God’s Got The Hard Part!

0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:08.360 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:11.080 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:13.440 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:17.280 Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.640 Anybody online watching this, remember when you had to buy 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:24.479 the cassette tape of the sermon. Yeah, man, you have 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:26.760 to wait. If you wanted a sermon online, you had 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:29.200 to order it. There was no online. You had to 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:32.640 call up and order it and wait six weeks. But 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:35.200 I got good news. You don't have to wait six weeks. 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:38.320 Welcome to our EPAM all over the world. 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:42.960 Come on, Balantine, help me. Welcome our EPAM all. 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:51.800 Over the world. Perchance you missed it. We're celebrating the 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:54.800 end of the year. We're not dreading the holidays. We're 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:58.200 just getting ready to give God praise and thanks. Here 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:00.720 at our church, we end our ye with a year 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:03.560 end offering. And I want all of you to be 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:05.680 a part of it. And you say, well, I don't 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:06.440 live in Charlotte. 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:07.120 You don't have to. 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:09.600 You say, well, I don't have much to give you 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.640 don't have to have much to give. I want everybody 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:15.560 to be a part of it. And our culmination Sunday 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.320 is on December the eighth, So between now and then, 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:20.520 I want you to pray and ask God how he 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:22.680 would have you to be a part, and if the 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:24.680 way that He would have you to be apart is 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:26.480 just to keep coming to church. I want you to 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:29.480 know we will always be here for you, whether you 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:31.160 give anything to this ministry or not. 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:39.959 You ought to clap about that, because they don't tell 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:40.720 you that. At the gym. 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:42.559 You can just come in and lift our weights, whether 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:44.080 you ever give anything or not. Do that. 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:45.759 When's the last time you. 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:47.480 Went to a restaurant and they said, whether you ever 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:50.240 give anything or not, we'll always have fresh bread for you. 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:53.960 But the Lord is like that, and I want to 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.240 say something else. There are thousands of people who are generous. 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:57.520 In this church. 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:01.960 And they give, and they and they sow, and they 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:03.720 believe and they're consistent. 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.720 And I thank God for each and every one of you. 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.120 I'm so grateful to. 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:15.560 Trust me when I step up to this pulpit. I'm 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:18.600 never stepping up here by myself. I mean, there's an 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:21.760 army of people in this church who love Jesus, who 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:25.000 love the Kingdom, and who are committed to His purpose. 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:27.799 And so we want to invite all of you this 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:30.520 is a time to begin giving if you've never done that, 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.079 or to give above and beyond. And I'm excited to 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:36.359 see what God will do again. That's December the eighth, 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:41.520 December the eighth, Sunday, December the eighth, and between now 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:42.359 and then you can give. 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:47.040 Okay, now, I want to share with you. 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:51.639 I got all the preliminary out of the way what 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:54.000 the Lord has given me to say to you today. 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.200 And I have tossed and turned over this message, not 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:00.720 because it's controversial, just because I want to be very 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:05.400 sure that I had from God what he wanted to 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:06.160 give to you today. 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:09.720 And last night when I went to bed, I thought 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:11.520 I had it, woke. 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:17.680 Up at three it wasn't it, And I had the right. 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:18.560 Passage of scripture. 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:20.520 But the Lord wanted me to give it to you 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:21.960 in a certain way, and I didn't know how that 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:25.200 was yet, but I heard from him now, I don't know. 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:26.919 A few weeks ago, if you were here when I 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:30.480 preached on God can use this too. Put that in 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.120 the chat real quick, say, God can use this too, 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.920 And then I preached a follow up message about how 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:39.000 God will work it in. 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:41.480 God will work it in. 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.160 And I was talking about how God is a master 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.800 of taking those things in our life that we maybe 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:50.720 didn't see coming or maybe we wouldn't have chosen to experience, 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:52.520 and we don't know what to do with it, but 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:57.880 God does, Like God is a master of improv because 0:03:57.880 --> 0:03:59.240 he's not making it up as he goes, so it 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.720 doesn't take him by so it's a surprise. 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:03.480 To you, but as strategic to him. 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.880 So we had God can use this to God will 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:08.920 work it in. And this is going to be a 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:11.440 little bit like in that same flow or in that 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:13.360 same rhythm. And I want you to look at your 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.400 neighbor and give them my title. Tell them God's got 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:21.560 the hard part. Yeah, yeah, yeah, God's got the hard part. 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:25.400 Father. I thank you for your word. Every time that. 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:30.000 We bow before your word, we get better. Every time 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:33.520 we bow before your word, we get better. Now, if 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.800 we just consider it like an opinion, not much changes. 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:39.760 But if we bow before it like you're a great king, 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.839 we receive so much more than we could ever give. 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:45.320 Thank you for bringing us here today. 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.479 Thank you for each person, whatever state that they're in, 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:51.640 whatever they're going through. I thank you that you've got 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:56.200 the hard part and we believe it by faith in Jesus' name. 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.960 Amen, you may be see to tell your neighbor God's God, 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:05.720 this God's got the hard part. Well, we're going to 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:07.400 study in Mark chapter four. 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:13.240 A little story really is a story sandwiched between two 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:14.120 other stories. 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:16.159 And it's a made up story. But it's not fiction. 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:19.440 You say it's a made up story, that's not fiction. 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:24.040 Well, when Jesus teaches it, it's truer than a true story. 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:26.920 He used these things when he talked, called parables. Everybody 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:31.520 say parable, and the parable wasn't so much so he 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:32.400 could keep it simple. 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.280 I've heard people say that, Well, Jesus told stories. 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:37.880 To keep it simple. How are you doing. You've been 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:39.719 coming so faithfully for ten years. 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:42.960 I am so thankful anytime I see somebody that I never. 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:44.839 Got to meet you right there but under the camera. 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.440 Yes, yes, yes, yes yes yes yes yes, yes, thank 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:49.400 you Okay, So it's amazing. 