faith must not only be within our hearts, it must be displayed to the world, we must show to the world that we have this faith and this can be done every morning if we think first of the Creator and then we acknowledge this through having prayers we are displaying this faith to those souls that are in that household, it is ensuring that our children will also be drawn to this great call. If we do not have that faith and display it in our lives in simple things like attending service, attending functions in the church and all of those things, then we are not displaying that we believe that those things are from God.
The second attribute that is needed to be shown in the church they defined as worship and they said that this worship is not just simply something that happens every Sunday, it must be an ongoing thing in our daily life, we must be prepared to visibly show that we are worshipping the Almighty God and thankful for His blessings day by day, not only each Sunday, but day by day and that worship must go further than thanking Him for what we have received. In our worship we must acknowledge that we also thank Him for those things that He is yet to give us, in simple terms we acknowledge that He is guiding our life, He is guiding the world, His will, will be done and we worship Him for that and thank Him in advance for those things that He will do. Many things in our lives that happen unto us we may not feel it is what we want, but if we develop this strong worship unto Him to thank Him for what He will do for us into the future, then we will when those things happen accept that it is His will.
The third element required in the church is obedience, obedience to the commandments of God and His ways, it is no good understanding what God’s commandments are and displaying to the world that we are running with the world. That will not draw anyone into this security, but if all see that we can be obedient to the commandments of God and the will of God and the teachings of Christ, then they will see that we are receiving a joy from fulfilling that. It is not an obedience that is forced upon us, it is a joy that is displayed in our lives and through this joy others will want to partake of this also. Nothing they are doing is bringing them peace and contentment, nothing is bringing about anything that is stable, but if they see within the world that a group can be obedient to the commandments of God, be blessed for it, and have peace and contentment and that there is a future, a solid future that we are all looking for, then they too will be drawn to this good ground.
And the fourth and greatest virtue that must be shown within the church is hope. Hope of the final blessings that God will dispense that He has issued an invitation to come to His kingdom and we must never doubt this kingdom before us. If we display that hope in our lives and we can no matter what people say how troublesome the world is, if we can say that there is a hope in all this, and that hope is the kingdom of God. That will bring stability and the church, then will be able to be an active evangelist worldwide going forth, drawing those who are yet to receive the call into its circles and into its beliefs and faiths and hopes and understandings and worships and they too will find a stability in this troubled world.
We can see that the request to think first of the Creator, to follow the call of the Lord is not just simply something for us, it is God’s instruction to the whole world, it is us playing our part in this great field that He is sowing and we should be sad and sorry to see so many who are losing that seed, having it taken up by the cares and the troubles of this world, and we should be preparing that light into the world that will show that there is a better way, there is a better invitation that we can take up this seed, this invitation given unto us and honestly look forward to the kingdom of God.