SPEAKER_00: Now, are we ready for God's word?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Apostle Paul writing.
SPEAKER_00: We've been uh talking about the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: He's teaching uh to um we're gonna read the whole passage and then we'll come back and diff you do.
SPEAKER_00: Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back to the right path.
SPEAKER_00: And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Share each other's burdens.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say share.
SPEAKER_00: Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Watch this.
SPEAKER_00: You are not that important.
SPEAKER_00: Man, Paul is like, this is my last chapter.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go out on swinging.
SPEAKER_00: Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else, for we are each responsible for our own conduct.
SPEAKER_00: Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be misled.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot mock the justice of God.
SPEAKER_00: You'll always harvest what you plant.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say plant.
SPEAKER_00: Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature, but those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So let's not get tired of doing what is good.
SPEAKER_00: At just the right time, we'll reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone, especially to those in the family of faith.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, for the next few minutes, I'd love to teach for you on this subject.
SPEAKER_00: Keep your eyes on the road.
SPEAKER_00: Can we pray together?
SPEAKER_00: Our Father who is in heaven, holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
SPEAKER_00: Lead us, Jesus, not into temptation.
SPEAKER_00: But would you deliver us from the evil one?
SPEAKER_00: For yours is the kingdom in the power, in the glory.
SPEAKER_00: Amen, amen, and amen.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, one of the things I like to do with my wife and I during the summer is we like to go on road trips.
SPEAKER_00: This might actually be the first summer we don't go on an actual road trip.
SPEAKER_00: We went to Williamsburg, but I feel like anything under two hours doesn't really count.
SPEAKER_00: Uh now I want a little bit of confession time because one of the things we should be able to do in church is confess our sins one to the other.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh don't worry, I'm not gonna ask you to confess anything crazy.
SPEAKER_00: I want here's here's my question.
SPEAKER_00: When you see the speed limit, who in our church drives the speed limit?
SPEAKER_00: The speed limit, the speed limit, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: The speed limit.
SPEAKER_00: All the teenagers that don't drive say yes, me.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Uh let's be real.
SPEAKER_00: Who drive who drive who drives five over?
SPEAKER_00: Five over, five over.
SPEAKER_00: Who drives ten over?
SPEAKER_00: Because I was like, oh, y'all need to repent.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all need to, oh man, okay, this whole sermon, somebody throw this verse out.
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about that.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm a I'm a five over kind of a person.
SPEAKER_00: I'll drive five miles over.
unknown: Wait.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, cool, I'm good to go.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, five miles over the speed limit.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that always annoys me if I'm driving five miles over the speed limit, you ever like you're driving fast as it is, and then somebody passes you, and you're like, bro, I'm I'm already breaking the law.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to break the law, err, you know?
SPEAKER_00: And and y'all, there's there there's there's nothing more satisfying than they pass you and they they'll give you the side eye like you're going too slow, and then you both end up at the same red light.
SPEAKER_00: Like, fancy meeting you here.
SPEAKER_00: Interesting that we got here at the same place.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but that's not even the most satisfying.
SPEAKER_00: The most satisfying thing is when you're on the highway and uh let's be honest, it says 70, but we're all doing 80.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and and you're going, and there's a car that passes you, and they cut you off a little bit, and you're kind of aggravated, and 10 miles down the road, you see them red and blue lights, and you're passing by and you're like, the Lord is my Avenger.
SPEAKER_00: He is just man.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but sometimes it's the opposite situations where you're driving past and you see somebody uh and they're in a ditch on the side of the road.
SPEAKER_00: And uh anybody have like, you got a gooseneck problem where you see somebody.
SPEAKER_00: Um I want to say this as a public service announcement.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you see a car stopped on the side of the road, you do not have to slow down to look at them.
SPEAKER_00: Like, just just keep on moving.
SPEAKER_00: Like, we'll we'll keep on moving.
SPEAKER_00: Uh here, here's what I know.
SPEAKER_00: That may be a funny little car analogy, but how many know we are so tempted to do that when it comes to life?
SPEAKER_00: Man, we see people going through their problems, their issues, uh, their circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: Can we be honest and say there's a there's a genre in American entertainment that is really popular right now?
SPEAKER_00: And the reason we watch it is not because we want to cheer people on.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's called uh uh what's it, man, my brain, y'all forgive me.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, reality television.
SPEAKER_00: Because we don't watch reality television because we're like, I hope they all work it out and they're they're good together, and everyone praises God and Kuba.
