Let The Dirt Do It's Work

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.240 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:07.760 podcast and I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.680 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:12.840 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:13.600 in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:18.400 Enjoy the message, Mark four twenty six. 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:22.319 He also said, this is what the Kingdom of God 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:24.360 is like a man scattered seed on the ground night 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:27.760 and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:33.760 sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:34.560 All by itself. 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:39.400 The soil produces grain, first the stalk, then the head, 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.800 then the full kernel in the head. God knows the 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:48.159 order in which things need to happen in our lives, 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:53.400 and trusting him is in one sense, just allowing him 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:55.040 to do not only what he wants to do, but 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:58.720 when he wants to do it. Touch somebody say there's 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:02.280 an order to this. That's what we preached about last 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:04.679 week from Mark three, and we said that when you 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:05.600 get things out of. 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:06.840 Order, they stop working. 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:11.640 So that's why spending your money before you tithe is 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:13.200 a bad idea, because it's out of. 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:19.520 Order too early, too soon. 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:26.479 That's why sex before marriage is a dangerous proposition. Too much, 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:31.399 too soon. Now he doesn't value you. Instead, he objectifies you. 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:36.639 And there's an order to things. There's an order to things. 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.480 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:45.720 My time with God goes a lot better if I 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:47.880 start with thank you for what you've already done. I 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:52.080 got some things I need, I've got some unresolved issues 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:52.320 that I. 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:53.240 Want to bring before you. 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:55.600 But first of all, God, I just want to thank 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:59.680 you because somebody's lying on a ventilator this morning, and 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:03.280 I have breath in my body, and you said, let 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:05.000 everything that has breadth. 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:07.800 Praise the Lord, and I got breath to praise you with. 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:11.040 So God, right now, in spite of how I feel 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:13.880 on what I'm going through, I just want to give 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:27.920 you about sixteen seconds of praise. There's an order, there's 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:31.919 an order, and then comes the result as soon verse 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:35.280 twenty nine. As the grain is ripe, he puts the 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.480 sickle to it, and some of us put the sickle 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:41.720 to stuff too soon before it has the chance to 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:48.600 take root. And we spend money to impress people, and 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:52.919 because we don't know when to use what God has 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:59.080 given us, we end up ruining the very provision anyway. 0:02:59.120 --> 0:02:59.480 That's true. 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:01.720 I'm just reading scriptures, has nothing to do with my sermon. 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.080 But I'll be honest with you. When I walked around 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:07.120 the corner, Valentine was singing like they love Jesus, and 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.160 I just got excited and the Holy Spirit just kicked 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:16.520 me into gear. So as soon as the grain is right, 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:18.800 he puts the sickle to it because the harvest has come. 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:21.680 But the real focus of this message is going to 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:27.120 be verse twenty seven B and twenty eight A. It 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:30.280 says the seed sprouts and grows night and day, whether 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:33.720 he sleeps or gets up. The seed sprouts and grows, 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:39.560 though he does not know how, and that's the key phrase. 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:42.960 He does not know how. 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:47.200 And then it says, all by itself, the soil produces grain. 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:50.680 And so to me, that made me think about grace, 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:54.840 and that made me think about God's sovereignty, and that 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:58.000 made me wonder, if I'm staying up stressing about stuff, 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.000 if I would get out of my own way and 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.200 let God deal with it the way that he knows 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.080 how to deal with things, I would be so much 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:14.480 better off, you know. So what I came to tell 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:16.760 you today. This is my sermon. Title is let the 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:20.760 dirt do its work. You may be seated. Let's work 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.400 on the scripture for a moment. I did preach from 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:26.760 this passage two years ago, and at. 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:27.320 That time I was. 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:32.640 Taken by the temporal implications of this text and the 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:35.600 timing of God. I believe the title I gave that 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:39.480 little message was called the Seed is on schedule, and 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.360 I was using it to illustrate how things in our 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:48.120 life in some ways show up. Like the wise teacher 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:51.160 said that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.760 That's what I was trying to say two years ago. 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:57.240 And in the last two years, either this text has 0:04:57.279 --> 0:04:57.960 gotten better. 