 There, please. Anyone online or in person? Great, thank you. First thing, I want to thank the father. Thank you, thank you for this day. Thank you for this day, thank you for your father. All right, thank you for this. What's the difference? You're getting to know me, you're getting to know me, you're getting to know me, you're getting to know me, you're getting to know me, what I feel the best in your quality of life. Don't let your heart leave you behind, don't let it leave you behind, don't leave you behind, don't let your health, don't let it leave you behind. That's the difference, let it go with confidence, let it go with confidence, let it go with confidence. Long on in talking to us through Marriage, well, give you your concentration, So I think we have a new a few students who were not here last week In person. I'm not sure if there are some online as well. Anyone who is new online or Was not here last week Okay, welcome Cyril Okay, maybe we can just do a quick introduction just your name where you're from and And what you're doing currently whether you're a full-time student or doing something else We can start with you Cyril and if anyone else online Has not yet introduced themselves. You can go ahead. Good morning, ma'am Good morning Ma'am, I'm from Vijayawalla Andhra Pradesh. I Had it first semester offline Influenced a student and I took second semester for online but to complete my interest in the second year Okay, thank you. Welcome to class. Thank you Anyone else who's joining us online who is Here for the first week first time in class Okay, so maybe the in-person students Who didn't get to introduce themselves last week if you all can just say your name where you're from and What you I think most of you will be full-time students, but you can say whether you're a full-time student or You're doing something else On the side as well. We'll just pass the mic on My name is Koval Sitaam Swetka I'm from Jhalkhand. I'm full-time student Can you tell me your name again? Koval Sitaam Swetka Koval Welcome My name is my name is Syrup Hospital and from Rajasthan Welcome and full-time student My name is Asapu Asapu From Andhra Pradesh. I am a full-time student. Welcome I am a Prem Katija. I'm from Madhya Pradesh My name is Sugat Gaiquat. I'm from Maharashtra. I'm full-time minister. Okay, welcome Everyone else is here, right? Yeah, and all those who introduced were you there last week? Did you introduce you were there for the second class? I think okay, you want to just introduce yourself, isn't it? My name is Joseph Williams Joseph Yeah, I'm from Chhattiswari Chhattiswari, welcome Okay, so thank you to all of you who are here for the first time all of you are Joining us for the second week So we'll just do a quick review of what we covered last week and then Go into the content for today I think You all need to have your Projector on okay, so last week we looked at We just started with God's worth the miracle seed, which is the first book we are covering in Interpreting scripture. So in this book the main Goal is for us to recognize how important the word of God is for us as believers and how we can Receive the word for ourselves and see it bear fruit in our lives So before we can talk about how do we interpret scripture for others or even for ourselves? We first want to look at why is scripture important in the first place what? What is it in scripture that we Why is it that we want to study scripture? Why is it important to interpret scripture correctly all of those things so? God's worth the miracle seed and introduction So We want to talk about These are a few things that we covered last week That God works miracles through his word So it's not only the supernatural manifestations that we see but it's even the simple Act of reading God's word daily of meditating on his word of doing those things that seem That seemed just normal everyday things that we do right we just read the word. We don't we may not see anything Really big happen in our everyday reading of scripture But it's true that everyday practice that God begins to work in our lives and begins to work out Supernatural things that may not be visible To just our eyes we may not be able to see it with our eyes But God works through that practice of studying scripture There is power and life in his word and we see that right from Genesis where God speaks his word and the world comes into being so from nothing Something is created right and that's only because of God's word being spoken So there is power. There is life in the word of God and it's true that word that life came into being And it is through meditating on God's word that we begin to experience that power in our own lives So we will be looking at how do we meditate in God's word through this book? So It's as we Approach the word of God with faith that we get to see it bear fruit in our lives so when we trust That God is Someone who will fulfill his word That we when we believe that there is power in the word of God Then it is only then that we start to see that word work in our lives So faith is key to seeing it make a difference in our lives And then we looked at Jesus's example So Jesus being The word of God the eternal word of God who became flesh Right. We see that in john How did he deal with the written scriptures? So we see that he studied the scriptures He used the scriptures when he was tempted He resisted temptation with using the scriptures And then the way he lived his life was in fulfillment of the scriptures So we see in by jesus's example that he Honored the word of God He treated it as something That is of utmost importance right if he himself was the word of God But he was asking questions. He was studying the word of God That means that there is great importance in the scriptures that we need to also learn from jesus's example We also see that it is through the word of God that people are saved so The gospel is the word of God and it is through the preaching