This is the hiking map for our trekking journey. Laden within each trailhead and its extensions are golden
nuggets of truth that you can pick up to store into the treasury of your heart.
Jesus Himself said in Matthew
6:19-21,
19 “Do not store up for yourselves [material] treasures on
earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But
store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; 21 for
where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires; that
on which your life centers] will be also.
God Himself has provided proof of identity of the Promised
Messiah. When we believe in Jesus of
Nazareth to be the beloved Son of God in the flesh to fulfill His Messianic
mission based on the evidence God has given, that faith will be founded on the
immovable and unshakeable foundation of the substantive testimony of God. When that happens, nothing shall ever
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord as stated
in Romans
8:38-39.
Life is not going to be a bed of roses. Jesus told us in John
16:33 that in the world we will have tribulation and distress and
suffering. However, we may be hedged in but not crushed, perplexed but not
driven to despair, persecuted but not deserted, struck down but never destroyed
(2
Corinthians 4:8-10).
When
the beloved Son of God walked the earth in the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth, He
mentioned in John
5:36 and John
10:25 that the very works and miracles He did were His credentials and
the evidence testifying that He was the One Whom the prophets wrote about.
It is stated in 1
John 5:10 that “The one who
believes in the Son of God has the testimony within himself because he can
speak authoritatively about Christ from his own personal experience. The one who does not believe God in this way
has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the evidence that God has
given regarding His Son.” According to that passage of scripture, the
testimony within self about the deity of Jesus of Nazareth comes from the
evidence God has given regarding His Son.
The same one can speak authoritatively about Christ because he speaks
from the written evidence of God.
This brings to mind Romans
10:17 where it is stated that faith comes from hearing, and hearing the message
concerning Christ. When we read these two passage of scriptures
together, it would mean that faith comes from hearing the evidence God has
given with regards to His Son.
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1
John 5:10
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Romans
10:17
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The one who believes in
the Son of God [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies confidently on Him as
Savior] has the testimony within himself [because he can speak
authoritatively about Christ from his own personal experience]. The one who
does not believe God [in this way] has made Him [out to be] a liar, because
he has not believed in the evidence that God has given regarding His Son.
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So faith comes from hearing [what is told], and what is
heard comes by the [preaching of the] message concerning Christ.
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God has specified a way to believe in His Son; by the
evidence that He has given regarding Him. And the works that Jesus of Nazareth
did during His earthly ministry were the evidence. When we accept the evidence
that God has given, we will then truly believe and recognize the fact that
Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the beloved Son of God. As it happens, we will be victorious and
overcome the world as stated in 1
John 5:5.
As the heart is being enriched by these golden nuggets
of truth, 3
John 2 will become a reality in gradual progression of 30-, 60-, and
100-fold as evident from Matthew
13:23.
3 John 2
Beloved, I
pray that in every way you may succeed and prosper and be in good
health [physically], just as [I know] your soul prospers [spiritually].
In the Parable of the Sower and the soils as
documented in Matthew
13:1-23, Mark
4:1-20, and Luke
8:1-15, we learn that the seed being sown refers to the Word of God
regarding the way of salvation while the soil refers to the heart. Jesus
Himself revealed that there are four types of soils:
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Soil (Heart)
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Result
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Road
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Satan immediately comes and takes away the word.
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Rocky ground
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When trouble and persecution come, the heart stumbles and falls
away.
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Thorns
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Worldly cares and concerns, deceitfulness of wealth, and the passionate
desires for all other things creep in and choke the word out of the heart.
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Good soil
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Bear fruit – 30, 60, and 100 times as sown.
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I find that parable repeated by the apostle Paul in Philippians
3:18-21:
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Soil (Heart)
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Result
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Road
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Fate is destruction.
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Rocky ground
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Belly is god (worldly appetite, sensuality, and vanity).
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Thorns
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Focus on earthy and temporal things.
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Good soil
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Citizenship in heaven
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With this in mind, let’s start trekking under the
guidance of our trekking guide, Mr. Right!
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