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Less is More (March 2, 2025)

• Organic Church • Season 2 • Episode 14

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Challenge your perspective on spiritual growth and community in this thought-provoking episode. We dive into the deep-seated issues of hypocrisy within Christianity, emphasizing the critical importance of genuine nurturing for our faith. Using the metaphor of plant growth, we explore how both individual and collective efforts contribute to a thriving faith life. Join us as we examine the stories of those who navigated their way from doubt to belief, shedding light on God’s transformational power. 

With rich insights from Scripture, this episode inspires listeners to reflect on their roles as nurturers of faith. The conversation encourages you to extend grace, love, and support to those around you, especially those who may feel disillusioned or marginalized. We also discuss the Parable of the Talents, urging everyone to recognize their gifts and invest them wisely in God’s kingdom. 

Engage with us as we unravel the essence of being part of a community that thrives on mutual upliftment and authentic connections. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to grow and nurture not only your own faith but also that of others around you. Join our journey, and let’s grow together! Be sure to subscribe, share your thoughts with us, and leave a review!

Speaker 1:

Pick at it, just right, you start to find all of the loosey-gooseys, the leaves that aren't really there. Why is that? Because even those of us who are the most seasoned in Christ still have a little bit of extra. That's not really Christ in our lives, right? And so the problem is is once we start to pick that out and the world loves to pick this out, right, and then who is this to the world? This is Jesus, this is the church.

Speaker 1:

The fake stuff, the stuff that was pulled off. Oh, you know, I talked to a Christian once who smoked. You know, I talked to a Christian once who smoked. I talked to a Christian once that used to swear. I talked to a Christian once that used to drink. I talked to a Christian once that used to what? Just fill in the blank, right? And then they go. Well, all Christians are hypocrites, all Christians. Oh, I'll never go to church.

Speaker 1:

I heard somebody say one time well, that's why I don't believe in God, that's why I don't believe. You want me to tell you why you don't believe in God? Because you're too dumb to even try. Let me tell you something there is no way that you can genuinely not believe that God is around, if you just live in his presence for a moment. I'm gonna tell you. During worship this morning, I was thinking to myself like Lord, I don't know what you're trying to do right now, but just do it right, because I know whenever you do it it's going to feel like fire. It's just something big is going to happen, and I always wait for whatever it is that he's going to do, and he didn't do it. He didn't do what I expected him to do. I expected this altar to be full of people laying on their face, but that was in my brain, right? Is it fair of me to say well, god, you didn't do that, so you must not be real? No, because I know who God really is right. This isn't about what I want. This is about what he's going to do right. And what is God going to do today? He is going to raise up healthy Christians Now. He's not going to do that by just giving us all the things that we want all the time. He's going to start you out right here Now.

Speaker 1:

See, when I look at this plant, I know that it's still a healthy plant. How do I know that? It's got a little bit of green? It's fairly firm, doesn't look like it's going to little bit of green. It's fairly firm, doesn't look like it's going to fall off anytime soon. But what most of you can't see that I can is there's lots of green little sprouts starting on these stems. See, god is doing something new for this plant. Sometimes the old has to die off in order for the new to start to grow. Amen.

Speaker 1:

Now, this doesn't give me hope for this plant, because I look at it in the flesh and go, yeah, two little starts. That thing's still really ugly looking. It still looks really sad and pathetic. But I know that in the right hands that thing can continue to grow. You are the hands that will water and feed one of those seeds. Casts on the stone, on the path, on the fertile soil, it doesn't matter, you will water those seeds.

Speaker 1:

Now we can plant the seed, we can water the seed, but we cannot make the seed grow. That is the responsibility of God, right? So I will scatter as much seed as I can, scatter Everywhere that I can throw. Have you guys ever seeded your lawn? They tell you how much you're supposed to use, like it's got this mathematical equation for the square footage of your yard and if you have one of those little things you push around, you got to set the dial just right, fill it full of seed. You know how I do it Shake the bag out, right? You can't seed too much, right? That's how I feel. I feel like when I'm sharing the word of God, I cannot seed too much, I cannot throw enough seed, but I have to be full in order to be able to spread seed.

Speaker 1:

See, I can't come to church on Sunday and sit in the back and play on my phone. I can't come to church on Sunday and have a coffee and sit and think about how happy I'll be when this is all over and I get to go home. I can't come to church on Sunday or Wednesday night or even talk to somebody on the phone and think, my, I just don't even know how God could even put up with that person, because you're choosing to poison at the root rather than nourish at the root. Okay, a lot of us. Our roots are too shallow and we're dying because we don't even understand the real love of God, because we're too worried about the world, we're worried about revenge, we're worried about how good we look on social media, we're worried about what fleshly people think and we're not worried enough about what God thinks of us.

