In part one of Joe McIntyre’s sermon series, War Over the Word, he answers the following questions:

Why do bad things keep happening to me?

Is Satan really after me?

Is God trying to teach me something through this trial?

What can we do to overcome Satan’s temptations?

This sermon will be encouraging to new and seasoned believers alike as they affirm themselves in what Scripture says about trials and how to walk in victory. Listen to this podcast episode here.

Additional Resources

War Over the Word – Full Series Audio

War Over the Word – Book [FREE for a limited time with code WOTWv1 at checkout!]

The Eternal Defeat of Satan – Book 

Don’t Blame God – Full Series Audio

Full Transcript

Today, I want to talk to you about something that for me in about 1979, I got a series of tapes on this particular subject. And it was life changing for me. It put in place some things that I’d wrestled with and had not quite understood and was back and forth on because it wasn’t clear. And the teaching that I’m going to be sharing with you these next weeks, settled so many issues and helped me understand what the real warfare in my life was about. Because how many know we’re in warfare. But how many know what the warfare is over? The Word. That’s right. And that’s the name of this series, The War Over the Word.

We’re going to be talking about the parable of the sower. Now, when I used to read the parable of the sower, I thought it was about lost people, and the preaching of the gospel. Well, it is about lost people and the preaching of the gospel, but it’s more than that. It’s a Kingdom principle of progress, and when we understand it, so many areas of our life start to make more sense than they have ever made. You might, as your weekly assignment, meditate in this parable, think about it, chew on it, get revelation on it, and see what God does with it. I believe it’s a key. In fact, we’ll find from the text that it’s actually key to understanding all the parables of the kingdom of God. If you don’t get this parable, you’re going to miss much.

Let’s begin in Mark four, verse three. “Listen, behold, A sower went out to sow. And it happened as he sowed that some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground where it did not have much earth. And immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of Earth. But when the sun was up, it was scorched. And because it had no root, it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop”, or as the margin says, no fruit. Verse eight, “but other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up and increased and produced some 30 fold, some 60, and some 100 fold”, or a hundred.

Now, I just want before we start looking at this, to point something out to you that sometimes we, like the disciples in the boat, are always looking for what we’re doing wrong. Remember the disciples in the boat? He said, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” And they said, “It’s because we didn’t bring any bread.” Totally missing the point of what Jesus was trying to share with them. But sometimes we have a sin consciousness when we read the Word, and we gravitate towards the negative. “Oh, yes, the bad ground. Oh, that’s me.” Well, let me just say to you, as we walk into this series, you are good ground. How do I know? You’ve already brought forth new birth, baptism of the Holy Spirit and many other things? The Word has already produced in you good things. So don’t identify with the bad ground. But recognize what Satan uses to make the bad ground bad ground. Recognize the inroads Satan tries to make to steal the Word.

A basic premise of our series is the war is over the Word. You see, well, you know, you say “The devil has really been after me. The devil has really been trying to defeat me and to discourage me.” Yes, but why? Does he think you’re a real threat to him? He doesn’t actually. He doesn’t have any intimidation about human beings. Human beings are weak. And he’s controlled them for thousands of years and you don’t scare him at all. What scares him is if God’s Word gets in your heart and in your mouth and you begin to bring forth fruit from the incorruptible seed of God’s Word. He has no defense for that. The Word will defeat him every time if God’s people know how to allow it to dominate them, and to take root in them and to spring up in them and bring forth fruit in them, he cannot stop the Word because the Word is the incorruptible seed. The Word is the seed form of the divine nature and everything God wants to do comes to the believer in seed form. If he can stop the progress of that Word, he can stop the kingdom from being manifested through you.

So the war is over the Word. What do you mean by the Word Joe? I mean, the written Word, the promises of God. I mean, the quickened Word, the illuminated Word that God gives to you. I mean, the prophetic Word that’s prophesied over you or comes to you in your devotional time. And I mean, the words that are coming out of your mouth. The war is over every aspect of the Word, because the devil fears the Word. He fears the authority, power, dominion and explosive nature of the Word of God, which is the incorruptible seed and the promises of God, which make you a partaker of the divine nature. He cannot stop the Word, so he tries to stop the Word in you.

