 | Teaching:
'Laying the Right Foundation' |
| Jesus Christ is Lord!
Andrew Shreeve Ministries
Partner Letter – March 2009
‘Bringing good tidings, publishing peace and salvation’
(Isaiah 52:7, Romans 10:15)
Sow a financial seed this month and partner with Andrew in proclaiming peace and salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ to all nations.
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| Contents
- Welcome
- Resources – video and written teaching
- Teaching – “Laying the Right Foundation”
- Itinerary
| Welcome
| Dear partners and friends, I encourage you to experience the power and glory of the Lord, through the miracle action of His seed (Mark 4:26). The Lord’s divine power has given us everything we need for life (2 Peter 1:3). This is an amazing statement by the apostle Peter! God’s miracle power is available for us through the knowledge of His exceeding great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:4). Plant and water the seed of His promises in your heart through daily meditation, and enjoy the Lord’s miracle power!
Love, Andrew
| Resources
| To view 22 short videos (each less than ten minutes) by Andrew go to: www.youtube.com Type in the search box; "AndrewJShreeve" and click search.
To study 73 short written teachings go to: www.andrewshreeve.org click on the icon, ‘Partner Letters’. You may copy and print the teachings for easier study.
| Teaching – Laying the Right Foundation
Copyright © Andrew J. Shreeve 2009
| In my travels I am sometimes privileged to gain insight into the thoughts of church leaders. Occasionally it becomes obvious that some leaders have laid wrong foundations, and subsequently some of their thought processes concerning God and His kingdom are erroneous. A good example is the pastor whose child died of cancer at an early age. This pastor thought that because he, and others, supposedly prayed ‘in faith’ to the Lord for healing, and the child died, it must have been the Lord’s will that the child died without experiencing a full and long life (Psalm 91:16). The pastor used the term, God’s sovereignty, to explain why God ‘in His wisdom’ should will the untimely death of a small child through sickness and disease.
It is regrettable that a pastor who represents God could attribute this type of death, by sickness, to the will our loving heavenly Father. It goes against the written revealed will of the Lord in the bible, it goes against all understanding of human endeavour, decency and love, and it goes against common sense.
The root cause of this type of delusional religious thinking is the laying of a wrong foundation. This month I want us to look at some important foundational teaching by Jesus, so we don’t make the same mistakes as that well meaning, but uninformed pastor:
Know ye not this parable? And how then will ye know all parables? Mark 4:13
The above statement by Jesus to His disciples when questioned about understanding the parable in Mark 4:3-8 should catch our attention. Jesus is telling us, this parable is a foundational teaching concerning how God’s kingdom operates. If we do not study, understand, and receive the principles in this parable, we will not be able to correctly understand all of the other parables. It is like looking through a lens. We need to look at reality with the right perspective, and have correct paradigms for our interpretation of life’s events and God’s kingdom. Otherwise we will have perverted and distorted concepts about God, and the reasons why tragic things happen in life.
The parable teaches us that God’s Word is seed (Mark 4:14). Other related Scriptures reveal the seed is living, incorruptible, powerful, and spiritual (Hebrews 4:12, 1 Peter 1:23, John 6:63). The seed is 100% predictable in that will always produce fruit after its own kind, if it can find the good ground, a human heart open to receive it (Mark 4:15, 20). The power and fruit of God’s kingdom is contained within the eternal, living seed of His promises. The parable teaches that the only reason God’s Word may not produce what it says, is if the human heart does not successfully receive and grow the seed (Mark 4:15-19). So, if our experience of God lacks the power and deliverance of His promises, it is not a fault of God’s Word or a sign of God’s lack of will, but rather it is an indication of us not having successfully received and grown the seed in our heart.
The parable also teaches that there is spiritual warfare around the activity of seed growing, as the devil is active in trying to steal the seed from our heart and prevent its growth (Mark 4:15).
So in the case of the pastor whose child died, the first question we should ask is, does the bible have seed which promises healing for cancer? The answer is a resolute yes! The bible is plentiful with teaching revealing to us God’s will is healing for every type of disease. There are hundreds of seeds in the bible which make known to us God’s will is healing for His people. A few are; Psalm 103:3, Matthew 8:17, 1 Peter 2:24, and James 5:15.
