Dying to grow.

Death is not the end! Death is separation from this part and the beginning of a new part of your journey. On this journey we may have to die many times.

Death is the doorway to multiplication.

· Seed – should be the best of the previous harvest, sowing seed is the most precious.

To see increase or improvement you must sow your best seed.

• John 12:24 I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
• Matthew 13:3 Parable of the Sower Mark 4:14 Sower sows the word
• Psalm 126:5,6 Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

Major difference between sowing and planting –

• Plant in good ground
• Grain only becomes a seed when it leaves your hand when you let go of it.
• Give it away from yourself and no longer benefit in any way.
• Grief is the inability to let go of something or someone
• Soul tie has a similar effect, tied to or remains connected.

Sowing

The seed is thrown into the air and is caught by the wind it is free and can be blown anywhere.

But only the seed that lands in the good ground will take root and grow to maturity.

Choice between Freedom or Destiny?

We are seed, and to begin with, we want to be totally free to do whatever we want.

To be blown this way or that by the wind, landing briefly here and there, enjoying whatever each location has to offer, never staying long enough to put down any roots, content to stay on the surface of the ground, never digging down, beneath the surface, beneath the superficial.

Constantly seeking fun and entertainment, whatever others can do for us, and when there is nothing on offer, or we are offended by the challenges of others, looking to be caught by the next gust of wind and whisked away.

Planting –

• Die to selfish ambition –
• Repentance – Hebrew pictograph of a house destroyed by fire needing to be totally rebuilt from the foundations up.
• Fall to the ground and die.
• Planted in the ground, in one place, and it dies to its previous existence, desires and ambitions.
• Destiny: you were created for a purpose!

Transformation

• 1 Corinth 15:35-38 But someone may ask, how are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come? How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined and to each kind of seed, he gives it its own body.

The life we once had has to die, and then a new life begins to come forth, which bears no resemblance to the life we once had.

• Galatians 2:19,20 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
• Coloss 2:20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules.
• Coloss 3:3 For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
• Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Baptism This is the first time that we identify with Jesus as being dead and being buried in the ground. When we see ourselves being buried with Christ then we can see ourselves being resurrected with Him also.

When we are resurrected with Him, we come forth as a new creature and begin to live in a new way with a new purpose. Where we were once selfish now, we begin to live for others, we start to give ourselves away.

We are to Die to self.

Types of seed: -

• The Word of God
• Worldly thoughts
• Demonic thoughts
• Sin
• Plants
• Animals etc.
• You
• Your Life

Man-made items that have no ability to reproduce on their own but can be sown as a seed: -

• Money
• Possessions

There are things that the Lord God has blessed with reproductive power, living things.

But man-made things do not have reproductive power and so need to have the blessing spoken over them or to be traded for something that can reproduce.

Another form of dying to grow is to be pruned!

Branches – need to be pruned to bear more fruit

• John 15:1-8 R.S.V Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Pruning

There can be good things in our lives that we must lay down, so that we can focus on one thing that will bring forth the most fruit.

In business you could be selling one hundred items, but only twenty of them are top sellers, would it be better to only sell these items?

Develop a niche market.

Idolatry

Some branches are not content being branches and want to become the main trunk. If something becomes more important to you than the Lord, it has become an idol and you will have to die to it.

It will have to be cut off from you.

Shaping

We can become that busy that we never find the time to spend with the Lord and hear what he would like us to be doing.

Churches can be that busy doing church that they never find the time to truly worship or to evangelise or train up the next generation of leaders.

· Fruit – goes through a process of separation

• Reaped …… cut from the ground Col 3:1-17 v5
• Threshed…. and then from the stalk Isaiah 41:15, 1 Corinth 9:10
• Winnowed….and then from the dust Isaiah 30:24, Ruth 3:2
• Sifted……… and then from the husks Amos 9:9-15

Spiritual Growth

Not all who decide for Jesus Christ, will come through to maturity, many fall by the wayside. Some will totally backslide and leave the church; some will stay in the church but never grow and some will grow a bit but never really get involved.

Fruitfulness

Some will bring forth some fruit but never reach their full potential, and some will bring forth the hundredfold!

Pray for those who are grieving, unable to let go of something or someone or some place. They are unable to forgive those that have hurt them, meaning that they are still being hurt and are hurting others.

The Lord is asking you to plant the precious seed, to give a sacrificial offering to Him, something that means a great deal to you, and He promises that, in time, you will come reaping in joy.

Written by Pastor Graeme Foster

Apostolic Praise Centre

Apostolic Prophetic Training network