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:01.360 I'm being sarcastic. 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:05.280 The text didn't change, but God has opened my eyes 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:06.720 to see it in a little different way. And since 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:10.320 we been going through Mark's Gospel very slowly at a 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:14.880 leisurely stroll, to talk about savage Jesus, and all I 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:17.120 keep hearing from people as I see you out and 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:21.960 about is don't stop preaching savage Jesus. This series, just 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:25.960 keep keep it going until the rapture. And I don't 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.080 know about that, but I thought we should at least 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.719 take one parable and Mark gives us so much about 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.480 the context of Jesus ministry, but we also want to 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:37.359 take a moment now and pause and look at some 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:41.080 of the content of his ministry, and we see that 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:43.960 his teaching is creating opposition at the same time that 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:45.880 it is making an impact. 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.960 By the way, that's always the case. Everything that makes 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:50.280 impact creates opposition. 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:53.320 You know that, right if the devil touch somebody say, 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:57.400 if the devil is in messing with you, he doesn't 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:06.760 consider you a threat. So we've seen now five different 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:10.479 examples of controversy in the ministry of Jesus, which makes 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:12.800 me want to go back and have a conversation again. 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:16.040 One pastor, I said, what's your goal in ministry? 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:20.040 He said, my goal is that on the Wikipedia page. 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:22.560 And he didn't have a Wikipedia page, but he said, 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:24.960 if I have a Wikipedia page, this is already weird 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:26.479 hypothetical Wikipedia page. 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:27.680 Is your goal for ministry? 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:32.839 He said, I hope there's no controversy section. He said 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:36.479 that was his main goal in ministry. By that standard, 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.960 Jesus Christ was the ultimate ministry failure. 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.800 Why are you looking shocked? What do you think the 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:48.960 cross was? You think it was jewelry. 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.480 You think, you think, you think the cross was a 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:58.039 celebratory moment. The Roman Empire used that tool to torture 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:02.680 people who represented a threat. And everywhere Jesus went people 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:05.680 were threatened. The Pharisees, the teachers of the law, they 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:10.200 were threatened by Jesus. He was upsetting their entire system. 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:13.880 Were you here last week? Their entire system was being 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:14.800 overturned by. 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:17.559 The things he was speaking and the things he was doing. 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.760 Not only that, but the demons were threatened by Jesus 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:23.440 every time he got in the presence of an impure 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:27.280 spirit and started shrieking and convulsing and begging and falling. 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:28.000 Down at his feet. 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.440 Is a funny thing, because the demons knew better who 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:34.280 Jesus was than the teachers of the law did. Isn't 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:39.960 that crazy? The demons saw Jesus and they fell down 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.920 at his feet. The teachers of the law saw Jesus 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:45.800 and they crossed their arms to judge him. Sometimes we 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:47.840 should be more like the demons than we should be 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:51.520 like the religious people. At least the demons knew this 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:54.920 guy's in charge. At least the demons knew he has 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.680 all power. At least the demons knew. He's not ordinary, 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:01.360 he's not average, he's not common. 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:03.040 This is the son of God. 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:06.480 I wonder do we really worship him today? I wonder 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:09.600 do we really regard him as the supreme authority in 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:10.280 our lives? 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:18.600 Or is he just an accessory. This is what we've 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:20.680 been studying, and. 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.200 It all fits within the context all of the controversy 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:27.120 and all of the compassion of Jesus. They were both 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:34.000 growing together. Both grow together, the wheat and the terrorist. 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:36.440 That's when parable Jesus used, it's not our parable today, 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.480 but he was talking about the wheat grows and right 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.960 beside it all the weeds grow that want to choke 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:45.080 out the wheat. And what we tend to want to 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:47.800 do that is reflected in that parable in Matthew thirteen 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:51.960 is to separate the weeds from the wheat. But Jesus said, 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:57.200 both grow together. They have to. It's an eschatological principle 0:08:57.240 --> 0:08:59.160 that he's using to talk about the harvest at the 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:02.360 end of the age, but it also has practical implications 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:07.160 in our lives that both grow together. As God is 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.920 drawing you into a deeper relationship and a more consistent 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:14.480 communion with him, there will also be a more consistent 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:20.120 sense of conflict to accompany the communion, because both grow together. 