Local Church Camp - Session One

Opening night of church camp, Levi walks through Matthew 13 and the Parable of the Sower, exploring how the same message of Jesus produces different outcomes depending on the condition of our hearts. Challenging us to move beyond cynicism, shallow faith, and distraction, this message calls us to become “good soil” — receptive, rooted, and ready to bear lasting fruit as we respond to the nearness of God’s kingdom.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

If you have a Bible, I want you to just hold it in front of you. In the book of Matthew, chapter 13. And Matthew 13, the first thing I notice when I look at my Bible is that there's lots of red in the book of Matthew, chapter 13. Does anybody know what the red letter means? Just shout it out. So Jesus. So Jesus is talking. I'm not sure about you, but a lot of us are here, we're trying to figure out what it is that Jesus wants for our life. What it is that Jesus is saying. Well, this weekend, all we're going to do is speak from the book of Matthew 13, which is going to prioritize what it is that Jesus is saying to us in red. And so Matthew 13 it says parable of the sower. I'm going to preach from that tonight. If you keep going down to Matthew 13, 24, it says parable of the weeds, we're going to um read that tomorrow morning. Then tomorrow night, the parable of the mustard seed and the yeast. And then on Sunday morning, uh Nadi's going to preach parable of the hidden treasure and the pearl. And so all we're going to do is preach this weekend from one chapter. And so if you want to get up in the morning or before you go to bed tonight, read that chapter, then you're going to get a head start on what it is that the Lord is going to be speaking to us this weekend. Is that okay?

unknown 1:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Well, the Bible says this, Matthew 13, verse 1. That same day Jesus went out to the house. He went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into the boat and sat on it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in the parable saying, A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came up and ate it. Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell amongst thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop, a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let him hear. The disciples came to him and asked, Why do you speak to us in parables? He replied, Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have, will be taken from them. This is why I speak to you in parables. Jump with me down to verse 18 for time's sake. Listen then to what the parable of the sower means. This is a this is a great pleasure that we have this weekend. Um two of these parables that we're going to be reading, Jesus actually explains. And so it's going to make preaching um really easy. Listen then to what the parable of the sower means. When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches it away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed that was sown on the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling amongst the thorns refers to someone who hears the word. But the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown. Father, we thank you for your scriptures. We thank you for the word tonight. And Father, we pray that as we come around your word, God, that we would take a moment to receive it. That as we read these soils, that we would be challenged, Lord, tonight to be good soil, that we'd receive what it is that you have to say to us, God, that at this camp, that we've set aside our time, that we might also set aside our attention, that as we've set aside our bodies, that we might also dial in our spirits, that we might have a posture to lean into the kingdom. And Father, we pray that you bless this time, bless our time together, bless our families, bless our kids. Holy Spirit, right now in that room, I think there are 36 kids registered at this camp. I don't know how many are asleep or how many in the room. I know Ant is over there, Danny's over there, Joe and Anna, we're over there. Bless those kids at this camp. Holy Spirit, we want you to touch them and breathe upon them. We pray in Jesus' name. And everybody said. Amen. The book of Matthew, chapter 4, and verse 17. I wonder if anyone can tell me what that verse says. The book of Matthew, chapter 4, and verse 17. It says, At that time Jesus began to preach. And he preached these few words. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. The only reason I asked you if you knew the verse, because I'm not trying to embarrass anybody that might not know the verse, is because we've read this verse for five weeks in a row. Crazy. From that time on, Jesus began to preach. We're now in the fourth chapter of the book of Matthew, and Matthew is very chronological, very structured. He's the kind of person that's like very clear with the way that he writes. And he's he's he's not like uh we read John last year, and John's like poetic and so many metaphors, but but Matthew very clear. He opens with he opens with Fucker Papa, does Matthew? He opens with the the chronological order of Jesus' uh lineage, and then he gets to he gets four chapters in, and in verse 17 it says, From that time on, Jesus has only just now started to preach. We read his birth story, the lineage of Jesus, and we we read the early early story of his life, but at this time he