The Stories of Jesus 05/5/24 Mark 4:26-29

[Music] for [Music] for [Music] it's [Music] [Applause] well good morning First Baptist Church it is good to see each and every single one of you here my name is Cody I'm the pastor here and I'm just glad you're here we're all about loving God loving each other loving our community and world and one of the ways that you can do that if you were in community groups you heard from probably Rachel and Brendan they probably stopped by and said we need some help on the greeters Ministry and so if you can serve even once every three months show up to church about half an hour early and shake hands and smile we need Smiley people okay people that are willing to be nice as folks enter our church so if that's you and I know there's a lot of you here that are very friendly just see Brenan and Rachel they are greeting right now and so that would be a great way for you to serve hey we've got a whole bunch of things that are happening in our church one of those things is that tomorrow we got our women on Mission banquet and so I think is it today is the last day to sign up is that right nandas all right I'm looking for nods cath do I yes oh okay yeah there's a sheet in the table right right over here just go and sign up like during meet and greet if you're like I need to remember to do that go do it okay and they'll get you all squared away we do have our church picnic coming up that's at the hahha Tonka State Park out at the post office shelter okay so you know there's place for kids to play lots of hiking it'll take place after service and so just bring something to share

It'll be a great time also deadline for children's camp your deposit needs to be turned in this week okay if you want to go it's 50 bucks for the deposit and of course there's information about the joy group trip that's happening next the following week and so lots of things that are happening and all of them to be done for the glory of God I will be giving an update later on about Vern and Denny and so that'll be taking place after service also today is communion Sunday and so if you have not been able to receive the elements or maybe if one is out like I think over here they're out we do have some at other places you can do that during our meet and greet time as well which is going to be taking place right now so why don't you to take a moment stand up see a friend hug their neck say welcome to First Baptist Church I'll get it all down little Dan e well good morning church it's good to see you all here it's good to be in the house of the Lord this morning and it's also great to see all the little kiddos with us today I just love seeing these the faces of these young believers and young future believers who are being discipled by their parents here in this service and that's just such an encouraging sight well at this time as is our kind of tradition I'd like to invite you to Bow your heads and to close your eyes as we ask the Lord to prepare our hearts and our minds for worship today if you're with your family or with friends or your neighbors feel free to pray with each other out loud it doesn't have to be silent but just ask the Lord to prepare us for worship and so Lord we ask that you would help us to throw off any distractions that we've brought with us this morning we

Ask that you'd help us to focus our minds and our hearts on who you are and what you've done for us remind us this morning of how worthy you are of our worship and our praise Lord help us fulfill the calling that we have been called to be your priests to Proclaim your greatness to and with one another Lord help us help us not even to be focused on those things that we're doing after service today help us to put away the thought of lunch for now and instead Lord to focus on you to focus on the Christ that was sent for us who is living bread and water it's in Jesus name we pray amen I invite you to stand and join us as we sing together [Music] praise and glorify Our God the father of our Lord in Christ he has in heav His blessings on us for and bless in his sight he destined us to be and now we ad Eternal to the praise of his glory to the praise of your glory to the praise of your mercy and gra to the glory you are The God Who save praise and glorify Our God his in Christ in our areed away sacrif in known to us the mystery of will that Christ should be the head of all his purpose to fulfill to the praise of your glory to the praise of your mercy and graise to the glory you are The God Who sa praise and glorify Our God for we believe the word and through our faith we have heal the spirit of the Lord the gues Our Hope until Redemption wey in end to God the in to the praise of your glory to the

Praise of your mercy and grace to the glory you are The God Who to the praise of your glory to the praise of your mercy and PR to the glory you are the God who saes that is the God that we worship this morning the God who loves us who has reached down into our very lives while we were still Sinners so that we might be reconciled to him that's a reason to worship isn't it let's continue to worship this morning come behold theous in theing of the king he the theme of Heaven's Praises [Applause] Humanity with our longing in our Darkness now the light of life has come look to Christ to condescend it took on flesh to Ransom us come behold the wondrous Myst he the perfect son of in his living in his suffering never Trace nor stain us see the true and better at come to save the H of man Christ The Great and fulfillment of the LA in him we stand come behold the wonderous mystery Christ the Lord of on the tree in thead of Ruin sers hangs the lamb in Victory see the bright of our redemp see the father's un bringing son to Glory Grace un measure love un [Music] come behold the wondrous mystery slain by death the God of life but no grave could restrain him praise the Lord he is alive what a PO Taste of Deliverance how unwavering Our