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:51.520 They say that Jesus would teach. 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:53.960 A lot of times just to say you know, I 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:55.520 know you can't get it on a deep level. 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:58.080 So let me just make it surface level. It's actually 0:05:58.120 --> 0:05:58.839 the opposite. 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:03.120 He taught using parables or stories, so that people who 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.200 were just on the outside trying to misuse his teachings 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:08.840 or think that they could just apply an external law 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:10.440 and be more religious and more pleasing to God, they 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.000 wouldn't get it. But he wanted you to have to 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:16.200 dig for it, so that you couldn't just take one 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.000 of his teachings and use it how you wanted to, 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:21.960 but you actually had to take the teaching and then 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:24.359 he has to explain it to you or you. 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:24.880 Don't get it. 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:28.720 So what I take from that is that I can't 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:32.240 just take the teachings of Jesus and be transformed. I 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:36.240 have to have a relationship with Jesus. And in the 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:38.040 relationship with Jesus not. 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.080 In a physical body. We don't have him here. 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:42.880 With us physically today, but through the Holy Spirit that 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:45.960 he sent, he can take a teaching and transform us 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:50.760 through it. So you got to wonder when people say 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:53.599 things like, boy, it would have been nice to be 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:56.560 a disciple where Jesus could have taught you face to 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:58.320 face and you could have been with him physically in 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.479 his presence. It really have been as nice as we 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:04.120 think it would be. When I read about the disciples 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.720 following Jesus. Honestly, to me, it feels like it would 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:12.320 have been really hard because of what I just told you. 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:17.600 He's always saying things that make no sense on the surface, 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:19.760 and then you have to be the one in the 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:25.440 class who asks, teacher, I don't mean to slow the 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:26.880 class down, but what did you mean by what you 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:30.320 just said? Now? One of those situations was in Mark 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.720 chapter four, and I just want to read. 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:33.680 You these four verses. 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:38.760 There are three parables or stories about seeds, and this one, 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:41.480 this one is right in the middle. So it's like 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:46.880 a parable sandwich that Jesus is giving the disciples, and 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:49.640 he's helping them to understand what the Kingdom of God 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:52.000 is like. And this is the second of three examples, 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:54.000 so it's the meat in the middle of the sandwich. 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:56.640 So it's a real good one. Look at Mark chapter four, 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:01.360 verse twenty six. He also said, this is what the 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:05.520 Kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:10.040 the ground night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:15.960 the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:16.160 All by itself. 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:20.360 The soil produces grain, first the stalk, then the head, 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:23.480 and then the full kernel in the head. 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.560 As soon as the grain is ripe. 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:31.680 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:36.840 sickle to it because the harvest has come. Tell your neighbor, 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:42.040 God has a schedule for this. The schedule that God 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:45.160 has for your life and for his kingdom is compared 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.600 here to a seed. So go back to the first 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.200 verse and Justin, if you can try it out for me. 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:51.480 We got a new thing we want to try to 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:52.240 teach you the Bible. 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:54.000 Just circle the word where it says. 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:59.120 He also said in verse twenty six, circle the word also, and. 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:00.920 Then where it says, this is what the Kingdom of 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:07.400 God is like. Circle the word like and good. Okay, 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:11.440 that's cool. Look at Justin in the back. Give it 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:12.760 up for Justin in the back. 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:17.600 That was good, Like Kirk Curve Street or something. Circle 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:21.160 and stuff on the screen in real time. I just 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:24.960 want to see that, because that looks terrible. How you circled. Also, 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.760 by the way, Justin, I guess he's trying to copy 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:29.040 his pastor's handwriting. 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:30.480 If you've ever seen me, circle stuff. 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:35.640 But we'll get the bugs worked out. He's trying to 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.160 explain something to them. The Kingdom of God. Now this 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:41.480 was an original term with Jesus. This wasn't like a 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:45.120 thing to them. It wasn't a thing. Like when I 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:46.960 said earlier in the announcements, I didn't plan it, but 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:48.920 I was talking about cassette tapes. 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:51.720 And some of you were like, is that a thing? 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:53.560 Is it still a thing? 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:56.679 And actually cassette tapes are making a comeback in the 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:58.800 vintage market, so maybe some of my stuff will be 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:01.920 worth money. But if you've never seen one, or you 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.280 didn't listen to one, or maybe you even have seen 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:05.920 one but you don't know how it works, you're like, 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:10.160 is that even a thing? And the Kingdom of God 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:13.800 was not even a thing. They knew the Kingdom of Israel, 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.800 but they didn't know the Kingdom of God. They knew 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.920 the Law of Moses, but they didn't know the Kingdom 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:24.840 of God. So Jesus is trying to take something that 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:29.160 they haven't seen and explain it to them, a concept 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:32.200 for which they have no context. And that's difficult to 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:38.360 understand a concept for which you have no context. It's difficult, 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:42.320 I guess I would say it's difficult to know what 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:47.040 something is like when you haven't lived it, when you 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:50.920 haven't lived it. And see, Jesus did not start existing 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.400 when he came to earth. The Bible says, in the 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:56.640 beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:01.760 and the Word was God. Now the Word of God 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:04.920 was made flesh and dwelt among us at an appointed 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:09.960 time in human history. But Jesus existed before he appeared 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:13.920 in an earthly body. So now you've got Jesus, who 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:18.839 has eternally existed from the beginning, speaking to people who 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:22.440 are moving through time, trying to explain to them what 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.600 it's like to wait for the promise of God, to 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:28.520 see the fulfillment of the promise of God, to know 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:31.760 that some parts of the promise of God will never fully. 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:32.840 Be realized on this earth. 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:35.160 Some of the things that are wrong with us on 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.360 this earth will only be righted in heaven. But here 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.920 on this earth, How do I get them to see 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:44.320 what it's like when they've never seen what I saw. 