SPEAKER_00: We watch it for the drama, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: We watch it to go, you all have issues, y'all have problems, y'all have dysfunctions.
SPEAKER_00: We watch it to, if we're gonna be honest, to feel a little bit better about ourselves and to go, well, at least I'm not as crazy as them.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you but Paul encourages us here.
SPEAKER_00: He says, This dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly, somebody say godly, should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path.
SPEAKER_00: See, the Christian response isn't to gooseneck, the Christian response isn't to judge, the Christian response isn't to get on our throne and think about how much better we are than them.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian response is to restore a brother.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian response is to look at somebody that's struggling, look at somebody that's hurting, look at somebody that's doing wrong, and asking ourselves, not how can I judge you, but how can I help you?
SPEAKER_00: How can I love you?
SPEAKER_00: How can I honor you?
SPEAKER_00: How can I respect you?
SPEAKER_00: Uh and Paul continues to say this this be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Uh what's Paul saying?
SPEAKER_00: Paul is essentially saying this: don't get into the ditch.
SPEAKER_00: Don't think you can't get in the ditch, too.
SPEAKER_00: See, sometimes we're walking around, we're going, we're married, and we go, my marriage can never be like that marriage.
SPEAKER_00: There's really myself.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we're going through our careers and we're thinking, man, uh here's what here's what here's what I know.
SPEAKER_00: Um everybody has an opinion about parenting until they have kids.
SPEAKER_00: I would never give my child an iPad at a restaurant.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, praise God, sweet baby Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Like you could have had, you could have had the literal, I would give the sweet baby Jesus an iPad at a restaurant.
SPEAKER_00: I'd be like, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what we here's what's so easy for us.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy for us to judge other people who are in trouble when we're not in the trouble ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul is saying, you're not better than them, you just made different choices than them.
SPEAKER_00: And it's important for us to look and not go from a judgmental, self-righteous, religious, high place of, man, I figured it out, I've gone there and done that.
SPEAKER_00: Look at my platform, look at my background.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you know what church member I am?
SPEAKER_00: God, Paul is saying, don't do that because you could get in the same ditch they are, so don't judge them.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, do this, verse two, share each other's burdens.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say burdens.
SPEAKER_00: Man, you know what I love?
SPEAKER_00: I love sharing other people's blessings.
SPEAKER_00: I love when people are like, I'm going through a good time, Pastor.
SPEAKER_00: I'm celebrating a race.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God, let's do that.
SPEAKER_00: You know what's not as easy or as natural is sharing other people's burdens.
SPEAKER_00: To show up when a friend is struggling, to be there when somebody can I tell you, we cannot just show up for the party as believers, we also have to show up for the tears.
SPEAKER_00: We can't just show up for the raises, we also have to show up for the layoffs.
SPEAKER_00: We can't just show up for the uh for the baby dedications and the baptisms and the weddings, we also have to show up for the funerals and the hospital visits and the care.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, as believers, we're called to carry each other's burdens?
SPEAKER_00: And he continues that says, if you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You are not that important.
SPEAKER_00: Here's my question for you.
SPEAKER_00: If you found yourself in a ditch, and I don't mean a ditch in a car, I mean a ditch relationally, a ditch spiritually, uh, a ditch emotionally, how would you want other people to treat you?
SPEAKER_00: See, one of the things that I think is so sad about the modern state of the church, and I don't want it to ever be true about our church, is can we be real sometimes?
SPEAKER_00: Church is one of those places when we're really struggling, we don't want to tell nobody.
SPEAKER_00: When we're really hurting, when we're in the ditch, when we're going, hey, I'm really struggling, and sometimes even struggling in our faith, we're like, well, I'm in the ditch, so I'm gonna cover it up.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna tell anybody, I'm not gonna let anybody know that we're struggling.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, can I tell you, church should be the place that you go to when you're struggling.
SPEAKER_00: Church, we should be, uh, you know what churches should be?
SPEAKER_00: Churches aren't sports cars for us to walk around talking about how much we got and how cool we have it.
SPEAKER_00: Churches should be tow cars where we're walking around looking for cars that are in the ditch, that are in trouble, that are broken up, and we're saying, I'm gonna pull you out of the ditch.
SPEAKER_00: Why am I pulling you out of the ditch?
SPEAKER_00: Because somebody named Jesus pulled me out of the ditch a long time ago.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus rescued me, Jesus saved me, Jesus redeemed me, Jesus renewed me.
