<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Mark 4;18&amp;19<div><br></div><div><b>18. &nbsp;And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the Word,</b></div><div><b>19. &nbsp;but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>Another way to understand <i>“the cares of the world” </i>is to substitute the term, ‘worries’ or ‘anxieties’.</div><div>They are like weeds left to grow in your spiritual garden. &nbsp;What must&nbsp;good gardeners do to have a good garden? &nbsp;They must continually pull weeds, if possible get them out by the roots entirely.</div><div><br></div><div>Pulling spiritual weeds from our soul, is using the promises of God to expel them. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div><i>“Have no anxiety about <u>anything</u>&nbsp;but in <u>everything</u>&nbsp;by prayer and supplication <u>with thanksgiving,</u>&nbsp;let your requests be made known to God. &nbsp;And the peace of God which passes all understanding, will&nbsp;<u>keep your hearts and minds </u><b>in Christ Jesus.</b>” &nbsp; (Philippians 4;6&amp;7).&nbsp;</i>By nature, we want to complain about our troubles, not be thankful to God that <u>He has allowed them into our lives for our&nbsp;good</u>. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>To have the peace of God, it to know beyond understanding, that God is still in perfect control of our lives and has promised to use <u>all things</u>&nbsp;for our good. &nbsp;(Romans 8;28&amp;29). The peace of God, beyond understanding, is ‘faith over circumstances,’ faith which knows good will come from whatever problem we face. &nbsp;This allows us to see our troubles and worries as God’s&nbsp;blessings disguised as frightening trouble to worry over. &nbsp;This is practicing&nbsp;Christian mental/spiritual health.</div><div><br></div><div>To delight in riches is not what we are called to do. &nbsp;Money desires to&nbsp;be our&nbsp;false god.&nbsp; Riches in themselves are not evil. &nbsp;They give us opportunity to serve others. &nbsp;But we are never to ‘delight’ in them.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;We are called to,&nbsp;<i>“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your hearts.” &nbsp;</i>(Psalm 37;4) &nbsp;to ‘delight in the Lord’ is to delight in his Word.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his <u>delight</u>&nbsp;is in the law of the Lord, and <u>on his law he meditates day and night.</u>&nbsp; He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season,&nbsp;and whose leaves do not wither. &nbsp;In all that he does, he prospers. &nbsp;</i>(Psalm 1;1-3)<br><br>To “<i>delight in the Lord” </i>&nbsp;is to abide <u>in Christ.</u>&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp; <i>“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. &nbsp;And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge <u>and the fear of the LORD.</u>&nbsp; And <u>his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.</u>&nbsp; He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; &nbsp;but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the Rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.” &nbsp;</i>(Isaiah 11;1-4)<b></b></div><div>Jesus did not judge by what he saw or heard, but by what he knew to be the truth and will of our Father.</div><div><br></div><div>Delighting in the <i>“fear of the Lord” </i>is <u>not</u>&nbsp;to be afraid of God, he loves us! &nbsp;It is to fear ever failing to do the Father’s will. &nbsp;Like fearing&nbsp;to get in the car for a family vacation. &nbsp;Adam failed to fear the LORD, when he disregarded the Command, <i>“Do not eat of it, for in the day you eat of it you shall surly die.”</i>&nbsp; The Commands of God are life to us. &nbsp;The fear of the Lord is the proper fear of loss of relationship with the Father. &nbsp;We, with Jesus, never want to displease the Father. &nbsp;This is a holy and good fear. &nbsp;To practice the fear of the Lord, is Christ, by the Holy Spirit, indwelling and at work in us.</div><div><i><br></i></div><div>The <i>“desire for other things”</i>&nbsp;is to be discontent with what God has given us. &nbsp;<i>“There is </i><u>great gain</u><i>&nbsp;in godliness </i><u>with contentment;</u><i>&nbsp;for we brought nothing into this world, and we cannot take anything our of this world; but if we have food and clothing, with these </i><u>we shall be content.”</u>&nbsp; (1 Timothy 6;6-8)</div><div>If we have the gifts of repentance and faith, we have Christ. &nbsp;If we have Christ, we have the kingdom and we are Children of God. &nbsp;What else can we ever desire?</div><div><br></div><div>Fruitlessness should terrify us. &nbsp;(see, Matthew 21;18&amp;19)</div><div><i>You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you&nbsp;that you should go and bear fruit&nbsp;and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father <u>in my name</u>&nbsp;he may give it to you.” &nbsp;</i>(John 15;16)</div><div>The ‘fruit’ Jesus calls us to ‘produce’ is unnatural fruit, it does not rot or spoil, it endures, <b>and <u>we</u>&nbsp;do not produce this fruit, the Word at work in us produces this fruit. &nbsp;</b>&nbsp;Here, Jesus is speaking of making disciples who endure to eternal life.</div><div><br></div><div>Remember, we are just the soil which is to receive and hold the seed. &nbsp;It is the <u>seed</u>, planted in us,&nbsp;which does the growing and fruiting. &nbsp;It is always, all about the Word. &nbsp;There will never be a lack of ‘weed seed’ because of our enemies, the devil, this world, and our old sin nature haunting our flesh.