Speaker 1:

Amen, listen, if you follow me on Instagram which I know none of you do, because I got like seven followers on Instagram I'm practically famous at this point, right, a few more they're going to have to start paying me. I know that the life that people see on social media is not the real life, right? For those of you who follow me on any type of social media Facebook, whatever you get to see the good, the bad and the ugly. Now, there isn't a lot of ugly in my life right now, but that's because I've re-centered myself on what God would have him, what I would have him do in my life, and it is his will, not mine, right, amen. And I'll tell you when I made that decision.

Speaker 1:

Actually, when my wife helped me make that decision and I say that truthfully, not jokingly, because when we had a serious conversation what do we want in 10 years? You ever gone to a job interview? Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Everybody's like, oh, I see myself growing, right here. None of us mean that If another opportunity comes up and I can make more money, I'm going there, right, hallelujah, thank you, jesus, but I know with God I can't go anywhere else and make more money. I know that I can't leave his grace and his mercy and get more. It might look like it on the surface, but I promise you I can't. And so when my wife and I asked ourselves where do we want to see ourselves in 10 years, we wanted to see ourselves somewhere far greater than we are today, right, financially, emotionally, spiritually.

Speaker 1:

My wife and I, we have a pretty good marriage. We don't fight very often because I know better. Right, listen, I love my wife, but what's the purpose of fighting with her? She is my spiritual covering, just the same as I'm her spiritual covering. If I fight with my wife and she's mad at me and I have to go to work that morning and I know she didn't pray for me, which my wife would never do I'm worried about my safety Because I know my wife's got my back in all things, right. When can we start treating other Christians like that? When can I look at the person sitting next to me and say I don't like your life, I don't like, I don't like you, but you know you're sitting next to your wife, right? I said sit next to the person you don't like and he goes amen, okay, I know that if, when I can turn to the person I'm sitting next to, whether I like you or not, and I can say I'm going to pray for you, I'm going to lift you up, that's when I'm going to make a change in the world. Right, that's when I'm going to make a change in the world.

Speaker 1:

See, we scatter seeds on the soil that we like. That doesn't mean that it is fertile soil, right? Because some of us fellowship with people who, every time you plant the seed, the birds just come and eat it up, right? Those are the people we spend time with and then we just can't figure out why isn't God working in their lives? Well, I'll tell you, you can't make that seed grow. Only God can make that seed grow. Their heart has to be softened before that soil becomes fertile, before God is able to make it grow.

Speaker 1:

All right, I already plucked out leaves. Oh man, I skipped around a lot. So now I'm confused. I know I felt good about this. I was like I got this. Oh man, okay, when we're dealing with those people who are not Christ-like, those people who are, we would consider the path where the soil cannot grow any seed.

Speaker 1:

Can I tell you that you cannot rationalize with somebody who hates God, even if they won't admit it. When you're sowing the seed and that seed is not growing, when you're sowing that seed and that seed is not getting watered, when you sow that seed and they're like, well, that's the most ignorant thing I've ever heard. You cannot rationalize with that person. I'm not telling you to run, I'm telling you get it at arm's length and pray for that person, lord, soften their heart, prepare them for what you are going to do in their lives. Amen. Listen.

Speaker 1:

I performed the wedding of a couple many years ago who did not believe in God, and they asked me as their friend and when I wrote their wedding service, they came to my house, we read through it and they said they're very respectful of who I was, but as their friend. They said they're very respectful of who I was, but as their friend. They said we would like to limit the mention of God and we would prefer that we don't pray during the ceremony, but we will bless the food at the reception and I think that my wife probably looked at me like I had six heads when I agreed to do that, because we're all like why would a pastor do that? I'm going to take what I can get. You're going to let me bless the food at the reception, where there are going to be more people. I'm going to take that right Now. That might not feel like a great return on investment, but I'm going to take it. And I said hey, listen, I'm not here to force God on you. If that's what you want, I'm happy to do that. And we did that.

Speaker 1:

And the young man's mom called me and she said Pastor Michael, I just don't understand. You're not even going to mention God in your message, because we had rehearsal, obviously. And I said you're right, I'm not. I said because they specifically asked me not to and I've approved it. And she's like well, what if you just put this here? And I said, yeah, I'll consider it, I'll think about it. I never thought about it and I never planned to do it.