SPEAKER_00: And so if Jesus did it for me, I'm gonna walk around looking for opportunities to do it for other people.
SPEAKER_00: My job is not to judge you, my job is to help you.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul continues, he says, This you're not that important.
SPEAKER_00: What is he trying to say?
SPEAKER_00: Well, in the in the Greek, it means you are not that important.
SPEAKER_00: Well, John, I'm too busy to help.
SPEAKER_00: You're not that important.
SPEAKER_00: John, I got too much going on.
SPEAKER_00: John, like don't you know what my title and my job is?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus left the title of Lord of heaven and earth to step into the mess of creation, to rescue people while they were trying to punch him out.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, if our Savior and Lord was willing to say, I'm not that important, we can't walk around thinking that we have too much going on.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what Paul is saying uh help who you can, how you can.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, there's no you can you don't have to do everything for everybody, but can I tell you, if you're a believer of Christ, you should be doing something for somebody.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, some of y'all might not be able to make it to the back to school bash, but if you run into somebody at the grocery store, you better be kind to them.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get I'm gonna get in trouble for a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Uh this is uh anybody heard that there might be a data center coming to the county?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna I'm not gonna ask y'all to raise your hand because pretty sure I know how that vote's gonna go.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I here's what I we prayed about it this past Wednesday.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I've never I most of the time will not be giving you a political opinion of mine as your pastor.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna be honest and say, I don't think the data center will be good for our community.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all don't have to clap for that.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I know.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm being serious, y'all didn't have to clap for that.
SPEAKER_00: Uh here's what I know though.
SPEAKER_00: How we talk to each other matters even before the data center comes.
SPEAKER_00: And what I've seen in Facebook groups and in community centers is people going in and going, I hate them.
SPEAKER_00: How dare they?
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell y'all?
SPEAKER_00: If we are believers, if we are Christians, then the words that are coming out of our mouth should edify and encourage and be a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: And I can be as disagreeable, I can, you know what, you know what I've learned about even this data center thing's taught me?
SPEAKER_00: I can say, I don't want the data center here.
SPEAKER_00: And let me, where can I vote and tell somebody?
SPEAKER_00: Just as well as I can yell and cuss out and be angry and hateful.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, here's what I've learned, here's what I've learned.
SPEAKER_00: When I choose to step into that place, what all I'm doing is I'm stepping into the ditch.
SPEAKER_00: All I'm doing is I'm allowing my heart to be compromised.
SPEAKER_00: All I'm doing is I'm allowing myself to become bitter.
SPEAKER_00: All I'm doing is allowing myself to become angry.
SPEAKER_00: All I'm doing is allowing myself to become the person.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, you gotta ask yourself, are my words, am I sounding like Jesus pulling people out of the ditch, or am I sounding like the enemy pushing people deeper into it?
SPEAKER_00: And we'll here's here's what the enemy will let you do.
SPEAKER_00: The enemy will let you be right in a wrong way.
SPEAKER_00: The enemy will let you be right, but you're sitting on your self-righteous throne.
SPEAKER_00: The enemy will let you be right, but you're full of anger.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I want you to recognize.
SPEAKER_00: What if you get in the ditch?
SPEAKER_00: This is I'm exaggerating the analogy.
SPEAKER_00: If you get in the ditch, the mud is still gonna stay on your shoes.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna start tracking it into other places.
SPEAKER_00: And some of us think I can just be angry at this, and this is the thing I'm angry at, but here's what I've learned.
SPEAKER_00: If I'm angry at this, the anger does not stay here, the anger starts coming around with me.
SPEAKER_00: And I've just seen a lot of people that are really angry, and I figured I'd say something because I just want to let y'all know I'm on those community boards too, so you know, post what you want to post.
SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll just preach on it next Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You're giving me good material.
SPEAKER_00: Help who you can, how you can.
SPEAKER_00: This is this is what Paul continues to says, This pay careful attention to your own work.
SPEAKER_00: For then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else.
SPEAKER_00: Well, everybody's yelling.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a child of God.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to yell about that situation.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pray about that situation.
SPEAKER_00: I have direct access to the kingdom of God, to the word of God, to the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: Like, listen, y'all can yell at Facebook all you want.