</div><div>Weeding is a never ending job. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;O most merciful Father, deliver us from us thankful faithlessness in the face of our cares, troubles, and worries. &nbsp;Deliver us from making our riches into our delight instead of seeing them as a tool for ministry. &nbsp;Deliver us from allowing ourselves to be discontent, Christ is our Good Shepherd, we have everything we need. &nbsp;Bless us to be good gardeners, to&nbsp;use the truth of Your&nbsp;Word to weed our garden. &nbsp;We pray in Jesus, Amen.</div><div><br></div><div>Love,</div><div>Dad/Baba/Eric</div><div>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</div><div>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”</div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i></i><i><br></i><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Mark 4;18&19
18.  And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the Word,19.  but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Another way to understand “the cares of the world” is to substitute the term, ‘worries’ or ‘anxieties’.They are like weeds left to grow in your spiritual garden.  What must good gardeners do to have a good garden?  They must continually pull weeds, if possible get them out by the roots entirely.
Pulling spiritual weeds from our soul, is using the promises of God to expel them.  
“Have no anxiety about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”   (Philippians 4;6&7). By nature, we want to complain about our troubles, not be thankful to God that He has allowed them into our lives for our good.  
To have the peace of God, it to know beyond understanding, that God is still in perfect control of our lives and has promised to use all things for our good.  (Romans 8;28&29). The peace of God, beyond understanding, is ‘faith over circumstances,’ faith which knows good will come from whatever problem we face.  This allows us to see our troubles and worries as God’s blessings disguised as frightening trouble to worry over.  This is practicing Christian mental/spiritual health.
To delight in riches is not what we are called to do.  Money desires to be our false god.  Riches in themselves are not evil.  They give us opportunity to serve others.  But we are never to ‘delight’ in them.  We are called to, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your hearts.”  (Psalm 37;4)  to ‘delight in the Lord’ is to delight in his Word.  “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and whose leaves do not wither.  In all that he does, he prospers.  (Psalm 1;1-3)

To “delight in the Lord”  is to abide in Christ.   “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.  And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.  And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.  He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;  but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the Rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.”  (Isaiah 11;1-4)Jesus did not judge by what he saw or heard, but by what he knew to be the truth and will of our Father.
Delighting in the “fear of the Lord” is not to be afraid of God, he loves us!  It is to fear ever failing to do the Father’s will.  Like fearing to get in the car for a family vacation.  Adam failed to fear the LORD, when he disregarded the Command, “Do not eat of it, for in the day you eat of it you shall surly die.”  The Commands of God are life to us.  The fear of the Lord is the proper fear of loss of relationship with the Father.  We, with Jesus, never want to displease the Father.  This is a holy and good fear.  To practice the fear of the Lord, is Christ, by the Holy Spirit, indwelling and at work in us.
The “desire for other things” is to be discontent with what God has given us.  “There is great gain in godliness with contentment; for we brought nothing into this world, and we cannot take anything our of this world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content.”  (1 Timothy 6;6-8)If we have the gifts of repentance and faith, we have Christ.  If we have Christ, we have the kingdom and we are Children of God.  What else can we ever desire?
Fruitlessness should terrify us.  (see, Matthew 21;18&19)You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give it to you.”  (John 15;16)The ‘fruit’ Jesus calls us to ‘produce’ is unnatural fruit, it does not rot or spoil, it endures, and we do not produce this fruit, the Word at work in us produces this fruit.   Here, Jesus is speaking of making disciples who endure to eternal life.
Remember, we are just the soil which is to receive and hold the seed.  It is the seed, planted in us, which does the growing and fruiting.  It is always, all about the Word.  There will never be a lack of ‘weed seed’ because of our enemies, the devil, this world, and our old sin nature haunting our flesh.Weeding is a never ending job.  
Prayer:  O most merciful Father, deliver us from us thankful faithlessness in the face of our cares, troubles, and worries.  Deliver us from making our riches into our delight instead of seeing them as a tool for ministry.  Deliver us from allowing ourselves to be discontent, Christ is our Good Shepherd, we have everything we need.  Bless us to be good gardeners, to use the truth of Your Word to weed our garden.  We pray in Jesus, Amen.
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”



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