begins to preach, and the first message that he preaches is this, the first thing he says, the first word he says is repent. And then he goes on to say this for the kingdom of heaven has come near. Another Bible might say, another translation, or even another gospel might say the kingdom of God. It's the same thing. The kingdom of heaven has come near. What he was trying to say to us, or to the listeners in the first century, was that the kingdom of heaven was in Jesus, embodied in him, and had come close. It says, come near, another translation or other verses will tell you that he is saying the kingdom of heaven is here. That the kingdom of heaven was breaking in. And so he gets up and says, Repent. In other words, he says, he's trying to say, um, may you be thoughtful about your life. Repent, may you be thoughtful about metanoia, may you be, may you think about a U-turn of your thinking and behavior. May you just take stock of your life. Would you just just just sit for a minute and and just question everything about the way you're doing things, comma. Because the kingdom of God in Jesus has come close. Now, you're here tonight, and I'm preaching, and you're confused. Imagine hearing that for the first time. You'd be going, wow, okay, interesting. I think at that time, let's put ourselves in their shoes. We've got first century Jews, monotheists, they believed in Yahweh, one God. And so you've got a large community of people that do believe in God, a God, the God, Yahweh God, and then Jesus is coming, and he is Hebrew, he's Jewish. And many people had been believing that a part of the Hebrew faith is that there would be a Messiah, a chosen one. I don't know if you've seen pretty much any movie ever, uh, whether it be, I don't know, Karate Kid or uh The Matrix. Like it's all about uh we love this whole concept of the chosen one. We love this concept of this one that will come and fulfill prophecy. I don't know, the jungle book. Like every single thing, it feels like this this heroic arc that we love in literature is about this this one chosen prophetic person, and and and this person clearly is Jesus. But when he came and they thought it might be him, he started preaching like this, but in their minds they were expecting something different. In their minds, they were expecting uh a strong military figure, a political leader. Um in that time they were oppressed by Romans, and obviously we've seen gladiating, you've seen you've seen what it was like to live in that that environment in that time, and so they're there and that they're expecting someone who might be strong, violent, maybe, um, a dominant leader, someone that would be the other side of the coin to the Caesars that ruled over. We read about Pontius Pilate, but Pontius Pilate was I mean, he was Mahi Drysdale. He's at a local level. The Caesars at that Christopher Luxon level. And so you're expecting that someone, it's funny we, you know, like, yeah, that's funny, because it's New Zealand, our leaders are, you know, kind of weak. You know what I mean? You know, like, you know. And so Jesus came and we were expecting that he might be the antithesis to come up against the strong leaders of the time. You think about even right now, like how scary it is to think that there are there are nations at war with one another. We think about those leaders of those nations, dominant figures, dominant figures fighting against one another. And that's what the people were expecting. And then Jesus came and said, Repent the kingdom of heaven. And I don't know, like, you might have been unsure, unclear what was going on, confused, but I think part of your thinking was like, Oh, let's go. Um, in high school, you would run it straight. I was never, I was never involved in running it from the back fence. But when you got two people that you were looking forward to, then running it straight, I mean the whole school would turn up. Because you would have two of the biggest individuals. I was at an all-boys' school, the biggest individuals would run it straight because you want to see the collision. Jesus came and they were expecting a collision. But Jesus didn't give them, and sometimes he doesn't give us what it is that we're expecting or looking for from him. There have been in the last 12 months of our church, and I'm gonna say something, but I'm not saying it because I'm frustrated with these people or I'm trying to throw shade, I'm not. But there have been young adults that have come through our church and blessed their hearts, they've come in and not find found other young adults, because there's so many families in our church. And they've seen that there haven't been other young adults, and then they've left. And I'm like, oh yeah, I get it, I get it. Jesus came and and he wasn't what they were expecting, and they they they didn't find in him what they were looking for, and so they walked away. Because what we what we want to see and what the Lord sometimes offers are two different things. When young adults have come into our church, I often think to myself, I wonder if they're the ones that the Lord is using as seed, or we'll preach about yeast. That I wonder if they're small, they're the small thing that the Lord will use to birth something great. But often we come and we're looking for something that's existing, that's already great, that we can be a part of. So Jesus came and says, Repent, the kingdom of heaven has come near, it's