SPEAKER_00: I have access to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna go talk to Jesus, and I know Jesus is gonna make a difference, Jesus is gonna bring a change, Jesus is gonna bring a revolution.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you I got access to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Uh and and I I want us to take that very, very seriously if we can.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Paul says all this.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Hey, be careful how you're serving other people, be careful that you're not being bitter and angry, be careful that you're it's got to see you.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, don't and then Paul Paul transitioned, he talks a little bit about pastors and uh compensation for them.
SPEAKER_00: That's a whole other sermon.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but he says this: don't be misled.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot mock the justice of God.
SPEAKER_00: You will always harvest what you plant.
SPEAKER_00: Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from their sinful nature.
SPEAKER_00: But those who live to please the spirit will harvest everlasting life from the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: What what's what's Paul Paul saying?
SPEAKER_00: Uh Paul Paul is using this analogy of seeds, and uh my wife has been planting a garden, we've been getting, y'all, I've been getting so many tomatoes, it's been crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, here's what Paul is saying you will reap what you sow.
SPEAKER_00: So some of us are, we're like, what you ever meet somebody that's like ticked off all the time?
SPEAKER_00: And they're like and then they walk around, they're like, I don't know why no one wants to hang out with me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you're reaping what you sow.
SPEAKER_00: You ever meet somebody that's like really, really selfish, really, really selfish, really, really selfish?
SPEAKER_00: And then they're like, well, no one wants to like, or on Christmas, can I tell you, you will reap what you sow?
SPEAKER_00: Here, here's what I know, not just in the curse, but in the blessing.
SPEAKER_00: If you're looking, if you your life right now is a result of every seed that's been sown into your life up to this point.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're looking at your life, you're going, man, I want my life to look different.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, you will reap what you sow?
SPEAKER_00: And this isn't a financial thing, it's a it's not about here's some place, other places where it applies.
SPEAKER_00: If you sow encouragement, you will reap love.
SPEAKER_00: Uh can I talk to some of the husbands in the room?
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm working through this right now.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell y'all, husbands, we need to encourage our wives?
SPEAKER_00: They live in a world that is always playing the comparison game, telling them that they're uh either if they work, well, they should be at home.
SPEAKER_00: If they're at home, well, they should be making money.
SPEAKER_00: Uh if they change their outfit, well, they're prettier six months ago than they are now.
SPEAKER_00: If they change their hair, can I tell you, as husbands, we should be encouraging them and loving them and caring for them.
SPEAKER_00: And I promise you, you will reap what you sow.
SPEAKER_00: Wives, we need to be encouraging our husbands.
SPEAKER_00: Uh whether they're if most guys go to work and they're dealing with other people, some of them who are not believers, you're trying to be faithful to God.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you it's really hard to sit at the uh at the cafeteria table and everybody's talking about stuff and you're trying to pray and be honest to Jesus and be in your word and be a present husband and do all these things?
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you your husband needs your encouragement and he needs your praise, he needs your support, and as you do that, you will reap what you sow.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you ladies are like, I just want somebody to like do my garden.
SPEAKER_00: Can somebody do my garden?
SPEAKER_00: You will reap what you sow.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us are teenagers, and you're like, I just want my parents to give me a car, I want my parents to give me a car, I want my parents to give me a car.
SPEAKER_00: You will reap what you sow.
SPEAKER_00: If you, you know what, you know, here's the secret.
SPEAKER_00: Before you ask for the car, sow a seed of encouragement.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: If my kid was walking around, I have a seven and a four-year-old.
SPEAKER_00: So Roman Karina, I'm telling you right now how to get a car when you're 16.
SPEAKER_00: If you're listening to this sermon later, if you start taking out the trash when nobody's asking, oh, you start cleaning the sink and putting things in the dishwasher when no one's told you.
SPEAKER_00: I come home and I'm I walk into your room and it smells good and I can see the floor.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I need to give this child a vehicle right now.
SPEAKER_00: You will reap what you sow.
SPEAKER_00: So here's my question: what are you sowing?
SPEAKER_00: Are you sowing encouragement?
SPEAKER_00: Are you sowing love?
SPEAKER_00: Are you sowing service?
SPEAKER_00: Are you sowing praise?
SPEAKER_00: You will reap what you sow.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the other thing I tell you, you don't just reap what you sow, you will reap where you sow.
SPEAKER_00: So I can't be like, um, I'm something that can I do that's very different for church planters is uh church planting is an all-in sport.
SPEAKER_00: People are like, you gotta be everywhere at all times.
SPEAKER_00: And I've decided I I love y'all.
SPEAKER_00: I got bad news for you.