Speaker 1:

Today they have two children, beautiful children, very healthy children, and they attend a local church. Now, these are people who wanted nothing to do with God when they got married. But do you realize that it took conversation, lots of conversation, conversation that was maybe covered a little bit just in who God really is. And hey, listen, you guys are doing great things. I know that you're both growing tremendously. Have you guys found a local church to connect with? Oh, no, we're not interested in going to church.

Speaker 1:

And I kept asking that question over and over again. See, they look like this. They had these little starts on them and I could see those little starts. At a close examination I could see that something was happening. And then all of a sudden I bump into him somewhere and they had their oldest son with them at the time and they introduced me to him and cutest little boy you'd ever meet and he had on those shoes that when he walked he squeaked Like they had squeakers in the back cutest shoes in the whole wide world. And I was just, we were just loving on it, on their son.

Speaker 1:

We were talking and the guy said to me he said, hey, I just wanted to say thank you for praying for us. And I said it's my pleasure. Anytime I can pray for somebody, I want to do that. And he said, no, you don't understand. We knew that you were praying for us because we had this desire to know who God really was. Now these are people who would have never ended up, likely ended up in church, but I continued to water a seed that was not really going to grow very quickly.

Speaker 1:

Today they're in church almost every Sunday. I would never say anybody's in church every Sunday, but most every Sunday. They're happy and they're forming a relationship with Christ. That relationship with Christ has strengthened their marriage. That relationship with Christ has allowed their children to grow in Christ. This is a big deal, but most people would have taken them and thrown them in the trash because they looked sickly, they didn't look healthy.

Speaker 1:

Can I ask you that when somebody walks through our door, maybe they look different than us, or even better. Yet maybe you know something about them that the rest of the church doesn't know. This is my favorite. I love it when people come in the church for the first time and somebody sneaks up to me. Just, pastor michael, did you know that they blank? Pastor michael, that person that just came in right over there they were at the bar last night. They smell like booze. Pastor Michael, did you know? And they're always pointing and telling secrets. Can I promise you that I probably know something about you too, because chances are somebody else is going. Pastor Michael, did you know Right, when those people come through the door, when does it become common practice for us to just embrace them and love them where they are Not for where we want them to be, but where they are when they walk through the door?

Speaker 1:

Because I'm going to tell you, I'll take a drug addict, I'll take a prostitute, I'll take a homosexual couple, I don't care, as long as I can show them who God really is. Because, let me tell you something, when we start turning those people away, when we start trying to tell them that they're not welcome in the house of God, they will never find Jesus. We can take them, throw them in the trash and it's over, and they will never know who God really is. Because if the church treats me that way, certainly God will treat me that way. Can I tell you something? God should have thrown me away years ago. If he was throwing people away, I should have been on the top of the list. I'd have been in the bottom of the bag. You know, I'm hoping he's using a hefty bag because there's going to be a lot of us in it, right? And we're going to be kicking and screaming the whole time because we somehow think that our sin is different than the sin of the world. I'm going to promise you something, church If you are sinning and a lot of you are like, oh, I don't sin, I'm perfect, I got life figured out you need to be the first one to the altar when we open it up pretty soon.

Speaker 1:

Because I'm going to tell you something If you're sitting in your seat thinking you've got it figured out, then you need to be in heaven, right? I don't know if you need to go walk. No, I'm not going to say that. Redirect me, jesus, redirect me. All right, I got to cover one more passage of scripture. This morning we're going to go to Matthew 25, 14. Matthew 25, 14. I still hear pages turning, so I'll wait. We all there there, okay, again, the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip.

Speaker 1:

How many of you know this parable? It's one of my favorites. It's one of my favorites. It's one of my favorites. It's one of my favorites because I think it's one of Dave Ramsey's favorites. I don't know, you'll get it in a second. It's a funny joke.

Speaker 1:

He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them. While he was gone, he gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another and one bag of silver to the last, dividing it in proportion to their abilities. Then he left on his trip. Now I'm going to tell you something. There are some people that if you left them with five bags of silver and then went on a trip, when you come back you ain't never going to see them again. Right, right, they're going to take your five bags of silver and they're going to run Wheeling Island. Here I come, baby, cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching, and you come back flat broke. Amen.

Speaker 1:

I can't gamble for that reason, because I don't know how to stop. I know that about myself and I'm okay with that, right, I just say I can't. Even this is not. I can't go to Chuck E Cheese. You give me one of those. Like all day play cards man, and I'm like I can't go. Pizza's ready. Nope, I'm good, I'm good. And you know what? Those coin pushers. You ever played those coin pushers? I sit there all day long. Some little four-year-old come up. Can I play? No, I just got the machine warmed up. Go somewhere else.