close, it's it's here, it's in me. And I think people are going, cool, what have we got here? What's he cooking up? And what is this kingdom? And then his whole ministry life, he does two things. He lives a life where he shows us the kingdom through his actions, and he preaches messages that illustrate the kingdom through metaphor. He does two things. He lives a life where he shows us actions, and he preaches messages where he gives us metaphor. The kingdom of heaven is so complicated and so difficult to explain that he had to do it in a way where he would provide comparisons and metaphors that we might see what it's like. I said this the other day. In fact, when we had a friend of ours, Nick Parsons, came over and met Jaden, he's like, I just said, did you meet Jaden? He goes, Yeah, bro, massive hands, you know. I'm like, yeah, bro, like a bunch of calloused bananas, you know. Like, how do you describe a gorilla of a man with strong leathery hands? You've got to use a picture. You've got to use a metaphor of calloused bananas. How do you describe the kingdom of heaven? What Jesus started giving us, he started giving us these metaphors. And the first one we find is this. Matthew 13 and verse 19, it says this. Well, verse 18 says, listen to what these parables mean, the parable of the sour means. Verse 19, he says, When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches it away. What was sown in their heart, this is the seed along the path. Verse 20, the seed falling along rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy, but since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes, because of the word they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and doesn't understand it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown. We're going to talk tonight about the seed in the soil, and I guess if anything, this is our sequel from last Sunday's message. There are four illustrations Jesus gives us. The first one is the path. The path speaks of the hard heart. It speaks of birds snatching it up, speaking of the enemy snatching away from people that don't comprehend or understand or don't have that desire to lean into the mystery of what the kingdom is. Number two is rocky places, shallow heart, the shallow soil. It springs up quickly but then falls away at the first sign of trouble. The third one is the thorns or the crowded heart, where the worries of life, the Bible says Jesus preaches here, the deceitfulness of wealth, they choke up the seed and it's unfruitful. And the last one is good soil or a receptive heart that hears and understands and produces a crop. I I wrote here in my notes, note this doesn't say this, this fourth soil doesn't say the talented heart. But the good soil I think is the receptive heart. The important truth that we must see in the scripture is this the seed is constant, the soul is faithful, the only difference in the four is the soil, and the parable is not about different messages or different seeds, but about different hearts, and that's on us. In other words, there is a relationship between the soil and the seed. The first one is this the path, the hard heart. Matthew 13, verse 4 says, As he was scattering the seed, some of the soil fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches it away, what was sown in their heart. This is the seed that was sown on the path. The seed here that falls along the path was eaten up by birds. This speaks to the fact that they don't understand it, that the enemy snatched it away. The soil on the path is compacted, it's hardened, it's been walked upon. The seed never actually gets sown. The resistant heart or the hard heart, I think, speaks about a cynical, dismissive, or closed, or a heart that's unwilling to consider. The hard heart in the path is not confused, the hard heart is closed. I think the danger for us all here is that if we believe that Jesus is preaching here, is preaching to people out there, then we miss the whole point. We'll miss the fact that Jesus was preaching in that moment to people who were already his followers. That he was healing, like I said, he lived a life where he expressed and was an example of the kingdom and preached messages to illustrate what the kingdom was. But as he healed people and cast out demons and did the most amazing miracles, people began to follow him, and as they followed him, he tried to enunciate through metaphor what the kingdom was. And as he's preaching to the people that begin to follow him, that's us, we need to understand that as we come to parables like this, that Jesus' whole point is not to preach to the followers about the unfollowers, or to the church about the unchurched, or to the healed about the sick, or to those who are close about those far away. Jesus preaching, if anything, was forcing his believers to look at themselves, to look at ourselves, and then to look outward and reach out to those who don't follow him. But I think sometimes as churches and believers, we get really good at hearing messages, and we get in and then we look at each other and we we think things in our hearts and we go, I'm glad I'm glad they I'm glad they heard that. Levi, are you preaching to the right people tonight? Because there are a lot of people that are in this room need to be hearing this message. Or we start to think about the people that aren't even in the room. I'm gonna send them that MP3. I can't wait to get that Spotify channel up and