There are levels to this | Devotion

Blessings everyone and welcome to today's daily devotion. I'm excited to share in this word with you today. Today's daily devotion is going to be, there are levels to this. Come on now, there are levels to this. If you believe that there are levels, drop levels in the chat right now. Just, you're prepared to get this daily devotion and devote this time back to God to understand the different levels of the word that we are delivering today as we devote our time and our, our talents, our treasures, everything back to God as far as today and spending this, this quality time in his word. So there are levels to this, and the 3 levels that we're going to kind of go through today for this daily devotion is going to be faith, hearing, And awareness. So we want to identify 3 different levels: the level of faith, the level of hearing, and the level of awareness. So if you got those 3, maybe type them in the chat, maybe, you know, hit the like, subscribe button, and also share this. Share this. This daily devotion is for everyone, so we want to invite everyone in. to our daily devotion space. It doesn't have to replace your personal daily devotion. This is just something we want to devote back to God as far as our, our breath. We're speaking and we're sharing in the greatness that he provided us so graciously, the ability to share in the word and be able to speak the word. So there are levels to this: faith, hearing, and awareness. So we also want to hear the word. So let's start with Faith. Faith, we're going to read from Romans 10:17. Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. So let's break that down as far as faith. How do we receive faith? Faith comes from hearing the message. How do we hear the message? The message is heard through the word. Now, what is the message? It's the word about Christ. So we need to have faith that we can hear the message. So how do we have faith? We have to hear the message about Christ. So let's go into hearing so we know how to apply action to our faith. we know that faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. So let's read a little bit more as far as for us to apply in our hearing. So in James chapter 1, verses 21 through 23, therefore get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent in And humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror And then later forgets what they look like. So hearing is not just allowing something to come through and you hear it. We have music playing right now, you can hear that, but it's— you have to do what it says. The instrumental is playing, can you do what it says? You hear it. So that's why I said do not just merely Listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. So anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in the mirror and forgets what he looks like. So that leads us into awareness, because I really want to highlight at the end where it says you look at your face in a mirror but you forget what you look like. How quick you can see something and forget what you just seen. The same is what you hear. You can hear it and quickly forget that you even heard it. And that's where awareness is the next level that we want to kind of talk about today. And the awareness is coming from Matthew 13. And as we're going to read from Matthew 13, Verse 1 all the way to verse 18. So make sure that you apply your faith, and the faith comes from hearing the message. So we want— I want you to hear the message. I want you to know that this is a message that you're going to be hearing through the word about Christ. And when it comes to hearing, I don't want— now I do want you to get rid of all moral filth. Because you want to have a clean ear, a clear mind, and imagination, affection, all that to be— your emotions to be clear. So you want to get rid of all the moral filth and all the evil that is so prevalent. It's everywhere. It's clear and it's defined that there is all that stuff that's around, but I want you to humbly accept the word that is planted in you. So what I'm going to do is read the word, and I want you to plant the word inside of you. Um, let, let the word go inside you. So we want to accept the word. So accept the word, okay, humbly. That's just submitting yourself to a higher authority. And we know that's why we say that Christ is our Savior and he is Lord, because we accept the word that is planting in you, and that is about Christ, where We're hearing the word about Christ. Okay, so let's go into Matthew 13. That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it. So we're talking about Jesus, and so this is where we're hearing the word about Christ. So Jesus went out of the house, he went to the lake, and a crowd started to gather around him. And so he got in a boat and he sat in it. Now while all the people stood around the shore, he began to tell them many things in parables. Now this is Jesus speaking in parables, and he began saying, a farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell among the path, and the birds came and ate it up. So the levels— there's levels to this. We're breaking down the parable. This is Jesus telling the parable of the sower. So there— so, uh, the sower is a farmer who went out to sow his seed. So he's He was scattering the seed and some fell along the path. So now we're on the different levels. So now he's along the path and we're starting to see where the different levels come in. Now when you started that level, the birds came and ate it up. So that's just like when we just went through James chapter 1, verse 23. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and then later forgets what he looks like. So the same is like you going along your path and, you know, you dropping— you're scattering seed, which is, you know, the word or good word or a message about Christ, and if someone or something comes and eat it up You know, eat up the word that you just planted. So that's why it said get rid of all moral filth and evil that is so prevalent, because, um, you want to accept the word that is planted in you, which can save you. So if you're not saved, the birds can come and eat up the word that is planted in you, even after you have already accepted. So this is the different levels. Some fell on rocky places where they did not have much soil. So some of the, the word that you may say, um, may not have much soil. Those are kind of little rocky places, and that's the first level. You might not have a lot of the word, um, about Christ in you. You might not have the mess— So it's a little rocky. That may— that's the first level. It's just rocky because you don't have that buildup of soil. Now you'll get that, you'll get that word and it'll spring up quickly. But because the soil is shallow, when the sun comes up, you know, when it starts to look bright, And you know, it looks— it starts to look good. The plants was scorched. You start— you may get, you know, overwhelmed, or, um, you know, you have the word, you got the word, you received the word, you accepted the word, but it may— it, it gets— it gets rough. So that's why I said there's different levels. That's the first level. Um, so you just be aware. That's why I said accept it, and because it can save you. Because at that time when you're, you're getting scorched with the, you know, different— the, the— you're— what was planted inside of you after you accept the word and it's planted inside of you, it can get scorched and you can start to wither away because you really haven't built up that root. Um, so that's the first level. This is why we're bringing awareness. We want you to be aware of The word. I definitely want that, you know, in your time of devotion, you go back and read Matthew 13 with this parable of the sower and apply your faith, your hearing, and your awareness. So that's the first level. The second level