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:22.880 Don't be confused about it, and don't try to separate 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:25.120 what you think is the good stuff from what you 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:28.360 think is the bad stuff, because God uses both in 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.640 our life. The tears he uses for our humility so 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:34.240 that we will trust him, and the weed he uses 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:36.920 for our sustenance so that He can sustain us and 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:46.120 bless us, and both grow together. Now, with that context established, 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:51.320 we have a parable Jesus taught in parables. Mark shares 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.800 here several of them. Remember he's not compiling these in 0:09:54.840 --> 0:10:00.920 the order that they happen. He's giving us a He's 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:04.199 giving us a how would I say it, a curated 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:09.199 account of the ministry of Jesus. And he's building for 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:13.720 us what he believes to be an accurate picture of 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:16.400 the purpose of the ministry of Jesus. 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:19.880 And now Jesus is teaching us about. 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:23.200 The nature of the Kingdom of God and our faith. 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:27.040 Maybe you've heard the parable of the different types of 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:31.160 soil that he starts with in Mark chapter four. He's 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:35.439 getting into this idea that there is always seed going forth. 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:39.719 God is always speaking to you. Stop asking God to 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:44.000 speak to you and start listening. It's the weirdest thing 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:44.560 we pray. 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:46.040 God, speak to me, Speak to me, Speak to me, 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:47.880 Speak to me, Speak to me. If you'd shut up, 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:49.640 you'd hear that. 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:53.800 I already am. So the seed's always going forth. But 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:57.360 while my Bible calls it the parable of the sower, 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:00.640 it's really the parable of the soils. It's really about 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:05.600 our hearts. The soil is our soul, our mind, our will, 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:09.320 and our emotions. And in this passage he shares with 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:13.600 us how there are some seeds that fall on the path, 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:16.400 and the birds come and snatch them up. How many 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:21.319 of you have some seed snatchers in your life? Joy 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:25.079 Joy thieves, people who want to ruin your day. 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:27.360 And it's not nine thirty yet, and here they come. 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.720 How many you have some seed snatching apps on your phone? 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:34.200 You know that one with the bird. What's it called twitter? 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:39.480 Jesus said? Jesus said, the birds of the air will 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:44.360 snatch the seed and grab your attention, so that you 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:46.320 don't act on what you heard, but you forget what 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.280 you heard. Because a lot of us have a stash 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:50.000 of seed. 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:51.000 That we've never put in the ground. 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:54.440 We've gotten to be professional seed collectors who know how 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:58.080 to highlight our Bibles and fill notebooks with information. But 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:03.439 without application, without soili, the seed only represents unused potential. 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:05.280 And to me, that's a sad thing. 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:10.600 Woldn't be sad for God to show you in heaven 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:13.600 how much seed you sat on while you were here 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:19.079 on earth. Do not merely listen to the word. Instead, 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:23.280 do what it says. You are not blessed by the 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:27.240 word you hear, but the word that you do a 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:28.920 lot of times. If you think we need to know more, 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:33.560 I found out that I already know enough. Let me 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:35.600 give a few examples. I know not to talk bad 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:40.720 about people. If I would just do that, I think 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:42.680 I'd be working seventy hours a week. 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:46.199 Just that that alone. 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:49.000 I know that I'm supposed to consider others as more 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:50.600 important than myself. 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:53.360 I know that, and you know that. 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:57.920 Touch somebody say you know this, and if you know 0:12:57.960 --> 0:12:59.679 how to say man after it, you could say man 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:00.440 after But if you. 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:03.480 Don't know how, don't try to be embarrassing. You know this. 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:05.520 You know this. 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:08.360 In fact, look back at him one more time. I 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:10.520 need your help, because everybody looks a little bit resistant 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:12.800 to this point. We always want to know more. You know, 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:16.000 I want to grow spiritually. Look back at him and say, 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:21.720 if you would do what you knew, you would grow 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:33.960 spiritual growth. It's always been a tricky concept to me 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:42.480 because I thought spiritual growth required more knowledge. And I 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:44.520 don't have many regrets in life, but I do have 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:50.080 a few. One thing I regret I wish I would 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:53.240 have written a parenting book before I. 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:54.600 Had my kids. 