Now, when the Word is working in you, the natural outcome of the Word is faith. That’s why the Bible says the trying of your faith works patience. See, it isn’t the trying of you. The devil is not after you. He’s after your faith. He’s after your confidence in God and His Word. How many have ever got a prophetic word, and then all of a sudden it looked like everything started going in the wrong direction for that word to be fulfilled? Now, some unwise person said, “Well, God’s testing you.” What Jesus said was when the sower sows the Word, Satan comes immediately to steal the Word that was sown.

Alright, so let’s look in verse nine, “and he said to them, He who has ears to hear, let him hear”. Now how many know that he wasn’t looking for, to find out who had hearing problems and needed their ears healed? Well, actually, he was, but not physically, spiritually. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear. He whose ears spiritually are open to hear the Word of the Lord, let him hear. That’s what he’s saying here. “And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parable. And he said to them, to you it has been given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God.” Now think about that. Are you his disciple? Then to you, it has been given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God. The mysteries of God are not hidden from us. They’re hidden for us.

So if you’re a disciple of the kingdom, these mysteries are your inheritance, and they belong to you. And this parable is the foundational parable of all the kingdom parables. If you don’t get this, you’re gonna miss the rest. But you see those who are arrogant and proud, and think they know all they can know about the Bible, and they’re ready to critique and judge everybody else. To them He said, “seeing they may see and not perceive, hearing they may hear and not understand lest, they should turn and their sins be forgiven them”. One of the other gospels it says, “and I should heal them”. Because God forgiving and healing are part of the same package. It’s just in modern Christianity that they’re separated. But we’re bringing them back together.

“And he said to them, Do you not understand this parable? How will then will you understand all the parables?” This is where I get the idea that this is a foundational parable that’s the key to the rest of the parables. He said if you don’t have this one, how can you understand the rest. Oh, wow. Yeah. So it’s important that we get this, isn’t it? It’s important we understand it, and we’re able to apply it to life because Jesus never said anything that wasn’t to be applied to life to help us. He had no plans of theological entertainment. What he talks about is practical living stuff, stuff that will work in real life. You see, this is how you ought to test the sermons you hear: “Can I do this in my life?” Not, “Was it fascinating and entertaining?” Not, “Well that’s an intriguing concept.” Can you make it work in your life? Is it something that changes the way you live and helps you live more like Jesus in this world? That’s the test of the Word.

Now, he starts in the 14th verse to explain the parable. And he says, “The sower sows the Word”. Now, that’s as far in the parable as I want to go today, because we have to examine our attitude toward the written Word of God. I find Christians particularly in the prophetic churches, more excited about a prophecy they get than about the promises of Scripture. Now I am excited about the prophecies I get, and those words that come from heaven that are just kind of an explosive word from the Lord. I mean, I really value and cherish those, but how many know we have to judge their validity by the written Word of God? So who’s the higher authority?

Let me let me point out to you that much of the church today has an attitude towards the Bible that it’s kind of like it’s the source book for right doctrine. And it is that you see. That’s how we determine whether a doctrine is true or not: does it agree with the written Word. But believers have to come into an extremely high view of the authority of the written Word before they can really flow with the parable of the sower. What is the Lord’s attitude towards his own Word? Is yours in agreement with his attitude? Or do you think, you know, “I gotta take my Bible to church, because the pastor wants me to read the scriptures in it”? And of course, “I’ll read my chapter a day, but when I have a problem, I gotta find somebody to help me”.