of the gospel that people come to know christ. So There is power in that word to bring people to transform people's lives to bring salvation to people and So that is an example also all of these things are from scripture itself What does scripture say about itself about its importance? And so we look at we seen first Corinthians 1 21 that it is through the preaching of the god of god's word that people are saved And then in second timothy 3 16 We see all scripture was inspired by God. So even though it was written by humans the inspiration The actual content of what is written in scriptures comes from the holy spirit And so there is divine power Infused in the words of scripture and that's what Is has the power to impact our lives because it carries divine power And divine truth Okay, so the scriptures allow us to see who god is The scriptures give us a standard for the way we live our lives So it sets a standard that is above the standards of the world And we do not compromise our standards to match what is happening around us We will always live by the standard of scripture Even if it's contrary to what we see happening around us So We will not in any way lower our standards to accommodate things around us Um, the third one is scriptures are our authority that is we submit to scripture We live in obedience to scripture And the last is that we let scripture abide in us and we abide in the scriptures So letting the scriptures inform how we live our lives every day Um Yeah, we uh, we talked about this earlier that uh god works through This everyday task of being in his scripture doesn't have to be something big or supernatural But even in that simple task of studying god's word God works powerfully in our lives Um, and then this uh section on sam 138 2 is where god Says that he His word is above his name That means his reputation is based on his word And so if he is a god who fulfills his word Then his reputation can be trusted But if he's god who does not fulfill whose word cannot be trusted then That in itself Makes him lose his reputation as one who we can go to one who we can count on one who we can trust in Um Yeah, so today we'll begin with God's word its purity and power um So this is uh, just what we were looking at god's reputation And god's name are tied together Now we're going to look at god's character. What is it about god's character? that uh That affirms to us That we can trust in the word of god that we can trust in what he has said So if someone can read he brews 6 11 to 18 for us He brewed chapter 6 verse 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full Assurance of hope until the end verse 12 that you do not become Sluggish But immediate those who through faith and the patience inherit the promises verse 13 For when god made a promise to ebraham because he could swear by no one Creator he swore by himself was 14 saying surely a blessing i will bless you And multiplying i will multiply you was 15 and so after he had patiently endured he obedient He obedient the promise was 16 for men indeed swear by the greater and and And an oath for confirmation is for them and end of all distribute Was 17 thus god determined determining to show more evidently to the hires of promise The immutability of his counsel confirmed It by an oath was 18 that by two immutable things in which it it is impossible for god to lie We we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope said before us Thank you So we see two things here That verse 18 talks about it says those two things That affirm god's word are his promise and his oath Okay So his promise is The promise that he has given in the scriptures right his word itself Is a promise because everything that is stated there is about us being in covenant with him and what Is the result of that covenant right the blessings that come out of being in covenant with the lord And his oath is that which he has sworn upon himself So let's just read this passage. I have it up here on the On the power point genesis 22 15 to 18 The angel of the lord called to abraham from heaven a second time and said I swear by myself declares the lord that because you have done this and have not withheld your son Your only son I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky And as the sand on the seashore Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed Because you have obeyed me And so we see here God swearing by himself Right and when he brews talks about this passage it says there's nobody greater than god Usually when you take an oath you take it on somebody who's greater than you Or you your Oath is on something or somebody that's greater than you but because there's no one greater than god He swore by himself that I'm the greatest being that can ever Be put on a pedestal or put as the object of trust and so I swear by myself That I will do this If someone can read malachi three six Malachi three six For I am the lord I do not change Therefore you are not consumed or sons of jacob okay, so Malachi three six says God is unchanging that means his character does not change And so once he says something He will do it. He will not change his mind and What he does as a person who he is as a person will not change over time And that's why we can trust in what he says The second thing is god's word or god's promise if Can read titus one two please Titus chapter one was two in hope of eternal life which god who cannot lie promised before time began And numbers 23 19 Numbers 23 19 god is not man that he should lie Or a son of man that he should change his mind as he said And will he not do it or as he's spoken and will he not fulfill it? Thank you So we seen these two passages that god Cannot lie right That is his character. He is someone who his word is Can be fully fully trusted There is no point of time in which he's going to say something that is contrary to what he is going to do Or that is contrary to his character. So whatever he says is in line with who