Hope Christ in power resurrected as we will [Music] beaste what a foraste of Deliverance how unwavering our home Christ in power Resurrected as we will be when he comes what a poor taste of Deliverance how unwavering Our Hope Christ in power resurrected as we will be when he comes [Music] what an amazing reality we look forward to because of the death burial and Resurrection we are looking forward to his coming again you can be seated as our ushers come forward let's pray dear Lord we thank you so much for today we thank you for all that you've done for us thank you for your word and thank you most of all for your love and your grace and your mercy in Jesus name amen at this time we have a testimony from Miss B this is on offer mytim sorry about that last week last week you heard from Janet bis about tithing and how God was so faithful in meeting all their needs even when they really wondered if that was going to happen and you know it's fun to give how many of you have little children you can't wait to give them something they really want that special doll or that bike and when they get it there's joy for them and for you well it's the same with God we should just love giving to God in second Corinthians it says the person who s

Bearingly reaps sparingly and those who give generously will reap generously each must give as God leads us the Philippians really caught on to this because they had a missionary by the name of Paul and they would send him gifts every so often because missionaries need gifts they need money most missionaries get support from churches and from individuals and they don't always have full support and so the Philippians caught on to that and so they sent money to Paul quite often but Paul wrote back and he says not that I seek for the gift he had learned to be content in whatever situation he was in but I see seek fruit for your account and then he goes on to say and my God shall shall supply all your needs according to the riches and Christ Jesus and I think a lot of times we quote that verse Oh God will apply our needs but I personally think it's connected to the verses before that if you support missionaries or give and help others God Will Supply your needs shortly after I was saved the Lord spoke to me about giving to support the church after all they have lights they have salaries and so forth and they have to be paid and so we learned to do that my husband wasn't saved yet so I asked him can we give tenth of our income he said well as long as we can go vacation and so back then back in the 60s I started giving a tithe and I've never missed a meal yet but about a year ago Cassie gave me a book about a man who had a friend he went to college with but he was Chinese so he went back to China and he was going to go to China for business so he's going to look them up so he went to the universities and looked under

Doctors and looked under all these nice jobs and couldn't find him and he finally found him and he was a janitor he saids what happened he said' I live in China if you're a Christian you don't get a good job you're just lucky to find anything to do at all and that really spoke to my heart and he went on to say how this man was arrested and how he was tortured and I couldn't even in this audience go into what they did to him but the Lord spoke to my heart and said you need to support some Chinese missionary Aries so I know some people from new tribes and I contacted them and they went to China quite often and said please send me a couple names and so I picked one of the names and emailed them told them who I was and I felt that I needed to support them I wanted to support them and thankfully well they were Chinese I figured they were Americans going to Chinese but actually they were Chinese reaching Chinese but she had been here to school so she knows English and so we've been corresponding now for almost a year back and forth and they are delightful people but they are always under the watch care cameras everywhere and so they have to really be careful they have a church and a lot of people there in China are afraid to go to church because if the wrong people see them they could be thrown in prison well then they go out into the country where the fields are and then they talk to those people and many of those people have been saved But there again they find a place in the woods where they know and so one by one they find their way into the woods and then they have their Church there then in December of last year I wrote her and I said if you wouldn't mind could you tell me what your support level is and she wrote back

And she said most of these missionaries in this church know you're not supposed to really talk a lot about that but she said if you if someone asks you can tell them and so she wrote back and said well one of our supporters that was a church they wrote us just recently and said they were so sorry but they could not continue the support and it was a large amount of money and without looking at my checkbook really giving it much thought I knew the Holy Spirit was talking to me and I wrote back and said I'll meet that need well then I got to thinking I wonder how this is going to work out within a week I received a letter from Social Security department and they always for those of you who are younger Lots longer younger than I am you get a check you get a letter in the mail in December saying what they're going to send you in January and I had already gotten that but here comes another letter from the Social Security I thought what in the world of course I was almost afraid to open it up they going to take money back and so I'll read it and it says due to an error in your pro Social Security we are increasing your monthly amount Pastor you want to guess how much it was yep the same amount so every month these dear missionaries are getting that amount of money from our government praise the Lord [Applause] well what an just an amazing testimony at this time I'd like to read to you out of the book of Psalms and I complete there it is yeah Psalm 11915 your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path this next song we're going to sing is be thou my vision which is simply just a prayer to God that he would light our path that he would show us his ways and of course