Now, it’s good to have people to help you. That’s what the church is for, to rally around those who are going through challenging times. But one of the things that the Lord wants for us, is for us to learn how to meet him in the pages of the book. For us to go to God and hear from God, and God to give us a promise from his Word that we can defeat our problem with. But if your first thought is “I need another human to help me”, rather than “Lord, what should I stand on? Where should I make my stand as far as this warfare I’m in”. We haven’t valued the written Word like God would have us value the written Word. Now, I am grateful, and I have had some tremendous prophetic words in the last six months about my healing, and I received those, and I’m standing on those. But every day I go over the written promises of God for healing, and I declare them and decree them and believe them and stand on them. Because as much as I appreciate the prophetic word, the prophetic word can be mixed with human understanding. But the word of the Lord in the book can’t.

Let’s look at First Peter chapter one. “So the sower sows the Word”, and in the parable, what is the word described as? Seed? Right? Yes, yes, that’s right, Pastor. Yes, I agree. Yes, yes. Okay. First, Peter 1:23, “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God that lives and abides forever”. The word of God is incorruptible seed. How many know that if you are going to plant a crop of corn, and you get bags of corn seed, probably the vast majority of those are going to be effective. But there’ll always be some defective seed in the bag that doesn’t produce. So you could call it corruptible seed, seed that’s capable of being corrupted, not working. But the Word of God is incorruptible seed. It always contains within it in germ form that which it promises. So the tiniest seed of God’s Word, can produce a great big crop because Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which when it is sown in the earth is little, but it produces a huge tree. So he wants us to understand that the potential is in the seed.

Many believers wrestle with how they’re going to get mature how they’re going to grow. And some people observe that when people go through hard times, they cry out to God, and God helps them. And so they start to give the credit to the trials. But I know people who’ve gone through trials and just got mad at God and didn’t benefit at all. Because it’s not the trials that benefit you. It’s seeking God and hearing His Word that benefits you. You see, if you ask those same people, did God show you anything during that time? “Yes, his word opened to me marvelously. And I began to move into a revelation of the Lord in a way I hadn’t known him.” In other words, the sower sowed the Word and the incorruptible seed brought forth the victory. But ill advised misguided theologians will give you that the problem’s the credit. But it’s the Word that changes us. It’s the Word that produces in us. It’s the Word made flesh, walked out, lived out, that brings transformation to your life. It’s the Word that renews your mind. It’s the Word that unveils Jesus.

Now, sometimes that may come in the form of a prophecy, it may come in the form of a revelation while you’re praying, but it’s still just a reflection of the incorruptible seed of the written Word of God. You see, when believers began to understand this, they began to intentionally sow and they began to watch and guard their hearts against the thief, on purpose. Where some people have faith, accidents they seek God, they operate in principles of faith that work, but they could never tell you how in the world that happened, because they don’t understand how it happened. How it happened is the sower sowed the Word, and within the seed of the incorruptible Word was the miracle they sought. And as they were careful to guard that seed and water that seed, God gave the increase and the miracle happened. There are principles of the kingdom. There is understanding of the kingdom. It’s so simple, a child could understand it, and so a simple a theologian can totally miss it. You see, because it’s just, “well, everybody understands a seed in the ground. Kids could understand that”. Yes, but adults stumble over it.

I don’t understand what God’s doing in my life. Maybe it isn’t God. But why is God allowing this? Maybe he isn’t? Well, what’s God trying to teach me? Maybe he isn’t. Maybe the devil is trying to teach you that God isn’t good. Maybe the devil is trying to teach you, “Where’s God in my problem?” Doubt His faithfulness, doubt His love. “How can you say that? Why, we’ve heard for years that it was God”. I know. But how many have noticed that in this parable, if you have the right kind of Bible, it’s red writing. I mean, the black writings good. Don’t get me wrong. But the red writing, I mean, this is the high level. And he said the sowers the Word, Satan comes immediately to steal the Word. Let this saying sink deep in your ears. The war is over the Word. God is not your problem. He’s the answer.

Alright, so first Peter to 1:23, the Word of God is incorruptible seed. Little tiny seed has all the potential of the whole tree or crop or whatever it is. You’re taught within that seed is all the potential to produce. But you know, when you put the seed under the ground, you can’t even see the seed. And you know what? If you dug it up to see if it was growing, you’d ruin it. You know what you have to do? You have to trust the potential in the seed and let it grow until it breaks the ground and you can see it. Get it? You see, “Well, I’ve been speaking God’s Word. I’ve been meditating in the scriptures, but I’m not seeing or feeling or perceiving any change.” Seeds need time to germinate.