SPEAKER_00: How you know you're not my number one priority, right?
SPEAKER_00: George's like, no way.
SPEAKER_00: You know who my number one priority is?
SPEAKER_00: The people I live with at that house that I pay a mortgage for.
SPEAKER_00: I love those people.
SPEAKER_00: Vision Church will have another pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Roman and Karina will never have another dad.
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm sticking around.
SPEAKER_00: Kia gets sick of me, take a nap, come back later.
SPEAKER_00: I'm here.
SPEAKER_00: But but here's the thing: I can't expect to reap at home if all I do is sow here.
SPEAKER_00: Something that we tend to do in America is we get into this very dangerous cycle where we sow at work and then we expect to reap at home.
SPEAKER_00: We show up and we're working really hard and we're doing all the projects and we're the number one on the charts, and everyone's talking about how we're gonna get an award, and then we show home up at home and we're we're absent.
SPEAKER_00: We show up at home and we we're not having conversation.
SPEAKER_00: We show, can I, can I here's here's the question.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the question.
SPEAKER_00: You you got the relationship that you are in.
SPEAKER_00: I apologize for single people, this is very like relationship heavy, but you got the relationship you are in because you are sowing seeds while you are dating, but somehow when you're married, you stop sowing those seeds.
SPEAKER_00: And you ask yourself, why are we so distanced from each other?
SPEAKER_00: Y'all used to you you would never let him see you without you looking so good.
SPEAKER_00: You would never let her see you without you doing like six push-ups, you can get a good pump in.
SPEAKER_00: Used to open the door for each other, used to, and now you're in the season and you're going, I don't understand why my relationship is looking different.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, you reap what you sow and you reap where you sow?
SPEAKER_00: And I I don't want you to win at work and win at church, but not win at home.
SPEAKER_00: Uh one of the things that we told people at the start of the summer was, hey, during the summertime we know people vacation.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, how many of y'all know?
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna freak out if you take a week off of church.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor, I don't know if I'm allowed to.
SPEAKER_00: I thank God.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, you can I'm having fun, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: So y'all forgive me.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you can be present in the house but be absent in the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So, first of all.
SPEAKER_00: Second, just because you're not here doesn't mean you're not, you can't get in the presence of God for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I want you to be the kind of people that go.
SPEAKER_00: I want us to be the kind of people that go, hey, I'm gonna take a week off of church, and I know taking a week off of church isn't gonna derail my relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: You should be solid and planted enough that you can go visit another church, you can go say hi because it's your baby, your your grand niece's baby dedication, and nobody's gonna be mad at you because you're visiting that place or coming to that.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, as a church, we should be the kind of people that go, I belong to a community, I'm not attending an event.
SPEAKER_00: That's who we need to be.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I know that was a little distracted.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you will reap where you so here's my encouragement you need to figure out what seed where you are placing your seed, not just what seed you're planting.
SPEAKER_00: You need to make sure that the first thing is the first thing.
SPEAKER_00: Here's here's the way my life is ordered.
SPEAKER_00: The most important thing to me is my relationship with.
SPEAKER_00: With God.
SPEAKER_00: I want to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because if I don't love God, the number two to fourteen don't matter.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to love God.
SPEAKER_00: God gives me the strength and the grace to love my wife well.
SPEAKER_00: You mean your kids well?
SPEAKER_00: No, my wife well.
SPEAKER_00: Because the most important thing I can, the greatest blessing I can give to my children is a healthy relationship with their mom.
SPEAKER_00: And I love them, but they're on a timer with me.
SPEAKER_00: My son is seven years old, he's got 11 years, and I'm saying, bye, sucker.
SPEAKER_00: You can come back around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: Like, but my wife and I, listen, long after they've gone on and you know, become engineers and made millions of dollars and started a new company and bought me a boat after they've done all that stuff.
SPEAKER_00: After they do all that stuff, it'll still be me and her.
SPEAKER_00: Old gray and wrinkly in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to pour to that relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, the third one is my kids.
SPEAKER_00: The fourth one will surprise you because you're like, okay, now's the church.
SPEAKER_00: Nope.
SPEAKER_00: The fourth one is my friends and family.
SPEAKER_00: It's people that are close to me, it's other pastors that I know that are friends of mine, it's guys like Sam Aiken, it's my spiritual dad, Travis Jones, and you need to have that too.
SPEAKER_00: And fifth is our church community.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, if I reverse the order, if I make you more important than God, then God stops pouring through me and I'll never be a blessing to you.
