Mark 1:11 “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Hebrews 11:11 “And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.” John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

When we understand the Seed, we begin to understand where we came from, who we belong to, why God has planted us where we are, and what He desires to produce through our lives. It is to understand the Seed, recognize that we belong to Christ, discover why we have been planted, and become fruitful wherever God places us. Jesus said in John 12:24 NKJV, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” Jesus was speaking of His own death, but He was also revealing a Kingdom pattern: seed, surrender, death, life, fruit, and multiplication.

The other day I picked up one of my old film cameras and immediately took a little journey back in time. All the great memories, the satisfying click and the feel of nostalgia in my hands. If I could only jump back in time for just a day. I had entered the trap... Nostalgia is a tricky thing, it pretends to be our friend but left unchecked it will steal your future. How often do you see old pictures of yourself and get caught up thinking of the good old days. Or perhaps you see an old friend and think about how much better things were back then. How many of us have witnessed this in our churches? I grew up in charismatic circles and have a generally fond memory of the early 90s. It was new, fresh and there was some excellent things going on. It felt like it was only ever going to get better, more revivals, more outpouring of the Holy Spirit, it was all headed up. You see moments of nostalgia help us remember the good, but are pretty good at making us forget all that was not so great. I held my camera, snapped a few shots and quickly remembered just how much work shooting film was. While it is satisfying, exciting, and feels cool, I am glad I can plug my digital camera to my computer and print a picture I just took. As we walk out or faith we must make sure we are not getting stuck on what was, or the last great move of God in our nations. We must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and moving towards what He has for us not just now but also in the future. In Hebrews 12 we see the writer talking about sin that so easily ensnares us. Can nostalgia also ensnare us, trip us up and get us stuck? Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

We have looked at a lot of pictures this week, both in the natural and in a more figurative sense. We pondered what we were like, what we are like and hopefully saw Jesus at work in our lives both in our past and currently. We probably all saw things that we didn't love the look of and had a surprise about places we are doing better than we thought. But for the last post this week I want us to get more prophetic and less reflective. If all we are offering you is self improvement we missed the whole point. Our walk as Christians is not about getting all the things right and fixing ourselves. It is realizing our brokenness and recognizing how great our savior is that He would die for us to become whole again in Him. Most importantly that He would be Lord of our lives and we would be transformed into His image as we become living sacrifices. Let's jump in to Revelation for a moment. Revelation 19:10 NKJV And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” This verse has so much to it that we can unpack another day, let's focus on the last line. "the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus". Now let's take a moment to think about that. On it's face prophecy should point to Him. Got it. But what does that mean? Should it just talk about Jesus? Let's look even deeper than that. Is the ultimate testimony of Jesus at work in our lives not transformation? I would say it is, because transformation testifies when we are silent, it tells stories without using words and it draws others to the only one who can truly transform us. I am going to be bold and say: without transformation it is not prophetic. With that thought in mind I want you to look at a picture of your future. But I want you to step into deeper waters. This is not the time "name it and claim it" or speak a bunch of nice things about yourself and what you want to see. This time you need to sit with Jesus and let Him take the picture as only He can. Consider Him the ultimate portrait photographer, as He is able to show you not only as you are but who you were made to be. On top of that He knows the road you came in on and the one that is laid out ahead of you.

Those of you familiar with photography will know that your aperture is essential to establish your depth of field, in other words how much of your image is in focus. Low aperture gives you lots of light but a shallow depth of field and high aperture gives you a lot less light to work with but a much wider depth of field. But you are not here for a photography lesson so what exactly am I getting at? Well if we stay at a shallow understanding of the word and our walk with God we will end up with a lot of light but not much depth of understanding. It is essential that as believers we don't stay at a surface understanding or we miss the whole picture. The writer of Hebrews addresses exactly this. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. -Hebrews 6:1-6 NKJV You see as we encounter more of Holy Spirit it should draw us deeper and deeper, it should be what informs our conversations, desires and actions. Encounter also draws us deeper into scripture, placing a hunger for the deeper mysteries of God inside of us. Now it is time to grab those pictures. Take a look at the one you took of yourself this week and take a look at the depth of field. Is it shallow or is it deep? Now look at some of the pictures of your youth. Do you see the same depth or has it grown? Ask Holy Spirit what are the areas that are still out of focus or lacking in understanding. Let Him shine a little more light in so you can open up that aperture.