is we are talking about the parable of the sower. So as the farmer is going out and sowing his seed, Some fell, some of the seeds fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seeds fell on good soil. So that's the next one. That's the next level where it produced a crop and 160 or 30 times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear. Okay, so that is Matthew 13, uh, verses 1 through 9. So there, the 3 levels is the rocky places, the thorny places, and the good places. So you have the rocky soil, you have the thorny soil, and you have the good soil. Now the third level is where you want to continue to get to. You want to produce a crop, you want to be fruitful. And so this is the 3 levels. Even after Jesus gave that parable to the, the people that was standing around the shore, the disciples came to him and asked, why do you speak to the people in parables? And Jesus replied, because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you but not to them. So the disciples had the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. It was given to them, but to the people that stood around the shore And he told the parables to— it was not given to them. So Jesus proceeded to say, whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. So that's the disciple. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables. Okay, so So Jesus already knew that whoever has been given more, they will have an abundance. But he also knew that the people that was standing around him, he knew that what they were facing in that parable, that they were some people in those rocky places, some people were in the thorny places, and some people were even on good soil. So Jesus still couldn't protect, um, proceeded to speak. So, and he explained a little bit further why he speak to them in parables. Though seeing, they do not see. Okay. Though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. So that was what was prophesied. So what's the prophecy of Isaiah? Isaiah prophesied that, that though they see, they do— I mean, though they, you know, though they see, are seeing, they do not see. Though they are hearing, they do not hear or understand. So you will be ever hearing but never understanding. That's one— that's why we want to bring awareness that you will be ever hearing but never understanding, because understanding comes more when you spend more time and kind of break it down and, and put your time into the word, because And it takes faith. That's why faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. You have to hear the word about Christ because we're hearing, but are we hearing the word about Christ? You will be ever seeing but never perceiving. Everything that we see, we're never perceiving the word like what we actually are to Receive from the word about Christ and what we actually need. We know that. That's why it said it's so prevalent that moral filth and evil is so prevalent. It's it is clearly out there. So for this people's heart has become callous. How can we hear? You know, that's we say humbly accept the word planted in you. Have to plant it into our hearts. Um, but people's heart has become calloused. Um, and you know, even— I'm not sure if you ever had the opportunity to, um, remove calluses. Um, you just gotta keep scraping at it, scraping at it, scraping at it until you remove all that dead skin and it, it real— you build it back up and new skin is produced. So they hardly hear with their ears. So we know that hearing comes by doing, and that's faith. Faith is hearing the word about Christ. So we have to do what the word says, and that's hear the message that is heard through the word about Christ. So we know that notes— note-takers are move-takers. So So if you are taking notes, definitely continue. If you're not, I would highly suggest to take some notes when it comes to today's daily devotion. It's a great devotion. Matthew 13 is one of my favorite scriptures. So we know that the heart has become calloused and we know we got to scrape it. We got it, you know, because we hardly hear with our ears and we hardly— and we have our— and they have closed eyes. We have closed our eyes to actually see the word, see the word for what it is. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and Now, if you notice that the new level in the beginning is that they do not— they do— though seeing, they do not see. Though hearing, they do not hear or understand. So there's 3 different levels that we need to have bring into our awareness: seeing, hearing, and understanding. So, um, so he says, otherwise they might see with their eyes. See that the word is good. Read it, look at it. Like faith comes from hearing the message, and I'm looking at the word. So look at the word about Christ. So otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with the ears. So I'm hearing as I speak it. I'm hearing it with my ears, and I'm understanding. With my heart, not here. I'm not, I'm not understanding with my heart. I'm, I mean, with my ears, with my mind. I'm sorry, I'm not understanding with my mind. I'm understanding with my heart. And what it says is, and turn, turn, turn your awareness back to the word about Christ. Even when, you know, we're all going to go through the different levels, but we are bringing awareness to seeing, hearing, and understanding the word. And it says, in turn, and I will heal them. So turn your awareness back to God. But blessed are your eyes because they see. And your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. Listen then to what the parable of the sower means. When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away That was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. Okay, so the first level is the seed that is planted along the path. The evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. So when you hear it, when you don't understand it, it's just like allowing the evil one to come and snatch what was sown in your heart. And we know that we understand with our heart. So if we prepare for a lack of knowledge, we need that understanding. This is the, um, the seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy, but since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes, because of the word, they quickly fall away. So we know that the— because of the word, we can face trouble and persecution. Understand that we're not exempt, um, from trouble or persecution. But we have— although we accept the word that's planted in, understand that, um, you, you can quickly fall away. But you want to That's why we bring awareness that you don't— you know, when you start to see yourself falling away, um, remember in Matthew 13, the seed falling along among the thorns referred to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word And understands it. This is the one who produces a crop yielding 100, 60, or 30 times what was sown. So if the more you have good soil, um, that's why we want when it comes to hearing, get rid of all the moral filth and evil so your soil can be good. Your mind, your mind is your soil. Your mind, your will, your emotions Your affection and your imagination are your soil. You want to make sure that you have a good imagination, good emotions, good you know good aware okay a good awareness of your mind, a good awareness of your will, a good awareness of your affection, a good awareness of your emotions, and a good awareness of your imagination. That way, um, when the seed, the word about Christ, falls into any one of those areas— your mind, your will, your emotions, your imaginations, or your affection— that you will understand it. You will hear it and understand it, and it will produce a crop yielding 160 or even 30 times what was sown. So I really enjoyed this daily devotion. Um, just remember, there are levels to this. Thank you for joining today's daily devotion. Have a blessed day.