SPEAKER_00: And some of us, our lives are out of order, and we've loved our children more than we love God.
SPEAKER_00: And we're asking ourselves, why don't I have the strength to love my children?
SPEAKER_00: Why do I always feel interrupted with from loving God?
SPEAKER_00: You will reap where you sow.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another one you will reap later than you sow.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a microwave society.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says this in our scripture.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Um, hey, at the right time you will reap a harvest if you don't what?
SPEAKER_00: Give up.
SPEAKER_00: You know what give up tells me?
SPEAKER_00: It means you will have the spirit that my kids have on them whenever we are on a road trip and you're driving around.
SPEAKER_00: You know what my kids say?
SPEAKER_00: Y'all know it because your kids say, What do your kids say?
SPEAKER_00: Are we there yet?
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna get there sometimes in your relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: God, are we there yet?
SPEAKER_00: God, am I free from that habit yet?
SPEAKER_00: God, have I managed that breakthrough yet?
SPEAKER_00: God, how come I'm not solid the way I want to be solid yet?
SPEAKER_00: God, are we there yet?
SPEAKER_00: And God's like, you know what God's answer is when you ask that question?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same one for you.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I found is funny.
SPEAKER_00: When when we're on our way to something, some someplace with God, God does something in us that He couldn't do any other way.
SPEAKER_00: You will reap later than you sow.
SPEAKER_00: Here's why I say that.
SPEAKER_00: Because some of us think that because we're waiting means that we're doing something wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Because God hasn't done it yet, we're like, well, I prayed and it didn't happen right away.
SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe you need to keep praying.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I I I showed up at church.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you need to keep showing up.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you?
SPEAKER_00: Uh you didn't get to where you are now overnight.
SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna get to where you need to go overnight.
SPEAKER_00: You will reap later than you sow.
SPEAKER_00: And last point is this you will reap more.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say more.
SPEAKER_00: More than you sow.
SPEAKER_00: My my wife started uh garden a couple years ago now, and um cucumbers, tomatoes, all those things.
SPEAKER_00: The tomatoes are the ones that like really, really are freaky to me.
SPEAKER_00: Um because she'll she almost was like this here not playing.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all, there are so many tomatoes on my kitchen counter right now.
SPEAKER_00: So many anybody wants some tomatoes, I will hook you up.
SPEAKER_00: Um but y'all pray for me because I think I think I've been caught in a demonic attack in the spirit of oppression uh because my wife a couple years ago got got six chickens, but now they're my chickens.
SPEAKER_00: Like like I check on them and I check their water levels and where their feet is, and I'm I'm I'm like, I'm on y'all pray for me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm on a bunch of chicken groups where they're like, is this a boy chicken or a girl chicken?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, ooh, this is I'm like, this is so and now we have 11 chickens, and uh you know what I figured out?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like and so y'all by the fall I'm gonna be getting a dozen eggs every single day.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't even think I I don't think I care to eat that many eggs.
SPEAKER_00: You know what's sad?
SPEAKER_00: I I was walking in my chicken coop the other day, some of y'all are like, this is the weirdest church I've ever been to.
SPEAKER_00: You're just talking about chickens the whole time.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I was I was in my chicken coop the other day and I was like, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I have 11, and it takes me just as much time to do five as it does eleven.
SPEAKER_00: I might as well get another five more.
SPEAKER_00: Like, what would be the big deal?
SPEAKER_00: Like, I get five more, this went really well.
SPEAKER_00: If I get five more, I might as well get another 15 more, because then I could sell a dozen a day, and that's a lot of money.
SPEAKER_00: And that was for free.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want to tell you.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, whatever you you sow, God will put a blessing on it and will reap, allow you to reap more than you receive.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be careful in saying this because there's a lot of preachers walking around giving prosperity, gospel mentality things, saying, hey, pour something into the offering.
SPEAKER_00: And if you if you sow a seed of a 500, the Lord will reap 5,000.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, first of all, it's not really generosity if you're trying to manipulate God and giving so you can get something.
SPEAKER_00: So we're not gonna preach that at all.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the second thing is this verse is about things that are, including finances, but much bigger than finances.
SPEAKER_00: Because what he's saying is this if you will reap, there are things that in your life that God is asking you to sow, and you will reap things that are greater than you ever imagined.