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:00.920 It's just something I think about often. How some my 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:05.120 parenting book would have been if I had written it 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:10.679 before parenting, because the time that I knew the most 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:12.559 about parenting. 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:15.480 You know what, I wish the same thing. 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:17.520 Here's another recred I wish I would have written a 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:22.200 book about being a pastor before I started this church. 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:26.640 It would have been so profound. It would have had 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:30.720 diagrams and informational concepts. 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.680 It would have been it would have been seven hundred and. 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:36.840 Seventy three pages of how to be a pastor? And 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:40.040 then you showed up and screwed up all my theories 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:43.480 about how to be a pastor. People messed up my 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:45.880 ideas about how to be a pastor. 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:51.040 What's up with that? Now? It would just be a pamphlet. 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:54.720 It wouldn't even it would just be illustrated. 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:56.960 It would only have the whole book would be prayer, 0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:59.480 you know, the emoji with the prayer hands. That would 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:01.720 be the whole How to be a parent, how to 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:02.440 be a pastor? 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:03.880 But I knew so much. 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:09.920 You notice, those are the people who give the most advice, 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:15.800 those with the least experience. When I went down, I 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.400 tell you what I would do if it were me. 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:29.280 And I know, I mean, I'm not judging. I'm just saying, now, okay, 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:30.320 so three things. 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:33.840 It's right here in the text. I know you think 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:38.680 that I'm confuser loss. It's as that the farmer, this 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:39.400 is crazy. 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:45.720 The farmer who puts the seed in the ground, not 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:49.880 the seed on the shelf, but the seed in the soil. 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.360 He let's look at the verse on the screen again, he. 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:59.880 Experiences the maturation of that seed, though he does not 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:03.400 know how. 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:06.240 What kind of farmer is this? 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:13.320 If you don't know how the seed grows, you could 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:14.240 at least google it. 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:15.920 There you would. 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:20.720 Find that the seed needs what light or the correct 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:25.320 temperatures and water. Yeah, and then it needs to be 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:27.200 planted in the right place. I can tell you exactly 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:30.800 how the seed grows. That's exactly how it grows. I 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:35.640 can explain that to you. And so if the scripture 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.360 says this parable, which is always used to get us 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:43.680 beneath the surface to the deeper meaning, if the parable 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:47.000 is included in Jesus' illustration of what the Kingdom of 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.560 God is like, he said, this is what the Kingdom 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:55.320 is like, and now we're expecting something spectacular. Because the 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:57.760 Kingdom of God is a new concept, Jesus is the 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:00.920 first one to use this term. And since they are 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:05.200 not familiar with this particular concept, Jesus is giving them 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:06.960 an earthly illustration. 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:08.639 Yet he does not talk about the. 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:13.480 Kingdom of God being like Wakanda. He does not talk 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:17.760 about the Kingdom of God being like a spaceship. 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:20.040 He does not talk about the Kingdom of. 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:23.320 God being like a rocket. Instead, he says, and this 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:25.600 must have been anti climactic for those who gathered to 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:29.200 hear his message on this day, the Kingdom is like 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:30.520 a seed. 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:34.840 And on this alone, we understand that often what. 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:40.600 God does in our life will feel insignificant, and then 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:43.280 it will go into the soil where it will be invisible. 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.040 And that a lot of times when God is working 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.800 in our lives in the greatest ways. We won't even 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:54.200 know how He's working. We will be ignorant. That's three eyes. 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:56.720 It makes an outline. Write it down. 0:17:57.200 --> 0:17:59.000 Three things about the Kingdom of God. 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:05.080 It often sees, means insignificant, It often appears invisible. 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:09.720 And often you feel ignorant. So the greatest proof that 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:11.920 you are growing in your relationship with. 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:17.080 God is sometimes the fact that you don't feel like you. 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:19.960 Are growing in your relationship with God. 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.280 I'm sorry for everyone who always needs a goose bump 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:25.840 to feel. 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:26.520 Like God is with you. 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:30.359 But sometimes the greatest growth in your life is not 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:34.959 going to be on the surface of your emotions, your feelings, 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:39.440 or your senses. Sometimes the deeper work that God will 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:42.200 do is much greater than the highest work. 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:42.800 That God will do. 