A Lamp That Refuses To Hide

We walk through Mark 4:21-34 and let Jesus’ parables confront how we live, how we listen, and how we measure growth. We talk honestly about fear, pride, distractions, and control, then land on practical ways to shine the light of Christ and trust God with results. 

• The lamp on a stand and why faith is meant to be visible 
• Reasons we keep faith private including fear of rejection and fear of living it consistently 
• The difference between shining Christ’s light and showing off ourselves 
• What “pay attention to what you hear” reveals about spiritual posture and growth 
• Practical ways to focus on Scripture including slowing down and removing phone distractions 
• The growing seed parable and trusting God to do the supernatural work 
• A candid look at parenting and wanting to control a child’s salvation 
• The mustard seed kingdom and staying faithful when growth feels small 
• Three self-check questions to carry into the week 

Let your light shine. Start in your home, move into your community, and let's take this thing to the world.

Transcript

Welcome To Jet Fuel

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Jeff Fuel Podcast, a series of Concord conversations. In each episode, our lead pastor and a guest will sit down and dive a little deeper into what we learned as a church that week. These are honest, practical conversations to fuel your faith and help you live it out with purpose and consistency. Or, in other words, this is Jet Fuel for your soul.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

All right. Well, welcome back, everybody. So glad you're with us this morning. We're getting into Jet Fuel, our podcast, Aaron, where we help people fuel faith for

The 24 Hours In A Store

SPEAKER_02 0:36

everyday life.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Yeah, so we're going to continue in chapter four. But before we do that, we have our question.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

We we do have a question.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

We do have a question. Now, Bree is not here today. Do we have a fill-in? Do we have a fill-in? In honor of opening day, we pulled in a relief picture. We pulled in a relief pitcher, and that relief pitcher is Mr. Herndon Lee. Hello, friends.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

All right, man. Give us our question for the day. What do we need to know? Your question for today is if you were trapped inside of a store for 24 hours, woof. What store would it be?

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Okay. 24 hours in a store. I have a feeling we'll probably go in the same direction.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

I was gonna say, do you we want to say on the count of three and see if it matches? Yeah, let's see it. Okay. One, two, three. Bass Pro.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Absolutely. Listen, Bass Pro, I mean, you start thinking about other stores like Walmart. No way I'm staying in there for 24 hours. Not happening. You know, uh you could think of a ton. I don't know. I might think of like Buckeys. That's a gas station. I think I couldn't.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Yeah, but there's nowhere to sleep. The reason you pick Bass Pro, think about it. Okay. You got hammocks? Bass Pro, you've got hammocks, sleeping bags, all kinds of camping gear. Yeah. So you're sleeping, you're gonna sleep great. Gonna sleep great. 24 hours. And when you get bored, there's a pudding green, there's a fish tank that you could technically fish because there wouldn't be anybody there. There's all kinds of activities.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

The rocking chairs with the checkers? Yes. Oh man. Food. There's food in there. Have you guys seen Roofman channing Tatum? No. He lived in a Toys R Us. Oh, yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

It's this guy that lived in this in the roof of a Toys R Us.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

I'm not changing my answer. I'm sticking with Bass Pro.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Oh no, Bass Pro for sure. This makes sense. Yeah, that'd be great.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Best Project makes sense. I love that.

Mark 4 Parables Roadmap

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Okay, so Mark 4. We did verses the first 20 verses last week.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

And so we're moving into 21 through 34. Um, what are we going to see today?

SPEAKER_02 2:36

Yeah, well, if you look at uh Mark chapter four, I love this that we're just going through uh chapter by chapter, verse by verse, word by word. But um literally uh in Mark chapter four, Aaron, you get four parables and uh a miracle. And so we're gonna cover the next three uh parables because last week we had Eli, it was our student weekend, yeah, and he did such a phenomenal job. And I tell you, um, it is really cool for me, just as the pastor here, that when we have somebody else that stands behind the pulpit to handle the word of God, um, that, you know, it took some time, but our people look forward to it and they learn from it, they're encouraged, and he did such a great job and uh really proud of our student weekend. Miles got to baptize, great to see our students leading. Um, but we're gonna jump into three separate parables that all kind of tie back.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Yeah, they kind of build off the parable of the suburb. Absolutely. This first one that we're gonna see, it's it's probably also one that a lot of people have heard before. It is. Um, but it's the talk about the lamp on a

The Lamp That Must Shine

SPEAKER_00 3:36

stand. And so he asked the question in there. He said, Hey, is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed?

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Well, I love it because I can almost see Jesus. I I think sometimes we we view Jesus as so serious, but uh it's almost like a I can see kind of a smile come on his face and it's like, really? Like this is a common sense question. Yeah, do you really light a lamp and then put it under a basket? Yep. But I think you and I would agree, and and I hate to even say this though, I mean it's a very common sense question, but common sense seems to be disappearing off the face of the planet, right? Like common sense is not so common anymore. But he literally says, you know, what's a lamp's purpose? Yeah, it's not to be hidden, it's not to be covered up. A lamp is lit so that it can shine, it can push back darkness, it can light the area supposed to be in. And so I think that's a powerful setup that he's just saying, hey, why would you light a lamp?