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.400 Jesus was with God in the beginning before there was sin, 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:52.880 so he knows what sinlessness is. Jesus was with God 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.320 in heaven where nothing is broken, so he knows what 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.840 healing is Jesus was with God in heaven eternally when 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:02.360 he he was speaking in the world was existing, so 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:04.880 that things which are made were not made out of 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:08.280 things which do appear. So in the Word of God 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:11.880 shows up in human flesh. He has to bridge the 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:15.400 two worlds together, the one you can see and the 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.520 one you can't see, and he is reduced to something 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:21.520 that most of us learned in the second grade. Jesus 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:27.600 Christ has to speak in similes because I can't show 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:29.520 you what it's really like because you never saw it. 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.640 So it's kind of like And he does three stories 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.360 and they're all about seeds. One he tells that seeds 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:41.680 fall in different places. Some get choked, some get gobbled, 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:44.600 some get scorched, and some grow. 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:46.760 Which one do you want to be? He seems to be. 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:50.440 Saying, because he's saying, I'm teaching, and my teaching is good, 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:54.240 but it's got to fall on good soil. And then 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:56.560 after the one I read, I told you it's a sandwich. 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:59.800 The other piece of bread on the sandwich is a 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:03.320 a small seed called a mustard seed that is the 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.959 smallest seed that you can see, but it becomes the 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:10.400 biggest tree where the bird's French. That kind of reminds 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.160 me of our church. You know, didn't start big, didn't 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:19.720 start big at all. Nothing that God does does I said, 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.880 nothing that God starts starts any other way than small, 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:27.680 whether that's your life in the womb, or whether that's 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.920 a dream in your heart, or whether that's freedom from addiction. 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:37.760 It will always start small, say it. It always starts small. Now, 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:41.920 but touch your neighbors, say it doesn't have to stay small. 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:46.120 That's up to you. That's up to you. And so 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:48.000 we see in this parable. I don't know if you 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:52.959 noticed a partnership. We've got a man who is sowing seed, 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:56.720 or the NIV says scattering. I like that word scatter 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.440 better because it gets the point across that you have 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:00.840 to do a lot of it for any of it 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:01.200 to work. 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:04.120 Some of y'all just give up the first time something 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:04.680 doesn't work. 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.400 The first girl that rejects you, you don't ask another 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:12.120 one for a date, And now you want to join 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:15.880 the monastery because the first one didn't work. A scattered that, 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:17.640 I mean, that's how a lot of us feel, right like, 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:19.200 I'm trying a bunch of stuff and I don't know 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:20.160 which one's gonna work. 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:21.960 Let me come to this side. 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:25.040 I'm trying a bunch of stuff. Come on, I really 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.200 don't know which one's gonna work. I got this going on. 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.280 Some of y'all got so many side hustles and back 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:33.880 hustles and forward hustles and top hustles. 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:35.560 And man, it gets kind of crazy. 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:39.200 But you have to feel for Jesus and the disciples 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:45.720 because in their unique situation, Jesus is trying to teach 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:49.600 them about something they've never seen, and they are trying 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:52.640 to receive something for which they have no frame of reference. 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:56.920 I don't know which one's harder. Jesus breaks it down 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:59.480 to a level they can understand. He does what any 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:03.880 great teacher will do, is that to introduce you to 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:10.480 something foreign. He speaks of something familiar. The Kingdom of 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:17.120 God is like a man scattering see. But they don't 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:19.680 come from where he comes from. They come from where 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:22.840 they come from. They have their background, He has his 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:25.880 You think he's going to come down to their level. 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:28.600 Well, in one sense, he does. He comes in flesh, 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.320 but he wants you to know I came down to 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:35.080 your level so I could raise you up to mine. 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:38.320 Oh God, I feel the Holy Spirit all over my 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:41.800 body right now, running up and down my neck to 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:44.680 let you know, you're not staying down here in this 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:46.880 You're not staying down here. 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:48.320 In what was handed to you. 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:51.840 You're not staying down here in your grandmother's addiction. You're 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.600 not staying down here in your daddy's way of thinking. 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:57.480 You're not staying down here in the last three years 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:01.440 that you wasted. You're not staying down here. He came 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:03.520 down so I could come up. 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:06.080 Shop. Come up. 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:10.800 You're not commanding anybody but yourself. Bless the Lord, oh 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.080 my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:23.120 holy name, come up and praise him. 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:27.600 And it's hard to explain what it's like if you've 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:32.280 never lived with it. So he's using okay, example, me 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:34.040 and Graham were having a friendly debate the other day. 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:35.040 It wasn't a heated argument. 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:39.600 He wasn't being disrespectful, but I was right. And after 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:41.400 about three and four times back and forth, I don't 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:44.680 remember what we were arguing about, but it was something factual. 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:45.560 It wasn't an opinion. 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:48.280 So we went where you always can go to get 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:54.880 the truth online, and after about two or three times 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.680 back and forth, I said, well, look it up, and 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.000 he looked it up. And I don't remember who was right. 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:03.080 I just remember the conversation we had after Okay, I 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:03.760 said look it up. 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:04.960 He looked it up, and we were done. 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.040 It was hard for me to explain to him what 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:12.399 it was like to have a time when. 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:12.879 You couldn't do that. 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:20.280 In many ways, it was so much better because when 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:23.320 they couldn't look it up, you could make it up. 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.119 And it was whoever that was the most confident about it. 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:32.359 That would win. 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:37.680 You can't ask Siri, you can't ask chat GPT, you 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:42.080 just asking, you know, just here's really what I told 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.760 him about it. I can't even explain it to you 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:50.199 because you have never experienced a time when you just 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.160 had to agree to disagree. 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:56.280 And somebody may go home and look. 0:17:56.119 --> 0:18:02.200 It up in the Encyclopedia Britannica. This is a throwback Sunday. 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:04.640 This is turned it into a real old fashioned church 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.679 service today. Were getting old fashioned today, we got that 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:10.679 Ald time religion today. 