We know he already has amen he's given us his good word to show us who he is what he's done and what he would have us to do this song is just a prayer and an acknowledgement of that so I invite you to stand and join us as we sing be thou my Vis oh Lord of my heart not be all else to be save that thou my thought by day or by Night waking or sing thy presence my life [Music] be thou my wisdom be thou my true word I with thee and thou with me Lord th my great father I thy true son th in me dwelling and I with me [Music] one is I he not nor men's empty praise thou might in th and always th thou only be first in my heart my king of Heaven my treasure [Music] thou High King Of Heaven when Victory is one [Music] may I reach heaven Jo bright Heart of My Own Heart whatever be still be my vision oh ruler of All Heart of My Own Heart what be still be my vision oh ruler [Music] as morning and day aw to you I bring my oh gracious God my source of strength in you I live and Bre each power is yours by wisom each deow by Sovereign hand my help me stand be glorified [Music] today as day unfold I seek your will in all of Liv

Ste and the temp me still I cl to [Music] your let every effort of my life display the matless work of Christ make be a Living Sacrifice be glorified today [Music] as gives way toest night your spirit still is here and though my strength like the light you mercies will [Music] rest in you abide with me until our trial and suffer give way to final Victory be glorified [Music] today I rested you abide with me until our trial and sufferings give way to final Victory be glorified [Music] today let's pray Lord we ask that you would be glorified today through our actions Lord we ask that you would enable us to act in such a way that would bring glory to your Holy Name Your worthy Name Lord we pray that you would remind us of what you have for us Lord that you would show us what you have planned for us that we might walk in your ways it's in Jesus name we pray amen all right kids children's lesson time special instructions you guys all need to sit on the floor not on the steps with the exception of my helper all right I have something special oh have a seat have a seat on the floor guys have a seat on the floor on the floor I have something special

For you guys today okay you guys ready all right okay my helper Amilia can you hand out can who wants a seed I need a helper to give me a seed take this one too okay here pick one here just pick someone okay there you go and I also need someone to have some water I need someone to give water he all right okay good you want take this okay well I'm going to try and make a flower grow okay I want to try and make a flower grow what does a flower need to grow water okay what does it need first before water sunlight okay so sunlight and water okay what dirt sure but what yeah seed that's right so who has the seed who has a seed okay bud can you put it in there for me can you put it in there right in top right on top of my thumb right on top on my thumb there you go oh you want to grab it again okay put it right on top there you go okay yes and then it also needs water okay who has the water okay can you squeeze that in there perfect thank you okay now let's see here what else do we need I think yeah well yeah sunlight but some you know we have lights you've ever seen flowers grow in light like this I think what it needs is a little bit of shaking okay and maybe a little bit of encouragement can you guys encourage and say come on flower grow you can do it is that going to work oh I don't know I don't know okay well let's just sing let's let's take here hold on oh I think I hear it I hear growing okay oh what's that is that a flower who would like it here let's give it here there you go all right actually here let's give it to a lady let's give it to a lady let's give it to a nice young lady right in the back there there we go okay now

Wasn't that cool how I made that flower grow that's not a fake flower is that a fake flower no it's real it's actually a real flower okay guys yeah you're right you're right I am not a magician okay this is my first try but hey the point is I didn't make it grow okay it was a trick right but in the Bible the Bible tells us how things do grow you know because you guys said hey how does a flower grow well you need sunlight you need this and this and that's all true we need all these things but even still we cannot actually make things grow Farmers don't actually make things grow God gives a grow so let's read here what our passage for today it says the kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil and he sleeps and Rises night and day and the seed sprouts and grows how he himself does not know he doesn't know a professional farmer does not know how the seed grows and the point is this God is the one who makes all the seeds all of the plants that we see grow okay and just as he causes the growth for plants that give us food to eat for our stomach so does he also grow us spiritually when the seed of the Gospel is planted in our hearts and we don't need to worry we can go to bed and we can sleep and we can get up in the morning and rest assured that Jesus that God is growing us into his kingdom into his children okay and he's taking care of us we don't have to work like do things for God in order for him to give us growth he grows it in US isn't that good all right let's pray heavenly father thank you for loving us thank you for these children thank you thank you for just being able to look out into the world and see your creation and understand through these Parables what you are doing in our hearts you are so wise and so kind