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:47.280 For what is the building without the foundation? Jesus said, 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:49.680 the Kingdom is like this is. 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:52.760 Something so small, seemingly. 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:56.960 So insignificant, and it goes through stages that are so invisible, 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.560 and a lot of the times you will feel so ignorant. 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:04.080 Like the farmer who puts the seed in the ground 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.960 and doesn't know when he'll see it again. Sure he 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:12.000 can water it, Sure he can plow the ground. Surely 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:14.960 we have a part to play in our relationship with God. 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.560 But there is this other element of faith that I 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:21.720 want to talk about today that I don't hear about enough, 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:24.560 and I'm hungry to hear about it because I see 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:27.800 a lot of Christians listening to cute sermons, and we're 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:30.800 telling you to do things that sound really big, to 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:34.479 forgive people and to be free of addiction. But I 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:37.520 hear the response from the people when the pulpit is 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.440 echoing forth these lofty ideals, and the people are sitting 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:42.760 in the peple saying. 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:43.800 How. 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:54.200 You're telling me what, but you're not telling me how. 0:19:56.359 --> 0:20:01.080 I don't know how. I don't know how to read 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:01.840 my Bible. 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:03.920 I don't know how to pray for over. 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:10.240 Thirteen seconds without thinking about my need for cereal at 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:14.280 the grocery store. I don't somebody try. 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:16.600 It, say, I don't know how. 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:25.560 That's the most spiritual thing you've said all week. Who 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:32.720 did God pick to be the disciples of Jesus? Religious 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:42.960 professionals with academic no how he picked the people? Who 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:49.840 did God pick to carry his son? What's the first 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:52.920 thing Mary said? When the Angel said the one born 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:55.000 of you is the Holy One of God? 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:00.439 What exactly how? 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:04.720 What's the first thing that the disciple said when Jesus said, 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:07.840 feed these big crowds, even though you didn't pack of lunch. 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:11.320 What's the first thing they said that is the starting 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:12.679 place of spiritual growth? 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:20.640 To admit? I sorry I'm screaming, but. 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:24.520 Sometimes it screams inside of me when God calls. 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:31.239 Me to do something. But I don't know how. I 0:21:31.440 --> 0:21:36.399 don't I don't know how. I don't know how to 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:37.560 raise these kids. 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:41.440 I don't know how I did before I had them, but. 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:46.080 Now they're here, and I don't know how. I read 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:50.400 the book, the baby book. It told me that if you. 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:55.879 Swaddle the child, but I found out my firstborn child 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:57.760 was unswaddleable. 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:05.000 I don't know how. 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:08.800 I hear you preaching these great sermons. 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:11.919 Keep your eyes on Jesus, and don't look at the wind, 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:14.199 and don't look at the waves. But how do I 0:22:14.240 --> 0:22:15.920 look at something that's invisible. 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:19.160 I hear what you're saying, and I want what you God, 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:22.800 But I don't know how. 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:25.760 How many don't know how? 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:27.960 Just to see how I'm preaching to and who I 0:22:27.960 --> 0:22:28.920 can leave alone? 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:32.160 I don't know how. 0:22:34.880 --> 0:22:37.000 I don't know how to forgive somebody, but then make 0:22:37.040 --> 0:22:39.080 sure that I keep an appropriate distance so that they 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:40.399 don't continue to violate me. 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:45.480 I don't know how. 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:56.119 I don't know. And here's a farmer doesn't know how 0:22:57.840 --> 0:23:01.879 to make a seed grow, and Jesus says, is like that. 0:23:04.520 --> 0:23:08.679 Growth is like that. There's a part that you will play, 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:12.560 and you will know what to do. 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:19.360 You sow, you water, you plow, but you don't have 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:19.960 to know how. 0:23:21.080 --> 0:23:23.119 This is the dirty little secret of the Kingdom that 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:24.119 they don't want me to tell you. 0:23:24.680 --> 0:23:25.480 They want you to. 0:23:25.440 --> 0:23:29.200 Think that God chooses and uses and blesses people who 0:23:29.240 --> 0:23:32.560 are experts and who are the epitome of perfection. But 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:35.440 I want to tell you who God's looking for. Fishermen 0:23:35.840 --> 0:23:42.640 like Peter, prostitutes like Rahab, people who don't know how. 0:23:43.200 --> 0:23:47.160 That's what God is looking for, humble people. Blessed are 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:50.760 those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, not those who 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:53.840 are so full of their own wisdom that they cannot 0:23:53.960 --> 0:23:55.600 receive the wisdom of God. 0:23:56.119 --> 0:23:56.680 So if you. 0:23:56.720 --> 0:23:59.560 Came here today with a I don't know how hard 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:09.240 God can feel what you will empty before him. I 0:24:09.280 --> 0:24:13.680 don't have to know how. I don't have to know 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:17.320 how it works. If I did, I'd still be at 0:24:17.359 --> 0:24:23.320 the house because I drove my Maxima here and I 0:24:23.440 --> 0:24:28.680 have no idea how that that button told my tires 0:24:28.720 --> 0:24:32.600 to spend. I have a little bit of a concept, 0:24:33.480 --> 0:24:37.480 but not much. I found out something about my car 0:24:38.000 --> 0:24:38.960 that I found. 