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:15.399 It's good for paulin Silas, it's good enough for me. 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:18.080 So listen to this. I said, I. 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:22.000 Can't tell you really what it was like because you 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:27.560 didn't live it. You didn't live it. Don't judge what 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:32.199 people are like if you haven't lived it. I'm just 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:35.240 talking about some things that I know about. For all 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:39.119 of you who talk about pastors real bad, come be one, 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:43.920 Come be one twenty eight days, Come be one for 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.879 twenty eight minutes and talk to me about it. 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:49.359 And I would say the same about you. I don't 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:53.120 preach down to you. I never preach down to you. 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:56.840 I never pretend like your life isn't harder than mine 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:58.000 because or. 0:18:57.920 --> 0:18:59.560 That you're not wholly like me. 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:03.199 Do that because I don't believe that, because my King doesn't. 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:07.800 He's relatable. 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.960 He sees me in my struggle, he sees me in 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:15.520 the sickness of the cycles of my sin. He doesn't 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:18.800 stand up there and talk down to me. He comes 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:22.240 down there and brings me up with him, and I 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:26.680 am seated in heavenly places with Jesus high five. 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:28.920 Your neighbors say God's got. 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:37.320 This all right. So so it's hard to know what 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:42.960 mental illness is like if you haven't lived it. It's 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:45.119 hard to know what abandonment issues are like if you 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:48.359 don't have them. Well, why do they keep pushing people away? 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:54.480 They learn to It was a survival instinct that was corrupted. 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:56.320 And prolonged. 0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:57.639 WO. 0:19:58.800 --> 0:19:59.920 That's why I thank God. 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:04.639 For Jesus teaching me about the seed, to let me know, 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:08.280 give me my camera, y'all. It doesn't have to stay 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:11.000 this way. 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:15.000 It doesn't have to stay this way. 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:17.680 And I know it's hard, and I don't know what 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:19.800 your heart is, and I don't think we should just 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:22.920 start comparing different degrees of hardness. I don't think that 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:27.000 gets us anywhere. So, whether it's hospital visits that you're making, 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:31.000 whether it's doctor's appointments that you're keeping, whether it's racism 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:34.840 that you're battling, whether it's classism that you're battling, whether 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:36.880 it's your own stupid. 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:38.800 Stories that you tell yourself that you're battling. 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:41.560 We all come to this place to know that God 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:54.879 is good, but life is hard, and Jesus is so high, 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:56.840 but he came down and did something so hard. 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:03.080 What a savior. I feel like you already got your 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:07.480 gas money's worth I do. I feel like you already got. 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.399 You just to know that he's not so high that 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:14.359 he doesn't see how hard it is for you, and 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.520 you ever wonder this is something I think sometimes? Is 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:19.560 it as hard for everybody else as it is for me, 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:26.520 because everybody else like dealing with the same level of 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:30.160 distraction where I pick up my phone to send a 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:34.360 text and I end up ordering a dress. 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:37.760 And I'm a man, what happened? 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:43.960 It's hard to stay focused right now. And he's high 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:46.000 and holy, but he's humble and meek and lowly. And 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:49.119 he sent me by to remind somebody today that he 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:52.720 knows how hard it is for you. He knows how 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:56.320 hard it is when nobody else sees because you smile. 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:00.880 And I love him because he sees beneath the surface. 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:03.040 This is why he gave us the parable of the Seed, 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:07.000 that this is what the Kingdom of God is like. 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:14.480 It's what happens underneath now in this parable, it's kind 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:16.760 of hard for us to get the full appreciation for it. 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:19.639 Number one, because not only do we not know what 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:25.439 cassette tapes are, or dial up modems, or when gas 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:28.440 was ninety eight cents a gallon. I was telling Graham 0:22:28.480 --> 0:22:30.399 about that the other day. He said, what was it like. 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:33.200 I was like, it was amazing. Gas was less than 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:37.520 a dollar. There was no caller id so it was 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:40.639 kind of like Russian rule have to pick up the phone. 0:22:41.040 --> 0:22:42.760 But he never lived this. I was trying to tell 0:22:42.800 --> 0:22:43.719 him what was like, you know. 0:22:46.000 --> 0:22:48.760 And when we pray to Jesus, he knows what it's 0:22:48.840 --> 0:22:52.840 like because he prayed. When we are insulted by people, 0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:56.680 he knows what it's like because he was insulted. When 0:22:56.680 --> 0:22:59.639 we need healing, he knows what it's like because he hurt. 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:03.440 When we need sustenance, he knows what it's like because 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:06.959 he hungered. When we're exhausted and weary, he knows what 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:08.840 it's like because he got tired. 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:11.639 God could not do that without a body. 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:17.000 He came in a body to get to you. He 0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:18.960 reigns in power to get you to him. 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:23.119 And this is the paradox of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 0:23:24.720 --> 0:23:25.480 And this is why I. 0:23:25.440 --> 0:23:27.000 Love to preach about him and why I love to 0:23:27.040 --> 0:23:31.320 talk about him. But it's hard for us to get 0:23:31.359 --> 0:23:37.040 with this because he is preaching about agriculture and we 0:23:37.080 --> 0:23:39.160 all have microwaves. 0:23:39.520 --> 0:23:40.960 Can I preach a little bit. 0:23:42.320 --> 0:23:45.000 About how to deal with a God who talks about 0:23:45.080 --> 0:23:49.359 farming principles when we just go in a bakery to 0:23:49.400 --> 0:23:49.919 get bread. 0:23:50.880 --> 0:23:54.160 So now imagine this, we're like generations removed. 0:23:54.119 --> 0:23:56.600 Jesus teaches his disciples, this is what the Kingdom of 0:23:56.640 --> 0:24:00.040 God is like, something they saw every day, something that 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:02.680 they saw every day. Oh yeah, I've seen seed scattered, 0:24:03.320 --> 0:24:08.320 I've seen wheat reaped. I've seen wheat milled, turned into flour. 0:24:08.760 --> 0:24:10.640 And then I've seen the flour mixed with the water 0:24:10.680 --> 0:24:13.119 and turned into bread. Like I've seen that before, but 0:24:13.359 --> 0:24:15.200 many of us have it. Let me ask you a question, 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:20.040 how many of you make your own bread? So all 0:24:20.080 --> 0:24:24.639 of you are in the advanced class, and the rest 0:24:24.680 --> 0:24:27.320 of us have to do remedial work to even get 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:28.280 to this level. 0:24:29.840 --> 0:24:33.719 Because we only understand fat fast fat. 0:24:34.359 --> 0:24:37.480 I was gonna say, we only understand fast, so how 0:24:37.480 --> 0:24:40.440 can we understand faith? But maybe I said it wrong 0:24:40.520 --> 0:24:46.720 on purpose. We want fat, we want it fat. I 0:24:46.800 --> 0:24:49.760 want to have faith and I want it fat. I 0:24:49.840 --> 0:24:52.200 want to have a job and I want it fat. 0:24:52.560 --> 0:24:54.399 I want to have a breakthrough. 0:24:54.160 --> 0:24:55.199 And I want it fat. 0:24:55.600 --> 0:24:58.840 I want to have six back fabs, but I want 0:24:58.880 --> 0:24:59.560 it fat. 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:00.640 I want it fath. 0:25:00.680 --> 0:25:04.280 Tell your neighbor, I want it fath. But we are 0:25:04.320 --> 0:25:10.840 not coming to a God who gives it fath and 0:25:11.080 --> 0:25:18.600 it takes faith. So I thought we would celebrate the 0:25:18.720 --> 0:25:20.120 man who Jesus talked about. 0:25:20.119 --> 0:25:21.600 He's not a real man. That's why I can givehim 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:24.720 a name. He says, like a man who's so succeed. 0:25:24.840 --> 0:25:27.199 So we don't know this man, but we applaud him 0:25:27.200 --> 0:25:31.960 and we celebrate him because he's sewing. He's sewing, he's sewing. 0:25:32.040 --> 0:25:37.280 I admire people who are so wers. I admire people 0:25:37.320 --> 0:25:39.240 who don't have to post everything they sew. 0:25:42.160 --> 0:25:46.679 I admire people. Look, you don't have to post your workout. 