From Faith to Faith Strength to Strength and Glory to Glory #5 Till up the Fallow Ground

Fallow Ground Overview

In this fifth installment of the series From Faith to Faith, Strength to Strength, and Glory to Glory, the Pastor of NTC Ministries delivers a grounding and deeply practical message on what it truly means to walk with God beyond the moment of conversion. Drawing on Charles Spurgeon’s timeless observation that being a Christian is a daily process of becoming more like Christ, the message unpacks the vital distinction between the legal side of redemption, everything purchased at the cross, and the practical side, what believers must actively do to experience those promises in their daily lives. Central to this teaching is the agricultural metaphor from Jeremiah 4:3: breaking up the fallow ground of the heart. Unworked, hardened, and overgrown soil cannot receive seed, and neither can a heart cluttered with pride, sin, and self-justification receive all that God intends. The Pastor weaves together passages from Romans, James, First Peter, Second Corinthians, Galatians, and First John to show that repentance, purifying the soul, assembling with believers, and persevering through trials are not optional extras but the very pathway from faith to faith, strength to strength, and ultimately into the glory God has destined for every believer.

Fallow Ground Outline

• 00:00 – Introducing the Series and Its Purpose: The Pastor reintroduces the ongoing series and frames the core premise: every believer’s spiritual life is progressive, not static. Spurgeon’s quote anchors the idea that Christianity is a daily journey of transformation.
• 07:30 – The Legal Side vs. the Practical Side of Redemption: Using the illustration of a legal inheritance requiring probate steps, the Pastor distinguishes between what Christ has already legally secured for believers and the practical walk required to experience it in the here and now.
• 16:00 – Faith to Faith: Receiving and Acting on God’s Word: Rooted in Romans 1:16-17 and Romans 10:17, this section explains that faith is not intellectual but a spiritual life process of hearing God’s word, accepting His promise, and obeying His instruction even when the enemy comes to steal the seed.
• 26:45 – Strength to Strength: The Power of Assembling Together: Drawing from Psalms 84:4-7 and Hebrews 10:24, the Pastor illustrates through the balsam tree how believers need each other’s support to remain standing through the Valley of Baca, and how corporate worship builds spiritual muscle.
• 38:00 – Glory to Glory: The Goal of Christ’s Suffering and Ours: The olive press analogy and the Garden of Gethsemane connect personal trials to the release of God’s anointing. Second Corinthians 3:18 and John 17 show that Christ’s glory has been given to believers and is progressively revealed through surrender.
• 49:15 – Tilling Up the Fallow Ground: Repentance and the Heart: Rooted in Jeremiah 4:1-4 and Acts 3:19-21, the Pastor calls for active repentance and the removal of thorns and rocks in the heart. The image of a clogged drain illustrates how small, accumulated impurities quietly block God’s flow in our lives.
• 59:00 – Purifying the Soul: Our Responsibility as Believers: From First John 3:1-3 and First Peter 1:22-23, the Pastor explains that while the spirit is made perfect at new birth, the soul requires ongoing purification through obedience, humility, and the sincere love of fellow believers.
• 68:30 – Sowing to the Spirit and Not Losing Heart: Galatians 6:7-10 closes the message with a call to persevere in well-doing, give generously, encourage one another, and refuse discouragement. The Pastor declares that God’s economy rewards those who sow to the Spirit and keep going.

Scripture References

Romans 1:16-17, Romans 10:17, Psalms 84:4-7, Hebrews 10:24, James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 1:6-8, 2 Corinthians 3:18, John 17:4-5, John 17:20-23, 1 Samuel 2:8, Jeremiah 4:1-4, Galatians 6:7-10, Acts 3:19-21, Acts 17:30, 1 John 3:1-3, 1 Peter 1:22-23, Romans 8

