Author: The Rock Parkersburg

How Yielded are You?

By Jamie Tennant

“Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy;

Break up your fallow ground,

For it is time to seek the LORD,

Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.”

Hosea 10:12

Fallow ground is ground that has become dormant or inactive. It’s ground that has been left untilled or unsown after plowing. In Matthew 13 the condition of our heart is compared to the ground/soil.

“We must break up our fallow ground. The fallow ground is the hard soil that was useful in a previous season, but through weathering and time, it has become hard, immovable, weedy and stony. The only way to make that ground useful again is to release the tiller and break it up, pulling up the soft soil below the surface and replacing the hard topsoil that won’t allow any new seeds to be sown into it.” The Gift of Tears, Corey Russell

“Plow your uncultivated ground [for a season], And do not sow among thorns. Circumcise (dedicate, sanctify) yourselves to the LORD And remove the foreskin [sins] of your heart…”

Jeremiah 4:3-4 AMP

Uncultivated means it’s not useful for growing crops. What worked in the previous season is not going to work in the next season. We need to clear those things out to prepare for what’s next.  Maybe there’s disappointment and pain from the last season that needs to be dug out in order for this next season to be fruitful.

“Don’t mistake his tolerance for acceptance. Do you realize that all the wealth of his extravagant kindness is meant to melt your heart and lead you into repentance?”

But because of your calloused heart and refusal to change direction, you are piling up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.”

Romans 2:4-5 TPT

 

So how do we break up the fallow ground?

 

  1. Ask God to reveal the hard places in our hearts:

“God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart. Examine me through and through; find out everything that may be hidden within me. Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares. See if there is any path of pain I’m walking on, and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting way— the path that brings me back to you.”

Psalms 139:23-24

 

  1. Saturate those hard, calloused places with the Word. For example, if God reveals that unforgiveness has hardened your heart, repent and then find Scripture to soften your heart:

“Tolerate the weaknesses of those in the family of faith, forgiving one another in the same way you have been graciously forgiven by Jesus Christ. If you find fault with someone, release this same gift of forgiveness to them.”

Colossians 3:13 TPT

 

  1. Keep your heart watered.

“Then on the most important day of the feast, the last day, Jesus stood and shouted out to the crowds— “All you thirsty ones, come to me! Come to me and drink! Believe in me so that rivers of living water will burst out from within you, flowing from your innermost being, just like the Scripture says!””

John 7:37-38 TPT

 

“…just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,”

Ephesians 5:25-26

The Word sanctifies (sets apart/declares holy) and cleanses us! The Word will keep our hearts from getting hard with weeds, stones and thorns.

“The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”

Psalms 51:17 NLT

It feels like the church is in a season of breaking up the fallow ground. The women are breaking up the rocks of difficult emotions in their hearts to make room for healing and connection. Pastor is leading us and encouraging us to break up the hardness in our hearts to make room for God’s mercy to grow. It will require us to humble ourselves and look at our hearts and see the sins, wrong beliefs, and missteps for what they are – fallow ground holding us back from what God has in the next season.  Once we acknowledge those things, we can repent, dig those things up and bring up the soft soil that is underneath all the junk. The soft soil is able to receive God’s rain of righteousness.

If you feel like you’re in a season of ugly, hard things in your life being uncovered and revealed then know that maybe this breaking up of the fallow ground has begun. Don’t run from it. Don’t fight it. Recognize it and invite God into the process. It’s uncomfortable to see the calloused and hard places in your heart surface. It’s painful to dig those places out. But, in the end: “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

Ezekiel 36:25-26

God wants us to prepare our hearts because He’s coming with rain. The rain WILL come. It will fall on the uncultivated hearts AND the cultivated hearts, but only the hearts that have done the work of preparing for the seed will receive it and be fruitful. Hosea tells US to sow righteousness, he tells US to break up our fallow ground, he tells US to seek the Lord. And then God will come and rain righteousness on us. We have a part and God has a part.

In my studying I read this commentary of Matthew 13: “The greatest amount of fruit produced was not determined by how rich the soil was, but how yielded to the plow it was. The soil in each condition received seed, but not all produced quality fruit. Everyone receives seed, the Word of God. Everyone has potential for the harvest, living a fruitful life, but the ones who will produce the most fruit will be the ones most yielded to cultivation.”

How yielded to the plow are you?

Alone and Diligent v Accountable and Accurate

By Jamie Tenant

When I first started working out in the gym I hired a trainer to teach me. I had never lifted weights before and didn’t know a single thing about it. For a year, my trainer taught me what to do and the proper form. I took what I learned in that year and ventured out on my own. I’ve been working out on my own for about a year and recently got the bright idea to ask my trainer to come in and work with me for a week to see if there were any adjustments I needed to make or if there was anything I could add to my current workout.

