The mystery of the Kingdom of God is bearing fruit through spiritual agriculture.  Notice that when Jesus spoke the Parable of the Sower to His disciples that He said that embedded therein was the mystery of the Kingdom of God.  Not one of the mysteries, the mystery!

Mark 4:11:

“11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables”

The principles of the Kingdom of God are so simple that sometimes people have a difficult time comprehending them.

The Word of God is a seed and your heart is the ground.  Fruit is produced in your heart that will actually manifest itself in the natural world.  God ordained that things work this way from the very beginning.

Genesis 8:22:

“While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”

When the angel spoke the Word to the Virgin Mary, he planted the Word, Jesus, into her heart, and the Word became flesh through that procedure. In the same way, we become "pregnant" with the Word-seed that God sees fit to plant into our hearts.

What kind of fruit?

Often believers think that spiritual fruit is only leading someone else to the Lord, as in ministry.  While that is great fruit, God's fruit goes beyond that.  As I describe later in this chapter God desires to have you bear fruit for your character, your earthly provisions and relationships and also for extending His Kingdom in this earth, or what we call ministry.

Its all about hearing Jesus speak!

Hebrews 11:1-2 states that when we have faith for something, then even though we cannot yet see it, that we actually have the title deed to it.  Faith, or the Word/seed spoken to our heart is the substance.  It is like being pregnant.  You know you have the baby, but you cannot yet see it.

Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified Bible):

1 NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, [a]the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

How does faith come to us?

Romans 10:17 (Amplified Bible):

17 So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself).

Matthew 16-17 tells us how to live in the Kingdom of God. God said it is all about hearing Jesus speak and bearing fruit!

In Matthew 17 Jesus was transfigured and seen in His future glory by His disciples.  After some discussion about Elijah and Moses and building a residence there to stay in the glory, God spoke from Heaven and said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.  Hear Him."

Matthew 16:28-17:5:

“28 “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

1 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves;

2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!””

In verse 16:21 Jesus tells His disciples about His death and resurrection.

That is His Cross.

Matthew 16:21:

“21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”

Then in verses 16:24-26 Jesus says that we must take up our cross.

That is our cross.

Matthew 16:24-26:

“24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

25 “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

26 “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Then in verse 16:28 Jesus told His disciples that some would see the Kingdom even now before they tasted death.

Matthew 16:28:

“28 “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.””

Summary.

To summarize the above, we will experience the Kingdom of God, here in this life, if we recognize Jesus' death and resurrection, if we take up our cross daily, and if we put ourselves in a position to hear the glorified Jesus speak His Word into our hearts.

Our death and resurrection.

One very important principle that many believers do not recognize is that bearing fruit in the natural and the spiritual realm requires death and resurrection.  Unless a seed fall into the ground and dies, it bears no fruit.  Our lives must experience "death" after we receive the Word promise from Jesus.  Fruit and prosperity of any kind in the Kingdom of God requires our "death" to our own will, our own comfort, our own dreams, our own anything!  Another important "cross" that we are called to take up regards our identity.  We need to understand and confess that we are no longer that old abused person, that old sin person, that old addict, but that we have been crucified with Christ, we died in Him, and were raised with Him from the dead with a new birth, a new identity!  That is what is called taking up your cross!

Notice in this passage of Scripture in Matthew 16 that Jesus promised Peter, and others who met the same conditions, that they would have the keys of the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus spoke a Word of divine revelation to Peter and called it the rock.  Then Jesus referred to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 16:13-19:

“13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?””

“14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

19 “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.””

The Cross made the Kingdom of God possible for us.

Living in the Kingdom of God now is only made possible by what Jesus accomplished at the Cross and his resurrection.  It is further ratified by our taking up our cross.  We will cover this in more detail later.  However the Kingdom of God works in our lives by hearing Jesus speak.

Hearing Jesus speak to us in real time life is only possible through an intimate and personal real-time relationship to God.  The Kingdom of God cannot come into your life in any other way!  Furthermore, hearing Jesus speak through a real-time relationship can only happen through an authentic lifestyle by which we are required to live.

To summarize:

1.  Jesus wants us to change our minds, to repent, so that we can live in the Kingdom of God now in this life.  He wants us to live above the kingdom of this world.  He does not desire us to be subject to the curses and tragedies of this world system, which is governed by Satan.