SPEAKER_00: Some some of you are in a marriage that's struggling, and you need to sow a date night, and you will reap a healthy marriage.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine right before the service started, uh, and she'd been estranged from some family members for decades.
SPEAKER_00: And last time we talked to her, we said, Hey, I'm gonna use this analogy.
SPEAKER_00: You need to just send a text message, just sow a seed.
SPEAKER_00: And she walked in this morning and she was like, You would not believe who called me after decades of not talking to each other.
SPEAKER_00: You will reap more than you sow.
SPEAKER_00: Man, this church is evidence of that.
SPEAKER_00: We showed up, there were eight of us when we first got started, and we're just sowing a seed of hope into the community.
SPEAKER_00: We're just trying to be a blessing, and now there's so many of us that are a harvest of blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Here, here, here's here's what I here's what I want to ask you today as we close, and as Ian makes me sound more spiritual than I really am.
SPEAKER_00: Um here's my bigger question for you today: is this what are you sowing that you need to stop sowing?
SPEAKER_00: Because some of us have been sowing doubt.
SPEAKER_00: We're like, I don't have any faith.
SPEAKER_00: But all you do is stare at the bill instead of your getting into your prayer closet.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us have been walking in depression.
SPEAKER_00: We're going, man, I need God to remove this depression out of me.
SPEAKER_00: But all you do is scroll and get on Facebook instead of getting in his book.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us have been anxious about the future, but we we never get around people that have made it through so we can be encouraged.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us are um you've been struggling in a relationship, but every conversation you have about that person is not, hey Kevin, I'm really, really, really mad at George.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so, like, can you like here's the conversation I don't ever see people have?
SPEAKER_00: We don't ever go and go, Kevin, I'm really struggling, George.
SPEAKER_00: Man, can you just pray for my heart?
SPEAKER_00: That my heart will be more soft towards George, that I would be a blessing to him.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, like there's some beef there, uh, because he keeps bringing vegetables into the church, and uh it's not OSHA acceptable, and I'm gonna have to.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just tell you, like, we have I have an issue with him, but can you pray that my we never do that?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what we do.
SPEAKER_00: Man, you not believe what George said today.
SPEAKER_00: Can can we pray about how terrible he is and how trash he is?
SPEAKER_00: You know what's funny when we do that?
SPEAKER_00: I never pray, I never have those conversations and then feel better about the situation.
SPEAKER_00: I never, I never talk to them and go, man, I just I just feel the presence of God in this place.
SPEAKER_00: I talked earlier during our prayer time.
SPEAKER_00: I think that one of the reasons why the enemy wants us to wants to interrupt our praise is because if the enemy can get us in a pattern of worrying, of fearing, of being anxious, of fear of hate, if he can get us in a pattern of that, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: We will continue for the rest of our lives to reap a harvest of fear, of depression, of anxiety, of hate.
SPEAKER_00: But if we would go in with a mindset that says, I'm here to sow, like, I don't like the harvest that I'm experiencing, I don't like what I'm feeling, but I'm gonna sow hope.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna sow encouragement, I'm gonna sow love, I'm gonna sow a spirit of understanding, I'm gonna sow grace.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna walk around and go like Paul encourages us to do.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna look down at you when you're in the ditch and think I'm better than you and kind of cast my like, oh, look up how bad.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna I'm gonna sow a helping hand.
SPEAKER_00: And when I sow a helping hand, what I receive is a brother or sister in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I I've never sown a seed, relationally, spiritually, yes, even financially, and walked away feeling like, man, I regretted that.
SPEAKER_00: Here, you gotta stop sowing the seed, and here's the last question.
SPEAKER_00: What do you need to start sowing?
SPEAKER_00: Um where in your life, if you are gonna come up and I was gonna say, Hey, can I pray for you about most of us don't always answer those prayer times, but there's something in your life right now that you're looking thinking to yourself, hey, I need this to change.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say change.
SPEAKER_00: What's something in your life that you need to change?
SPEAKER_00: And here's my question for you What do you need to sow into that situation to see a change?
SPEAKER_00: John, that relationship is never gonna work out, maybe not, but you can put salt in the field or you can sow a seed in the field.
SPEAKER_00: John, I'll always be broke.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you you need to sow a seed into your savings account for the glory of God?
SPEAKER_00: John, I'll never get that promotion.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but you're the employee that shows up five minutes late and leaves five minutes early, and you think nobody notices, but they get a report every week.