0:25:46.720 --> 0:25:48.600 If you do enough of him, we'll be able to tell. 0:25:51.080 --> 0:25:55.080 I admire people who show up and sew, and show 0:25:55.160 --> 0:25:57.440 up and sew, and show up and sew. 0:25:57.720 --> 0:26:01.000 Every e kids, volunteer, Just try and to cast. 0:26:00.720 --> 0:26:03.920 That demon out of your kid right now that has 0:26:03.960 --> 0:26:06.000 been driving you crazy all week long. 0:26:06.440 --> 0:26:09.640 I celebrate sowers. Let's celebrate every sower. 0:26:09.560 --> 0:26:14.440 Every giver, everybody who makes it possible, everybody who speaks 0:26:14.480 --> 0:26:23.479 words of encouragement, everybody who sows, everybody who sows. And then, 0:26:23.520 --> 0:26:27.680 of course there's the fact that he that he reaps too. 0:26:27.840 --> 0:26:29.080 Let's do it like a sandwich. 0:26:29.720 --> 0:26:34.440 In verse twenty six, it says a man scattered seed 0:26:34.800 --> 0:26:37.560 on the ground, Okay, And then in verse. 0:26:39.480 --> 0:26:42.360 Twenty nine, it says, as soon as the. 0:26:42.359 --> 0:26:45.320 Grain is right, he puts the sickle to it, because 0:26:45.320 --> 0:26:49.720 the harvest has come. So in both of these verses 0:26:49.760 --> 0:26:53.240 we see that this is someone who will work. 0:26:54.440 --> 0:26:55.480 He's willing to work. 0:26:55.560 --> 0:26:57.760 Yeah, that's what I meant to say. He's willing to 0:26:57.800 --> 0:27:02.000 work for it. And you gotta be for anything worth 0:27:02.040 --> 0:27:06.640 having in your life. You've got to work for anything 0:27:08.119 --> 0:27:10.560 that is worthwhile in your life. 0:27:11.680 --> 0:27:12.080 And you know. 0:27:13.600 --> 0:27:16.960 How remedial could I be that I read this text 0:27:17.000 --> 0:27:21.560 for so many years thinking that the star of this 0:27:21.720 --> 0:27:28.399 story was the sewer. I thought, well, maybe you know, 0:27:28.480 --> 0:27:31.840 this is a parable, it's kind of a metaphor maybe 0:27:31.920 --> 0:27:34.159 what Jesus means. I mean, I'm digging into it, I'm 0:27:34.200 --> 0:27:37.400 studying it. I'm like, maybe Jesus is always sowing into 0:27:37.440 --> 0:27:41.000 our life. And since he's talking about the end of 0:27:41.040 --> 0:27:43.879 the age here, he's maybe talking about the harvest that 0:27:43.920 --> 0:27:46.000 he's going to bring in. The harvest, and you know, 0:27:46.000 --> 0:27:47.840 those who are saved will be brought in. And I 0:27:47.880 --> 0:27:51.359 thought that we should talk this morning about the sewer 0:27:53.280 --> 0:27:55.840 upon further examination, And you know, I told you I 0:27:55.840 --> 0:27:58.200 went to bed and I thought it was one thing 0:27:58.280 --> 0:27:59.480 I had so much. 0:27:59.280 --> 0:28:02.240 Good stuff to say to you about the value of sewing. 0:28:03.200 --> 0:28:06.119 And I still will teach that and should teach that. 0:28:06.680 --> 0:28:09.520 And it's important to have discipline, and it's important to 0:28:09.600 --> 0:28:12.159 keep yourself accountable, and it's important for you to make 0:28:12.160 --> 0:28:14.119 an effort, and it's important for you to show up 0:28:14.119 --> 0:28:16.879 in those places. I'm not discounting any of that. 0:28:17.080 --> 0:28:22.400 But in this story, the sewer is not the star. 0:28:24.600 --> 0:28:28.560 And that challenges us because I think that we think 0:28:28.600 --> 0:28:29.200 God ought. 0:28:29.000 --> 0:28:31.560 To bless us because of how good we were. 0:28:33.560 --> 0:28:35.919 We think that people ought to appreciate us because of 0:28:35.960 --> 0:28:36.760 how much we gave. 0:28:38.280 --> 0:28:40.400 We think that people ought to promote. 0:28:40.040 --> 0:28:43.400 Us because of how talented we are, and all of 0:28:43.400 --> 0:28:46.000 that has a place, don't get me wrong, but it 0:28:46.120 --> 0:28:49.160 is not the center of this story. 0:28:49.320 --> 0:28:52.840 So what is you say? Jesus? 0:28:53.240 --> 0:28:58.920 Okay, okay, yeah, I mean he's the star of every story. 0:28:58.720 --> 0:29:02.120 But did you notice that there was not a mention 0:29:02.600 --> 0:29:06.800 of God in the story that Jesus told. There was 0:29:07.440 --> 0:29:12.120 a process by which a seed became grain, but there 0:29:12.160 --> 0:29:13.160 was no mention of God. 0:29:14.000 --> 0:29:16.200 And I actually want to use that to teach you something. 0:29:16.960 --> 0:29:20.040 Just because you're not aware of him doesn't mean he's 0:29:20.080 --> 0:29:25.960 not there, doesn't mean he's not there. Just because you 0:29:26.000 --> 0:29:28.600 can't see or prove, or sense or feel. 0:29:28.400 --> 0:29:31.520 Or deduce how God is working in this situation in 0:29:31.520 --> 0:29:34.840 your life doesn't mean he's not there. And this is 0:29:34.880 --> 0:29:35.360 a pearable. 0:29:35.400 --> 0:29:39.760 And see if Jesus is using the sower to represent God, well, 0:29:39.800 --> 0:29:41.360 that doesn't make sense, and I'll prove it to you. 0:29:41.360 --> 0:29:41.760 Watch this. 0:29:42.320 --> 0:29:45.360 It says in verse twenty seven about the sower night 0:29:45.440 --> 0:29:49.240 and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed 0:29:49.360 --> 0:29:53.960 sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. Justin 0:29:54.040 --> 0:29:57.480 circle he does not know how. Everybody say he does 0:29:57.520 --> 0:30:02.880 not know how will never find that sentence associated with God. 0:30:05.120 --> 0:30:08.200 So this cannot be that the sower represents God. 0:30:09.760 --> 0:30:12.240 It cannot be. As much as God has given us, 0:30:12.720 --> 0:30:14.080 this is not appearable about how. 0:30:14.160 --> 0:30:16.000 Hey, God has given you a lot of seeds, make 0:30:16.040 --> 0:30:18.560 sure that you developed them, because. 0:30:18.320 --> 0:30:20.680 It says he does not know how. 0:30:21.680 --> 0:30:25.000 So obviously, if he does not know how, we're not 0:30:25.080 --> 0:30:28.520 talking about God here. So I came to ask a 0:30:28.640 --> 0:30:31.000 question today, where is God in this? 0:30:33.080 --> 0:30:34.120 Where is God in this? 0:30:35.040 --> 0:30:39.360 Because I've been sowing, I've been weeping, but I'm not 0:30:39.440 --> 0:30:40.160 reaping yet. 0:30:41.320 --> 0:30:44.600 Where is God in this? You tell me he's here? 0:30:44.920 --> 0:30:46.120 But it's still hard. 0:30:46.480 --> 0:30:49.520 You'll tell me he's here, but I'm still I'm still 0:30:49.560 --> 0:30:52.440 not over the things that you say. He died to 0:30:52.560 --> 0:30:57.520 save me from. Where is God in this? And Jesus said, 0:30:57.560 --> 0:31:00.960 this is what the kingdom of God? God is like 0:31:01.320 --> 0:31:05.200 a man scatters seed. This can't be God on the 0:31:05.240 --> 0:31:08.680 ground night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up. 0:31:09.320 --> 0:31:11.120 Evidence number two that it can't be God. 0:31:11.200 --> 0:31:12.080 He sleeps. 0:31:13.520 --> 0:31:17.400 My Bible says God never sleeps nor slumbers, So this 0:31:17.440 --> 0:31:20.760 can't be God we're talking about in this passage, because 0:31:20.840 --> 0:31:23.520 God is watching over you even as you sleep. 0:31:24.080 --> 0:31:27.400 God works the night shift. God will sit by your 0:31:27.440 --> 0:31:30.360 bed and sit there with you in the most hard 0:31:30.440 --> 0:31:31.400 emotional place. 0:31:31.960 --> 0:31:34.480 So it can't be God that is referred to here 0:31:34.520 --> 0:31:39.280 as the sower. And then I realized that the star 0:31:39.400 --> 0:31:42.280 of the text is not the sickle that reaps the harvest, 0:31:43.400 --> 0:31:46.880 nor the sower that sows the seed. But watch this 0:31:47.360 --> 0:31:51.600 in verse twenty eight, And this is so anointed that 0:31:51.680 --> 0:31:54.280 a chain is going to fall off of somebody's life 0:31:54.480 --> 0:31:58.520 when I say it verse twenty eight. All by itself, 0:31:59.000 --> 0:32:05.400 the seed produces grain. Let's do it all by itself. 0:32:06.360 --> 0:32:11.040 The soil produces grain. Wait, do I say, See, that's 0:32:11.080 --> 0:32:11.680 what we think. 0:32:13.600 --> 0:32:17.640 That's what we think. We think, I gotta do this 0:32:18.200 --> 0:32:19.640 a I gotta make it happen. 0:32:19.960 --> 0:32:22.920 And now we're nervous, and now we got no lining 0:32:22.960 --> 0:32:25.600 in our stomach. And now we got no friends because 0:32:25.640 --> 0:32:27.960 they don't want to hear us complain anymore. And now 0:32:28.000 --> 0:32:29.920 we got nobody else to call because they don't have 0:32:29.960 --> 0:32:32.960 our answers anyway, because we think we've got to do 0:32:33.000 --> 0:32:36.640 this by ourselves. And so there are situations in your 0:32:36.640 --> 0:32:39.240 life right now where you're thinking about how hard it 0:32:39.360 --> 0:32:41.480 is going to be, how hard it is going to 0:32:41.480 --> 0:32:44.000 be in this next season, in this next stage, how 0:32:44.040 --> 0:32:46.240 hard it is going to be. Give me my close camera, y'all. 0:32:46.240 --> 0:32:47.440 I want to preach to the people, give me my 0:32:47.480 --> 0:32:50.120 close camera. How hard it is going to be for 0:32:50.160 --> 0:32:52.760 me to make it through this period that's coming up. 0:32:52.920 --> 0:32:54.600 How hard it is going to be for me to 0:32:54.640 --> 0:32:55.880 go into this meeting next week. 0:32:56.080 --> 0:32:57.880 How hard it is going to be for me to 0:32:57.920 --> 0:32:59.800 deal with my kids when if I can't deal with 0:32:59.840 --> 0:33:01.160 them now, how am I going to deal with them 0:33:01.160 --> 0:33:03.240 in three years? How hard it is going to be 0:33:03.240 --> 0:33:05.000 for me to go through another year like this with 0:33:05.080 --> 0:33:10.600 these unanswered prayers, And after you get done telling him 0:33:10.600 --> 0:33:16.360 how hard it is going to be, you realize that 0:33:16.440 --> 0:33:20.680 you forgot that he promised to do. 0:33:20.640 --> 0:33:21.280 The hard part. 0:33:25.080 --> 0:33:31.560 Because everybody in the text has a job. The sower 0:33:31.640 --> 0:33:34.920 has a job to sew, you should sew. The reaper 0:33:34.960 --> 0:33:37.880 has a job to reap, and you should reap. Both 0:33:37.920 --> 0:33:40.840 of those things are important. But did you notice in 0:33:40.920 --> 0:33:44.920 verse twenty eight that the most important thing that happened 0:33:44.960 --> 0:33:50.560 in the passage happened whether the man was asleep or awake. 0:33:52.160 --> 0:33:59.440 It happened regardless, Because all by itself, the soil produces grain. 0:34:00.680 --> 0:34:02.520 I could preach thirteen weeks on. 0:34:02.800 --> 0:34:08.560 All by itself, the soil produces grain. Yes, it needs 0:34:08.600 --> 0:34:11.960 a seed to pull from, but it is not dependent 0:34:12.080 --> 0:34:15.320 on the seed in any other way. I am trying 0:34:15.360 --> 0:34:18.359 to say that while your part has a part, it's 0:34:18.400 --> 0:34:19.200 not the main part. 0:34:21.239 --> 0:34:23.239 Stop bringing that main character. 0:34:23.080 --> 0:34:27.200 Energy to your prayer life acting like God's gonna lead 0:34:27.280 --> 0:34:29.839 you to speed run all these levels without him. 0:34:30.160 --> 0:34:31.319 He's not gonna do that. 0:34:31.760 --> 0:34:34.560 When you get to the hard part, He's going to 0:34:34.719 --> 0:34:38.040 do the hard part. And even if your part feels 0:34:38.080 --> 0:34:39.880 hard right now and harder than you can bear, I 0:34:39.920 --> 0:34:42.080 want you to think about all the hard stuff God 0:34:42.280 --> 0:34:43.520 is already. 