March 15, 2013: Volume 2, Number 10
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30 60 100 MINISTRIES |
March 22, 2013 - April 2, 201330 60 100 MINISTRIES Training and Coaching in Guatemala April 12, 2013Goal Setting & Action Planning Western Indian MinistriesWindow Rock, AZ April 26-27, 2013(SP)∞ Strategic PlanningGrace Fellowship Leadership Team Los Lunas, NM May 3-5, 2013 Men of Integrity Retreat Lone Tree Retreat Center, Capitan, NM May 17, 201330 60 100 MINISTRIES Board of Directors meeting Albuquerque, NM 
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| Greetings! | In this issue of The Cultivator, we finish up with Part 4 in our Parable of the Sower series. Jesus compared various conditions of the human heart to four kinds of soil in a farmer's field. Each type of soil identifies whether our heart is fickle (not adequately cultivated and prepared to receive God's Word), or fertile (ready to receive the Word and bring forth good fruit.)
Today you'll read how to ensure your heart can lead to Productive Planting. (You can read the series starting with Part 1 here .)
 While in Costa Rica, we saw God's Word fall onto fertile hearts. Take a minute to listen to our brothers and sisters share their stories in these video testimonies. We know you will be inspired as we were!
Keep growing!
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BACK 40 HEADED TO GUATEMALA
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Thanks to your partnership, we will travel to the village of La Esperanza near Quetzaltenango, the second largest city in Guatemala, on March 22 - April 2 to coach and train elders and young leaders using Spiritually Healthy Leaders� materials. During Holy Week we will hold seven workshops as well as and preach and teach at services in the local church three times. We are honored to be able to minister with God's people in this remote area! In the meantime, will you please continue to pray for God's anointing on the Back 40 as a long-term effort? Thank you for your sacrificial partnership!  |
30 60 100 MINISTRIES EARNS GUIDESTAR SEAL
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 We're pleased to announce that 30 60 100 MINISTRIES has earned the GuideStar Exchange seal, which demonstrates our commitment to transparency. |
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 Feature: YOUR HEART : FICKLE OR FERTILE SOIL?
Part 4: Productive Planting | This devotion is part 4 of 4 in a series based on The Parable of the Sower. Just as the Sower sowed good seed, so God uses a variety of ways to plant His seed - biblical truth - in the soil of our hearts. We receive His seed through studying the Bible, hearing a message, holding a conversation with a believer, reading other Christian books and resources, and even through life's circumstances.
Our responsibility is to prepare and cultivate the soil of our hearts so that as we receive God's Word, it can grow in us and produce the best possible yield of spiritual fruit. Each of the four kinds of soil in the field represent a different heart condition, determining whether our heart is fickle (not adequately cultivated and prepared to receive God's Word), or fertile (ready to receive the Word and bring forth good fruit.)
YOUR HEART: FICKLE OR FERTILE SOIL?
Part 4: PRODUCTIVE PLANTING
 In the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23), Jesus compares a farmer's field to our hearts. God uses all kinds of people and tools to sow the seed - the Word of God - which falls on four different types of soil. Likewise, four kinds of soil make up the field of our heart.
Three of them fail to produce a crop. But the seed that "fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." (Matthew 13:23). You recognize good soil by its fruitfulness.
What Makes for Good Soil?
Good soil takes preparation and cultivation. To prepare good soil, gardeners work the plot, adding healthy organic matter before planting. But good soil is also continually worked throughout the growing season, whether by removing debris, turning over hardened areas, or pulling weeds.
A farmer must pay the price to have fertile soil. Likewise, a prepared heart costs something, too.
Working the Soil = Working Our Hearts
Our hearts are a lot like soil. A gardener adds organic material to the soil to increase its fruitfulness. In the same way good doses of practicing God's Word through spiritual disciplines adds richness and spiritual nutrients to our hearts.
Further, the person who opens his heart to understanding God's Word is willing to face its truths and apply them to his life ... knowing he may also need to protect the seed when it's planted, take a spade to hard areas in his heart, and pull out weeds of sin in order for the Word to flourish. Preparing our hearts to receive God's Word takes purposeful planning.
Every Field has Great Potential
All soil has potential. Every field can be tilled and prepared to be a better place for the seed of God's Word to germinate, grow, and yield good fruit.
 A surrendered field that is prepared, willing, available, faithful, and ready gives God the workspace to do His awesome job of multiplication.
It's in that prepared heart that He not only sows the seed of His Word, but from which He produces a yield beyond our wildest expectation - 30 or 60 or 100 times what was sown. That's thirty, sixty, and one hundred times the investment!
Think of that potential. God is responsible for the increase. A seed can produce a multiplied impact for God's Kingdom in our hearts, but only when our hearts are ready to receive it.
Is the field of your heart prepared?
Growth Point
A prepared heart gives God the workspace for His awesome multiplication.
Scripture
Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop - a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. (Matthew 13:8, NIV)
Prayer Points - "We must be willing to pay the price to prepare our hearts for God's Word to mature in us and produce fruit." What does that mean to you?
- Describe how you respond when you consider the amazing multiplication God can achieve in a prepared heart.
- What are the next steps God wants you to take to prepare your field for His seed?
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What People Are Saying ...
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Girls in our Costa Rica Back 40 class
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"Thank you so much for giving so that Mr. Dalton and Miss Vicki could come to Costa Rica. It changed our lives." Naty Sandi C. (age 10)
"Thank you for giving this offering. Truly this course has been a great help to us all. God bless you!" Valerie Nu�ez Aguilar (age 11)
Hear more testimonies from Christians in remote areas served by 30 60 100 MINISTRIES staff here.
Find out more about equipping, coaching, and training opportunities with 30 60 100 MINISTRIES here.
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