Put it in, keep watering it, God will give the increase. He’s promised to. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he said, “I sowed, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase”. Now one of the things we’re going to learn in this series is that you can both sow and water the seed in your own heart. You don’t need a preacher to do it for you. Now I plan to water till I can’t stand up anymore. But you see, part of the fruit of this parable and its understanding in my life was I understood what the process was by which I grew, matured and changed. And I began to intelligently apply it to my life. And I no longer was hoping…. See, when I was a young Christian, we heard about these tremendous trials people went through, and how they came out, and all of a sudden, they had this glorious ministry. And you know, the way it was presented, you almost wanted to pray that God would send you some horrible trial so you could get mature. And then the trial started coming, and you you were saying, “Oh, thank you, Jesus” for a while. And then you were saying, “Woe is me. How can I get out of this mess?” You know, one of the great inconsistencies in the church is they believe that, you know, “Well, God sends sickness so we can learn endurance.” And then they run to the doctor to try to get out of the lesson. Hey, if God said it, don’t you dare go to the doctor and take his lesson away from you. How are you going to get the lesson if you get the doctor involved in your own rebellion. If you think about it, that kind of thinking is inconsistent. You can only think it in church.

Now notice that the Word lives and abides. You know, that kind of sounds like a permanent type of thing. It’s alive, and it continues. I want you to think about every promise of God. Now do you realize that every book of the Bible was written in the prophetic anointing and is therefore prophecy written down? So you say, “Well, I’ve got a prophetic word.” Yeah, I do too. I’m standing on the prophetic Word of the Lord. It’s called the Bible. You see? When you realize that that the Word is prophetic, then you realize it’s also creative. When God created he spoke, and things came into existence, and that same creative ability is still in his Word.

He goes on in this passage to talk about in chapter two verse one, “therefore laying aside all malice and all Guile, hypocrisy, and all evil speaking, As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow thereby”. So if I even get the milk of the Word I’ll grow. But you could get the bread of the Word. And then you could get the meat of the Word. Why, that almost sounds like the parable, some 30, some 60, some 100, fold. Milk, bread, meat.

And he says, “if indeed, you have tasted, that the Lord is gracious”. Now, I’m a simple kind of a person. It seems to me he’s saying, if I get the milk of the Word, I’m going to find out about how gracious God is. Even the milk of the Word is going to reveal the goodness of God to me. Well, that’s just the thought there, you know.

Now, Hebrews 4:12. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the Word of God is living and powerful”. How many of you know that there are at least two different Greek words translated word? Can anyone tell me what they are? Logos and Rhema. Okay, we know that the Logos is the larger objective Word of God. And many believe the Rhema is the subjective, personalized Word of God. And some teachers have taught that you’ve got to have a Rhema for it to be living to you. What do you think it is in this verse? It’s Logos, not Rhema. So how much of the Word is alive? All of it. And how much of it is powerful?

So, in every incorruptible seed planted in your heart, it’s imparting life and power. Dunamis, supernatural ability comes to you when you receive the Word. Now you see because we’re in the infancy of understanding the human spirit, we go by how we feel and our perceptions rather than by understanding the unseen realm and cooperating with it. You see, whether I feel it or not, divine life has been imparted to my spirit and divine power enablement has been imparted to me when I receive with meekness the implanted Word.

See, “well, I, you know, I spent time with the Lord this morning and I meditated on the Word and I didn’t feel any different.” Well, if you felt different tomorrow, when you did it would the Word have then gotten new power that day. No, you see, it isn’t about our perceptions. It’s about laws of the spirit realm. If you plant you will reap if you don’t faint. And the devil’s job is to get you to faint before you reap. But you’re too smart for him. Because you’re learning how to understand his strategy, and how to resist it and overcome it because this parable teaches you those things.