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Yeah. But I also think, too, one note that we need to make is because I've heard this argument before about this parable, about how when you read this, it almost could sound like almost performative, like, okay, this is my faith. Look at it like this is what I but that's not what this parable. I mean, it's talking about no, that it has transformed you, and so because of that, it's what's gonna come out, and it doesn't need to be hidden.

SPEAKER_02 4:53

Well, I do like too that there's so many things. We talk about when you become a student of the Bible, you really want to not um just take single verses out or single parables out. You want to tie it to the other parts of scripture, and so much when we talk about light is applied directly to Jesus. You know, from you know, John verses that that Jesus says, I'm literally the light of the world and uh the light of men. And you see it in John 1 and John eight, and there's just these powerful illustrations of Christ being the light. And when we are transformed by Christ, we then shine that light of the gospel. And and our life is meant to be visible, um, but like you said, not not to draw attention to our own. Yeah, for sure. Um you know, um light really exists to shine in the darkness. We see Jesus do that, we see the transformative way. So let me ask a couple of questions. So with that thing that you just said of, you know, a lot of times we we hear it in this sense of, hey, I wanna, I wanna be seen. I wanna be visible rather than the light inside of us being seen. How do we why do you think it's tempting to keep our faith private instead of visible? Because I know we'll all back away from the the pride side of it, but a lot of times we don't shine our light. We put it under that basket. We we hide it. Why is that such a temptation to keep our our our faith private instead of visible?

SPEAKER_00 6:17

I think it's probably a combination of a couple of things. Uh I mean, first of all, one, you don't want the moment that you start speaking about your faith, you have to live like that. And so if you tell talk about truth and talk about scripture and actually say and teach what Jesus taught, and you are claiming that that has changed your life, then you have to actually live that way. And a lot of times, if I'm being honest, like, and I I've find myself doing this too. Like, if I don't want that pressure or I don't I just don't talk about it. Right. And so that is one. I think another thing, maybe we're scared that we would are gonna say something wrong, or we may not have an answer if someone starts asking questions about what we're talking about, and so that could be it. But also I think it could also be we just don't know how to talk about it. Like we keep it's not that we're necessarily purposely keeping it private, but we haven't been taught or been around someone who has shown us, hey, this is how you do this, this is how you don't keep this private, this is how you talk about truth, this is how you talk about the light that you like. And so I think it's just a combination of multiple things.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

I was doing a little bit of research right before we got on here and looking at at this. And one of the main reasons it says people don't share their faith, um, 44%, I think was the number, 44 or 47. I'll have to go back and get that number. But it was something like the main reason that people don't uh share their faith is a fear of rejection, that they're afraid that if I uh say this or like you said, kind of live it out that that people will reject us. And that's kind of this valuing our comfort over Christ. Oh yeah. And it's it's crazy that we would be so transformed by the light of Christ, but that we wouldn't shine that for others to see. And and there's all these kinds of shades of insecurity and fear and pride that go along with that. So uh that's a big deal. So let's go back to the first side of the coin that we talked about. So, what's the difference between shining your light and showing off? So we talked about the like the fear side of it, yeah, keeping it private.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

What about the the other side of it? I think it comes down to who are you trying to bring glory to. Okay. So if you're actually spreading truth and talking about your faith and the way that it has transformed your life, you're going to bring glory to Christ and the work that He has done in you. If you're doing it just to show off, the main point that you're doing that is to bring glory to yourself, and it has nothing to do with what God has done in your life. And so um I've done both. Like I've been stuck in a pattern of like, no, look at me, I work at a church, I've been doing ministry for almost 15 years, I have done this and said this and taught here, and um, that's just on that all that's doing is trying to bring glory to myself. But with the moment that I get down to, no, let me tell you what Jesus has done in my life, the way that he has transformed my life, the way he has changed in me, then it then it all goes back to him and not. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Something you said just kind of struck a chord with me. And I thought of this question. Uh I know it's not on our our list here, but yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna I'm gonna freestyle a little bit here. Um so where do you think the people of Concord, the people listening, um, maybe they're here, maybe they're somewhere else, where do you think they struggle most? Do you think most people, when when you get to this parable and Jesus is teaching them and he's going, hey, listen, you've got this light, you've got this lamp. You don't put it under a basket. Like you put it to shine, right? Where do you think most people struggle today in 2026? You may maybe be down even in the Bible belt. You know, do they struggle with keeping their faith private and not shining, living under that cover? Or do you think people are more boastful of pride? Maybe think through the different demographics.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Yeah, I don't I think a majority of our people, and uh like obviously this is a like very generalized.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Yeah, yeah, broad strokes.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

