An Appointment with Christ: the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1)

My dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord bless you. This is Roberto Miranda speaking, and I greet you in the name of Christ Jesus. Before entering into the study of the passage that God has placed on my heart, I want to share with you my gratitude before the Lord, and to you as well, for allowing me each week to come, draw near to your lives, and share the word of the Lord. I consider this a great privilege, and I do it because I feel and am convinced that this word of God that we share with you each week has the power to transform your lives.

The word of God is living and powerful. The Bible says that “it is sharper than any two-edged sword,” and when that word enters our lives, it performs transforming works; it is the very life of God entering our hearts and minds and bringing about radical changes in our personality. When we listen to the word of God with faith, reverence, and humility, allowing its truth to enter our hearts and allowing God to fulfill the purpose He has in sending that word into our lives, that word will do wonderful things within us because it is the word of God, and the Bible says “that the word of God never returns to Him empty, but always fulfills the purpose for which it was sent.” So you who listen to me each week, remember that what you are hearing and receiving is the very life of God. It is not the word of man; it is not the word of Roberto Miranda, because when I preach, I preach in the power and authority of the Holy Spirit, not trusting in my own strength, but trusting that I am simply a channel, an instrument through which that life-giving word of God may enter your life and divine energy may perform transforming works in your life.

The other thing I also want to tell you is that the additional reason why I take the time to share this word over the radio waves is that I want to encourage those who listen to us to seek a deeper relationship with God. I encourage you not to be content simply to listen to the radio and limit your relationship with God in that way. I also want to encourage you to seek out a church, to seek fellowship with other men and women who, like you, are interested in spiritual things.

It is important for the believer to belong to a family of human beings who share the same spiritual interests. It is important for you to gather with other believers. The Bible says, “Let us not stop gathering together,” as some are in the habit of doing. Gathering together means “meeting regularly in the house of God,” having spiritual fellowship with other Christians, sharing the word of God, sharing the spiritual life together, learning from one another, and dealing with one another, because there is growth in those Christian interactions. When we practice the truths of the word of God through the life of the Church, through the life of the family of God, we put the principles of the Gospel into practice and do not limit ourselves merely to theory. I have learned so many things from my brothers and sisters and from the life of the Church over the years that I thank the Lord for the family of faith.

I want to tell you that it is not possible—it is not possible—to be a good Christian without being part of a Christian community. Some rebel against that idea, but the Lord Jesus Christ left a church on earth, a church that is a family, and no Christian is an island. We are all part of a continent; there is no such thing as lone rangers who simply follow God according to their own ideas and their own dictates.

The Christian life was designed by God to be lived within the context of a community of faith. The Lord Jesus Christ wants you to gather with other believers; He wants you to go to a church; God wants you to live a life in communion with other Christians. It is the only way you will truly be able to grow and reach the maturity that Christ desires for you.

I want to share with you—or rather, begin sharing with you, because we will be doing so in the next few messages—Mark chapter 6, beginning with verse 30, the well-known passage about the multiplication of the loaves and the fish.

Here we are told in verse 30 that “Then the apostles gathered around Jesus and told Him everything they had done and what they had taught. And He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while,’ because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have time to eat.” From there begins this account of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, a very well-known miracle in Scripture. But what is interesting here in this part of the passage is the idea that the apostles gathered around Jesus and told Him everything they had done and what they had taught. If we read the entire chapter, we find that the disciples, these apostles, had been sent by Jesus Christ to preach the Gospel in different villages of Palestine, and they spent weeks out in the field preaching the word. Before sending them, the Lord blessed them, instructed them, gave them words of faith, and endowed them with supernatural power to heal the sick and cast out demons. These men went out under the power of Christ, and after a time of ministry, they returned to the place from which they had departed and gathered with Jesus again, and it says that “they told the Lord everything they had done and what they had taught.”

It is so important, my brothers and sisters, for the Christian life to be lived in that way: going out from Jesus and returning to Jesus. As we begin the day, we should set aside time to receive from Christ the power, wisdom, and teaching we need for the experiences awaiting us during the rest of the day. And at the end of the day, when we have finished the tasks of work, home, and daily life, we should once again take time to present the day’s events to Jesus and seek from Him teaching, counsel, and perspective concerning the things we have experienced. And while we are also amid the concerns, tasks, and work of the day, we should take time every now and then to lift our gaze toward God once again and remember that we are citizens of eternity and that we are living all the events of the day in the Lord.

It is important, brothers and sisters, that we live life, as the Word says, in the Spirit; that we live close to Jesus; that if we are going to do something, we first go to Jesus so that He may commission us, give us strength, and give us His blessing; and that afterward, whatever we do, we do it in the power of the Holy Spirit, not by our own strength.

These men went out into a life of service, sent by Jesus Christ. They did not depend on themselves, but on Him; and as soon as they returned and completed their task, they came back once again, gathered with the Lord, and told Him about it. In other words, what we see here is a life lived in fellowship, friendship, and intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ. That is one of the greatest truths of the Gospel: that the life we believers live must be lived in Him, clinging to Him, holding fast to Him, filled with Him, in intimate and continuous communication with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord says in the Gospel according to Saint John, “Abide in Me, and I in you, and you will bear much fruit.” The Lord adds, “Just as the branch cannot remain apart from the vine, neither can we remain apart from Him.” He says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, because apart from Me you can do nothing.”

How important it is for the Christian life to be lived in prayer, in communication with God, in continual meditation on the word of God, seeking the strength that only God can give. Never try to live your life in your own strength. Always consult Christ; always seek from Him the strength and wisdom you need to succeed. May God bless you, and may you attain that attitude of total dependence on Christ, always seeking to draw near to Him and share with Him every event of your life.