0:24:38.720 --> 0:24:40.159 Out about God. 0:24:40.760 --> 0:24:47.879 I found out I don't have to understand it. See 0:24:47.920 --> 0:24:51.440 it got me from here to there, and from there 0:24:51.520 --> 0:24:55.439 to here and here. I am preaching, but honestly, I 0:24:55.480 --> 0:24:59.600 don't know how. I have an iPad. I put my 0:24:59.680 --> 0:25:03.399 notes on my iPad. I turn on my iPad, the 0:25:03.440 --> 0:25:05.080 notes appear on my iPad. 0:25:05.520 --> 0:25:08.800 I preach to you. I understand what button to push. 0:25:09.119 --> 0:25:11.960 I push it. I know what letters to type. I 0:25:12.080 --> 0:25:15.040 typed them. But as to how the words appeared on 0:25:15.080 --> 0:25:18.439 the iPad, I don't know how. It didn't stop me 0:25:18.480 --> 0:25:21.000 from preaching, it didn't stop it from working. 0:25:21.440 --> 0:25:23.159 There may be somebody. 0:25:22.680 --> 0:25:25.880 Here today who is in a situation where you. 0:25:25.880 --> 0:25:27.480 Don't know how. God. 0:25:27.520 --> 0:25:31.440 I'm not smart enough. God, I wasn't trained for this. God, 0:25:31.480 --> 0:25:34.560 I've never been this way before. God, this is new 0:25:34.600 --> 0:25:37.640 to me. God, I feel like a rookie. God I've 0:25:37.680 --> 0:25:41.400 never God said from heaven, you don't have to know 0:25:41.520 --> 0:25:42.520 how when you. 0:25:42.520 --> 0:25:55.600 Know who, an't twitting? Come on five. 0:25:57.400 --> 0:26:06.400 Five seconds, four seconds, yes, three seconds, two seconds. Now, 0:26:06.480 --> 0:26:10.480 let's prace him like we know who he is. He's 0:26:10.600 --> 0:26:15.080 the lord of the harvest. To see this mind what the. 0:26:15.119 --> 0:26:25.320 Harvest this is? And I don't have to know. I 0:26:25.440 --> 0:26:26.200 just gotta sew. 0:26:28.200 --> 0:26:30.960 Don't let what you don't know keep you from sewing. 0:26:31.680 --> 0:26:34.840 The farmer didn't know how it was gonna happen, but 0:26:34.960 --> 0:26:35.960 he knew what to do. 0:26:36.440 --> 0:26:37.600 I gotta keep sewing. 0:26:37.920 --> 0:26:40.640 I gotta keep praying, I gotta keep believing. 0:26:41.000 --> 0:26:44.000 I gotta stay in this house. I gotta be present. 0:26:44.280 --> 0:26:47.360 I gotta show up. All I gotta do is sow. 0:26:54.320 --> 0:26:56.280 Find twelve disciples and tell him you don't have to 0:26:56.320 --> 0:26:56.680 know how. 0:26:57.640 --> 0:26:59.920 You don't have to know how. You don't have to 0:27:00.200 --> 0:27:00.639 know how. 0:27:01.560 --> 0:27:06.040 I will make you fishures of men. All I need 0:27:06.119 --> 0:27:09.240 is your boked. All I need is your will, All 0:27:09.280 --> 0:27:11.639 I need is your want to. All I need is 0:27:11.640 --> 0:27:17.000 your surrender. All I need is your obedience. But you 0:27:17.119 --> 0:27:22.679 stop sewing because you didn't know how. You don't have 0:27:22.720 --> 0:27:25.760 to know how. Let's get it in our spirits, say 0:27:25.800 --> 0:27:30.199 I don't have to know how. I could be like 0:27:30.240 --> 0:27:36.320 Abraham who set out from Erth without knowing where he 0:27:36.440 --> 0:27:41.360 was going. He didn't have to know how because he knows. 0:27:42.000 --> 0:27:43.520 He knows. 0:27:44.200 --> 0:27:45.119 Are you getting a lesson? 0:27:47.000 --> 0:27:50.119 It's not just one text, it's the principle of this 0:27:50.240 --> 0:27:51.600 parable that is illustrated. 0:27:52.040 --> 0:27:56.800 The Kingdom of God is like a man who sowed, 0:27:56.840 --> 0:27:57.320 he did so. 0:27:58.880 --> 0:28:02.800 Notice there there there is a part that you play. 0:28:03.920 --> 0:28:07.439 But once you do what you know, there is a 0:28:07.480 --> 0:28:12.080 poet that you reach where you can't make it rain, 0:28:14.080 --> 0:28:18.280 and you can't control the rate of growth of the sea. 0:28:20.440 --> 0:28:22.919 And there are so many people who will hear this 0:28:23.000 --> 0:28:29.439 message online and in our campuses, who are waiting to 0:28:29.640 --> 0:28:31.520 know before you. 0:28:31.560 --> 0:28:33.240 Sow, and it's out of order. 0:28:40.120 --> 0:28:42.400 As much as I want to preach theologically right now, 0:28:42.520 --> 0:28:44.320 I just want to minister to you personally. 0:28:46.400 --> 0:28:49.480 Let the dirt do its work. 0:28:52.000 --> 0:28:55.400 Because the greatest growth happened not when the farmer was 0:28:55.440 --> 0:28:58.240 doing his part, but when the dirt was doing its part. 0:29:00.720 --> 0:29:03.280 There's a cooperation that happens in each of our lives. 0:29:03.280 --> 0:29:05.520 That's between the things we can control. I can plow, 0:29:05.520 --> 0:29:07.520 I can water, and. 0:29:06.920 --> 0:29:07.600 I can sew. 0:29:08.200 --> 0:29:10.400 I can speak words of encouragement, I can speak words 0:29:10.400 --> 0:29:13.520 of life. I can invest my resources into the Kingdom 0:29:13.560 --> 0:29:17.880 of God. I can do all of that, but the 0:29:17.920 --> 0:29:21.680 part that produces the fruit is not attributed to the 0:29:21.720 --> 0:29:25.960 farmer and the passage. And I think we fall into 0:29:26.680 --> 0:29:29.880 an extreme where we either think it's all about what 0:29:30.000 --> 0:29:35.680 we know or it's all about what God does. In 0:29:35.720 --> 0:29:47.800 the passage, the farmer scatters, but the soil produces. And 0:29:47.840 --> 0:29:51.240 the dirty little secret, if I can use that phrase 0:29:52.320 --> 0:29:54.640 of the Kingdom of God that Jesus is comparing to 0:29:54.680 --> 0:29:59.720 a seed, is that your destiny will be revealed in 0:29:59.760 --> 0:30:07.680 the What do I mean, the disappointment, the insecurity, the rejection, 0:30:08.960 --> 0:30:09.640 and the trouble. 0:30:10.440 --> 0:30:10.880 Check it out. 0:30:10.880 --> 0:30:16.360 It spells dirt, the disappointment, the insecurity, the rejection, and 0:30:16.440 --> 0:30:16.959 the trouble. 0:30:18.880 --> 0:30:21.000 Now, this will be an excellent lesson. 0:30:21.680 --> 0:30:26.640 On its own because it illustrates the principles that will 0:30:26.640 --> 0:30:29.920 apply to any area of our life. And right here 0:30:29.960 --> 0:30:32.400 we could tell you to make lemonade out of limits. 0:30:32.920 --> 0:30:34.360 And right here we could tell you it doesn't matter 0:30:34.440 --> 0:30:38.000 how many times you fall down, you know, get knocked 0:30:38.000 --> 0:30:41.680 down nine, get up ten. We could say anything we 0:30:41.720 --> 0:30:44.880 want right here, and the principle would be powerful. 0:30:45.920 --> 0:30:48.920 But this is not a principle this is a parable, and. 0:30:48.880 --> 0:30:51.160 A parable is a picture that appears simple on the 0:30:51.200 --> 0:30:56.200 surface but carries a deeper meaning. When I read the 0:30:56.200 --> 0:31:00.440 passage two years ago, I thought that the far was 0:31:00.480 --> 0:31:03.720 Jesus and the seed was the word of God. 0:31:04.920 --> 0:31:06.800 The problem with this interpretation of. 0:31:06.760 --> 0:31:11.760 The parable, upon further reflection and study, is that Jesus 0:31:11.840 --> 0:31:14.960 can't be the farmer because the farmer doesn't know how 0:31:20.560 --> 0:31:25.080 Jesus is the wisdom of God. So to compare Jesus 0:31:25.120 --> 0:31:30.479 to the farmer who scatters the seed is to is 0:31:30.560 --> 0:31:36.920 to miss the parable that is beneath the principle. The 0:31:36.920 --> 0:31:39.640 principle is this, don't let what you don't know stop 0:31:39.720 --> 0:31:44.680 you from sewing. But the parable, the parable, the picture 0:31:44.760 --> 0:31:48.160 that Jesus is painting is of something that hasn't happened yet. 0:31:49.320 --> 0:31:50.800 Everyone around him, in his. 0:31:50.760 --> 0:31:54.600 Inner circle, which he has just selected in Mark chapter three, 0:31:55.280 --> 0:31:57.920 everyone around him is trying their best to keep him 0:31:58.000 --> 0:32:01.520 from going to the cross. For him to go to 0:32:01.600 --> 0:32:05.320 the cross means the death of the movement that he 0:32:05.360 --> 0:32:07.040 came to initiate. 0:32:06.720 --> 0:32:09.680 In their eyes. And so when he stood. 0:32:09.400 --> 0:32:13.000 Before the judges, both the Jewish Sanhedrin and the Roman 0:32:13.080 --> 0:32:16.920 government prelates, he was silent as a sheep before the sears. 0:32:18.160 --> 0:32:21.320 Everything in those disciples wanted to see Jesus come down 0:32:21.480 --> 0:32:25.440 from the cross to avoid being buried in the grave. 