I think the major from based on conversations that I've had, yeah, the majority of our people struggle with keeping it private.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Um, and I think there's I think there's a couple of reasons for that. One, we talk about the Bible Belt all the time. The Bible Belt is increasingly becoming not the Bible Belt. Like we have this idea that we live in the South and that we live in this area where churches, okay. A normative, but it's not it's not that way anymore. And even for church going folks, even for church, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

1.7 times a month is how the core member attends church.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

And so it's just not we still have this, I thought in our head that that is the norm. It's just not. And then the other thing is I don't think we do a very good job, and I am including myself in this, we don't do a very good job at putting ourselves in situations where we would have to not keep it private.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Meaning we don't put ourselves in situations where we would be around people that need to hear truth, and so we don't talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

I think we mentioned that in one of the sermons recently. And I I don't know if you guys who are listening, if you remember that or not, but you know, we have really baked our lives into these holy huddles where we've got a very small group, a very small community, people we trust that are look like us, think like us, vote like us, act like us, believe like us. And so that gospel urgency kind of disappears from our everyday life, even our prayer life, because we're not interacting with lost people, or if we are, we're sitting in the bleachers at the game or we're out to eat or something like that, we blend into that carnal culture rather than um shining for Christ. So I think that's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Well, and I think it's it's so easy to use the excuse of oh, well, everybody around here knows about Jesus. Like that, that's an easy out for people. Right. And I like I've and I've used that. Like hey, yeah, we're oh, this is a good community. People, I'm like, okay, well, they go to church somewhere. Yeah. Well, our church is a testament, that's not true. Right. Like we have had family after family that have come that have lived here second generation non-churchgoers. Like, not just, hey, my parents grew up going to church, but I just no, no. These we're talking about second generation, they have no clue about church, they have no clue. And we have had conversations like that here multiple times.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

And so And we have to own that, right? Yeah. I mean, you gotta think uh where our church is planted, yeah. You know, kind of in this county seat area, and people, you know, our our community's relatively small compared to some of the surrounding communities, but we pull from those communities and going, hey, is it a testament of our church to say we need to be a light that shines into every neighborhood, into every street, into every home, into every school that if Concord were to shut its doors, we would be desperately missed. Oh, yeah. Um, or if we shut our doors, would they just put up a car dealership?

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Well, and I'll and I'll take ownership for this. And I and we I've had conversations with people that live in my neighborhood as well that go here. I mean, my my neighborhood is literally right behind the church. You you live in the shadow of the church. I could walk here. There are tons of homes in our neighborhood on a Sunday, there is no movement. Like they're not going anywhere, they're not going, they're not even thinking about going to church ever, ever. And I've had conversations with people that live in my neighborhood that also go here about we we don't do a good job at engaging those people. And our church, you can throw a rock from most of these people's houses and hit Concord, and yet they don't go anywhere. And that's that's on me. Like that's I'm not doing a good job engaging people that live right literally right behind our church, and they don't go anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Well, I just think that is the next thing for the church to re-embrace is this idea of shining your light because there is darkness all around, and it's just pressing into our schools, our neighborhoods, our communities, and we have a responsibility to stand up for Christ and not keep, you know, as as Jesus would say, you know, a light's not meant to be covered. No, you know, and so here's a call to everybody listening out there today like, let your light shine. Start in your home, move into your community, and let's take this thing to the world. Because as you say, the Bible belt's disappearing, the uh way of living for Christ is disappearing, you know, morals are changing based on political ideology, and we have a responsibility to live by scripture and by the light of Christ, and those around us desperately need it. So we have to own that uh as a community of faith. We have to own that as a church of going, it's not just about getting people in the building, it's about shining a light in the darkness. And so but then there's this uh he says something really important because it he's kind

Pay Attention To What You Hear

SPEAKER_02 15:10

of talking about parable.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

He makes a statement right after this parable, and the statement is hey, pay attention to what you hear. Like he's telling, hey, okay, I've told you the story. Now pay attention to what you hear. Right. Why does he s why does he say that?

SPEAKER_02 15:25

Well, it's this this whole idea, well, there's a call to listen four times in chapter four. I think it's verse three, nine, twenty-three, and twenty-four, if I remember off the top of my head. Um, but it it's one of those things where he's going, you need to listen to this. You need to listen to this. But he uses this thing, with the measure that you use, it will be measured to you. Like this idea of going, um, you know, this isn't something I really dug into in my sermon on Sunday, but it's something I want to dig into now. But it's literally talking about the effort of which you're paying attention and listening. Like you can if you ever notice, like when you're preaching or leading a small group, you do a great job with small groups. And guys, if y'all haven't been to our challenge groups, Aaron is like crushing it with these men's groups. Um, but people can be hearing the same exact thing, and some people are impacted and some people are not.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Yeah. Well, it's the same thing if you're reading scripture. Right. I could read something and be like, man, that was so good. And you could read and be like, yeah, I'm okay. Yeah. Like, but no, I think it's it's such a weird dynamic because it's it is about how you're listening. Like how you are receiving truth is gonna determine if you're gonna grow from it, if you're not gonna grow from it. And that's just a weird, like, how much, how much attention are you paying? Because it's like, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