Please grow in us today and help us to just depend on you we ask these things in Jesus name amen all right here you go guys are you okay bud you're T you're t how much how much hey Nathan you need to remind your son this a Baptist Church not a Pentecostal church just kidding now we could do with more of that amen well if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to Mark chapter 4 Mark chapter 4 we're going to be in verses 26- 29 and on Thursday morning I got a chance to actually sit down with Vern for about an hour to get update about his wife how Denny is doing and got a lot of information and he's just relaying it to me it's just all B and so I did my best to try to condense it down in a way and try to remember as much as I can but it's very clear that God is working in this situation just want to begin with that because as Vern began talking about not considering the wh IFS okay he can compared himself to feeling kind of like Peter walking on the waves with Christ and not looking at the waves you know just keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus and he feels like if he takes off his eyes off Christ then he's going to look at the waves and be filled with fear and begin to sink and that's not if you know Vern that's not really something that you see a lot of is fear in his life very courageous man and this is very serious situation you may remember that while in the Ivory Coast Denny she started getting pain in her abdomen and after X-rays at the local hospital they said they she needed additional scans in Aban and of course that in that City and in that country the main language is French but just like English

Medical terminology is very foreign to us French even more so terminology but thankfully christey was there and could just go along with it because you know being a nurse and her being well-versed in French now she was able to kind of function as a mediator and so we see once again God's hand in that situation and at that hospital they told her that they couldn't get the CT scan for a few days but God used her pain in order to get in immediately and Denny she was she was crying actually not from the pain but because her daughter was upset that she was in pain and wasn't telling anyone and so when you know she started getting upset and crying because of that Christy told her milk it milk it so that way she would get in and immediately she did and that and that bought them U at least two extra days to get the scan in and the scans confirmed that she had fluid in her abdomen cyst in the ovaries and other areas and so they chose quickly to move treatment from Aban to the US and got provided seats on the plane last minute a smooth flight on the plane no mist connecting flights which in our modern time is just absolutely phenomenal they even sent a long Prince for Denny to show the doctors at KU and they have biopsied her and diagnosed her with stage three cancer stage three means that it's growing and so I asked Vern I said what are ways that the church can pray for you what are specific things that we can do and so I condense these down firstly his words not mine I don't think they knew what we were preaching about what I was preaching about today but for the seed of the Gospel to continue to grow that was his very first prayer request and we already see God using opportunities through the response that the church and their supporting churches

Have made a lot of people are embittered especially towards the American Church you know the American church has these big facilities and you know they do all these elaborate things and they're not able to respond but through your generosity we were able to respond and thankfully the Lord he moved in some really powerful ways softening the hearts of people that were previously hardened to the Gospel your work makes a kingdom difference secondly that the cancer has not spread out of the abdomen that's the next prayer request and we want to take time and pray for that every Sunday you guys might know like right out here in the old Fellowship Hall there is a picture of Vern and Denny right there take time to remember them pray for them intercede on their behalf thirdly pray for their finances it's it's not cheap and so just be praying about how the Lord might be prompting you in that area and then for the Johnson's to continue to look to Christ and so that's the way that we want to pray and I want to encourage you guys to do that we have been working primarily through Rhonda and Diana thank you ladies so much for being willing to spearhead that and if you still want to help Vern and Denny we'd encourage you to do it through them now if you have your Bible please turn with me to Mark 4: 26- 29 we are going to okay we are going to be in this Parable it's one of Jesus's shortest and it and it only appears in The Book of Mark there's no cross references there's no none of that stuff here I'm take me back buddy yeah take me back to the very thank you buddy appreciate that we're going to be in here and we're going to be talking about the kingdom of God today the kingdom of God is the message that Christ preached from the very beginning of his ministry we see that in Mark 1:15 which says the time is

Fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the Gospel Jesus's recorded first words when he came to his public Ministry he preached this message not just in Mark But in Matthew as well it says reent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand that is Christ's purpose in coming to this earth is to preach the Gospel of the kingdom of God and to fulfill the requirements to be our penal substitutionary sacrifice means they took on the very penalty and he took on our place at the cross the kingdom of God is God's righteous rule over every aspect of creation and it's discussed not just in the New Testament but actually this theme appears almost from the beginning of the Bible in Genesis chapter 14 where Abraham he gives a tithe to this kind of mysterious figure he's the king of Salem this man named melkisedek and people kind of always wonder why that tithe well in the Book of Psalms he's kind of given a semi Divine status I hate using that word but you know we don't know for sure who melkisedek was he the pre-incarnate Christ if that's the case then he is divine was he a type we don't know there's a lot of debates about that but here's what it says in Psalm 110:4 the Lord has SW sworn and will not change his mind you are a priest Forever After the order of melchisedek that verse is referenced in Hebrews in direct connection to Jesus Christ and so now the kingdom it should be found in this world in different ways U most commonly it should be found among the people of God as the church gathers as the church worships as the church serves as the church goes on Mission as the church evangelizes as the church does ministry as the church loves and fellow fellowships with each other as the church takes communion as the church