Speaker 1:

Anyhow, the servant who received five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. The servant who received one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master's money. After a long time, their master returned from his trip and he called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant whom he had entrusted with five bags of silver came forward with five more and said Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest. I have earned five more. It's a pretty good return on investment. Right? He's doing it Dave Ramsey style right there. The master was full of praise Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together.

Speaker 1:

The servant who had received two bags of silver came forward and said master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest. I have earned two more. The master said well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling the small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together.

Speaker 1:

Then the servant with one bag of silver came and said Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here's your money back. But the master replied you, wicked and lazy servant, if you knew, I had harvested crops that I didn't plant and gathered crops that I didn't cultivate. Why didn't you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it. Then he ordered take the money from this servant and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. Those who use well what they are given, even more will be given and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So the question may be reigning why are we here? What's the point? But I want to tie those two passages of Scripture together. You see, the master had given each servant some money and they made their own decisions on what they would do with that money. And when it came time to return it, they each had a story to tell. The one entrusted with five bags came back with ten, the one entrusted with two bags came back with four, and the one entrusted with one returned with the same bag. The man who did not invest the time and the energy to turn a profit was chastised and lost what little he had, and the other received that money.

Speaker 1:

Go back to Matthew 13, 11. For me, this was the first scripture we started with. Today, he replied you are permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. Can you go to the next one? For me? You're sleeping on me. That is why I use these parables, for they look, but they don't really see. They hear, but they don't really listen or understand. To trust you with more, he must trust you with little, and today I ask if you are looking for more, has he been able to trust you with little?

Speaker 1:

We have a very simple task at hand that each and every one of us can do every single day, and that is to nourish this plant, that's to feed it, that's to water it. That means that person you're sitting next to, that you don't like. Yeah, if they fight later on, it wasn't my fault, I didn't start that. We have an option that's to try to find new life in this plant and to give it hope, to give it a fighting chance that most of the time we won't give it because we look at it as sick and dead so that it can soon grow to be like this. Can you imagine if every Christian that was in, not just in the world but in this building alone, looked like this, if we were all full of leaves, if we were all happy and healthy and had life all sorted out, how great would the kingdom of God become? Amen. But the reality is, many of us are like this, so many of us are like this. Reality is, many of us are like this, so many of us are like this, and we continue to pour and nourish and help.

Speaker 1:

Both of those passages are about doing more with what little you have. Do you have a desire to start ministry? Do you have a desire to have a better job? Do you have a desire to grow in a way that you don't believe that you can possibly grow? I'm asking you are you doing enough with what little God has given you today. See, we started Financial Peace University. What are we? We in week five now? Is this week five, yeah? Of a nine-week course? We've been through baby steps, almost all of the baby steps.

Speaker 1:

At this point we're really starting to get our head around what it means to be free financially, and I think that as we sit through those classes and we talk to the people, we realize that some of us never believed that we could be debt-free or that we could live in a way that we would have extra money from paycheck to paycheck. Right, how many of us have had to live paycheck to paycheck before in our lives? Right, it's not fun, but can I tell you, you're living blessing to blessing today, dragging it out. I can't do anything because God hasn't blessed me. Woe is me when you are cast into the outer darkness where there is gnashing of teeth. Let me ask you did you do anything with what little God had given you? Right, god has given you something every day, and that is breath in your lungs Every day.

Speaker 1:

Listen, when he wakes me up in the morning, before my feet hit the floor, I feel like that plant, right, amen. How many of us wake up feeling like this plant Before the coffee, for sure, before the coffee, I ain't got no leaves. I don't even know if I'm human at that point, right? And I realized listen, I make my wife's coffee every morning. Every morning, I tell her I'm not making coffee today, and every morning I make her coffee. This is off the topic, but I just want to tell you this man, I'm leaning into you guys right now. Just buckle up. I'm sorry, I love you all, but sometimes we're just lazy.

Speaker 1:

Every morning I get up and I make a pot of coffee for my wife, and my wife will tell me I just don't do it the same way that you do. Let me explain something to you. It's a filter, it's a scoop. Press the button Three steps. There is a difference. Now I don't like to cook Once I cooked. I don't like to eat the food I cooked, right, whether it's good, bad or indifferent, there's just something about it. Men, just do better, right? I'm not being mean, I'm just saying like can you imagine if I wake up feeling like I'm not human some mornings? Do you know how good it feels for my wife to wake up and that coffee's already made for her? I've added a leaf to her plant, right, that's what I'm saying. Us men are much stronger than we give ourselves credit for, and we are capable of much more than we're willing to do. That's it. I'm ending on that one. I'm not going to talk about it, no more. I'm not going to talk about it anymore.

