Those who die as seeds will not see the Abundance Apostle Freddy Villatoro.
Second Service
The Gospel is our manual to become capable and efficient in our service to the Lord. We will be studying the process that every Christian experiences, to become a sheep, a disciple, a servant, learning to acknowledge authority and obey, then becoming a child of God. The Shepherd goes after the lost sheep, the servant is given freedom and he chooses to stay, however, the Father waits for a lost child to come back home. The definition of the Gospel given by the Apostle Paul when he speaks about the Gospel being the Power of God for Salvation is the foundation of the revelation of the same. The strategies of these processes are in the Bible. Philosophy will never be able to introduce us to God, neither will theology, because both of them are human thought, on the other hand, the Holy Spirit’s revelation will lead us to know God and His word. The Gospel is not based on mere human beliefs, feelings or sayings, but on the direct revelation of God to us through His Spirit. Faith comes by hearing, because the Lord states this clearly in His word. Instead of looking for our beliefs, we need faith. Many of us believe that our devotional times with the Lord make us more consecrated before the eyes of the Lord, but we need a genuine understanding of what our devotional time does for us in our own personal processes, changing our mindsets to get to know the perfect, good, and pleasant Will of God. We, as ministers, need to receive this revelation first in order to teach to the Church of Christ that is diligently seeking to become the Bride Church of Christ. So many times we hear statements like: “Lord, we will fast, or give, or do this or that, for You to do what we are asking”. God is not bribable; we cannot manipulate His perfect will. God commanded us to go and preach the Gospel, heal the sick, cast out evil spirits, but all of this can only be done by faith. Many Christians are dying as “seeds”, their process has been stopped. Jesus explained to his disciples how the seed of the Gospel could die depending on the kind of soil it is planted into (Mt 13:19-23). The good soil needs an exact rate of humidity, sunlight, etc. When we are being consecrated, we are like seeds that have been sowed in natural soil, exposed to natural difficulties. We need to die to ourselves, in order to bear much fruit; those who died as “seeds” are not able to bear fruit. Let us meditate in our concept of Consecration. So many of us think immediately about “being set apart for God”. We have been set apart for Him since the day. The Church is responsible to announce the Gospel of Grace, but the ministers’ responsibility is to help the new believers become citizens of the Kingdom of God. When a person is given another country’s citizenship, he or she moves to the new country, however they will need then to learn how to live as a citizen of that country changing his behavior and customs. The same thing happens to a person that wants to become consecrated to the Kingdom of God, the minister needs to teach him how to battle against the flesh desires, for example; he will need to acknowledge and submit to authority (Ro 13:1). This consecration process does not consist in human rules or requirements like: 8 days of prayer and fasting, learning by heart Psalm 119, etc. It consists in growing in the knowledge of God, and getting to know Him better. We need to learn to have a good conscious and a good behavior. We need to learn how to put to death the deeds of the flesh (Ro 8:13). So Consecration is an attitude that will generate a preparation to overcome the natural environment; it is indispensable in order to be used by God. Consecration by itself does not solve all our problems, but it does express our unconditional willingness to serve our Lord. It is in our
Guatemala, March 21, Year of Abundance
consecration process that we learn how to overcome the deeds of the flesh, and we become efficient to serve the Lord. Consecration is not the end; it is the beginning of our own processes. We need to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to teach us and His seed to become life in us, a lively personal experience, and not only an theological ideology. The Word of God is the only manual for us Christians. The problem is that we try to consecrate ourselves on our thoughts and human concepts, and then we become mystic and religious, thinking that we have become mighty and spiritual while at the sight of the Lord it is not so. Our behavior and heart’s meditation ought to be pleasant to God, not to humans. Consecration will confront us to God’s truth. It will show us the difference between the law of the flesh and the law of the Spirit. We will find a series of battles, as we seek consecration, and as a “seed” we will suffer natural conditions to truly die to our flesh. Consecration will lead us to brokenness. One of the meanings of brokenness is transgression of a law; emotional collapse. When the two natures within us collide, one must die. We have been called to serve, so seeking consecration will lead us to periods of emotional collapses. We will see how our temperaments, our behaviors, our normal reactions will change to the point we will not recognize ourselves. We will be strengthened and renewed by His Holy Spirit (2 Co 4:16). When we realize that the only way to die is to allowing God to break us, we are on our way to become consecrated. Some seeds need to be broken before they are sown in order to germinate; so the harder our hearts are, the stronger the brokenness we will experience. The Word of God breaks our hearts to become a good seed. Some seeds will need different processes to be broken: dunk in water, fiery furnaces, etc. Some seeds, when they are not prepared and properly broken become polluted and toxic, and they die being “seeds”, fruitless. We must die to be able to bear much fruit. Life is in our inner being, the life Christ has given us need to be manifested. The eternal life He granted us needs to be shown. We as ministers were called to proclaim and announce that life. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal (Jn 12:25). We cannot fight our spiritual battles on our own strength, we need to die, and consecrate, and with the strength of His Holy Spirit show what God has done within us. Brokenness is not optional, but our duty. God can bless His Church through you, but not if God’s people see you as unreachable or unapproachable. Ministers need to learn how to manifest God’s life to God’s people in love. The alabaster’s jar of that woman in the Bible needed to be broken to allow its perfume precious smell to spread everywhere. In order to allow everyone around us to see the treasure God has placed within us, our vessels need to be broken (2 Co 4:7). The best example of dying to show true life, the genuine treasure, is Jesus. If we die staying as a “seed”, we will not be able to show His life within us; but if we die to become a “seed” we will be instruments to show God’s life. Brokenness is not destructive, but edifying. So many times we are not willing to be broken because of pride, prejudices, human ideologies, etc. We need to be willing to die to ourselves. We do not want to become toxic, generating venom inside ourselves, bitterness will kill us in our “seed” stage and remain fruitless. Our desire is to be broken by His Holy Spirt, so that His treasure within us will be manifested and seen, so that Christ’s fragrance can be smelled everywhere around us. Let us cry out to our Heavenly Father to transform us and let us become genuinely consecrated to Him, getting rid of every single religious concept, and becoming more and more like Jesus. Transcribed by Karina Flores