Does those different things we should see greater Kingdom work as a result of that and it happens in a very general sense at places like here at First Baptist but yet the kingdom also has not been fully realized yet that'll happen when Christ returns and he will return visibly he will return with great Authority and as the church Church goes and it becomes a greater blessing to This World by making disciples sharing the Gospel bringing all things under the authority of Jesus Christ we should and ought to see greater and greater influence of God's Kingdom in this world yet Christ's kingdom is not of this world and that's kind of a weird dichotomy to walk because it's not some political iCal hope based on a candidate it is a hope based upon the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which means that it should make a very direct impact in our society because the Gospel CH should change everything about us it should change how we work it should change how we educate it should change how we do art should change how we talk it should change our entertainment at least among Believers right the Gospel touches all aspects of society because Christ he has all authority and it is a Christian's duty to bring Kingdom flu influence wherever we can to speak the truth of the Gospel whenever it presents itself but how does that happen that's that's the big question and so that's what the parable that Christ is going to teach us today that's what it's all about so if you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we read Mark 4: 26 through 29 God's word says this and he said the kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the

Ground he sleeps and Rises night and day and the seed sprouts and grows he knows not how the Earth produces by itself first the blade then the ear then the grain the full grain in the ear and when the grain is ripe at once he puts in the sickle because the Harvest has come let's pray so Lord we do thank you for your word we pray that today that we would be fully attentive to what you have to say to us we ask that U as we talk about the kingdom and how we are participants in that Kingdom but also how we are participants in growing that Kingdom I pray that we would be found faithful and that you would move our hearts to Greater obedience despite where we're at Lord if people need to know you today I pray that's what would happen and if Christians need to change some habits then Lord I pray that what would happen but most of all I just pray that you would work in our church this is your church above everything else and so we just ask that you would work Among Us in Jesus name amen well this Parable is really the only the only Parable is only related to us in Mark's Gospel it's simple it's concise it's chock full of encouragement but I want you to remember the context of who John Mark is writing to John Mark is writing to Roman Believers and we said this is probably one of the earliest Gospel accounts sometime around 6061 ad this is during the reign of Emperor Nero he would he would be one of the worst most brutal dictators to persecute Christians in the ancient world but it wasn't just Nero that would persecute Christians you had others like citus deman tons of others 11 other Caesars that would continue this unjustified and horrific persecution and execution of Believers in the ancient

World and so you wouldd have to ask this question as a Christian how on Earth is the kingdom of God anywhere real where you know if I become a Christian all of a sudden I'm going to get I'm liable to be killed to be hung on a cross and so this very innocuous Parable is really a way to encourage Believers that God's work is still going to go forth let's take a look at this Parable because there's another example of a sewer and we looked at that a couple of weeks ago and Christ he says that the kingdom of God is if a man should scatter seed on the ground that's what it's like just a man reaching into that bag of seed and just scattering It On The Ground just like this I was going to get seed but I don't want to clean it up but imagine that's what the kingdom of God is like he doesn't compare it to a majestic Mountain he doesn't compare it to you know the distant galaxies or the beautiful stars in the sky not the things that bring us all it's a dude spreading seeds it's so simple but every time that Christ talks about seed in any of his Parables it's always in reference reference to the word of God to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and if we were to take some notes I believe the first point that we should write down is plant okay the man he a scattering seed in the on the ground because he hopes for a harvest in the future that's the point now as Christians in the 21st century this is called evangelism evangelism is completely different than Outreach for so many Christians probably for the last hundred years or so we make the church ministry and evangelism and we've married the two and yet that has never been the case for the previous 1900 years of church

