And in them

"And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’" (‭Matthew‬ ‭13‬:‭14-15‬ NKJV)

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain." (‭John‬ ‭12‬:‭24‬ NKJV)

"If the grain rots it becomes a perversion and you fall into error!" (Bob Phillips 'Ascending The Mountain of Glory') 

I was listening to that sermon the other day, and those words hit me hard! Read it again.

"If the grain (Word) rots - it becomes a perversion and you fall into error!" 

He was saying we hear a lot of Word, yet if we are not obedient to it - it rots! The rottenness becomes a perversion (is corrupted seed) and we fall into error! Compromise of the Truth is error! 

We hear but not obey. We hear it again, and still do not obey, we justify our disobedience. We finally cease to hear at all and and the enemy can then sow bad seed and we will accept!

Rotting seed is not seed that has died!

There is a difference! Rotting seed is useless; does not even resemble its original form; only good for destruction.

"“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience." (‭Luke‬ ‭8‬:‭11-15‬ NKJV)

"Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you." (Hosea‬ ‭10‬:‭12‬ NKJV)

The trials come to break us of the hardness of our hearts! We have a choice to humble ourself before God and through repentance change our course, or continue with an unbending back and a stiff neck, trying to be strong and in control! 

The storms WILL continue and He WILL break you, for only He can be God! 

"And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (‭Matthew‬ ‭23‬:‭12‬ NKJV)

Father, please forgive the hardness of our hearts! We repent of our lack of humility! We ask LORD that you open our eyes, open our ears, and change our hearts! Bring us to repentance! We lay down our pride and humbly ask that you continue the work You began in us!  We cast down our idols and we tear down our high places! We vacate the throne and ask that You take Your proper place, for You alone are God, and we are not!

Even so - MARANATHA! 

From 9/22/15, 5/9/16