Key Takeaways

• Being born again is the beginning, not the destination; every believer is called to a daily, progressive journey of becoming more like Christ from faith to faith, strength to strength, and glory to glory.
• God has legally provided everything through the cross, but there is a practical side to redemption that requires believers to actively walk in obedience, repentance, and surrender to receive those promises in the present.
• The fallow ground of the heart must be broken up through repentance; hardened, unworked soil cannot receive the seed of God’s word and will allow thorns, rocks, and birds to rob what was sown.
• Assembling with other believers is not optional religious routine but a vital source of spiritual strength, because just as balsam trees need each other to stand, believers need the corporate anointing to endure the pressures of life.
• Trials are not obstacles to glory but the very pathway to it; as the olive must be pressed to release its oil and light, so God uses seasons of difficulty to produce His anointing and glory in our lives.
• Purifying the soul is the believer’s active responsibility; while the spirit is perfected at salvation, the mind, will, and emotions must be continuously aligned with God’s truth through obedience and sincere love of the brethren.
• Discouragement and the accumulated weight of a corrupted world act as deterrents clogging the flow of God’s promises, making consistent repentance, praise, and community essential disciplines for every believer.

Fallow Ground Notes

Two Sides of Every Redemptive Promise

One of the most clarifying insights in this message is the distinction between the legal and the practical dimensions of what Christ purchased. Legally, the cross settled everything. Believers are already seated in heavenly places, already righteous in God’s sight. But practically, walking into those realities requires cooperation with the Holy Spirit, step-by-step obedience, and a willingness to change. The Pastor illustrates this with a personal story about receiving a legal inheritance that still required navigating probate court. Wanting the blessing without walking the process is like demanding healing while refusing to change what caused the harm.

The Balsam Tree and Why We Need Each Other

Perhaps the most memorable illustration in this message is the balsam tree. Unlike oaks with deep taproots, balsam trees have shallow root systems and survive only because they grow in dense stands, each tree stabilizing its neighbors. Isolated, a balsam falls when the wind hits. The Pastor draws a direct parallel to Christians who forsake assembling together, citing Hebrews 10:24 and Psalms 84:5-7. The corporate gathering is not just emotionally comforting but structurally necessary. It is where the collective anointing strengthens individuals to walk through their valley of Baca and make it a well.

The Olive Press and the Pathway to Glory

The word Gethsemane means olive press, and the Pastor uses this etymology to unlock the connection between suffering and anointing. Real olive oil, first press, comes only when the berry is crushed and discarded, leaving only the oil inside. That oil produced light. Jesus sweat blood in Gethsemane precisely because the weight of what He was about to bear was crushing, yet from that crushing flowed the greatest anointing in history. Believers facing seasons of pressure can take courage knowing that what God produces through difficulty is not waste but oil, and oil brings glory and light to those around them.

Fallow Ground: What the Heart Must Release

Jeremiah 4:3 commands believers to break up fallow ground before sowing, and the Pastor applies this directly to the condition of the human heart. Fallow ground is idle, uncultivated, and unproductive, not because it is destroyed but because it has been neglected. Rocks of pride, thorns of self-justification, and the hardness of unrepented sin create a surface where the seed of God’s word cannot take root. Just as a gardener must work the soil before planting, the believer must engage in honest, humble repentance to prepare the heart to receive what God intends to bring into the next season of life.

Purifying the Soul Is Your Assignment

First John 3:3 states plainly that everyone who has the hope of seeing Christ as He is purifies himself, and the Greek word hognizo means a self-cleaning. This is not the work of a priest or pastor on behalf of the believer but the responsibility of every individual. The Pastor acknowledges that the spirit is already made perfect in Christ, but the soul, the mind, will, and emotions, accumulates the residue of living in a fallen world. Regular exposure to the word, obedience to what God reveals, and willingness to say simply and humbly, God forgive me, keeps the channel open for His promises to flow.

Do Not Lose Heart: Galatians 6 as a Battle Cry

The closing charge of this message comes from Galatians 6:7-10, where Paul warns that sowing to the flesh yields corruption while sowing to the Spirit yields everlasting life, then adds the critical promise that in due season we will reap if we do not lose heart. The Pastor connects this directly to the strength-to-strength principle: spiritual muscle is built not by avoiding hardship but by pushing through it without giving up. Giving to others, encouraging the household of God, and refusing discouragement are acts of sowing that will, in God’s timing, bring a harvest far beyond what any earthly economy could offer.

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