Ministry when I talk about Outreach and Outreach is something that a church is supposed to do think of things like aana Vacation Bible School revivals men's breakfasts Women's Bible studies all these different things that we do as churches those are ways to outreach and to love people but that's different than evangelism somewhere along the way we began to marry these two and evangelism is simply this it's where Christians love their neighbors their friends their co-workers their family all these people that God brings into their lives they love them and they share the Gospel with them that's evangelism it's as simple as that's the scattering of the seed that Christ is talking about here and according to a LifeWay study 20% of Christians rarely or never pray for the spiritual status of others okay rarely or never pray for people that don't have a relationship with Christ in other words people aren't praying and in a more recent study 70% of Christians haven't shared their faith with anyone in the last 6 months 70% evangelism is simply sharing the Gospel it doesn't mean that you have all the answers that's one of the reasons why a lot of people don't share the Gospel is what if I what if I'm asked a question and I don't know the answer and that can be terrifying evangelism doesn't mean that you have to have a script memorized or anything like that but it does mean that you're willing to learn how to do it now anybody like to watch Street evangelists on YouTube and things like that anybody like Ray Comfort I love watching him I love I love watching Jeff Durban I love watching Cliff necky he goes to campuses up in the Northeast at University of Connecticut and stuff like that he just shares the Gospel with college students Street Preachers or not we must be willing to ask this

Question of ourselves a am I faithful in scattering the seed of the Gospel you don't have to be a Street Preacher but as a disciple you have to ask yourself that question am I just scattering the seed of the Gospel it takes work it takes a willingness to take the seed and to scatter it on the ground but what else does this man do in this Parable I mean he goes out he scatters ing seed and then what does he do next he sleeps it's one of the things that we're pretty good at right amen that's right a napping for the glory of God but this man all he does is he scatters the seed and he sleeps and he rises night and day and he's going through these daily habits and listen evangelism really takes just relying on the Lord at that point in time that's it we scatter the seed and wait that's what we're called to do to rely on the Lord the kingdom of God it doesn't Sprout up overnight sure there's some exceptional cases and Acts chapter 2 would be a great great example of a very exceptional case of the Gospel going out and a massive Harvest coming in for many parents though that they've scattered the seed of the Gospel among their children and now it's waiting with anxious anticipation of waiting on God to work even when it seems like he's not because he is because God's word does not return void and the frustrating part is that God doesn't work in our timing does he doesn't work in our time we learned about that with you know just with Denny's diagnosis there they are they're finishing up the translation and there's a lot of work that needs to get done and there's all these things that are left undone in Africa but God's timing is different than our

Timing the trips that we were planning to take those are delayed the prayer the fundraising it's all kind of on hold right now because God he doesn't work in our timing yesterday I got a reminder 7 years ago we Pastor Kirk he had asked us to do this Revival it was called the E3 Revival do you guys remember that there might have been like maybe four of us that really participated I and I'm dead serious like first night it was Sunday night we went Sunday night through Wednesday night we had Willie Reigns that was preaching and you know I think Sunday night we had like 40 people here and by Wednesday night there was like seven that was our Revival and you know it kind of opened up our eyes to a few things the point is this we cannot force the spirit of God to work we can't it doesn't it we cannot manipulate people into pursuing the Lord we can manipul manipulate people emotionally but that's not where we're about are we want God that's what we want above everything else we want God and I think that we should really just remind ourselves that our responsibility in the Kingdom grow growth is to scatter the seed the rest of the work is all things that God does he's the one that we rely on to do the work and God does work look at verse 27 it says that it grows it advances he knows not how you see God he always brings Kingdom growth through the work of evangelism and he makes it he makes it very clear in a few ways first way that he does this is through personal growth if you've ever gone just sharing your the Gospel with someone okay how many of you spent a lot of time in prayer before going and sharing the Gospel anybody come on show of hands all right yeah it drives you to the Lord because you know that you're

Not going to have any success unless the Lord goes with you a couple of years ago my wife she was doing Women's Bible study on Thursdays at her house there's two categories of knowledge here okay need to know and need to grow right in order to follow Christ you need to know certain things like I am a sinner I need salvation I need Jesus that he is he is perfect and he is that sinless sacrifice like you know those things but you don't need to have a full Theology of christology in order to become a Christian right you don't need you don't need to know about you know e superlap arianism or infer laap arianism right you don't need to know those things but you do need to know Christ you need to know that but what do you need to grow and as Amber was doing this in our home it was some Jehovah's Witnesses that were coming by right and hey you know yall are studying the Bible let's study the Bible with you know and they were talking about the deity of Christ and how Christ was a created being right and all of a sudden you know what we had to do because they had some good Scriptures they always have good Scriptures okay but what we had to do was we had to study more get to know Christ a lot more learn about the pre-incarnate Christ and it drove us to things that we needed to grow in and so we had the need to know but we also had the need to grow and we learned more about Jesus and so when they came back around you know what we were ready to do we're ready to talk about the deity of Christ well what about this what Christ makes an appearance here in the Old Testament oh yeah well you know and you're able to debate not in order to prove them wrong but in order to win them to Christ you have as Christians we will have OPP opportunities in order to grow in our faith based upon how we walk with the