he is And whatever he does will be in line with what he has said He will never do something contrary to what he has said And this is why we can trust in his word That he's a god who does not change And he is a god who will not lie Right because we know he's a god who will never lie When he has said something we can trust in that word and we can believe that it will take place We'll look at what is the meaning of purity when it when it talks about god's word being pure We see here in psalm 12 6 the words of the lord are pure Words like silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times right So in psalm 12 6 the word of the lord is called pure A word that is tested a word that has gone through the furnace And has come out as something that is completely free of any kind of Any kind of falsehood anything that shouldn't belong to it is removed So we look at these passages psalm 119 160 Someone can read that one kings 8 56 And let's just Sister I'll read psalm 119 160 The entirety of your word is truth and every one of your righteous Judgment endures forever Yeah, the entirety of your word is truth Thank you First kings 8 56 and then one peter 123. We'll just read that last passage so one kings 8 56 One kings 8 56 Blessed be the lord who has given rest to his people is right according to all that he promised There has not failed one word of all his good promise which he promised through his servant moses Thank you. So uh, here we see not one of god's promises has failed Right and uh in first kings 8. It's talking about the promises that were made to moses. So after After all those promises have been fulfilled The uh, the writer is saying not one of those promises failed. So that means god's word Had been tested it proved to be true because we see the fulfillment in The lives of the Hebrew people. So uh, whatever was promised was fulfilled and after that they're saying We see that god is a god who fulfills his promises Uh, and then one peter 123 Having been born again Not of corruptible seed but incorruptible Through the word of god which lives and abides forever So, uh One peter 123 talks about how the word is an eternal word. It's not a word that is Just for a season or for a short period of time So that is what it means for words to be pure That means the words are true The words are tested and dependable and the word is enduring that it will last No matter when it was spoken, whether it was 50 years or thousands of years ago We can believe that it will be fulfilled because it is a word that transcends time So it is in this assurance if we have such an assurance of god's word being pure Of god's word being something that can be trusted because of who god is because of who the person is who's speaking those words Then we have a strong confidence. So he drew 6 18 talks about this. We have strong consolation What does that mean the amplified bible says it's a mighty in dwelling strength and strong encouragement That means there is a confidence within us that Whatever has been said will be accomplished that no matter what our circumstances are no matter What the situation is no matter what the challenges are that arise We can confidently walk in those situations believing In these words because we know the character of god and we know That these words are words that have been tested like we can look at Scriptural history and see how god has fulfilled his word in the past and that's where our confidence comes from God's word is also a carrier of god's power. So he drew is 11 3 Here we see that the word of god Was the invisible spiritual material that brought into existence the visible natural world So if someone can read he drew is 11 3 and someone else he brews one three by faith we understand that the worlds be framed by the word of god so that What we see was not made out of things which are visible Thank you. And uh, someone read he brews one three He brews one three the word of god sustains all creation Okay, uh I think we'll have to go back to the passage in scripture. He brews one three um I'll just read that the sun radiates god's own glory expresses the very nature of god and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command When he cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic god in heaven So we see here in he brews that That first passage talks about creation right creation came into being because of god's word There was nothing that existed. There was chaos. There was darkness And there was no life on earth But it was the word of god that brought order that brought creativity that brought life into existence and so We say that what was spiritual that is the word of god the divine word Brought about something physical or something natural that is the world and all creation Was something that is physical And so if we take that principle and look at it in our own lives Then we can we can believe that god by his word which carries his divine power Can bring about changes in our natural everyday lives Right, so he can bring about changes in our finances He can bring about changes in our physical or mental or emotional health He can bring about changes in our relationships He can bring about changes in our circumstances, whether it's our jobs Whether it's our Work that we are doing Whatever the physical challenges that we experience in our everyday lives We go back to the spiritual truth that is in god's word believing that that spiritual truth can impact our natural physical lives Okay, looking at the example of creation Hebrews 1 3 talks about not only the fact that the word of god brought all these things into existence But the word of god continues to Keep all things in order Continues to sustain creation the reason why the world has not collapsed And completely disintegrated is because god continues to sustain it by his word That that word carries that power of sustenance And so that is the word that we go back to when we're going back to scripture We're going back to