0:32:26.800 --> 0:32:30.600 But Jesus stood before Pilot and he allowed those accusations 0:32:30.640 --> 0:32:34.680 to be heaped on him although he was innocent, because. 0:32:34.320 --> 0:32:40.640 He knew that the dirt had a purpose to fulfill. 0:32:40.720 --> 0:32:43.600 And so as he stood before those who accused him 0:32:43.640 --> 0:32:45.520 condemned him and sentenced him to die. 0:32:45.960 --> 0:32:47.560 He could have stopped it, and he could. 0:32:47.400 --> 0:32:50.520 Have called for legions of angels to come and rescue 0:32:50.600 --> 0:32:52.200 him from the rejection. 0:32:52.400 --> 0:32:53.800 But this is what he came for. 0:32:54.400 --> 0:32:58.040 So he said, with his silence something that is illustrated 0:32:58.080 --> 0:33:02.000 in the parable. He said, let the dirt do its work, 0:33:03.400 --> 0:33:07.480 because if they accuse me, then my father in Heaven 0:33:07.600 --> 0:33:08.160 doesn't have. 0:33:08.120 --> 0:33:08.840 To accuse you. 0:33:09.880 --> 0:33:14.840 So I'm going to take your accusations and your shame. I, 0:33:15.000 --> 0:33:19.760 the innocent, am going to absorb your punishment so that you, 0:33:19.960 --> 0:33:21.960 the guilty, can go free. 0:33:22.600 --> 0:33:23.840 So when they heaped. 0:33:23.520 --> 0:33:26.840 Their accusations on him, he took it. When he died 0:33:26.880 --> 0:33:28.800 on the cross and they took him down and buried 0:33:28.880 --> 0:33:32.880 him in the grave, he did not resist the burial. Instead, 0:33:32.960 --> 0:33:36.320 he stayed dead three days to let the dirt do 0:33:36.440 --> 0:33:39.760 its work. Now, we thought we were attending a funeral, 0:33:39.880 --> 0:33:44.040 but really what it was was an agricultural lesson. Jesus 0:33:44.200 --> 0:33:48.320 was not buried on Friday, he was planted. Now, because 0:33:48.360 --> 0:33:52.600 he was planted on Friday, there is the expectation of harvest. 0:33:53.200 --> 0:33:56.480 He is the first born among many brethren. So when 0:33:56.480 --> 0:33:58.600 he lay in the grave, it wasn't over. It was 0:33:58.720 --> 0:34:03.080 just beginning. I came to declare today to everybody who's 0:34:03.120 --> 0:34:06.760 been going through a season of failure or depression, or 0:34:06.880 --> 0:34:12.240 uncertainty or rejection or disappointment, let the dirt do its work. 0:34:12.760 --> 0:34:16.120 Don't fight it, don't run from it, and don't pluck. 0:34:15.920 --> 0:34:18.799 Up the sea because you don't like the season. Let 0:34:18.840 --> 0:34:20.240 the dirt do its work. 0:34:22.840 --> 0:34:25.120 This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 0:34:25.560 --> 0:34:28.560 This is what the Kingdom of God is life. There's 0:34:28.680 --> 0:34:31.439 nothing man can do to you that God cannot use 0:34:31.800 --> 0:34:40.680 for his good. And I believe that. I believe that all. 0:34:40.520 --> 0:34:43.120 Things work together for the good of him that love 0:34:43.200 --> 0:34:45.560 the Lord and are called according to his purpose. 0:34:45.680 --> 0:34:49.040 But I I don't always know how. 0:34:51.280 --> 0:34:54.640 But I don't have to know how, because I know who. 0:34:56.560 --> 0:34:59.680 The emphasis on Romans eight twenty eight isn't on things. 0:35:00.880 --> 0:35:04.480 All things work together for the good. The emphasis is 0:35:04.480 --> 0:35:07.319 not on good because it might not feel good, and 0:35:07.360 --> 0:35:09.480 I might not know how it's good while I'm in it. 0:35:10.239 --> 0:35:13.279 The emphasis of Romans eight twenty eight is that I'm 0:35:13.320 --> 0:35:19.520 called that I love God, and I'm called according to 0:35:19.640 --> 0:35:26.360 his purpose. So his purpose is the promise that lets 0:35:26.440 --> 0:35:32.640 me know that it seems insignificant, that to me it's invisible, 0:35:33.000 --> 0:35:36.960 and I don't know how, but I know. 0:35:40.840 --> 0:35:42.680 Everybody who wants to praise God for it. 0:35:42.640 --> 0:35:44.319 And I'm gonna give you thirty seconds to do what 0:35:44.360 --> 0:35:47.960 you need to do. Maybe your neighbor doesn't want this word. 0:35:48.920 --> 0:35:51.680 Maybe they want to let a bird snatch it or 0:35:51.719 --> 0:35:55.600 a thorn choker. But there are some people here who 0:35:55.600 --> 0:35:58.239 have been in the ground for a little while. And 0:35:58.360 --> 0:36:02.239 I promise Cyris to every person. 0:36:01.960 --> 0:36:03.279 Who's been in a depression. 0:36:03.960 --> 0:36:06.600 You've been in a funk, You've been in a failure. 0:36:06.960 --> 0:36:08.360 The devil sent it was in. 0:36:08.880 --> 0:36:10.120 But surday came. 0:36:24.640 --> 0:36:30.400 Where you at Matthews, where you at Valentine, where you 0:36:30.480 --> 0:36:35.160 at you see. 0:36:33.320 --> 0:36:34.120 You know what's crazy. 0:36:34.160 --> 0:36:37.640 I'm calling out all these campuses, and somehow they see 0:36:37.680 --> 0:36:39.840 me on their screens and I don't. 0:36:40.920 --> 0:36:45.400 Know how, but I don't have to know how. And 0:36:45.480 --> 0:36:48.279 you know what. Somehow I'm preaching this word and. 0:36:48.160 --> 0:36:50.799 It's getting in your heart, and God's gonna use it, 0:36:50.960 --> 0:36:54.239 and it won't return forid, but it will accomplish what 0:36:54.320 --> 0:36:55.239 God sent it to do. 0:36:55.880 --> 0:37:00.200 But His ways are higher than my ways, and his 0:37:00.440 --> 0:37:04.520 thoughts been my thoughts. I don't have to know. I 0:37:04.640 --> 0:37:07.799 just have to sew. I just have to go. I 0:37:07.840 --> 0:37:08.600 don't have to know. 0:37:26.520 --> 0:37:29.160 I don't know how I'm gonna make it, but I 0:37:29.160 --> 0:37:32.320 don't have to know how. I don't know who God's 0:37:32.360 --> 0:37:36.319 gonna use to get me through this, but I don't 0:37:36.360 --> 0:37:37.840 have to know how. 0:37:39.280 --> 0:37:42.600 It might be manna that falls from the sky. It 0:37:42.680 --> 0:37:45.400 might be a widow at Zaraphat that God uses to femie. 0:37:46.360 --> 0:37:48.520 It might be a little boy's lunch that I didn't 0:37:48.560 --> 0:37:51.000 even count in the official total because I thought he 0:37:51.080 --> 0:37:52.120 was insignificant. 0:37:53.520 --> 0:37:57.640 But the seed always looks small. God might use a 0:37:57.719 --> 0:38:02.200 little boy, a little thing that's a littless thing. I 0:38:02.200 --> 0:38:05.640 don't have to know how. And some of you are 0:38:05.680 --> 0:38:09.520 stuck because you need to know too much. 0:38:18.640 --> 0:38:22.920 You need to be perceived as someone who knows, and 0:38:22.960 --> 0:38:28.120 so you remain in darkness. You want to be perceived 0:38:28.160 --> 0:38:34.040 as someone who understands things that the soil represents uncertainty. 0:38:35.840 --> 0:38:37.520 And I think it's good every once in a while 0:38:37.520 --> 0:38:41.520 for us to hear a sermon where the farmer admits. 0:38:42.200 --> 0:38:43.200 I don't even know how. 0:38:46.800 --> 0:38:49.560 Come on, because if you had to call somebody who 0:38:49.640 --> 0:38:51.440 just lost their child in a car wreck, like I 0:38:51.480 --> 0:38:55.279 have to do off it, and you were telling them 0:38:56.160 --> 0:38:59.600 that God is going to get you through this, you 0:38:59.600 --> 0:39:00.120 wouldn't be. 0:39:00.239 --> 0:39:02.640 So quick to tell them how. 0:39:03.680 --> 0:39:06.360 I don't know how, but I pray right now in 0:39:06.400 --> 0:39:08.560 the name of Jesus that the God of all comfort, 0:39:09.239 --> 0:39:10.400 that's who. 0:39:10.640 --> 0:39:13.160 Would surround you with his angels. That's who. 0:39:13.600 --> 0:39:19.120 I don't know how, but I know whom I have believed. 0:39:20.560 --> 0:39:24.760 So I pray, I sew, I scatter, some seed gets snatched, 0:39:24.760 --> 0:39:28.080 some seed gets scorched, some seed gets strangled. 0:39:28.680 --> 0:39:31.479 I'd make a good sermon, wouldn't it. They all start 0:39:31.480 --> 0:39:32.200 with the letter. 0:39:32.080 --> 0:39:39.680 S and the temptation is when the seed is scattered 0:39:40.560 --> 0:39:45.280 but it does not produce. You never want to sew again. 0:39:48.520 --> 0:39:53.000 So then you prayed and the cancer still ate their body. 0:39:53.120 --> 0:39:54.439 What's to make you ever want to pray? 0:39:54.480 --> 0:39:54.760 Again? 