There's there's so many pieces that I want to pull on with this though, because we talk in my house all the time about what you can control, especially with my kids being athletes. You know, we're always upset at the refs, we're upset with the play call and the decisions and the environment and and what I tell our kids over and over, the only thing you can control is your attitude and your effort. Yeah. Like you can't control the call, you can't control the weather, attitude and effort. But I also think it's that way too. And I'll tell you this, even when I teach, sometimes I can look into the crowd and see there are people that Bible open, taking notes, they're intentionally, they're they're leaning forward. There's other people kicked back, you know, arms crossed, and you can almost tell by their posture, like, hey, I I I don't want to hear this. And then literally he's going, with the measure you used, it'll be measured to you. Um, and uh he goes on and says, uh, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Yeah. Well, it's this idea of like if you come to the word and you're just like casually reading it and casually let's looking at it, you're gonna just get you're gonna casually get something out of it. But if you're coming to it with like hunger, humility, intention, wanting to learn, wanting it to change you, wanting Jesus to speak, that's what you're gonna get.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

Well, you know what's cool too is I've heard several people at the beginning of our MARC series. So this was what have we done, eight weeks in MARC so far? Yeah. Um, we gave everybody a journal and we said, hey, one of the things we want to challenge you to do is to transcribe. And people are like, oh man, I don't know that's so hard. But I have had conversation after conversation, or at least heard of, or an additionally heard of conversations where people are like, I didn't really want to do this. Yep. And then I did it, and it's causing me to slow down, get intentional, listen. And they are learning so much just by, and I'm not just talking one demographic. I'm talking men, women, empty nesters, senior adults, like I mean, everybody just as they slow down and spend intentional time in the word, it is just causing them to learn and interact. And yeah, I love that because he's going, hey, listen, I'm teaching you these things in parables. There's a lot to learn here. Yeah, I need you to lean in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

And I think that's probably Well, we I mean my wife were talking about this the other day. We're you know, Bible, you in a year plan, like you hit some books that just are a slog, dude. Like it is just Leviticus.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Some of you are listening and you're like, Did those pastors just say this? Yes. When we do year through the Bible, there are some that are fun to read, and others where you're like, oof.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Liz the other day, she said, I finished numbers. I finally finished numbers. And it was like this idea of we just had to get through it. And I I didn't like I did not call her. No condemnation. No condemnation for her because I felt the same way. But there is it was this idea of like, I just have to get through numbers and Leviticus and numbers, I have to get through it. And so I'm being if I'm being honest, Leviticus, I didn't get a whole lot out of it, but it is because of the exact thing that we are talking about here. Like, I did not go into Leviticus with hunger and determination and intention. And so it's just, I mean, yeah, if we if we want to get something out of the word and and truth and want Jesus to change us through what he's saying and what he's trying to teach us, we're we need to go into it with intention and not just catching it.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

And I think that kind of confronts how some of us were raised. And tell me if I'm wrong, if you're listening, I'm going so much.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

I'll say Liz, I'm so proud of you for doing your year, Bible New Year Plan.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Yes, we are proud of you. Um, but you know, some of the things that we were taught early on was, you know, faith was really a checkbox. Do your quiet time, check, pray for the list of people, check. Yep. You know, when you're a little kid at VBS, walk the aisle, check. Yeah. And and a lot of times it was just things we were supposed to do instead of pursuing it. And I I just love the idea of people hungering and being intentional, being humble, and just really chasing after the truth that's found in God's word and and and and that relationship with the Son.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

Well, let me ask you, Clint, what a couple of questions.

How To Focus On Scripture

SPEAKER_00 20:44

The first one, what did what does it practic practically look like? Practically, I love practically practically. What does it practically look like for you to pay attention to God's word? Like if you are thinking, okay, this is how I don't just casually approach scripture, what does that look like for you?

SPEAKER_02 21:00

Well, it it takes a measure of intentionality. Okay. Now, if I can be honest, there are some where I love the feature on the Bible app where I can just hit play and it reads it to me. But I'll tell you, I don't get as much when I listen to it. And, you know, because you can be doing other things. Yeah. There is no such thing as multitasking. I think there was literally a scientific study that came out that said your brain can only focus on one thing. No, you can be good at switching back and forth, but you can't do multiple things at once. Yeah. And so when I'm driving, you know, I'm driving and listening, and so you don't get that. So I think practically, how do you pay attention to God's word? Is you have to, and you know, your learning style is your learning style, but I honestly think just getting alone um and being in a quiet place, guarding that place, and then getting in the word of God. Now, for me, I'm a what is it called? Kinesthetic learner where you have to touch things like pull it apart, you know, like I work on car engines and you know, things like that. Um, but for me. Is writing, underlining, uh connecting pieces, looking up, having a physical body.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