the same god who speaks Creation into being the same god who speaks a word that sustains all things That god sustains us and that god is the one who is speaking to us through his word Okay Romans 4 18 Let me just read that for us For Abraham This is the amplified version so it has a little bit of an explanation So it says for Abraham human reason for hope being gone Hoped and faith that he should become the father of many nations as he had been promised So numberless shall your descendants be So This is an example of somebody Who trusted in god's word even though By human reasoning by human understanding it seemed completely impossible That god's word would be fulfilled in his life But he continued to hope in faith and that is a kind of Faith that we are called to have to stand on god's promises Even if everything else around us tells us logically this is not going to happen We trust in god's power to work things out even when we don't understand how it can happen Okay, so we look at This I think this is the third chapter in your book and This is where most of the content from the book comes We're looking specifically at the parable of the sower. So we will read that parable together But What is a parable? So jesus used parables to Tell people about god's kingdom, right? So he used examples from everyday life to communicate something that was Beyond what we understand something that was spiritual he used things that Common people could understand to communicate those things So we look at this parable and we look at what are some things that we can learn about god's word From this parable and how we can apply it to our lives So if somebody can read the parable for us mark four Verses one to ten and then versus 13 to 20 Again jesus began to teach besides the lake and a very great crowd gathered about him So that he got into a ship in order to sit it on the sea and the whole crowd was at the lakeside on the shore And he taught them many things in parables and in his teachings. He said to them Give attention to this We hold a sower went out to sow And as he was sowing some seed fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up Other seed fell on ground full of rocks Where it had not much soil and at once it sprang up because it had no depth of soil And when the some sun came up it was scorched and because it had not taken root it withered away other seed among thorn plants and the thistles grew And pressed together and utterly choked and suffocated it and it yielded no green Another seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain growing up and increasing And yielded up to 30 times as much And 60 times as much and even a hundred times as much as he had been sown And he said he who has ears to hear let him be hearing And as soon as he was alone those who were around him with the 12 apostles began to ask him about the parables The rain too And he said to them Do you not discern and understand this parable? How then is it possible for you to discern and understand all the parables? The sower sows the word The ones along the path are those who have the word sown But when they hear satan coming comes at once and takes away the message which is sown in them And in the same way the ones sown upon stony ground are those Who when they hear the word at once receive and accept and welcome it with joy And they have no real root in themselves. And so they endure for a little while Then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word they immediately are offended And they stumble and fall away and the ones sown among the thorns are others who hear the word Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of this age and the pleasure and the delight and false glamour And decidedfulness of riches and the craving and passionate desire for other things Creep in and choke and suffocate the word and it becomes fruitless And those sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and receive and accept and welcome it and bear fruit Some 30 times as much as was sown some 60 times as much And some even 100 times as much Okay, so um We need here this parable is basically about god's word, right talking about uh, how god's word And the power of god's word Can be released into our lives and can bear fruit in our lives. So that last example it can Bear up to a hundred fold right of that one seed that is planted can have such a huge impact But on the other hand the other examples show us how that word all those sown Will not bear fruit Because of other things that come in And hinder its growth or hinder it from producing fruit Um, so that's what we're going to look at in this passage We look at how the word of god can either bear fruit in our lives Or not bear fruit because of certain hindrances that come in to our uh that come in from the outside Um, so jesus says here in mark 413 Um, if you can't understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables? right, so uh Something that we can take away from this is that this parable Shows us how we are to interpret other parables. So if we can Understand this parable Then we'll also learn how to correctly interpret how to correctly receive truth from the other parables And then the other thing is that this parable also Shows us how we can draw spiritual truth and spiritual insights From parables when we look at a parable. What is the spiritual truth that's underlying that example that jesus had used So, uh, these are the key thoughts we're going to look at in the parable of the sewer Uh, god's word is like a seed Okay, so mark 414 That uh, just like a seed is sown in the ground god's word is sown And as we looked at in the passage, uh, the ground Represents the person's heart, right? So, uh, like a seed is sown in the ground god's word is sown in the hearts of people Um, and then we see mark 415 Our heart is the ground where the seed of god's word is to be sown Uh, the third one is the seed must be protected and nurtured In order to produce fruit So