{"id":6238,"date":"2015-01-15T00:05:33","date_gmt":"2015-01-15T08:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=6238"},"modified":"2015-01-14T22:44:23","modified_gmt":"2015-01-15T06:44:23","slug":"its-up-to-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2015\/01\/15\/its-up-to-god\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Up to God"},"content":{"rendered":"

You don\u2019t light a lamp and put it under a clay pot or under a bed. Don\u2019t you put a lamp on a lampstand? There is nothing hidden that will not be made public. There is no secret that will not be well known. If you have ears, pay attention! <\/p>\n

\tListen carefully to what you hear! The way you treat others will be the way you will be treated\u2014and even worse. Everyone who has something will be given more. But people who don\u2019t have anything will lose what little they have. <\/p>\n

\tAgain Jesus said: <\/p>\n

\tGod\u2019s kingdom is like what happens when a farmer scatters seed in a field. The farmer sleeps at night and is up and around during the day. Yet the seeds keep sprouting and growing, and he doesn\u2019t understand how. It is the ground that makes the seeds sprout and grow into plants that produce grain. Then when harvest season comes and the grain is ripe, the farmer cuts it with a sickle. (Mark 4:21-29)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\tGod\u2019s kingdom is obvious and inevitable. Jesus had been teaching crowds using parables. At the end of a long day, while Jesus was alone with his disciples, they asked him about them. He explained that although most of the people in the crowds didn\u2019t understand about the kingdom, he did not intend for the good news to remain hidden. Instead, the kingdom of God was like a lamp that would bring light to all of them, everywhere.<\/p>\n

\tJesus warned his disciples to consider very carefully what they were hearing from him. They might gain insight from his words, or they might become even more confused. For a time, all the disciples were mostly confused about what Jesus was actually saying and doing. But only one of them, Judas, would never understand and would finally lose everything. Even the little he gained from his time with Jesus was taken from him in the end.<\/p>\n

\tAnd so, what is the kingdom of God like? Jesus said that it grows all by itself in our hearts. We don\u2019t have to be anxious about it. We don\u2019t have to exercise to make it happen. It just grows, like the grain in a farmer\u2019s field. He plants it, but he doesn\u2019t send the rain, bring the sun, or make it sprout. Likewise, we will become what we are by God\u2019s power and do what he intends.<\/p>\n

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You don\u2019t light a lamp and put it under a clay pot or under a bed. Don\u2019t you put a lamp on a lampstand? There is nothing hidden that will not be made public. There is no secret that will … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6238"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6238"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6240,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6238\/revisions\/6240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}