Speaker 1:

All right, but if I wake up feeling like this, how easy is it for the devil to convince me that that's what I look like, right? So, before my feet hit the floor, god, whatever it is that you're going to do with me today, do it big, be ready for it, because if you want to look like this every day, if you want to grow and you want to be luscious is that the right word? Luscious, is that the right word Then you have to be prepared for the work that God is going to put you through, because he's going to have to burn out the dross in your life, right, whenever he calls you to the altar, he's going to have to burn out all of that nasty and unhealthy stuff that you got going on in your life in order for you to look happy and healthy, because this thing can be full of weeds just the same as it can be full of beautiful plant. Amen. I need you guys to understand that when we come here to get filled up every week, it is not to hold on to all of those fill-ups, it's to pour them back out, right? So when you're sitting here feeling like this, you need to be pouring in to people like that. These are the people, listen, these are the people who need your love and attention. And I'm not saying you have to invite everybody over for dinner just because you feel like they've had a bad week. But you know, sometimes I just send a text that says hey, I've been thinking about you, I'm praying for you, right? That goes a long way. Hey, how are you guys feeling when somebody's been sick? It goes a long way because it makes them realize hey, there are people who care about me, god has put me in the right place, amen, all right, that's all I've got for that. We're going to do communion this morning. Before we do that, I just want to this final statement if you are looking for more in your life, if you believe that God has called you to something greater and a lot of times people get a message whenever they go to conferences and whatnot, and I'm sure this happens a lot.

Speaker 1:

It probably happened yesterday, where somebody got a word in their life where something was going to happen and they immediately think it happens today, right? Well, god said I was going to start a Bible study. God said I was going to start a. You know how many people say that. You know how many people survived the first six months. I'm surprised we survived six months. But the reason I'm surprised is because for some reason, god thought I was the right person to put in charge, right? And I, in my mind, I'm like God, I ain't got this figured out, buddy, like you got to help me out here. But I leaned into his understanding and not my own, right, and that's the difference. Holy smokes, lord have mercy.

Speaker 1:

But the problem is is when somebody speaks a word into our lives, we want it right now. I'm not telling you that today's the day. I'm not telling you tomorrow's the day. I'm not telling you next week, I'm not telling you next month or next year. I'm saying that when God moves in your life, when he opens that door, you'll know, you will know Amen. All right, let's pray together.

Speaker 1:

Father, I thank you and I praise you that, as we go from this message into communion, father, that you would allow us to just spot those who are needing a little extra nourishment today, god, that they may look like they don't belong in the house of the Lord, father, that they may look like they aren't quite up to par, but, lord, we know that those people are your children, just as we are, and that, Father, we should be pouring into them, blessing them, giving them guidance and direction. Father, I just thank you for giving us that knowledge, the words to speak, father, the actions to take. I just thank you and I praise you for that. Lord, I pray, as we move into communion, that you examine the hearts of those who are sitting in this room, father, and allow them to experience your love and experience your kindness. But, father, I want everybody who's sitting here to understand just how important it is to have clean and open hearts during this communion. Allow us to just set free any of the things that we're holding on to Unforgiveness, hurt, hate, father, whatever it may be. Allow us to just let those things go so that we can be in communion with you. Father, I thank you, I praise you, I give you all the honor and glory in the mighty name of Jesus, and the church says amen.

Speaker 1:

From a communion standpoint, we don't have a membership requirement. If you're sitting in the room and you want to take communion, you are welcome. The only thing I ask is that you make sure that you are in good standing with Christ before you do so. The Bible tells us that it is worse for a person to take communion outside of a healthy relationship with Christ than it does to simply not take it. I promise you this if you don't get up from your seat, there's nobody in this room that's going to judge you for that, and if they do, let me know and I'll bop them on top of the head, because we know the importance of what we're about to do.

Speaker 1:

Pastor Holly, pastor Dave, will you guys serve communion this morning? And as they're doing that? So we'll start at this end and we'll just come up just this section and then we'll move to the next section. Just continue to contemplate what it is that God would have you do in your lives as we take this communion together this morning. I know that God is doing mighty things in a lot of our lives. I just want us to be fully aware of who he is and what it is that he's doing.