2.  The Kingdom of God is made real in our lives by hearing God speak.  Notice in the Matthew 17 Scripture above, the disciples saw Jesus in His glorified state while they were still on earth.  In the same way, we can see Jesus not in His glorified state while we are still on earth, and we can hear Him speak just as they did.  The disciples did not see Jesus in His earthly body during that experience, just as we cannot see Him in His earthly body now.  However we still can "see" Him in His glorified state, not with our natural eyes but with our spiritual eyes.

3.  We can only hear Jesus speak to us through a real and authentic relationship with Him.  Therefore, pursuing things, wealth, religion, or anything other than Jesus Himself will not suffice.  The door and pathway are narrow.  The pathway to walking and living in the Kingdom of God is the pursuit of Jesus the God-man.  Notice, that as Jesus preached to His disciples to repent and turn to the Kingdom, they left all their previous vocations and followed Him.  Now they had to depend upon Jesus and His Kingdom for their very existence.

How does this fruit come about in our lives?

1. Intimacy with God.  We must practice our relationship skills with the Lord as described in the previous chapter.

2. Hearing Him speak His Word.  When we are intimate with Him and in right relationship, then we can hear Him speak His Word, His personal rhema into our hearts.

3. That Word is planted as a seed inside of your heart, which is the ground.  Now you are "pregnant" with the seed/Word in your heart.  Now you are in the process described in the Parable of the Sower.

Mark 4:1-34:

“1 And again He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea.

2 Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:

3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.

4 “And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.

5 “Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.

6 “But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.

7 “And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.

8 “But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

9 And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

10 But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable.

13 And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

14 “The sower sows the word.

15 “And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

16 “These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

17 “and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.

18 “Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word,

19 “and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

20 “But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

21 Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand?

22 “For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.

23 “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

24 Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.

25 “For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

26 And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground,

27 “and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.

28 “For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.

29 “But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

30 Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it?

31 “It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth;

32 “but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”

33 And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it.

34 But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.”

Notice in the above Parable two more ingredients are added to fruit bearing after the seed is planted.

4.  The process of time must take place for the fruit to take root and grow.

5.  There is spiritual warfare as Satan comes to steal the seed by various means.  This process can produce extreme affliction and persecution, usually commensurate with the value of the seed that has been planted.  I believe the higher ranking demonic forces are assigned to more important seeds.

In the next chapter I will cover more of your responsibilities for "tending the ground of your spiritual garden," to make sure your seeds bear fruit.

What kind of fruit can we expect?

I believe that the Ark of the Covenant that was placed inside the Holy of Holies, gives us a peek into the three basic types of fruit.  The Ark contained the Tablets of the Law, the Manna and Aaron's Rod that budded.

The Ark contents symbolize three main things:

The manna, or the Word of God: When you are in God’s presence, the revealed Word of God comes alive!  The Bible becomes Scriptures, the Scriptures become the Word, and the Word becomes flesh.  The Word is now in you!  If you have time, this is a great place to open your Bible and let the Lord speak.  Manna also speaks of our provisions.  All of our provisions, love, security and significance are already inside of us.  This includes everything we need for life and godliness.  Fruit for our provisions here on earth is provided by God's Word (2 Peter 2:1-11).

Tablets of Law: This is a precious reminder that the Law of God is written on our hearts.  It is no longer a list of do’s and don’ts.

Aaron’s Rod: This signifies our anointed ministry to be workers and prayer warriors for God.  There were 12 broken almond rods placed in the Temple at God’s command.  The one that would supernaturally bud during the night, would be the one whose owner would be God’s appointed minister.  Only God has our ministry for us, and we only realize what it is when we are in His presence (Numbers 17:8).

Here is where we can really receive the promises of God in His Word.  When we receive them here, we know that we will have them!  Philippians 4:19 says, “My God will supply your every need according to His riches in Glory in Christ Jesus.”  Here you are in Glory!  Here are all the riches of Heaven waiting for you.

Begin to thank God that these three things are not just in front of you, but they are in you.  Not only are they in you, but also the blood and mercy seat and angels are protecting you with them.  Psalm 91 says that the angels protect you in your way of service and obedience.

Now you are equipped to be a real intercessor.  You are sharing in the High Priestly ministry of Jesus and praying for others effectively.  Jesus said in John 15: 7,  “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you.”

There are two types of ground.  You can choose the excellent ground for your life!

In agriculture there are generally two types of crops, and the type of crop chosen will affect the value of the ground.  If one plants seasonal crops like corn, wheat, barley, those crops will be valuable to a degree in feeding humans.  However, every farmer knows that that land must rest.  The Bible says that it must rest every seventh year or it will not produce.  I believe that in modern agriculture that crop rotation may supply the rest needed.