not only do we plant the seed but we also protect what has been planted and we nurture what has been planted um, we must understand Uh The truth that it contained in god's word To keep satan from stealing Uh stealing the word from our hearts. So until we grasp the spiritual meaning that is within god's word Uh, we cannot protect that In our heart and we cannot protect it and make sure it bears fruit in our lives um Five regardless of what hardship or persecution we face We need to hold on to the word of god. So we saw uh the one example where The food uh the seed falls into stony ground So it comes up but as soon as there's persecution as soon as there's hardship The plant gets choked out because there's no strong root holding it in place and so We need to know how to hold on to god's word when we face persecution or when we face challenges How do we make sure that we continue to Trust in god's word and remain rooted in god's word the sixth one We guard our hearts against things that may come in from the outside. So Cares of this world the deceitfulness of riches the desires for other things and the pleasures of life We will be going into detail in all of these points. So we look at what are those things that can come in and um take over Uh god's word in our lives So the cares of the world deceitfulness of riches all of these things How do those things come into our lives and take away what has been sown into our hearts? And then the last one is Uh when we understand receive and retain. So we're looking at uh this passage uh or this parable is Uh Is recorded in matthew mark and luke So we read only from mark But in these points these seven points that we're looking at we've taken it from all three Uh gospels and we're looking at what are some principles that we can take from the three Records we have of this parable. So from matthew 13 23, uh, it says when you understand the word of god Then it will bear fruit mark four says when you receive the word of god and luke says When you retain the word of god So what does it mean to understand receive and retain? So that the word will bear fruit in our lives So the first point we looked at is that the seed is the word of god and We see that right in uh mark which we read when mark is explaining it to the disciples So he says in mark for 14 the farmer plants seeds by taking god's word to others And luke 8 11 says it very explicitly. It says the seed is the word of god and so Looking at that we know that We use that example of a seed So, uh one beta 123 which we read before it says having been born again not of corruptible But incorruptible seed the word of god Which lives and abides forever? So this is the kind of seed we're talking about right when you look at a natural seed It's a seed that Could die at any point of time even though it has the power to Um to bear fruit to grow into a large tree There are times when the seed itself will decompose and die But the word of god is an incorruptible seed a seed that is eternal So once it is sown We can be sure that it Will not die If we take proper care of it if we make sure that it is not taken away from our hearts And if we make sure that we are nurturing it properly it will bear fruit So, um What can we uh learn from this example of a seed right so when jesus used parables he used Things that were very familiar to the people he was talking to now We may not have the same level of familiarity with Sowing and reaping as The israelites had because they were an ag the agriculture was such a big part of their Culture, but we understand The way seeds work right you put a seed in the ground You water it you give it sunlight you give it the nutrients it requires And you can uh, and you will see it bear fruit over time even if it's a slow process So, um, we know that seeds have Creative life giving ability that means seeds have the power to bring Something into being right you put in a seed, but what comes out? Yeah, a plant comes out right you don't just get more seeds It doesn't just multiply into many more seeds it grows into a plant that bears fruit and then from that fruit You get more seeds But it has it brings about something that is bigger than itself So it's a small thing that's planted But what comes out is much much larger and then multiplies into more and more seed Um, so it has creative life giving ability Uh, I think we have time to look at these verses. Let's look at james 118 And it was of his own free will that he gave us birth as sons By his word of truth so that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures A sample of what he created to be consecrated to himself So here we see that uh, he gave birth to us Through his word Right, so when we're looking at that physical thing of planting a seed and the seed giving birth to something Here we see in scripture that The word of god gave birth to us as new creatures. So the gospel Brought about a new creation Just as the word of god brought about life in genesis In the same way This gospel brought life to us As believers, let's look at second corinthians 5 17 Therefore if anyone is in christ the new creation has come the old has gone the new is here Thank you and Ephesians 2 20 2 10 sorry Ephesians 2 10 Ephesians 2 10 for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus for good works Which god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them Thank you, so We see in these passages second corinthians 5 17 and Ephesians 2 10 that we are new creatures new creation In christ, right? So what james 118 said was the word of god Brought about our birth And second corinthians and Ephesians are talking about us being a new creation So that's essentially what the word of god Does it brings about this life? It brings about something that didn't exist before and It's only when we So and protect and nurture that word that It can bear fruit in our lives So we'll take a break here and we'll come back and we look a little more Into what this means for us