I've seen your notes.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Yeah. And so I I yeah, I'm still old school. Like I still print out the paper, print it out, highlights, underlines. But for me, that's how I do it. I want to put my hands on it. I want to turn the pages. I want to connect from this to this to this. And I think for most people, the the priority would be finding a place where you can get alone and whatever your learning style is, just zone into that. And here's the number one thing. And this is for everyone under the age of 35 right now. Do not take your phone to your quiet time. Like you gotta put that out. I mean, even if you're like, well, I use my Bible up, that's great. Write it on your hand on a piece of paper or something. Because every time that, you know, uh, you know, TikTok, you know, thing comes up, every time that alert, that alarm, it's pulling your focus away. And so I really think one of the practical things you can do is get away just you and the Lord and a cup of coffee because that's important. Yeah. Um, but I think that's one of the ways that we can really get some depth, get some understanding, and really focus and hear from the Lord is to eliminate all other distractions and make that time a priority. Yeah. We do that with a lot of other things, but we try to multitask our time with the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Yep, that's good. Um, okay, let's

The Growing Seed And God’s Work

SPEAKER_00 23:27

keep going. Next parable parable of the growing seed. And so in this, we see this guy, he scatters seed, and then what does he do? He goes to sleep.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

And so tell walk, walk us through kind of what this parable looks like.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

Well, let me point out first that this is a unique parable to Mark. Okay. It is not found in any uh the synoptic gospels. This one uh parable, these few verses, and and I think of John chapter 21, 25, when it says this, and it says it's the very last verse of the Gospel of John, it says this. Now, there are also many other things that Jesus did where every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. I think that just gives validity. Just because it's unique to Mark does not mean it didn't happen, that there's any kind of shadow of doubt about it. But I think it's great. But the but this uh thing really talks about the work of God. So the faithful man that that's gonna sow the seed, he does his part. He gets the, he, he gets out there, throws the seed, then he goes to sleep.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Yeah, doesn't do anything else about it.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

He says he doesn't know how it works, but that seed begins to mature and a blade comes through. It begins to grow up and bear fruit. All of these things ultimately illustrating that we have a responsibility to be obedient, and God is the one who does the supernatural spiritual work of growth in somebody's life.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

I mean, we're just called to be faithful in sowing. That's that's what we're called to be. And so, and then God takes care of the rest.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

Yeah, we're not in control of the outcome. And I think that's one of the pressures. If we link this back to one of the first parables that we talked about, that that whole idea of fear or rejection, or I don't know what to say, or I don't know if my life matches this, so many times we've got all these excuses. And what the Christian is called to is faithful obedience. And we got to take all that pressure off and going, anything I could talk somebody into, Aaron, if I give the slickest, most compelling gospel presentation, but it's rooted in my skill to explain it. Anything I can talk somebody into, somebody can talk them out of. Oh, yeah. But it's the truth of the gospel that transforms a heart. Use the word transformative, which I love that word, and you use it often, of going, we've got to trust God with the actual work of it. And so let me ask you a couple of questions because this is a great thing on faithfulness and trusting God for you,

Parenting Without Controlling Salvation

SPEAKER_02 25:56

Aaron. Okay. Let's let's take your pastor hat off. Let's take your years of ministry experience off. You as a Christian man, husband and dad, um, how hard is it for you to trust God with the growth instead of controlling it? Well, I have been Because you don't have any problems with control at all.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

Zero problems with control, I got him back.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

There we go.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I I struggle a lot with it. I am a control freak. I want things done my way. I want them to be done in my time.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

I want to there's a lot of nodding going on off off camera over here. Be quiet her name.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Um, but it is it is a deal, and I've been thinking a lot about it, especially as a dad.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Um, because my like Oh, you're about to you're about to get deep. I'm I yeah. So Zia's getting older. Zia's my oldest. If you don't know, she's about to be six years old, and she's in kindergarten. She is really starting to take some of these stories that she is hearing in scripture to heart. She's starting to learn them, she's starting to figure out what they mean, ask a lot of questions, and I get stuck in this thing, this idea of like I can form her salvation for her. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 27:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

And like I can want her to know so bad that Jesus loves her and that Jesus died on the cross for her and that he can save her. And so I want that so bad that I want, I want to control that narrative for her. I want to m almost make her love Jesus, but I can't do that. And it's killing me as a dad.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

And so Because your job is to plant the seeds and to reap scripture over.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

I just have to remember constantly tell her truth, constantly speak truth into her, constantly speak scripture into her, tell her about Jesus and that he loves her and that all like just keep telling her that. And I just have to pray that one day the Holy Spirit will speak to her and we'll change her life. And I don't, I can't control that, and it drives me insane. And so especially as a dad, that is something that I have been thinking about a lot. Of like, oh, I just I want to make my kids be saved, and I can't do that. And I talk to so many people, even at Concord, whose kids do not follow Jesus, and they are still patiently waiting and seeking God in that.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