However when one utilizes land for fruit, like grape, apple trees, peach trees, etc., the land does not need to rest because it actually becomes better with the production of fruit each year.  This land is in a "continual Sabbath."

This example is translated into our spiritual lives when compared with what is called the New Testament Sabbath.  The New Testament Sabbath is not in a certain day of the week, or abstaining from certain activities on certain days, but it is rather abstaining from the works of our flesh.  The New Testament Sabbath is about trusting entirely on the Word of God to produce fruit rather than works of the flesh with "annual crops."

God worked six days, and rested on the seventh. He entered into the rest of fruit bearing.  He wants us to do the same thing.  Remember, man was created on the sixth day, and his first full day was the Sabbath, the day of rest.  Certainly, since we still live in flesh bodies, we are to maintain our health by keeping a good healthy rest every seventh day, but this is not a religious obligation, but rather good sense for good health. Certainly God wants us to gather on certain days in our assemblies.  But so far as a worship time and a time to seek the Lord, that should be something we do every day!

Here are Scriptures to back this up.

Hebrews 4:1-12:

“1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.

2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;

5 and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”

6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience,

7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.

9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.

10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Isaiah 58:13, 14:

“13 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words,

14 Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.””

Isaiah 56:1-7:

“1 Thus says the LORD: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come, And My righteousness to be revealed.

2 Blessed is the man who does this, And the son of man who lays hold on it; Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

3 Do not let the son of the foreigner Who has joined himself to the LORD Speak, saying, “The LORD has utterly separated me from His people”; Nor let the eunuch say, “Here I am, a dry tree.”

4 For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant,

5 Even to them I will give in My house And within My walls a place and a name Better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name That shall not be cut off.

6 “Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, And to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants--Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant--

7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.””

When we enter into the Kingdom of God and begin to bear fruit, we have actually entered into the permanent Sabbath of the Lord as described in Hebrews chapter 4.  We are resting in the Lord's Word.  We have ceased from the works of our flesh and are enjoying bearing fruit for everything in life.

2 Peter 1:3-4 says that everything we need for life and godliness is given to us by knowing Him, and by His exceedingly great and precious promises, which includes having His nature lived through us.

2 Peter 1:3, 4

“3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

A quote from Watchman Nee:

Looking up to heaven, he blessed and brake the loaves; and he gave to the disciples to set before them. Mark 6:41.

Surely the one fundamental need in our life and service for God is the blessing of God upon it. No other need exists. What do we mean by blessing? Blessing is the working of God where there is nothing to account for his working. For instance, you calculate that a penny should buy a pennyworth. But if you have not paid your penny, and God has given you ten thousand pennyworth, then you have no basis for your calculations.

When five loaves provide food for five thousand and leave twelve baskets of fragments-when, that is to say, the fruit of our service is out of all proportion to the gifts we possess, that is blessing.  Or, to be rather extreme, 'when, taking account of our failures and weaknesses, there should be no fruit at all from our labors, and still there is fruit-that is blessing. Blessing is fruit out of all relation to what we are, results that are not just the working of cause and effect. Blessing comes when God works wholly beyond our reckoning, for his Name's sake.

A quote from Kenneth Copeland:

The Hidden Things of God.

"Blessed art thou...for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 16:17)

Remember when you went to school and learned your ABCs? You learned them by using your five senses and your logical abilities to gather information and sort it out. That kind of knowledge is called natural knowledge and it's the only kind most people know anything about.

But in the kingdom of God, there's another kind of knowing. One that works its way from the inside out instead of from the outside in.  It's called revelation knowledge.  Jesus spoke about this kind of knowledge in Matthew 16.  He'd just asked the disciples, "Who do you say I am?" Peter had answered Him by declaring, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." "Blessed are you, Simon," Jesus responded, "because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father which is in heaven."  In other words, Jesus was saying, "Peter, you didn't learn this information through your physical senses. You received it another way. You received it directly from God."  If you've ever had a revelation like that, you know that when it comes, it changes things. It makes you see old things in an entirely new light.  It gives you such unshakable confidence that, as Jesus said to Peter, "The gates of hell can't prevail against you."

But revelations like that don't come easily. You have to meditate the Word and search the Spirit of God for them because they are "hidden" in Him.  The Bible says God has hidden His wisdom for the saints (1 Corinthians 2:7-9).  Notice, He's hidden it for you, not from you. He wants you to have it.  Don't think, however, that God is just going to drop great revelations into your lap while you're watching television.  You have to seek Him.  If you're hungry for revelation knowledge, get yourself in a position to receive it by meditating the Word, praying, and fellowshipping with the Lord.