Lord because he's going to bring things to our mind that we've never considered before and evangelism causes growth personally but it also causes growth Kingdom wise and we may not know for years about the impact that we might make while while serving in Ministry I am privileged and honored to have the best wife ever I really am she is a fantastic helpmate and I love her very much and she hasn't just been like that since being the pastor here really she was the right hand for me as a youth pastor right because I don't need to be hanging out with teenage girls right just like I don't need to be hanging out with gr grown women and so what she would do is she would be the like the main person to pour into some of these girls and there was one girl that came to our youth group for a very short season Noel you remember her and she was I don't know she didn't really stay around very long she was there for like a month maybe two months or something like that and then she disappears and we never see her again until just a couple of years ago Amber gets a friend request on Facebook and turns out that seed of the Gospel that had been sewn a decade before had grown up into a very solid godly woman and we're just like looking at this going wow awesome he doesn't know how right like that's that's that's how God works and I take Delight in that remember that personal evangelism is not Church programs programs change from culture to culture programs change from generation to generation but the scattering of the seed of the Gospel is for all Christians time and I love this part of verse 27 because it says he does not know how man and I've seen that happen so many times sometimes I get up here on a Sunday morning and I feel like I hit a home run and I don't hear anything from anyone

You know it just that's what happens you know I feel like I don't stumble over my words and everything just goes well people laugh at the right times you know that kind of stuff and then sometimes I come up here and I'm I just feel like I'm a bumbling idiot right and I'm stumbling over my words and things just don't seem to be going right I'm just like God why were you doing that and then I get a dozen people that message me and they say man the Lord really just used you in powerful ways and I'm like I don't know what I'm doing thankfully the Lord works in the weakness he doesn't operate through our strength when we start working in our own strength and we take God out of the equation but when we are saying God I am weak can you help me he brings us his strength with is which is infinitely more powerful than our strength it reminds me of John chapter 3:8 which says the wind blows where it wishes you hear it sound you do not know where it comes from or where it goes so it is with everyone who is born of the spirit and I don't know how God's kingdom works right in regards to how quickly it grows or if there's some type of special formulas or anything like that but I do know this that God he causes the growth and as Christians are faithful we will see God's growth in God's timing so the question that we should ask is do you trust the Lord or perhaps do you maybe find yourself going here God let me help you with that growth but there's a proc to this growth look at verse 28 verse 28 says that first there's the blade then the ear then the full grain in the ear that word full is translated as mature it means that it's ready to be harvested have you ever felt like you expected new Believers to maybe be pretty close to where you're at in your spiritual walk even though you've been

Walking with the Lord for 20 some odd years you know as Christians that are mature in our walk we should be bearing with those that maybe Are Young younger and saying how can I help you in this area or brother sister how did you know that Scripture says this how can I how can I help walk alongside of you in this I know Amber she's had friends that you know she's looked up to and she said hey would you be willing to just walk alongside Me Maybe pour into me just as a as a woman those people go you should be discipled you should know how to do all of this and it's like a as a as a believer as a Believer we should be investing in people we should be spending time with people pouring the wisdom because you know when you're when you die your wisdom's gone like you don't get to spend all of eternity discipling people right you die and you're forgotten that's it and so I want to encourage you to make an impact on the people that God has placed around you walking with them through the Gospel showing them how the Christian walk goes we've had what five or six people in their 20s baptized over the last year are you walking with them are you pouring yourself into them are you saying Hey brother sister this is how you do the Christian walk and it's tough It's hard it takes time but notice what happens that there is a yield that takes place Place God he brings the growth there is a ripening there is a harvest Paul he wrote in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 10 he who supplies seed to the sewer and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sewing and increase the Harvest of your righteousness see it is God who is the one who works in our hearts to scatter the seed and he multiplies it in order for us to sew it to share it with others and he's the one that increases the Harvest just like