running. But Jesus was preaching, not to people who weren't listening, Jesus was preaching a message to the people that were in front of him. And as we read the scriptures, let the Lord, let the Holy Spirit be analyzing and inspecting our heart and our motives. The first one was the hard heart, the the cynical heart. The path is not about the unchurched, it's the posture that many, many of us can walk into. I think the modern version of this that challenges me when I hear someone enunciate things about the kingdom, and not just in preaching, but in everyday life, is I think I've heard it all before. Or I think a phrase like this, oh, this is not for me. Or a phrase like this, someone else here needs to hear this. We're dealing with exposure, without openness. Jesus' caution here is that we don't become overly familiar. Our generation struggles with repetition, I think, without reflection. Um I don't know about you, but the podcast, the podcast generation has been interesting because um everyone has one, eh? Like there's just so many. There's just so many, there's so much, there's so much information out there. And so then a question, I don't know about you, but a question that I have with people will be like, um, oh, what what because it used to be what music do you like? These days it's like, what podcast are you listening to? Or have you got any new information for me? There's so much information that how can we possibly be receptive to all this information and actually stop to process what it is that we're actually inviting into our life. I was talking with someone yesterday because we're driving in my car and my radio's not working. We're like our um our Bluetooth is broken. Yeah, like it's you know, because we buy cheap ones, I think. Yeah, but they're only 12 bucks, that's all good. And it's Bluetooth not working, so we're driving in silence. And I apologized. I was like, sorry, man, like we're driving in silence. And he goes, Oh man, all good. I love driving in silence. I do it all the time. And I was like, man, like I should do that more often. What do you do when you're driving in silence? He's like, man, I don't know, just like I just think. You know, just maybe prayerful, maybe not, maybe just like just thoughtful. And I was like, Damn, I'm someone needs to hear this preaching, you know, like you know, and and I was I I was challenged by that. I felt to me that was a that was an insight into the kingdom in that moment. Because we have so much music, I'll be running an audio book, and then I'm bored with that audiobook. I might listen to this podcast, now I'm bored with that. And we have so much, and then we share those thoughts with others. Have you ever done that? Or have you have you talked to someone who's given you a half-warmed thought from a podcast they listened to the first five minutes of? Or they read the first chapter of Atomic Habits and they're trying to just sound like the man, and you're like, oh, crazy, you know? We don't take time to reflect. So much repetition. Hardened ground that the soil just bounces off and the enemy comes and snatches it away. This whole camp is is what I'm trying to do, is I'm trying to just say, here's just one chapter. Here's just four parables. Let's just for two days. We might jump around a little bit, maybe a little psalms, maybe a little old testament. But if we could, why don't we just sit and see what the Lord has to say to us? So that our hearts won't be cynical and hard, but we might be good soil. Amen. Okay. Number two, rocky soil. Matthew 13 and verse 20, Jesus explains that. He says, This the seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. Amen. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. This is this for me is the shallow heart. Emotional, but no roots. I've done this. I've been this guy. I've been have no I don't want to see the hands. But in your heart, if your heart has a hand, would you raise it if you've been this person? Just little heart hands. I've got a picture of little hands, you know, my little heart. I've been this guy. I think I've been to over a hundred camps or conferences in my lifetime. Man, I do I do love me a good getaway. Do you love me a good opportunity to just like retreat? Whether it's a church that we're running or something that I've been invited to speak at, an environment where you're just in a camp, you're away, it's amazing. And then bang, inevitably the Lord does something great in my life in those environments. And my little heart hands go, woo! And then I get an idea like I'm like gonna change everything about the way that I do my life, and I'm excited, and the the seed jumps in and I respond with joy, and then I go back home. And I don't know if you've been to my house, but if you've been to my house, please do not look in the downstairs bedroom when you walk through the front door on the left with the double doors with the ensuite. On the right hand side is Mika's room, don't look in that room either, because Mika won't appreciate it, but at least it's clean. But the room on the left, it's like a hell of its own, you know? It's got two little angels that live in there, but it is just like the other day we had a family come. In fact, it was a year ago, the Matungis. It was so we had the Matungis come over, so we moved our kids out. No, I think they actually stayed in there, and the whole Matangi family lived for Easter in our house for four days. And it was I cleaned