0:34:43.120 --> 0:34:47.840 Doing right now that you're not even thinking about. This 0:34:47.960 --> 0:34:48.440 helps me. 0:34:50.040 --> 0:34:53.080 To realize that while I'm preaching, which is hard. It's 0:34:53.120 --> 0:35:00.320 hard that my my heart is beating. Is said that 0:35:00.360 --> 0:35:03.680 it beats about one hundred thousand times a day. 0:35:04.320 --> 0:35:04.920 I looked it up. 0:35:04.960 --> 0:35:08.840 Grahan used to couldn't do that, so you could just 0:35:08.840 --> 0:35:13.520 make up a number, and it's. 0:35:13.400 --> 0:35:17.719 Sending all that blood all through my body. They said, 0:35:17.760 --> 0:35:19.200 I don't know. I just looked this up. I don't 0:35:19.200 --> 0:35:19.680 know if it's true. 0:35:19.680 --> 0:35:23.600 It is on the internet that it said that that 0:35:23.680 --> 0:35:30.719 there is enough in my body right now that of 0:35:30.760 --> 0:35:33.879 the twenty two thousand breadths I will take today, check 0:35:33.920 --> 0:35:37.800 this out, that will basically process the oxygen. 0:35:37.800 --> 0:35:38.560 It was crazy you. 0:35:38.520 --> 0:35:40.839 Came up talking about oxygen because I meant to mention 0:35:40.960 --> 0:35:45.000 it and that will expel the carbon dioxide. That there 0:35:45.000 --> 0:35:48.480 are three hundred million tiny little sacks where all that 0:35:48.520 --> 0:35:53.080 happens inside of me. So when you say it is 0:35:53.120 --> 0:35:57.760 God's breath in my lungs, your body has three hundred 0:35:57.800 --> 0:35:59.080 million tiny little sacks. 0:36:00.520 --> 0:36:01.719 The good stuff. 0:36:01.440 --> 0:36:03.919 Is getting taken in, the bad stuff is getting taken out, 0:36:05.000 --> 0:36:05.600 and God. 0:36:05.400 --> 0:36:08.000 Is doing all that. And I never heard a worship 0:36:08.000 --> 0:36:08.640 song about it. 0:36:09.960 --> 0:36:12.560 I heard about the lungs filling our lungs with prace, 0:36:12.760 --> 0:36:14.960 but I never heard about the tiny little sacks where 0:36:14.960 --> 0:36:18.680 all the carbon dioxide gets expelled and the oxygen gets 0:36:18.680 --> 0:36:20.520 processed and gets sent back out to the bloodstream. 0:36:20.640 --> 0:36:22.759 I never read about any of that. Because God is 0:36:22.760 --> 0:36:24.120 so good, we take him for granted. 0:36:26.320 --> 0:36:28.640 He's so good, we take him for granted, and then 0:36:28.680 --> 0:36:30.400 we run up on something hard and we're like, Oh, 0:36:30.440 --> 0:36:32.520 that's gonna be hard, like the rest of it isn't 0:36:33.920 --> 0:36:36.640 The possibilities that you would be born in this time 0:36:36.719 --> 0:36:39.880 are so infintestibly what's the word infant? 0:36:39.920 --> 0:36:42.680 They're so small, they're so tiny. 0:36:43.440 --> 0:36:45.879 They're so tiny that the fact that you would even 0:36:46.000 --> 0:36:49.319 be here today, with the opportunities that you have, with 0:36:49.440 --> 0:36:51.960 the life that you have, with the strength that you have, 0:36:52.360 --> 0:36:58.120 God has already done that. So what's the next hard 0:36:58.200 --> 0:37:01.480 thing you have in front of you? If God has 0:37:01.520 --> 0:37:05.240 already done a miracle in three hundred million tiny little 0:37:05.280 --> 0:37:08.880 sacks that I didn't see in my body yesterday that 0:37:08.920 --> 0:37:11.359 I didn't even thank him for yesterday, that I didn't 0:37:11.360 --> 0:37:14.120 even know what was happening yesterday, That I'm not even 0:37:14.160 --> 0:37:18.239 sure I'm explaining right today. If God did that for me, 0:37:18.560 --> 0:37:22.440 then bring on this one too. Because God made me 0:37:22.520 --> 0:37:27.960 a promise. He's got the hard part. Let me preach 0:37:28.000 --> 0:37:31.600 this from my soul. We get so anxious when the 0:37:31.640 --> 0:37:35.320 devil roars. We get so anxious playing out our lives, 0:37:35.719 --> 0:37:39.640 and yet we, like the disciples, forget the fact. 0:37:39.360 --> 0:37:42.640 That we have the bread with us. 0:37:43.920 --> 0:37:45.560 Can I teach this like I want to teach it. 0:37:46.800 --> 0:37:49.160 I wish I'll had three hours today. I would tell 0:37:49.200 --> 0:37:51.719 you about how in Mark chapter eight, the disciples were 0:37:51.960 --> 0:37:55.520 heading to an assignment, a ministry assignment, and they were 0:37:55.920 --> 0:37:59.480 stressed out because look at Mark eight fourteen, they forgot 0:37:59.520 --> 0:38:04.560 to bring bread. Jesus had already multiplied to feed five 0:38:04.600 --> 0:38:07.280 thousand men, women, and children. But they were still stressed 0:38:08.000 --> 0:38:11.040 because no matter how many hard situations God brought them through, 0:38:12.680 --> 0:38:17.759 they still forgot what they had in Him, and they 0:38:17.800 --> 0:38:20.120 got focused on the next hard thing. 0:38:20.719 --> 0:38:21.760 I gotta get this across. 0:38:21.920 --> 0:38:25.640 You are focused on the hard thing, the hard thing, 0:38:27.520 --> 0:38:29.600 and when you focus too much on the hard thing, 0:38:29.680 --> 0:38:36.560 you forget your help. The irony of this. In verse fourteen, 0:38:36.880 --> 0:38:41.000 the disciples had forgotten to bring bread except one loaf. 0:38:41.040 --> 0:38:43.760 They had with them in the boat. Next verse, be careful, 0:38:43.840 --> 0:38:47.160 Jesus warned them, watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees. 0:38:46.680 --> 0:38:47.400 And that of Herod. 0:38:47.520 --> 0:38:50.560 Next they discussed this with one another and said, it's 0:38:50.560 --> 0:38:51.960 because we have no bread. 0:38:52.360 --> 0:38:55.719 Yeah, that's gonna limit him. 0:38:55.880 --> 0:39:00.080 Pop quiz, who is the bread of life? Who's in 0:39:00.120 --> 0:39:03.320 the boat? So what do you have to worry about 0:39:03.440 --> 0:39:07.680 if you forgot bread? I'm trying to say that your 0:39:07.920 --> 0:39:10.959 sewing is not the most significant thing when it comes 0:39:10.960 --> 0:39:14.160 to the sovereignty of God. I know you didn't get 0:39:14.160 --> 0:39:16.799 some things right. I didn't either. I know there's some 0:39:16.920 --> 0:39:18.120 things you don't understand. 0:39:18.200 --> 0:39:20.600 I don't either. I know it's hard to be you, 0:39:20.760 --> 0:39:23.160 me too. But the most important thing in the boat 0:39:23.200 --> 0:39:24.640 is not what they forgot, it's. 0:39:24.520 --> 0:39:33.279 Who they had. How cool Jesus is aware of their discussion. 0:39:33.520 --> 0:39:35.800 He asked them, wait time I have having no bread 0:39:36.160 --> 0:39:36.759 when you have me? 0:39:38.200 --> 0:39:39.480 You still not see or understand? 0:39:40.080 --> 0:39:41.080 Are your hearts hardened? 0:39:41.680 --> 0:39:43.319 You have eyes but fail to see, and ears but 0:39:43.320 --> 0:39:43.799 fail to hear? 0:39:43.840 --> 0:39:46.440 And don't you remember when I broke the five loaves 0:39:46.440 --> 0:39:47.560 for the five thousand? 0:39:47.600 --> 0:39:49.400 How many basketballs and pieces did you pick up? 0:39:49.400 --> 0:39:52.120 Twelve? They replied, and when I broke the seven loves 0:39:52.120 --> 0:39:52.960 for the four thousand, Now. 0:39:52.960 --> 0:39:55.680 Jesus doing a math lesson how many basketballs and pieces 0:39:55.680 --> 0:39:56.319 did you pick up? 0:39:56.960 --> 0:39:59.960 They answered seven. He said to them, do you still 0:40:00.160 --> 0:40:01.400 this is what he wants to say to you to day? 0:40:01.600 --> 0:40:02.840 Do you still not trust me? 0:40:04.920 --> 0:40:05.880 Do you still not know? 0:40:08.040 --> 0:40:10.680 And see, we don't because. 0:40:10.480 --> 0:40:14.400 That thing about the soil that he shared, that's scary. 0:40:14.520 --> 0:40:17.160 It's scary for a seed to be in the soil. 0:40:17.719 --> 0:40:20.400 It is scary to be in the middle of your life. 0:40:20.600 --> 0:40:22.960 It is scary to go through a messy divorce. 0:40:23.320 --> 0:40:26.120 It is scary when they tell you we're not renewing 0:40:26.160 --> 0:40:26.800 your position. 0:40:27.160 --> 0:40:29.880 It is scary when you don't have your next step plant. 0:40:29.920 --> 0:40:31.640 It's scary in the soil. 0:40:33.120 --> 0:40:35.920 But notice that the place in the passage where the 0:40:35.960 --> 0:40:39.600 most happened was the place that was the least visible. 0:40:42.280 --> 0:40:46.800 If the seed stays in the sower's hand, it will 0:40:46.880 --> 0:40:51.759 always be a seed. But if it goes down in 0:40:51.800 --> 0:40:58.640 the ground, it goes down seed, but it comes up grain. 0:41:00.200 --> 0:41:00.399 Five. 0:41:00.480 --> 0:41:04.000 Your neighbors say, I'm coming out different. I'm coming out different. 0:41:04.680 --> 0:41:08.240 I'm coming out different. That's how you'll know that God has. 0:41:08.160 --> 0:41:10.400 Met with me. Because I won't look. 0:41:10.280 --> 0:41:13.240 Like I went in when I come out, I won't 0:41:13.280 --> 0:41:16.120 be like I was when I come forth. This is 0:41:16.120 --> 0:41:20.120 what the Kingdom of God is like a man scattered seed, 0:41:21.800 --> 0:41:26.000 and then the seed is on a trajectory to become bread. 0:41:26.280 --> 0:41:27.359 Which is sustenance. 0:41:28.719 --> 0:41:33.080 But in order for the seed to be bred, first 0:41:33.200 --> 0:41:38.160 it must be buried. I want to talk to you 0:41:38.200 --> 0:41:46.440 for one moment about buried bread. Buried bread, buried bread. 0:41:46.440 --> 0:41:49.960 You say I didn't read any bread in Mark chapter four, 0:41:50.040 --> 0:41:54.520 Yes you did. Jesus said to them he is the bread, 0:41:56.040 --> 0:41:59.360 and he's talking to them about seed, but he is bread. 0:42:01.960 --> 0:42:02.960 He's giving them. 0:42:02.880 --> 0:42:07.239 A picture of what is possible, and he's painting it 0:42:07.280 --> 0:42:11.120 on a level that they can comprehend, and they get it. 0:42:11.640 --> 0:42:16.960 The seed can't stay in your hand and become a harvest. 0:42:19.440 --> 0:42:26.160 I'm trying to tell you, let go, let go, let 0:42:26.200 --> 0:42:26.560 go of. 0:42:26.520 --> 0:42:30.800 Your need to control people and just start adjusting your access, 0:42:35.000 --> 0:42:37.560 Let go of your need to have data make sense, 0:42:38.800 --> 0:42:41.680 and start checking in with God more than you check 0:42:41.719 --> 0:42:46.799 in with grass. I'm saying, let go. Come on, your 0:42:46.840 --> 0:42:49.040 neighbor needs a little friendly encouragement. Tell him you better 0:42:49.080 --> 0:42:52.400 let it go, because if you don't let it go. 0:42:53.000 --> 0:42:55.520 It will always be this. But if it gets in 0:42:55.600 --> 0:42:58.480 the soil, let's go back to our key verse, this 0:42:58.520 --> 0:43:00.440 is gonna be my new life verse y'all until next 0:43:00.440 --> 0:43:02.440 week Mark chapter four, verse twenty. 0:43:02.239 --> 0:43:06.360 Eight, all by itself the soil. 0:43:07.800 --> 0:43:13.080 So the soil represents God. So the soil represents in Him. 0:43:13.239 --> 0:43:17.480 I live and move and have my being. So the 0:43:17.520 --> 0:43:20.839 soil lets me know that when the seed went out 0:43:20.840 --> 0:43:23.360 of sight, it didn't go away. 0:43:23.960 --> 0:43:26.320 It went somewhere to change. 0:43:27.120 --> 0:43:30.520 Everything in your life has to go through the soil 0:43:30.600 --> 0:43:34.480 to become what it's meant to be. If it never 0:43:34.600 --> 0:43:39.320 gets planted, it never becomes grain. If it never becomes grain, 0:43:39.680 --> 0:43:42.880 it will never be bread. If it never is bread, 0:43:42.960 --> 0:43:45.200 it will never be what it was meant to be. 0:43:46.280 --> 0:43:48.560 So before it can be bred, I don't know who 0:43:48.600 --> 0:43:50.160 this is. Far im trying to find you. 0:43:50.680 --> 0:43:53.880 Before it can be bred, it has to be buried. 0:43:55.440 --> 0:43:58.640 You never heard about buried bread because you just get 0:43:58.640 --> 0:44:01.759 it from the bakery. You just look at someone's life 0:44:01.760 --> 0:44:06.479 and say they're so patient, they're so wonderful, they're so amazing. Well, 0:44:06.520 --> 0:44:09.160 before they became bred, let me tell you what they were. 0:44:09.440 --> 0:44:10.320 They were buried. 0:44:12.160 --> 0:44:17.080 They went through something that pulled out, something that changed, 0:44:17.120 --> 0:44:19.480 something that broke through something. 