So if a child is diagnosed with cancer, we know God’s will is healing, because God’s Word promises healing. God, in His sovereignty, is not going to go against His sovereign Word. God is not a liar. So step one is to find the seed which will produce what we need, in this case - healing. Step two is to plant and water the healing seed in the hearts of the child, the pastor, and all those around who may influence the thoughts of the child. This is because fear, doubt, unbelief, and neglect can stop the growth of the seed, and therefore the receiving of God’s healing power (Hebrews 6:12). Planting and growing spiritual seed is achieved through diligent, daily meditation.
Step three is to realize that the devil will try and stop the process of receiving and growing the seed through deception, distraction, pressure, persecution, or an outright attack of sickness and disease (Mark 4:15-19). The spiritual war is over whether we can successfully grow the spiritual seed in our heart. If we can successfully grow the seed we will receive the fruit of the kingdom, in this case healing. If we fail to grow the seed we will not receive the fruit of the kingdom, and in this example the child will die of cancer.
So we can see through this illustration that, when we ‘look through the lens’ of the teaching of Jesus, in His foundational parable, we have greater clarity to understand why a person might not be healed. We know that it is not God’s will that the child die a premature, painful death caused by disease. We know God’s will is the child be healed, and live a long and fruitful life. Through viewing events by the correct perspective, we are therefore encouraged to fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12), and to draw closer to God through meditation of His exceeding great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:4, Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:3). We are no longer confused with knowing God’s sovereign will. God’s sovereign will has already been revealed in his written Word, as His promises are His revealed sovereign will.
We are in a real war against the devil, sin, sickness and poverty (2 Corinthians 10:4-5, Ephesians 6:10-20). In war we can experience victory or defeat. It is therefore vital we lay the right foundations. We need to know God is on our side, and has provided the power for victory over the devil, sin, sickness and poverty. Jesus has told us in the parable how His kingdom works. If we want His power we must plant His seed. Let’s not be like that pastor, and attribute the tragedy of an untimely death to God’s sovereign, ‘mysterious’ will. Let’s call it as Jesus said, our failure to successfully plant and grow the seed of His divine Word in the human heart, resulting in the absence of God’s divine power, subsequently being unable to defeat cancer, which caused defeat and death. We should not blame God for the tragedy, by attributing the death to God’s sovereign will. Rather, we should take responsibility for not successfully growing the seed which promises God’s healing.
Jesus has delivered unto humanity the gospel, the good news. The gospel is the good news of ‘shalom’ (Isaiah 9:6, 52:7, 54:10, Romans 10:15). We are to publish that Jesus has delivered, by God’s power, shalom to the human race (2 Peter1:3). Shalom is the divine sovereign will of the Lord. This is why Jesus came. Shalom includes: safety, being well, happy, friendly, having welfare, health, prosperity, peace, favour, being perfect, at peace, rest, all is well, and whole (Strong’s Dictionary). Shalom also means: completeness, tranquillity, at ease, unconcerned, unharmed, and unhurt (W. E. Vine’s Dictionary). Let’s not ignorantly come against the gospel, by incorrectly publishing that it is God’s will to die of sickness.
Say with me, “Lord Jesus, thank you for teaching us how your kingdom works. I know if I want to receive your power I must plant and grow the seed of your promises in my heart. This is my number one priority, to bear the fruit of your kingdom and experience the power of the gospel. I now view every situation through the wisdom of your parable, which explains that the living seed of your Word will produce your power in my life, if I can successfully grow your seed in my heart. I now apply myself to the receiving of your seed, so my heart will be good, and not evil (Hebrews 3:12). Then I will experience your loving power in every area of my life. I love you forever. Amen.” | |
Itinerary
| March - April 2009 Undisclosed countries
| | ANDREW SHREEVE MINISTRIES
‘Bringing good tidings, publishing peace and salvation’ (Isaiah 52:7, Romans 10:15) | |