And I'm just like, well, I have so many people running through my head right now, people at different stages who have little kids like you, who have wayward kids, who have grown kids. And so here's just my encouragement to everybody out there listening right now. Be faithful. Yeah. Be faithful to put the word of God over them, be faithful to pray, be faithful to minister, but you have to trust God with it. And some of you have been trusting God for five, 10, 15, 20 years, and you've watched your kids go the other way. But I would just say, just I appreciate your heart on that of going, we want so desperately for it to happen, but we don't control salvation. Yeah, no. It's a work of the spirit. We are faithful. Yeah. Well, let me let me uh tie another question to that. Yeah. Where have you seen God work in ways that you couldn't explain? Like where you've been the recipient of it, you've been faithful, and you're like, and then God moves and you're like, wow, I didn't, I didn't expect that.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

Um can I go back to my kids? Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So this is this is also going to be a testament to our kids' ministry staff. So I talk to our kids' ministry staff does a great job giving you prompt questions like at the every Sunday. Hey, ask your kids about this. This is what we talk, all this stuff. And so I've tried to do that pretty faithfully with Zaya every week. And almost every week it's just like, yeah, we learned about Paul or we learned about Jesus. And I'm like, okay, what about it? I don't know. And I'm like, great. Well, there a couple weeks ago, our kids' ministry staff sent out a like a pre-message before the Sunday morning. They're like, hey, we're gonna be teaching on some kind of tough stuff this morning. So just heads up. This this is these are the things that we're gonna be talking about in the show.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

I love by the way, raise the bar.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

Yes, and so and it was a story about God cutting the like animals in half, Abram walked through it, creating the covenant. Uh that story. And so I remember I went into this conversation with Ziah just thinking I'm not getting anything out of this. And I asked, and I and I and I literally prayed Saturday. I said, Hey, Lord, this is a really big story. This is a really important story defining in scripture scripture about God literally creating a covenant with the people of Israel that's gonna lead to Jesus. And this is something that theologians have walked through. And I was like, please just let her grasp like something something. Not expecting a whole lot. I get home, she lays out the whole story for me. Like, I'm like, what did you learn? Well, God cut animals in half. Okay, why did he do that? Still not thinking I'm gonna get anything. Well, so Abram could walk through it. Okay, why did Abram have to walk through it? Oh, because God was creating a new family for him. And I'm like, and so she just keeps going, and I'm just like, thank you, Lord. Like this, and then that's I know that's a small thing, and she really doesn't fully grasp that story, but I was not expecting her to hold on.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

Yeah, but the seeds that were faithfully cast on her heart are taking little pieces of root and that may bear fruit in years to come. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Well, let's um let's pause. We haven't paused. We've we've said a lot, we still have a little bit of a. Thanks for hanging with us. Yes, but we're gonna do a quick ministry highlight and then we'll be right back.

College Ministry And MDP Explained

SPEAKER_00 31:44

All right, welcome back to another staff or ministry highlight. And this morning we have a staff highlight, and with us we have Mr. Eli Sarrow. Hello. How are you, sir? Better than I deserved, that's for sure. Good. All right. So, first question. Okay. Let me ask you this. You have kind of, for lack of a better way, moved through the Concorde system multiple ways. So tell us how did you start out at Concord? And then kind of give us, in a quick like recap, your journey and then where you have landed right now.

SPEAKER_03 32:19

Great. Um, so I actually started as a college student at our DeLonga campus when I first started as a freshman at North Georgia, gosh, 2018. Okay. Um, which was right after Delonica had just planted the Easter before that. Um, so still kind of getting off the ground, went through COVID, went through all of that, uh, came back from COVID, and then that's when Pastor Joseph Dockery was the college pastor over there. Got connected with him. He uh discipled me very intentionally and also very unintentionally as well. Um then he was asked to go to our Yona campus for the summer. Yep. And so he he called me and he's like, hey, just want to let you know I'm going to the Yona campus for the summer. And he's gonna hate me for saying this, but I've been joking with him ever since. And I told him, I was like, okay, so you're leaving us. And he's like, no, I'm coming back. And I was like, so you're leaving us? Liar. He's a liar. I'm just kidding. He's great. He didn't know. He didn't know. He truly thought he was over for the summer. Yeah, yeah. That ended up being a little bit longer. Um, and so the summer he still did college ministry at DeLonaga. We finagled it around, made it work. And then when the fall came around, he was like, Hey, I don't have the bandwidth to keep doing what we're doing. He's like, It's either gonna be you doing it or no one else doing it. Yeah. Um, and so I was serving at the Baptist Collegiate Ministries at the time, uh working part-time with them, and then volunteering, doing college ministry at our DeLonaga campus. And then that November, so 22, uh, our campus pastor had left. Uh, they'd asked several of our deacons if they would fill in for a time. Yeah. Uh they couldn't do it to varying circumstances, and so they asked Joe Dockery, they're like, hey, who should we ask? And they're like, you should ask this snot-nosed 22-year-old to do it. And so then I came on as our interim campus director for six or six months or so till May. Then I came on part-time as our college ministry director slash Delonega admin, full-time college director, admin, now full-time college director, no admin.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