I knew there would probably be adjustments I would need to make, maybe some tweaks in my form, but I did not realize how much I had slacked off in pushing myself in the past year. I had still been going consistently, I had been putting in the work, but I hadn’t been pushing myself to my potential. It took someone who knew what I was capable of to come alongside me and point it out. I had gotten lazy and didn’t even realize it.

As I have thought about that, God has shown me that this is why it’s so dangerous for Christians to remove themselves from the local church body. The church – the family of God – is there to continually teach us, guide us, and push us further in our walk with God. We may think we’re ok without being part of the church, after all we’re still reading the Bible on our own. Personally, I think that’s an illusion. You may be ‘putting in the work’ but most likely you’re not progressing.

We have a tendency to take short cuts when it’s just us and no one else is around. Things we wouldn’t normally do if we were connected to a body of believers becomes acceptable. Baby steps that over time add up. I didn’t get lazy in the gym after one workout, or even one month. It probably started with doing less reps of a difficult exercise, then maybe next time I just cut back on the amount weight. Before I know it I’m basically going through the motions, putting in the time, but not progressing like I should.

We were never created to do life as a Christian on our own. “For his “body” has been formed in his image and is closely joined together and constantly connected as one. And every member has been given divine gifts to contribute to the growth of all; and as these gifts operate effectively throughout the whole body, we are built up and made perfect in love.” Ephesians 4:16 TPT

There are so many reasons why a Christian should go to church. That’s more than I want to get into right now, but if Jesus died for the church, why would you neglect what He died for? I believe someone’s lack of desire and love for the church is a symptom of a deeper problem. Flaws and all, the Church is important to the Father, and we’re told, “…let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” Hebrews 10:25

“Do not reduce church to listening to a podcast. It’s so much more than that. It’s community. It’s worshiping with others, praying for others, hurting with others, serving others, being involved in the lives of others.” Craig Groeschel

 

By Jamie Tenant

 

PASTOR’S BLOG 1.14.21

Breaking the Curse of Generational Poverty

I have  a message that I ministered called “Being a Curse Breaker”  If you missed that message I would encourage you to go online and watch it on our youtube channel by searching that title.  I really believe there is more to breaking a generational curse than just praying a prayer of deliverance; it also takes a change in behavior. In the last couple of years scientific research has shown that diet and lifestyle (in other words, more than just genetics) play a role in generational disease. You eat what your parents ate and they eat what their parents ate and the curse rolls on.

Poverty works the same way. In the classic book “What Every Church member Should Know About Poverty”,(*see info below) the authors state that research in generational poverty teaches us that those bound in poverty have a common misunderstanding; failure to understand proper life planning and the discipline that requires. It goes like this:

If I cannot plan, I cannot predict.
If I cannot predict, I cannot identify cause and effect.
If I cannot identify cause and effect, I cannot forecast consequences.
If I cannot identify cause and effect, I cannot control impulsivity.
If I cannot control impulsivity, I will be prone to reckless and even criminal behavior.

A victim mentality will freeze you into the current state you are in. If you take the attitude “I can’t do anything about my current situation in life”, then you are done. I always ask myself why or what? What can I do to improve what I am experiencing? Where does the blame really lie for my current circumstance that I find myself in?

Years ago I had a leader cause a lot of problems and I was venting to my good friend Kevin Leal about it. He responded by telling me I needed to take the responsibility for what happened and move on. “Me?” said. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You empowered him didn’t you?” Kevin answered.

Wow, that was some tough love, but it really helped me come out of the victim mode and move forward with empowering others.

There are a lot of “victim leaders” who have been burned and spend the rest of their lives afraid to trust again. We have to learn to identify cause and effect and make the changes necessary to move forward from failed places and efforts in our lives. John Maxwell has a book I liked called “Failing forward” it addresses some of the same issues. Breaking generational poverty is basically identifying the cause of the poverty. The victim mentality is a curse on our culture at this time in history, and every day certain achievers are breaking free from it. It IS possible!

Thirty years ago, I brought my two brother-in-laws to America from South Korea. They were penniless when they came, and had only a High School education. To this day, they don’t speak much English. They both lived in a one-bedroom apartment with their Mother in Los Angeles and worked in a convenience store. Within three years, they saved $20,000. And with $10,000, each they began a small business. Within three more years one was worth close to a million and the other was not far behind. They didn’t come as victims they worked, they saved and broke the curse of generational poverty from their generations! Now their children are prospering and becoming the next generation of successful Americans!

I refuse to be a victim! How about you?

Love ya,

Pastor Dave

* What Every Church Member Needs to Know About Poverty