SEEDS

Mark 4:30-32 And Jesus said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?  It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth,  yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

So the issue is not the seed’s size — but what it contains. Yeshua said that when the mustard seed is sown, it grows and becomes greater than all the garden plants, putting out large branches so that the birds of the air may nest in its shade (Mark 4:32). In the Greek, the word for “grows” carries the idea of rising up. The seed does not remain buried forever. What God plants may begin hidden, but it does not stay hidden. It rises because the life within it comes from Him.

This is the pattern of the Kingdom. It began in a borrowed manger, in a carpenter’s home in Nazareth, among fishermen, tax collectors, and ordinary people who had no earthly power. It moved through dusty roads, village synagogues, through healed lepers, and finally through the shame of a Roman cross. To the world, it looked small. To heaven, it was unstoppable. The prophets had spoken this way long before Yeshua told the parable.

Kingdoms and empires were often pictured as great trees — Ezekiel described Assyria like a mighty cedar whose branches gave shade to the nations (Ezekiel 31:3–6), and Daniel saw Nebuchadnezzar as a great tree visible to the ends of the earth (Daniel 4:10–12). Those kingdoms wanted to look large from the beginning. But Yeshua reveals a Kingdom that does not begin as a towering cedar. It begins as a seed — not because it is weak, but because it carries a different kind of power. The kingdoms of men grow by force, fear, and control. The Kingdom of God grows by design and inner life.

Zechariah asked, “For who has despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10). That question still searches us. Many despise the early obedience because it does not yet look fruitful. Many despise the hidden preparation because no one is applauding. Many despise the quiet beginning because they have mistaken visibility for value. But God is not confused by small beginnings. He knows what He planted.

The Hebrew prophets spoke of the coming King as the Tzemach (צֶמַח) — the Branch, the sprout that would rise from David’s line. Jeremiah declared that God would raise to David a Branch of righteousness (Jeremiah 23:5). Zechariah spoke of God’s Servant, the Branch (Zechariah 3:8), and again of the Man whose name is the Branch, who would build the temple of the Lord (Zechariah 6:12). Even Isaiah saw life coming from what looked like a stump — a Rod from the stem of Jesse, a Branch growing out of his roots (Isaiah 11:1). That is Yeshua. A shoot from Jesse’s stump. A hidden life rising from covenant roots. What looked small to men was the beginning of the restoration of all things.

So do not despise what God has planted in you, even if it still looks small. The mustard seed does not grow merely for itself — it becomes large enough for the birds of the air to nest in its branches. Your obedience may become shade for someone weary. Your faithfulness may become a shelter for someone broken. Your small beginning may become a place where others encounter the love, mercy, and intimacy of the King. This is how the Kingdom works. It starts small. It grows quietly. It rises steadily. And one day, what everyone overlooked becomes a place of life.   from George Baltimore, 5/29/26.  Worthy Brief <worthybrief@worthynetwork.com&gt;

I had put a teaching together on another subject, but the Holy Spirit wanted to share this tonight.  My life verse from when I was born into the Kingdom of God in 1955 has been John 12:24-26,   “ I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains [just one grain; it never becomes more but lives] by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest.  Anyone who loves his life loses it, but anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. [Whoever has no love for, no concern for, no regard for his life here on earth, but despises it, preserves his life forever and ever.] “

I often pray and ask the Lord, “What good am I doing out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a grain of sand living on the side of a living volcano in a jungle at 93.  And HE gently just keeps on filling me with HIS TRUTH.  The ‘House Church” is now down to only a hand full of souls.  But HE just keeps on loving me and giving me grace to put my carnal nature on His cross and filling me with His love and the Word of God.  But it is only as I die to my carnal nature that He then has the room to fill me with His Holy Spirit, Rom.8:13, “For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.”  So as per Rom. 7, we were born into a contaminated body that lucifer through pride & rebellion manipulated Adam into becoming.   And so  we are faced with living in a body of pride & rebellion that wants to rule our soul.  But in Jesus I have the seed of a new beginning, a new life in righteousness.  And I am confronted with which to feed every day.  So if I feed my flesh, my carnal nature, it will grow stronger and take me into eternal darkness.  And if I feed my New Nature in Christ Jesus, it will take me into eternal light.  So regardless of where I am, each day, it is up to me as to which seed to care for and to help grow.  And it is not an easy choice at times.  I have a young lady writing to me now who would love for me to send her a ticket to come and take good care of me and is not concerned about my age.  She is 39 and lovely at 5’2″ 115#.  But I don’t feel the Holy Spirit is guiding me in that direction.   However, my flesh is jumping at the door,  even at 93.  But, I am guided to try to help her find a real walk with Jesus and allow Him to take care of her.  Every day that our eternal soul, as a seed, is alive in this temporary body we will be faced with the choice of either feeding our flesh carnal nature or feeding our new nature in Christ Jesus to grow up to be like Him and to help build HIS Eternal Kingdom.  And if we pray for God’s helping grace, we can enjoy HIS victory for us.  Otherwise like the 5 foolish virgins of Matt.25 & 1 Thess.2:1-12, we could be locked out.