Yes, no admin. Here we are. Awesome. Well, we love having you on staff. You do an incredible job. I want to ask you, there are a few things that we do in college ministry that people hear us kind of mention in passing and may not really know what it is. So we do have a college community group that meets on Sunday mornings during the 9-15 service. So that's one thing. But we mention MDP a lot, either from stage or in passing in conversation. And so a lot of people maybe are scared to ask what that is or don't know what that stands for. Walk us kind of in large like overview of what is MDP, what does it stand for? What does it do? Why do we do it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:07

Uh so MDP stands for our ministry development pathway. Uh, it is a program that is an internship style program designed to take students who either have expressed a call to ministry or have been identified as having qualities or capabilities of ministry. Um, we send them through a program uh that is overseen by our staff, taught by our staff and our varying pastors of equipping them on things of how to read scripture, doctrine, theology, and then a lot of practical things like evangelism, missions, leadership, preaching, teaching, all these kinds of things to kind of give them a more robust view of what ministry looks like. All the while, while they're doing that in their classroom settings, they are rotating through three of our different ministry areas throughout the year. Uh, two of them they get to pick by themselves, one of them I get to pick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so most of the time I'm picking preschool, obviously. Yes. Um, but while they're doing that, they are getting evaluated um by all of our wonderful ministry staff just to kind of you know keep them accountable of seeing, you know, are you actually called to ministry? Are you not called to ministry? I tell them all the time that a win for the MDP program is for them to discern, yes, I'm called to ministry. Another win for the MDP program is for them to say, I'm not called to ministry.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

Yes, and we've had both. Like even this past year, we had people that are like, hey, I walked into this thinking, yeah, maybe this is what I want to do. And they by the end of it are like, Yeah, you know what? I just want to be a really good volunteer, but vocational ministry is not for me. And so that's also that's a success because they have figured out that calling. And so that's good.

SPEAKER_03 36:38

So that's year one of the program, and then year two, out of the larger group of year one, uh, we hire on a select few to be actual interns at a part of our staff for the next year. So that's you you guys saw them a couple weeks ago, Cam, Claudia, Easy, and Chandler, um, and they do an incredible job. And they actually serve directly under our ministry leaders for that.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

Perfect. Um one other thing that we mention a lot that people may not really understand how it works is the adopt a college student program. So tell us briefly, hey, what is the adopted college student program and how can they get involved in that? Like when does it start again? That kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 37:16

Uh so our adopt a college student program is for any family or student who want to further have a connection point uh either with college ministry or with our church as a whole. Uh, we ask families who are willing and able to uh basically take on two college students who are friends. So that way there's a little bit a little bit less awkwardness in that moment, uh, to uh basically adopt them for a school year and just for once a month we ask them to do this as a bare minimum is to reach out to them once a week and ask, hey, how can we pray for you? What can we do for you? Yeah, uh to pray for them as a family specifically at least once a week, and then once a month, very minimum, uh, to have them out for either a family outing or a family dinner or whatever that looks like. And so uh it runs from August to May. And so if you are wanting to sign up, we're gonna be doing signups this summer. Uh so we would love any families who are willing and able to open their homes to some college students to join us in that endeavor.

SPEAKER_00 38:14

Perfect. Um, okay. Last question for you. Okay. If you if we're talking to our church family, which you are, and you I wanted to say one thing specifically that our church and our families can be praying for about our college ministry here at Concord. What would you say it is?

SPEAKER_03 38:36

Um, I would honestly just say like to pray that God would continue to do a work in these college students. Um I I will I will yell from the rooftops of how amazing our students are. Um they are not just the future of the church, they are the church now. Um, they are serving so much, they are sharing the gospel so much, uh, and they are at a time in their life where they're making their faith their own. Um so just pray that God will continue to be with them, protect them as they're in their classes on campus, in their practicums, whatever they are, uh, that God will just continue to be real in their life and that they would continue to be faithful to Him.

SPEAKER_00 39:09

Yeah. Perfect. Eli, thank you so much. Thank you for continuing to do an incredible job with our college ministry. If you have any questions about just college ministry in general or how to get involved with Adoptis College Student Program, whatever that looks like, uh, Eli would be happy to talk to you. Um, but thanks again, and we will see you guys next time.

unknown 39:29

Hi, Eli.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

All right, let's jump jump back in.

Mustard Seed Kingdom Growth

SPEAKER_00 39:34

Mark Four, there's one more parable in this chapter that we're gonna talk about, and it's the parable of the mustard seed. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 39:40

I love it. Something that starts small. We're talking about the kingdom of God, almost unnoticeable, but over time it grows, it's impact, it's it's phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

So I love it too because it's if you look at, and I wish, I mean, even if we had the seed, you wouldn't be able to see it on screen, but the it's so unimpressive.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Like it is the most it doesn't look like any, it almost looks like dirt if you look at the seed. It's so small, but it is so powerful in the end.

SPEAKER_02 40:09

When it matures I think it grows to like 12 or 15 feet. It's about wild.