0:44:19.960 --> 0:44:22.600 I'm telling you God has got. 0:44:22.440 --> 0:44:25.480 You in this place in your life because he's pulling 0:44:25.520 --> 0:44:28.560 out something to break through, something. 0:44:28.640 --> 0:44:32.560 To break forth. Bread. It's gonna be bred. 0:44:33.200 --> 0:44:36.640 It's not gonna be fat, but it's gonna be bred. 0:44:37.320 --> 0:44:40.520 It's gonna be bread for your children. It's gonna be 0:44:40.600 --> 0:44:45.799 bread for your community. Touch seven people say it's gonna. 0:44:45.480 --> 0:44:48.879 Be bread is buried right now, but. 0:44:48.880 --> 0:44:52.760 It's gonna be bread. Uncomfortable right now, but it's gonna 0:44:52.840 --> 0:44:55.320 be bred. It doesn't look good right now. 0:44:55.520 --> 0:44:56.920 I can't even see it you're feeling. 0:44:57.120 --> 0:45:00.640 I can't even see anything opening. 0:45:00.600 --> 0:45:01.520 In my life. 0:45:01.719 --> 0:45:05.200 This is not making a difference for everyone who feels disappointed. 0:45:05.440 --> 0:45:08.080 I want you to know that it is not a death. 0:45:08.160 --> 0:45:16.279 It is a stage of development. Just like now, I'm 0:45:16.320 --> 0:45:18.720 not a farmer. I'm not a farmer. 0:45:18.960 --> 0:45:21.640 But when he said all by itself, the grain produces, 0:45:22.719 --> 0:45:25.360 and I thought about how Wow, as much as the 0:45:25.400 --> 0:45:28.080 sower did, he could go to sleep and the soil 0:45:28.160 --> 0:45:32.719 kept working. That's like God in my life that while 0:45:32.760 --> 0:45:35.880 I'm not even conscious of it, he's working well. I 0:45:35.920 --> 0:45:38.839 can't even explain it. He's working it matter of fact, 0:45:38.880 --> 0:45:40.359 go back to verse twenty seven real quick. 0:45:40.360 --> 0:45:41.680 Remind him what the passage said. 0:45:41.920 --> 0:45:46.200 Jesus said, though he does not know how verse twenty seven. 0:45:46.360 --> 0:45:49.400 Though he does not know how. Now go ahead and 0:45:49.400 --> 0:45:51.120 get it out of your system. It'll feel good safe. 0:45:51.160 --> 0:45:53.840 I don't know how. 0:45:54.600 --> 0:45:58.680 Certain processes I don't have to understand because God is sovereign. 0:46:00.600 --> 0:46:01.480 And I thought about d V. 0:46:01.680 --> 0:46:04.880 When we record an album at the church, and we 0:46:05.000 --> 0:46:07.960 sing the songs, you know, we write the songs, we 0:46:08.040 --> 0:46:11.840 sing the songs, we record the songs, and then people 0:46:11.880 --> 0:46:14.200 start asking me, pastor Win, are those songs coming out that. 0:46:14.160 --> 0:46:15.560 We recorded Friday? 0:46:16.120 --> 0:46:17.920 Because they think we can record it Friday and it 0:46:17.960 --> 0:46:21.360 can be on your phone Saturday because they want that 0:46:21.440 --> 0:46:28.120 fath worship. And I'm having fun today? Is it all 0:46:28.200 --> 0:46:30.000 right if I have a good time in the church 0:46:30.400 --> 0:46:33.279 where God is building his kingdom and the gates of 0:46:33.320 --> 0:46:34.880 hell will not prevail. 0:46:37.280 --> 0:46:38.720 Too much tension in the world. 0:46:38.920 --> 0:46:41.879 When we come together, we ought to celebrate the one 0:46:41.920 --> 0:46:42.640 thing we've. 0:46:42.400 --> 0:46:43.240 Got in common. 0:46:43.680 --> 0:46:47.360 We got common grown, we got common grown. 0:46:49.960 --> 0:46:54.160 So where's J Mix? Jy Mix? He's told me be 0:46:54.200 --> 0:46:55.960 here all right, so J Mix? 0:46:56.360 --> 0:46:58.480 How many of you have ever heard Jay mix sing 0:46:58.520 --> 0:46:59.279 a worship song. 0:47:01.040 --> 0:47:04.319 No you haven't, you're lying in chart. I'm a fact 0:47:04.400 --> 0:47:08.799 check you. But before it gets to your. 0:47:08.719 --> 0:47:10.520 Phone, this is so annoyed what I'm about to say 0:47:10.520 --> 0:47:14.400 about him. Before it gets to your phone, it shows 0:47:14.480 --> 0:47:16.240 up in his computer as files. 0:47:17.520 --> 0:47:18.920 When we finished recording a. 0:47:19.000 --> 0:47:27.080 Song the Lord, Oh My Soul, and it's so fun friend. 0:47:29.480 --> 0:47:32.239 A Lord, oh My night. 0:47:32.840 --> 0:47:36.040 And by the time y'all finish jumping, he's already sorting 0:47:36.040 --> 0:47:38.080 the files because on his computer will go over one 0:47:38.120 --> 0:47:42.880 hundred pro Tools tracks. And now he's got to take 0:47:42.880 --> 0:47:46.040 the hundred tracks of y'all singing and clapping and them 0:47:46.040 --> 0:47:49.440 singing and clapping and all of that. And in a 0:47:49.480 --> 0:47:54.560 place that nobody sees called a studio. Jim mikes someonea 0:47:54.640 --> 0:47:56.440 use you to represent God in this illustration, But don't 0:47:56.440 --> 0:47:59.719 get a big head. It's a good illustration to be 0:47:59.760 --> 0:48:02.960 a part in a place that nobody sees. 0:48:04.080 --> 0:48:05.920 He has to do stuff to those. 0:48:05.719 --> 0:48:09.920 Songs that you've never even heard of, so that by 0:48:09.960 --> 0:48:13.439 the time it gets to your ears, you feel that thing. 0:48:14.680 --> 0:48:16.960 I mean, he's got to go through and you don't 0:48:16.960 --> 0:48:19.280 even know this is a thing. Do you tell your neighbor? 0:48:19.400 --> 0:48:19.960 Is that a thing. 0:48:21.400 --> 0:48:25.920 He has to take the vocals and deep breath them. 0:48:26.120 --> 0:48:31.520 Not deep breath, not like yoga deep breath. That means 0:48:31.680 --> 0:48:34.279 when people are all on the mic, you don't want 0:48:34.280 --> 0:48:35.400 to hear that on your air pods. 0:48:35.400 --> 0:48:40.120 That's creepy. Let everything that has breath but not that loud. 0:48:40.320 --> 0:48:43.440 So he has the deep bread he has to de 0:48:43.600 --> 0:48:44.000 breath it. 0:48:44.800 --> 0:48:46.799 Oh, and then don't even get me started on how 0:48:46.800 --> 0:48:48.960 they have to take the clicks and remove them from 0:48:48.960 --> 0:48:49.719 the mics from when. 0:48:49.680 --> 0:48:51.240 Y'all try to clap but you don't have any. 0:48:51.160 --> 0:48:55.960 Rhythm because we're not sending our churches music out in 0:48:56.000 --> 0:48:57.600 the world with no rhythm. 0:48:58.200 --> 0:49:00.400 I Am not going to be represented by that. 0:49:01.840 --> 0:49:06.160 So they will literally have to move in and remove 0:49:07.160 --> 0:49:11.919 some of the collapse and retrack some of the instruments 0:49:13.239 --> 0:49:15.200 because you know, we change that part and they forgot, 0:49:15.239 --> 0:49:16.440 And then we've got to get this in there and 0:49:16.440 --> 0:49:17.560 we'll witness sound good at that. 0:49:18.600 --> 0:49:23.280 All of that is happening in the mix with J Mix. 0:49:24.960 --> 0:49:26.439 What a prophetic name to be. 0:49:26.360 --> 0:49:29.640 Called J mix, And that's exactly what it is. 0:49:30.520 --> 0:49:31.200 It's a mix. 0:49:32.200 --> 0:49:34.040 It's a mix by the time he sends it off 0:49:34.080 --> 0:49:36.239 to be mixed, by the time it has sent off 0:49:36.280 --> 0:49:40.120 to be mastered. They have spent months. That's why it 0:49:40.160 --> 0:49:42.680 takes so long. Hey, drop that this Sunday. We can't 0:49:42.719 --> 0:49:44.719 drop it till we do what we gotta do with it. 0:49:46.000 --> 0:49:48.080 And if we do what we've got to do with 0:49:48.120 --> 0:49:52.160 it in development, if we do what we've got to 0:49:52.200 --> 0:49:55.600 do with it in the dark, when it is released 0:49:55.640 --> 0:49:59.160 into the world, it will be a sound that will 0:49:59.239 --> 0:50:04.960 resound and it will have maximal impact. And that is 0:50:05.040 --> 0:50:09.920 what this parable is saying to me, is that the 0:50:09.960 --> 0:50:11.719 soil is where God produces you. 0:50:13.520 --> 0:50:14.920 The soil is where. 0:50:14.800 --> 0:50:20.359 God takes the colapse out because sometimes you don't need 0:50:20.400 --> 0:50:24.640 to move to people's applause as your rhythm. That the 0:50:24.640 --> 0:50:28.640 soil is the studio where God has to debreath some things. 0:50:29.920 --> 0:50:32.839 God has to get you to start start panting after 0:50:32.880 --> 0:50:35.080 His presence in the soil. 0:50:35.920 --> 0:50:39.440 It's the place where God does the hard part. 0:50:40.719 --> 0:50:44.520 And so I come with the prophetic declaration today that 0:50:44.640 --> 0:50:46.960 unless you refuse to be planted, you are not the 0:50:46.960 --> 0:50:47.920 star of this story. 0:50:49.320 --> 0:50:56.680 God will do the hard part. Whatever it is that 0:50:56.840 --> 0:50:58.520 custody thing you got going. 0:50:58.560 --> 0:51:00.839 With your three year old and you don't know how 0:51:00.880 --> 0:51:02.960 are they gonna know me as their dad, if I 0:51:03.000 --> 0:51:04.560 don't have custody of them. 0:51:04.719 --> 0:51:05.919 God will do the hard part. 0:51:06.160 --> 0:51:09.120 He will make sure if you stay planted, that you 0:51:09.239 --> 0:51:12.120 have the opportunities that you need to raise that child. 0:51:12.400 --> 0:51:15.480 And if there's somebody else He needs to send that 0:51:15.600 --> 0:51:16.960 has the gift that they need. 0:51:17.239 --> 0:51:18.919 God will do the hard part. 0:51:20.920 --> 0:51:26.040 But it is scary in the soil, because this is 0:51:26.080 --> 0:51:27.600 the part you can't control. 0:51:27.960 --> 0:51:30.120 This is the part you can't micromanage. 0:51:30.480 --> 0:51:32.759 This is the part where you are so tempted to 0:51:32.800 --> 0:51:35.759 put your death grip on the seed and try to 0:51:35.800 --> 0:51:38.719 tell it what to be. 0:51:38.719 --> 0:51:43.520 Before it can become bred, it has to be buried. 0:51:45.360 --> 0:51:49.399 Every seed you sow has to be surrendered, which means 0:51:49.400 --> 0:51:51.880 that it can only be what's inside of it. Stop 0:51:52.200 --> 0:52:03.160 trying to produce somebody else's purpose. I want to liberate you. 0:52:03.160 --> 0:52:08.440 You don't have to fulfill anybody else's calling. Notice the 0:52:08.480 --> 0:52:12.360 Passage did not start with a seed of grain and 0:52:12.440 --> 0:52:14.160 turn into a vineyard of grapes. 0:52:14.840 --> 0:52:15.680 It's not supposed to. 0:52:17.040 --> 0:52:19.000 And you don't have to produce anything God didn't put 0:52:19.040 --> 0:52:25.040 in you. Get off TikTok, Get off Instagram. You don't 0:52:25.040 --> 0:52:27.840 have to look twenty three when you're forty seven. You 0:52:27.880 --> 0:52:31.400 don't have to produce anything that's not Maybe I'm preaching 0:52:31.400 --> 0:52:32.400 to myself right now. 0:52:32.840 --> 0:52:33.920 These gray hair has got me. 0:52:33.880 --> 0:52:37.239 Self conscious these days hot by somebody say whatever's in 0:52:37.320 --> 0:52:41.520 me will be produced until it. 0:52:41.520 --> 0:52:44.080 Reaches it's full potential. 0:52:44.920 --> 0:52:46.520 Now you need to preach that back to him that 0:52:46.600 --> 0:52:51.560 was week, say whatever's in you will be produced until 0:52:51.600 --> 0:52:54.319 it reaches it's full potential. 0:52:55.160 --> 0:52:57.319 Now, y'all get ready to shout, because I already. 0:52:57.040 --> 0:52:59.879 Told you before it is bread, it has to be. 0:53:00.760 --> 0:53:03.840 God is not doing nothing in your life. This season 0:53:03.920 --> 0:53:07.759 is not insignificant in your life. Nothing about this is random. 0:53:07.800 --> 0:53:11.040 Nothing about this takes him off guard, Nothing about this 0:53:11.160 --> 0:53:15.160 has him nervous. Nothing about this pushes him away. Before 0:53:15.239 --> 0:53:17.520 it becomes bread, it must be buried. 0:53:17.560 --> 0:53:25.520 But watch this. Before it's buried, it's already bred because everything. 