SPEAKER_00: And God's calling you to be the boss and the owner of that company, but because you're not sowing the seed, you're not receiving the blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us need to sow a seed into this church community.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna share with you a life hack that I do.
SPEAKER_00: Um I've done this as long as I've attended church, especially do it as I'm a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Um, y'all ever notice when you come in here five minutes early that I'm I'm walking around saying hi to people?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, hey, how you doing?
SPEAKER_00: And uh some of y'all are like, I hate it because I just want to come in and get the word get out, pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and uh Mike's been doing it, Mike's been crushing it last couple weeks.
SPEAKER_00: He's uh you you know why I do that?
SPEAKER_00: I do that for a couple of reasons.
SPEAKER_00: One, my job is not just to be your speaker, my job is to be your pastor.
SPEAKER_00: That's one, and two, every once in a while, one of y'all will start talking about what's going on, and you'll be like, I'll be like, how was your week?
SPEAKER_00: And you'll go, it was fine, Pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Like, no, really, how is it going?
SPEAKER_00: I'm blessed and highly.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it crazy that we can show up in the house of God and we don't feel vulnerable enough to shed our tears?
SPEAKER_00: This will be a house where anyone can shed tears, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: If you're wondering what kind of house this will be.
SPEAKER_00: But the other part too is here's what I love, here's what I love, here's what I love.
SPEAKER_00: I get to cast a seed of hope, of encouragement, of grace into your life in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what this is this is why I do it.
SPEAKER_00: And this is why we need to do it for each other, this is why you need to do it with your family, this is why you need to do it with your friends and your kids.
SPEAKER_00: Because we walk around in our whole life, and these are just stages, but when we break through the wall and we say, I'm gonna sow a seed of encouragement, then what happens is we don't just get, we get connected as a family.
SPEAKER_00: And now on the good days and on the bad days, this isn't a stranger, this is my brother.
SPEAKER_00: When he wins, I win.
SPEAKER_00: When he loses, I lose.
SPEAKER_00: When he needs prayer, I'm praying.
SPEAKER_00: When I need prayer, he's praying.
SPEAKER_00: You know what that is?
SPEAKER_00: It's called a church.
SPEAKER_00: See, the classic church is, man, he's going through stuff, he's got all his issues.
SPEAKER_00: I just come in here so I can judge him.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom church is, you're in a ditch.
SPEAKER_00: Let me help you out.
SPEAKER_00: There are many of you in this room, you've been in a ditch.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus has rescued you, saved you, sanctified you, set you free.
SPEAKER_00: Here's my question: Where do you need to start sewing today?
SPEAKER_00: Who do you need to be a blessing to?
SPEAKER_00: Some of us are looking and we're going, man, I haven't been sewing into our marriage the way I should.
SPEAKER_00: I need to start sewing into that.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all are single and you're like, I just keep dating losers to the glory of no one.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I want to do some weddings, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: Just letting y'all know I'm available for weddings.
SPEAKER_00: And you need to start sowing into some healthy relationship.
SPEAKER_00: You need to go to that Bible study that you don't want to go, just because there's that cute brother in the Lord there, ladies.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Like, why?
SPEAKER_00: Because unless you sow a seed, you'll never reap a harvest.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know God's called us as a church for more?
SPEAKER_00: Can you stand to your feet, Vision?
SPEAKER_00: I I wanna I wanna wrap up this, we're wrapping up this series, and they're gonna lead us in a song of worship.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna look down on you if you fall.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to let you know.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, would you come and speak to us right now?
SPEAKER_00: Um here's what I feel led to ask.
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like as the song plays, I want you to meditate on this.
SPEAKER_00: It's how is the garden of your life right now?
SPEAKER_00: How is the garden of your life right now?
SPEAKER_00: With your eyes closed, I want you to just picture where you are right now.
SPEAKER_00: And you might be saying, John, my the garden of my life is full of weeds.
SPEAKER_00: There's things that are there that I need I need the Holy Spirit to pull up and to prune.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, God will help you do that?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are saying, My garden is desolate.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing, there's no life happening there.
SPEAKER_00: You need to start sowing love and encouragement, the word of God, the praise of God, the Spirit of God into that garden.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you, your garden you're thinking about as a relationship, and you need to start sowing a seed of love and encouragement.
SPEAKER_00: Well, they're not going to give it back.
SPEAKER_00: It's not their job to give it back, it's your job to sow a seed.
SPEAKER_00: It's not your job to judge them when they're in the ditch.
SPEAKER_00: It's your job to sow a seed.