SPEAKER_00 40:13

And so it's just like you said, it's something that seems so insignificant and becomes so significant and powerful. And that I love this story.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

Well, it's so indicative of the kingdom of God things so many times. Just this small start produces such powerful transformation, powerful growth, and it is just supernatural in every way. So I love it.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

Let me let me ask you just kind of one question. Okay. When we think about this and we think about small beginnings and like maybe slow starts or whatever, how do we stay faithful when growth does seem small? Or when we feel unseen, or when we I mean, we I've we've had this conversation pretty recently, probably, about you know, movement and speed of things. And um how do we stay faithful in when things are going slower or growth is not happening as fast as we would want, or whatever that looks like, how do we stay faithful in those moments?

SPEAKER_02 41:15

Dude, that is a tough question, if I'm gonna be honest. I mean, there's an easy answer to give, but I really uh for you guys who are spending time with us, I want to be real. I don't want to just give you some cookie-cutter uh answer, you know. I think uh an answer that you'll dismiss, but as true as this is you just it's it's trust in an infinite God. Just with our finite brains, Aaron, we just can't understand the infinite and how he works. You know, this past Sunday um we did the ping pong ball uh thing again, you know, a couple weeks ago, we had them throw them at me and talk about proximity. But this week we had everybody put initials of somebody that is close to them but far from God, that if they could just have one conversation, one invite, one moment of prayer, what God could do with that, and then just seeing all of those ping-pong balls and going, hey, look, if God would just do one thing in one person and then in that one person, what it would look like.

SPEAKER_03 42:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:10

But I think what you're asking is not the principle, but how do we stay faithful? Um, it is literally putting your life and your mouth in the same place. Because a lot of times we will speak what we believe and we will live differently. Yeah. And I think we just have to say, God, I trust you wholeheartedly, completely, that if you can do one thing, you can cause great growth, a great movement, because we know that small beginnings do not always mean small fruit or small movement. Small things in the hands of an infinite God can do things that we could never imagine. Revival, salvation, restoration, healing. Like there's so many times when you just see a small prayer of faith, a small act of obedience, and God does monumental things. And so I think how do we stay faithful? Um we exercise our faith. We we trust God even when we can't see it, because faith is uh is is trusting uh even when you can't see. That's good. So well let's uh this closes the the parables. We've seen the four soils from last week, and then we get the lamp and we get the growing seed, the unique one, and now we've got the mustard seed. Um but it ends this little parable before we get to next week, which is a miracle, um, of explaining things to his disciples in parables.

SPEAKER_00 43:39

Yeah, and he explains uh I love well, first of all, I love that Jesus speaks in in parables, that he tells these stories, he uses these illustrations, and it's very clear that it's not just about hearing the story. Like, because like and we see this play out and not just Mark, but all the gospels when Jesus is telling these stories. Like some people understand it, and some people are like, what was he talking about? I have no clue. Well, even his disciples at times. And the Lord said, like, I'm I'm telling this because I'm going to divide people. Right. Like we've talked about that. And so some people understand, some don't. And so what I think it's showing us is he is trying to explain more deeply to his disciples some of these concepts that they're just kind of still surface level on. And he's using these stories to be like, no, let me really try to help you understand what this means.

SPEAKER_02 44:30

Mark 4, 33, and 34, it says, with many such parables, he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples, he explained everything. Yeah. And I think this goes back to a couple of weeks ago, the perks of proximity. Yeah. Like when you are close to Jesus, there is an understanding that you get.

SPEAKER_00 44:54

And well, it's not just about walking, or just not it's not just about hearing truth. It's about walking closely with Jesus. Like we've talked about this. You can come to church every single week and hear stuff, but if you're not daily walking with the Lord, that what you hear means nothing.

SPEAKER_02 45:08

Yeah, you eat once a week, you're gonna starve today.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

That's it.

SPEAKER_02 45:11

And so Well,

Three Questions To Take Home

SPEAKER_02 45:12

let's land this thing. Give us a couple of takeaways from Mark chapter four, verses twenty-one through thirty-four.

SPEAKER_00 45:16

All right. So kind of three questions for us. For those of you who are listening, watching, three questions that I want to ask you to ask yourself this week. The first one is, is my faith visible in how I live? Like, come on. Does my faith actually come out in a way where people look at me and say, You are a follower of Jesus? That's right. And so is my faith visible in how I live? Two, am I paying attention to God's word or am I just hearing it? Are you just reading it to check the box off? Are you just reading it because you're told to and that's what you know you're supposed to do? Or are you actually looking to God's word with intention, with hunger, with determination, looking for it to teach you and change you? The posture of a learner. Yeah. And then the third one, like we just talked about, am I trusting God with growth even when it feels slow? That is probably the hardest one. It's painful. It is painful, but it is, I mean, and I mean, God has proven himself time and time again in my life, and I know in the lives of you as well. And so the last one, am I trusting God with growth even when it feels slow?

SPEAKER_02 46:16

Well, man, that's strong stuff. It's jet fuel for me. And so thank you guys so much for being with us today. Aaron, thanks again for the discussion. We'll see you next week. So yeah.