0:53:26.600 --> 0:53:30.560 That is coming up out of the soil was already 0:53:30.640 --> 0:53:35.640 in the seed. I can't to declare you already got it. 0:53:36.800 --> 0:53:48.560 Praise it for twenty seconds eight feed seconds, fiftegu seconds gone, 0:53:48.640 --> 0:53:58.160 eights seven six not far so? 0:54:01.440 --> 0:54:04.440 Who did that hit? Just now? If it's one hundred people, 0:54:04.480 --> 0:54:07.800 give God praise that it hits you. If it's a 0:54:07.920 --> 0:54:15.320 hundred people, let's review. 0:54:16.520 --> 0:54:18.040 A so or so to seed. 0:54:18.920 --> 0:54:21.800 It fell on the ground, it went in the ground, 0:54:22.840 --> 0:54:24.080 It went down. 0:54:24.520 --> 0:54:30.160 As a seed, it came up as a stalk. Something 0:54:30.320 --> 0:54:34.720 was happening while it was in the dark place. I wonder, 0:54:34.840 --> 0:54:38.359 is that what you needed to hear, that something is 0:54:38.480 --> 0:54:39.960 happening in your dark place? 0:54:40.200 --> 0:54:44.120 What is the dark place? It's the place where God 0:54:44.200 --> 0:54:44.960 pulls out. 0:54:45.560 --> 0:54:49.440 The potential that is in you, so that when he 0:54:49.480 --> 0:54:51.560 brings it forth, it'll be exactly what He meant for 0:54:51.600 --> 0:54:55.680 it to be. I come against the spirit of comparison 0:54:55.719 --> 0:55:00.640 that is robbing you of your joy. The seed was 0:55:00.680 --> 0:55:03.120 not responsible to produce anything. 0:55:03.200 --> 0:55:07.839 God didn't encode it to produce. God has already done 0:55:07.840 --> 0:55:08.399 the hard part. 0:55:10.480 --> 0:55:12.120 Jesus has already done the hard part. 0:55:13.440 --> 0:55:16.880 Is so hard for you to receive the forgiveness, but 0:55:16.960 --> 0:55:20.080 he already did the hard part. He died to give 0:55:20.080 --> 0:55:23.200 it to you. Is so hard for us to walk 0:55:23.239 --> 0:55:25.239 in his new life. You know what I think the 0:55:25.280 --> 0:55:28.760 passage is trying to say is that God the Father 0:55:29.600 --> 0:55:31.800 is the soil, and. 0:55:31.760 --> 0:55:34.560 Jesus the Savior, was our seed. 0:55:37.640 --> 0:55:40.000 Because he is the seed who went into the earth 0:55:40.040 --> 0:55:45.960 for three days, and when he came forth, he became. 0:55:46.160 --> 0:55:49.800 The bread of life. He was already bred. 0:55:51.160 --> 0:55:52.680 But for us to receive him. And if you have 0:55:52.719 --> 0:55:56.799 spiritual ears to hear what I'm saying right now, I 0:55:56.840 --> 0:55:58.920 am telling you that you have to go through some 0:55:59.000 --> 0:56:00.359 things to. 0:56:00.360 --> 0:56:01.840 Become what God has called you to be. 0:56:04.560 --> 0:56:06.080 But I'm here to also tell you that what you 0:56:06.160 --> 0:56:07.400 need to be, it is already in you. 0:56:09.320 --> 0:56:13.120 It had to be buried to be bred, and. 0:56:13.040 --> 0:56:16.480 It was bred when it was buried. You already are. 0:56:17.920 --> 0:56:21.479 You already are chosen by God. You already are loved 0:56:21.480 --> 0:56:31.520 by him. You say, but I'm broken, So is the seed. 0:56:33.800 --> 0:56:39.200 You say, But I'm dirty, So was the seed. You say, 0:56:39.200 --> 0:56:42.200 But I'm hurting, So was Jesus. 0:56:43.440 --> 0:56:45.680 But I was betrayed. So was Jesus. 0:56:46.520 --> 0:56:47.359 So was the seed. 0:56:48.800 --> 0:56:56.800 You keep sowing and you'll keep seeing that God. God's 0:56:56.840 --> 0:57:02.080 got the heart part. I thought about our relationship, me 0:57:02.120 --> 0:57:06.040 and God. I reckon of the two of us. It 0:57:06.120 --> 0:57:08.120 is easier for me to be in relationship with him 0:57:08.120 --> 0:57:09.680 than him to be in relationship with me. 0:57:10.280 --> 0:57:12.600 How many feel that way? That God's got the hard part. 0:57:12.520 --> 0:57:15.839 When it comes to your relationship, And yet he still 0:57:15.840 --> 0:57:19.040 wants you. He signed up for all of that. He 0:57:19.160 --> 0:57:23.800 checked your whole profile and He put a purpose inside 0:57:23.840 --> 0:57:25.959 of you. And I want to pray for people today 0:57:25.960 --> 0:57:29.480 who are struggling with this, because what the text gave 0:57:29.560 --> 0:57:34.720 me was for your life and for my life, a 0:57:34.760 --> 0:57:39.400 principle and a promise. The principle is that everything in 0:57:39.440 --> 0:57:41.400 your life has to be buried to become bread. Your 0:57:41.400 --> 0:57:44.320 gift is under development, your intellect is under development, your 0:57:44.320 --> 0:57:46.800 experience is under development. All of that stuff that you 0:57:46.880 --> 0:57:48.440 think is dead, it's under development. 0:57:48.800 --> 0:57:49.800 But never forget this. 0:57:51.400 --> 0:57:54.040 It was already bred when it went into the ground. 0:57:54.440 --> 0:57:57.120 It was just waiting for the time to come forth. 0:57:58.360 --> 0:57:59.840 And I think about Jesus. 0:58:00.520 --> 0:58:03.919 He came to earth, he taught his disciples, He taught 0:58:03.920 --> 0:58:07.720 them parables, He taught them many times through his actions. 0:58:07.960 --> 0:58:09.600 But he ultimately came to die. 0:58:09.920 --> 0:58:12.560 And so when it came time for the Passover meal, 0:58:13.400 --> 0:58:15.160 he sat down and he began to eat with them. 0:58:15.320 --> 0:58:18.480 And look what Matthew's twenty six twenty six says about it. 0:58:19.160 --> 0:58:23.200 To give us a picture that God will do the 0:58:23.200 --> 0:58:23.680 hard part. 0:58:24.760 --> 0:58:27.080 He took the bread while. 0:58:26.840 --> 0:58:29.600 They were eating, and when he had given thanks, he 0:58:29.680 --> 0:58:34.160 broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, take 0:58:34.200 --> 0:58:39.440 an eat. This is my body. Shortly after that he died. 0:58:40.680 --> 0:58:43.480 When he broke the bread, it was symbolic of how 0:58:43.520 --> 0:58:46.920 his body would be broken. Now you see why I 0:58:46.920 --> 0:58:51.160 think Jesus was the seed. The seed breaks when it's 0:58:51.160 --> 0:58:55.040 in the ground. Jesus's body was broken on the cross. 0:58:55.360 --> 0:58:57.440 But notice what he said to them, Matthew twenty six 0:58:57.520 --> 0:59:00.920 twenty sixth Please, he said, you take it to eat. 0:59:01.440 --> 0:59:08.200 My body is broken for you. He has done the 0:59:08.280 --> 0:59:13.040 hard part. So whatever comes after. 0:59:12.800 --> 0:59:17.680 This, he's got it. He's got it. 0:59:18.520 --> 0:59:22.000 How shall he who died to give us life not 0:59:22.120 --> 0:59:28.440 also graciously with him give us all things. When the 0:59:28.440 --> 0:59:31.720 seed is out of your hands, it's in his right 0:59:31.760 --> 0:59:33.240 Now bow your head and close your eyes. 0:59:33.280 --> 0:59:35.240 The spirit of the Lord is moving powerfully. 0:59:36.360 --> 0:59:40.240 Maybe in your living room, maybe in your kitchen, maybe 0:59:40.280 --> 0:59:43.240 in your sick bed, maybe in your car, maybe in 0:59:43.280 --> 0:59:46.479 your workout, maybe in your midnight hour, maybe right here 0:59:46.520 --> 0:59:50.360 in this church on the fourth row. God has you 0:59:50.920 --> 0:59:54.520 in the soil. It's not hard for him. It's hard 0:59:54.560 --> 0:59:59.120 for you. It's easy for him, he's God. But it's 0:59:59.160 --> 0:59:59.640 hard for. 0:59:59.560 --> 1:00:02.560 You to know how long, to know what to do. 1:00:03.160 --> 1:00:04.720 And it's okay to be like the man in the 1:00:04.720 --> 1:00:09.160 passage to say I don't know how. 1:00:11.080 --> 1:00:15.680 The how part is not your job, is God's part. 1:00:16.960 --> 1:00:17.680 I declare in. 1:00:17.680 --> 1:00:20.680 The name of Jesus that you are a seed to 1:00:22.000 --> 1:00:25.520 that God is working through your life. That God is 1:00:25.560 --> 1:00:28.440 giving you nutrients that you know not of in this season. 1:00:29.280 --> 1:00:31.520 That God is giving you everything that you need for 1:00:31.560 --> 1:00:34.680 the calling that He's assigned to your life. 1:00:34.800 --> 1:00:36.520 That you, like a mustard seed, might. 1:00:36.440 --> 1:00:39.840 Start out small, but there will be really big branches. 1:00:40.320 --> 1:00:43.640 If you faint not, let us not become weary and 1:00:43.680 --> 1:00:47.400 well doing, for in due season we shall read. If 1:00:47.480 --> 1:00:51.080 we faint not, I declare over your life today that 1:00:51.160 --> 1:00:55.360 this is rich soil, This is good ground. You are 1:00:55.480 --> 1:00:59.320 hidden under the shadow of the Almighty. This is good ground, 1:01:00.080 --> 1:01:02.240 planted in the garden of the Lord. You are an 1:01:02.280 --> 1:01:05.600 oak of righteousness, and this is good ground. Now let 1:01:05.640 --> 1:01:08.520 me pray for your children you're worried about. God's got 1:01:08.560 --> 1:01:11.600 them in good ground. They're gonna bring four things too. 1:01:11.960 --> 1:01:14.680 They're gonna be bred too. They're gonna go through a 1:01:14.760 --> 1:01:18.000 process too. But you just keep on praising right through 1:01:18.040 --> 1:01:21.680 that process. You keep praising while God is doing stuff 1:01:21.720 --> 1:01:22.520 in the studio. 1:01:23.200 --> 1:01:25.360 You keep praising well. 1:01:25.440 --> 1:01:29.840 God keeps producing, And there's somebody here today, who needs 1:01:29.840 --> 1:01:33.120 to give your life to Jesus Christ. You've never really 1:01:33.160 --> 1:01:36.400 done this thing. You've never really given your life to Jesus. 1:01:36.640 --> 1:01:39.160 You've never really surrendered it. You keep trying to do 1:01:39.240 --> 1:01:41.280 it on your own. You keep trying to work your 1:01:41.320 --> 1:01:42.920 way to God. You keep going up and down. 1:01:43.040 --> 1:01:46.280 We all do. That's why Jesus came. It's time to 1:01:46.360 --> 1:01:50.520 let grace take over. It's time to let Grace take over. 1:01:51.520 --> 1:01:53.000 So right now, if you want to give your life 1:01:53.000 --> 1:01:55.600 to Jesus, I'm gonna lead you in a prayer. You 1:01:55.640 --> 1:01:58.800 can repeat after me. The prayer is not magical, but 1:01:58.840 --> 1:02:01.960 the God we pray it to. He is supernatural. He 1:02:02.040 --> 1:02:05.560 has all power, and he came down to raise you up. 1:02:05.680 --> 1:02:08.120 If you want to put your life in his hands today, 1:02:08.320 --> 1:02:12.800 repeat after me, Heavenly Father. I am a sinner in 1:02:12.880 --> 1:02:17.520 need of a savior, and I believe that Jesus Christ 1:02:18.560 --> 1:02:22.120 is the Son of God and the savior of the world. 1:02:22.680 --> 1:02:27.280 Today I make Jesus the lord of my life. 1:02:27.320 --> 1:02:31.320 I believe he died that I would be forgiven and 1:02:31.480 --> 1:02:37.240 rose again to give me life. I receive this new life. 1:02:37.480 --> 1:02:41.960 This is my new beginning. I am a child of 1:02:42.000 --> 1:02:44.520 God on the counter of three. Shoot your hand up 1:02:44.560 --> 1:02:47.840 if you've prayed that one two three. We celebrate your 1:02:47.880 --> 1:02:52.400 resurrection day. We celebrate your new creation Day. 1:02:52.400 --> 1:02:53.040 That's awesome. 1:02:54.840 --> 1:02:56.960 Yeah man, yeah man. 1:02:57.000 --> 1:03:00.400 Come on, let's do a little better. Let's do a better, 1:03:00.480 --> 1:03:05.520 let's raise a little rufus. Thank you for joining us. 1:03:05.800 --> 1:03:08.280 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 1:03:08.320 --> 1:03:09.080 this ministry. 1:03:09.400 --> 1:03:11.840 Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 1:03:12.280 --> 1:03:14.760 You can click the link in the description to give now, 1:03:15.360 --> 1:03:19.200 or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information 1:03:19.760 --> 1:03:22.520 and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 1:03:22.800 --> 1:03:24.120 You can share it with your friends. 1:03:24.400 --> 1:03:26.720 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 1:03:26.760 --> 1:03:28.880 share it on your social stories and tag us at 1:03:28.880 --> 1:03:29.760 Elevation Church. 1:03:29.800 --> 1:03:36.480 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.