What he said in 1 Corinthians 3 I planted Apollo's watered but God gave the growth so neither he knew who plants nor he who Waters is anything but only God gives the growth he who plants and he who waters are one why are they one why are they one because they work for the same master and each will receive his wages according to his labor for we are God's fellow workers you are God's field God's Building in this passage it teaches us this beautiful and glorious truth that we may not know the Eternal impact that we make on the lives of people we may not see much harvest in our lifetime from evangelism back but we do know that God works s back before Spirit FM changed ownership and we had our radio Ministry one day I received a card from an inmate this inmate had just been totally blessed by the preaching Ministry I never would have had any clue about that unless he told someone which he did I'm thankful that he did but it just shows that we don't know the impact on this side of Eternity we may never see it and we have to ask ourselves are we okay with that are we okay with God working God's way we have we have to reconcile that with ourselves and with God you see our calling is to scatter the seeds that's our responsibility but it's God who brings the growth we scatter the seeds and then we go to sleep and we wake up and we repeat that process over all over again so what grows the kingdom of God it's the scattering of the seeds of the Gospel that's the whole point of his passage and the parable doesn't tell us other things that the farmer would do does it there's no watering there's no weeding no fertilizing he doesn't go into Pest

Control he doesn't talk about protecting it in fact the farmer he doesn't even cause the growth he doesn't know how it happens the point is that God is the one who works in the kingdom of God and God will not allow his kingdom to falter or be dissuaded from its task he is bringing all things to a final end and remember that the Christian that read this would be so assured that no matter what God was still at work and we might look at our culture and we might look at denominations and we might see all these different things that are happening where Biblical Orthodox Christianity is being shifted into the far reaches of our society and as Believers you know what we shouldn't just give into a an Escapist mentality we shouldn't just be saying oh man I hope that the raptures today okay you know what we should be doing is going man I need to be scattering more seeds how can I be Salt and Light to this world to love our neighbors even though we might disagree with them even though they got a completely different lifestyle how can I spread the seed of the Gospel even in their lives but once that growth is completed what happens the Harvest is ripe and God he's the one that brings it to the Forefront and so as Christians the main idea of this Parable seems to be that as Christians share the Gospel well that's God's declared means for growing his kingdom and as Christians share the Gospel it brings growth in the Kingdom in and of itself as Paul he writes this in Colossians 1: 5-6 of this you have heard before in the word of Truth The Gospel which has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing as it is also as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth this should make us stop and ask this question are you okay with that

Harvest happening in the Kingdom even if it's not around you what if it takes place in a different country what if it takes place in a different local church are you okay with that I say let's let God be God let's let him take care of the growth of the kingdom and let us be responsible for what we're responsible for which is what spreading the seed of the Gospel head heartand head I want you to know that this passage points us to trus in God's strategy over our own what's his strategy spread the seed of the Gospel simple as that we don't have to put any fluff around it's just as simple as that so let's commit to spreading the seed of the Gospel wherever we can heart I want you to believe that as we spread the Gospel God's kingdom will grow it is his declared strategy to impact the world so let's do it and I want you to take time this week to pray all right to plant the seeds to rely on God's work to watch the kingdom advance and see God bring a yield at this time we are going to move into our time of communion and as you guys know as a local church we allow for anyone that is in Christ to participate in communion with us doesn't mean that your walk has to be perfect but it does mean that you are walking with the Lord that you know him that you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and I think there's some different spots around here where you can get some communion stuff but if you would just think about what Christ has done for you his death his burial and his glorious

[Music] Resurrection if you would just take some time and ask the Lord say thank you thank you for dying for me and for being my king [Music] the bread that we partake in is a symbol of Christ's body it represents him being crushed for our sins it reminds us that he's the one that took on the full judgment and the punishment of the father to reconcile us to himself Scripture says in 1 Corinthians chap 11 for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed he took bread when we and when he had given thanks he broke it and he said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me take the bread church and eat with [Music] me Lord we are so thankful for your bread for this juice that we get to partake in God we just ask that you would help us to know and love you more and more even through this act of communion God we know that it's not the bread and the juice that literally binds us but it's the very presence of [Music] Christ thank you for that Mark of the Holy Spirit that we have where we bear witness with one another that you are growing us Lord as your people as members of this Kingdom Lord to do this work of sharing the go Gospel and doing Ministry God we just thank you for it all we just ask that your peace would be on us father thank you for your blood that was shed for us thank you that you poured it out freely so that all who enter into Christ might be saved and we just ask Lord that you would please move in

Us that we might know you more in Jesus name Amen in the same way also so he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the New Covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me take the cup and drink with [Music] me for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes let's pray and ask the Lord to send us out as ambassadors into his father we ask that right now that we would U just go forth from here as seed scattering Believers just willing to plant the seed of the Gospel fully relying on you to do the work for Kingdom advancement so that you would receive the Harvest father help us to walk Faithfully before you and to just take those opportunities as they present themselves we love you Lord in Jesus name amen yall go in peace [Music]