0:39:55.760 --> 0:40:02.080 So you stopped sewing, you stopped expecting, you had a funeral, 0:40:02.640 --> 0:40:04.160 and stopped expecting a harvest. 0:40:07.080 --> 0:40:08.040 The business failed. 0:40:09.239 --> 0:40:13.399 That one child is on drugs, and you got very 0:40:13.440 --> 0:40:17.040 confused about the difference between God's job and your job. 0:40:20.960 --> 0:40:34.759 Obedience is the job of the farmer. Jesus is not 0:40:34.800 --> 0:40:39.400 the farmer in this parable. He's the seed. He's the seed. 0:40:40.520 --> 0:40:43.920 He is the seed of God, and he was planted 0:40:43.920 --> 0:40:46.480 in the soil of the earth for three days, and 0:40:46.520 --> 0:40:50.239 his resurrection gives us an expectation that we don't have 0:40:50.280 --> 0:40:53.239 to understand the events of our life. 0:40:55.320 --> 0:40:56.280 To walk in a posture. 0:40:56.320 --> 0:41:02.640 I think it's better sometimes that we don't know. I 0:41:02.640 --> 0:41:04.959 think it's better sometimes that we stay in a state 0:41:05.000 --> 0:41:08.319 of uncertainty so that we don't get confused and think 0:41:08.320 --> 0:41:08.840 that we're. 0:41:08.680 --> 0:41:11.400 The seed, that we're the source. 0:41:16.520 --> 0:41:18.720 And I pray that this message has been practical today 0:41:18.719 --> 0:41:20.319 and you'll be able to take something from it for 0:41:20.400 --> 0:41:32.560 your life. But really, I think it's supposed to be prophetic. 0:41:33.920 --> 0:41:36.360 That doesn't mean a crystal ball or a nine hundred number. 0:41:39.760 --> 0:41:42.920 To me, that means that you receive this seed personally. 0:41:45.400 --> 0:41:49.799 It's all about the soil. And if this seed gets 0:41:49.800 --> 0:41:54.440 snatched or scorched by the trials of life, or choked 0:41:54.440 --> 0:41:57.640 out by the deceitfulness of riches, the cares of this life, 0:41:58.160 --> 0:42:01.160 or the desire for other things. It will be as 0:42:01.200 --> 0:42:05.600 if it was never sown, and it'll be just another seed, 0:42:06.840 --> 0:42:10.680 just another pep talk, just another Bible lesson. 0:42:12.600 --> 0:42:16.319 If you receive this seed, though, I'm trying. 0:42:16.040 --> 0:42:20.839 To tell you that God has set you free of 0:42:20.880 --> 0:42:27.160 the expectation to understand obedience is your job. 0:42:27.880 --> 0:42:40.320 Outcome is God's. Let him do his job. Let him 0:42:40.520 --> 0:42:43.040 do his job. 0:42:43.920 --> 0:42:45.319 Let the dirt do its work. 0:42:47.440 --> 0:42:49.920 Let the sufferings of this present time producing you a 0:42:49.960 --> 0:42:51.799 glory that is not worthy to be. 0:42:51.760 --> 0:42:56.760 Compared in comparison. Is so much bigger than that dirt. 0:42:57.560 --> 0:43:03.080 Some of you are a dirt stage right now of 0:43:03.160 --> 0:43:06.680 your dream. The first thing that happened to Joseph when 0:43:06.680 --> 0:43:08.720 God gave him a dream. 0:43:09.000 --> 0:43:15.719 Do you remember, they held a parade in his honor. Huh? 0:43:15.800 --> 0:43:18.439 He printed up his business cards and started handing them out. 0:43:21.120 --> 0:43:23.239 He got four million followers on Instagram. 0:43:23.320 --> 0:43:27.040 Huh. They threw him in a pit. 0:43:28.480 --> 0:43:33.200 Every promise needs a pit, every dream needs dirt. 0:43:35.800 --> 0:43:37.319 Your faith needs fertilizer. 0:43:37.640 --> 0:43:45.360 All by hisself, the ground produces grain, water it, plow it. 0:43:46.560 --> 0:43:50.320 Get your heart right, and let the dirt the rejection, 0:43:51.560 --> 0:43:53.880 the insecurity, the confusion. 0:43:55.080 --> 0:43:56.759 God is not the author of confusion. 0:43:57.520 --> 0:44:01.440 God did not reject you, but he will use Genesis 0:44:01.520 --> 0:44:06.399 fifty twenty. What you meant for evil, God intended it 0:44:06.440 --> 0:44:09.120 for good and the saving of many lives. 0:44:10.840 --> 0:44:14.000 Let the dirt do its work. 0:44:16.200 --> 0:44:18.760 Praying for people right now in this moment, everyone's standing. 0:44:19.600 --> 0:44:23.319 Who needed this word today? Because you've got something in 0:44:23.360 --> 0:44:26.279 the ground in your life. If it's you and you're 0:44:26.280 --> 0:44:28.440 not ashamed to respond to the word of God, and 0:44:28.480 --> 0:44:30.520 you don't need to appear to have it all together. 0:44:31.760 --> 0:44:34.520 If you are in a situation in your life where 0:44:34.560 --> 0:44:36.880 you don't know how, you don't know how it's going 0:44:36.960 --> 0:44:38.759 to come together, you don't know how to do what 0:44:38.960 --> 0:44:40.120 you've been positioned to do. 0:44:40.840 --> 0:44:43.040 Your responsibility exceeds your experience. 0:44:43.120 --> 0:44:46.040 If that's you today, at every location, lift your hands 0:44:46.040 --> 0:44:50.000 to your Father, Lord. Whoever's lifting their hands right now, 0:44:50.680 --> 0:44:55.759 they're saying to you without words, I don't know how, and. 0:44:55.680 --> 0:44:58.000 I believe this is a posture that you can honor. Father. 0:44:59.200 --> 0:45:01.919 You said, if we would umble ourselves in your sight, 0:45:02.000 --> 0:45:05.320 you would lift us out. But that when we're proud 0:45:05.360 --> 0:45:09.040 and that we're haughty, that you have to oppose us. 0:45:10.800 --> 0:45:12.399 And God, we want to line up on the right 0:45:12.480 --> 0:45:17.040 side today and understand that there's a part of this 0:45:17.160 --> 0:45:20.880 process of our growth and our faith and our families. 0:45:22.280 --> 0:45:24.200 And our psychology. 0:45:23.480 --> 0:45:29.200 And our life experiences and our goals, our visions, our 0:45:29.239 --> 0:45:35.000 ideas that we just don't know how. Some of us 0:45:35.040 --> 0:45:38.240 are standing at the crossroads of multimillion dollar business deals 0:45:38.239 --> 0:45:41.800 and we don't know how. Some of us are trying 0:45:41.800 --> 0:45:43.960 to buy a next meal, and we don't know how. 0:45:45.360 --> 0:45:46.520 Some of us are. 0:45:46.760 --> 0:45:48.920 Trying to figure out how to get married, and we 0:45:48.960 --> 0:45:49.480 don't know how. 0:45:50.320 --> 0:45:51.799 Some of us are trying to figure out how to 0:45:51.800 --> 0:45:52.319 stay Mary. 0:45:52.360 --> 0:45:55.880 Then we don't know how. Pray the prayer say, I 0:45:55.880 --> 0:46:01.640 don't know how, God, but I know who. I believe 0:46:02.600 --> 0:46:07.319 that you are with me, and I declare that by 0:46:07.360 --> 0:46:13.480 your spirit I will rise like a seed planted in 0:46:13.520 --> 0:46:16.040 the earth, I will rise. 0:46:17.120 --> 0:46:22.960 I believe in resurrection. I don't know how, but I 0:46:23.080 --> 0:46:23.520 know who. 0:46:24.440 --> 0:46:26.600 Now, let me tell you something about resurrection. With your 0:46:26.640 --> 0:46:30.440 hands still lifted, Resurrection is not an event. Resurrection is 0:46:30.480 --> 0:46:33.799 a person. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the 0:46:33.880 --> 0:46:36.640 life so if you've got a situation in your life 0:46:36.840 --> 0:46:40.200 that needs to be resurrected, you don't have to know how. 0:46:40.640 --> 0:46:43.640 I don't have to understand that I know who is 0:46:43.680 --> 0:46:46.640 with me. I got the seed of the Word of God. 0:46:47.080 --> 0:46:49.880 I got the seed of faith. If I got faith 0:46:49.920 --> 0:46:52.840 the size of a mustard seed, I can say to 0:46:52.920 --> 0:46:57.080 this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea, 0:46:57.800 --> 0:47:03.719 and it shall be done. Get God a great price today. 0:47:05.080 --> 0:47:06.200 Thank you for joining us. 0:47:06.520 --> 0:47:08.960 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:47:09.040 --> 0:47:12.520 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:47:13.000 --> 0:47:15.480 You can click the link in the description to give now, 0:47:16.080 --> 0:47:19.920 or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information 0:47:20.480 --> 0:47:23.240 and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:47:23.520 --> 0:47:25.560 You can share it with your friends. You can click 0:47:25.600 --> 0:47:28.000 the share button, take a screenshot. 0:47:27.320 --> 0:47:29.359 And share it on your social stories and tag us 0:47:29.400 --> 0:47:30.439 at Elevation Church. 0:47:30.520 --> 0:47:37.160 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.