it, we cleaned it. It's Matangi, you've got to look after these people. And at that time, we had in our house an epidemic of somebody taking um you know q-tips, snapping them in half, and so it was two, now you've got two little q-tips, which kind of reminds me of a little hard hands, you know. I don't know, and and they would be everywhere. Sometimes used, sometimes not. I just find them everywhere, especially in the upstairs toilet, the public one that you would use if you come to my house. And I was and I told him, I was like, bro, I'm really sorry if you ever find this weekend a half a q-tip where there's an issue and there's a little leprechaun that snap in the q-tips and leaves them everywhere. If you find one, I'm sorry. He starts sending me photos from inside that room, the bedroom that he was in, that he's finding q-tips. He's a guest in my house finding used q-tips on the floor in the room that we've given him and we're hosting him. But because I've known him for 15 years, it's funny, but it's really not funny because of our q-tips. This is disgusting. So I've gone to this camp, I've gone to this conference, and I've I've heard something from the Lord. He's dropped into my heart, and I'm gonna change my whole life. I can't wait to tell everyone about it. And then I come home and I'm encountered with normal life. What did he say? Well, so the q-tips are normal life. Does this metaphor? So, bro, what happened what's happened? I've gone away to this camp and heard from the Lord, and the seeds jumped in, and I'm gonna change my life, and then I've come home, and what have I found? Q tips. You might not have q-tips at your house. You might not. Your house might be clean, but you might come home and have distractions from other things. For me, it was for me, it was q-tips. The whole point is this don't laugh too hard. This is the point. This soil has moments where you receive it, the Bible says with joy. And as soon as trouble comes, q-tips. You get distracted and forget. It gets too hard and you let it go. And the seed doesn't find good soil. This is my story. I don't know if you can resonate, but I I've been this guy. And Jesus goes on. He says, That's rocky soil. Oh, in fact, the other day, sorry, sorry, Ryder. By the way, Ryder, I um we've planted two churches here and I. And in both of those churches, you have done words. And I was I was down here tonight, I felt like the Lord said to me, He said, Levi, in the two churches that you've planted, with all the songs that Ryder has been on AV for, and all the lyrics you've clicked through, and all the sermons you've clicked through, you must have, honestly, I just felt like this is the Lord, bro, you must have read so many scriptures and read so many lyrics and clicked through so much of small little seeds that it must be remarkable. You must have a silo, a grain silo of seeds in your life that the Lord has planted since you first started doing words with Mike Burke in Canada in 2019. And the Lord's just gonna continue to um bring a harvest from those little tiny little seeds that are in your heart. Love you. Thanks, bro. Sorry about that. The other day I was talking to Thomas, and we were sitting at first Sunday, and we were talking about um family. And then um Ari and Kieran came over. By the way, boys, that was a word for you too. Kieran, Ari. Amount of times that you guys looking through scriptures and going through lyrics in in church, and the Lord's doing something great in your life. And the boys came up and they were like, um somehow we got on to um I show speed at first Sunday? Didn't we? Yeah, we got it. There was some streaming in the mix. Yeah, speed. So I'm with so this is what happens. I'm with Thomas. I'm with Thomas, we're talking about family, and the boys come over frothing on something, and we're streaming, or there was something in there, and I was like, yo, speed. He was in New Zealand, crazy, and I was like, yeah, that's gnarly. And then they yeah, what was it? Yeah, it was a it was a public. Yeah, and then you guys walked off, and then Thomas goes, What on earth was that? And I said this. I don't know either. And then I said this, and this is this is my point here. Inch deep, mile wide. I was like, Thomas, my problem is that I I want to be an inch deep so that I can have a conversation with many people. But if you're the if you're a jack of all trades, you're master of none. I think what what Jesus is trying to say here is that let's not try and prioritize being good at everything across the board. But if we are just good at one thing and receiving what the Lord has for us, that's good soil. Let me move on. Thank you, writer. The third thing is this thorny soil. A thorny soil speaks of a crowded heart. Matthew 13, 22 says this the seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word. But the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth, the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth, they choke the word, making it unfruitful. The seed falling amongst the thorns refers to someone who hears the word. This is Jesus speaking, but the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. This is what I call the crowded heart. The worries of life are anxiety, distraction, divided attention, or being pulled apart is the Greek word there. If the devil can't make you bad, what's that phrase? He will make you busy. Jesus is saying here that the kingdom doesn't die only from rebellion, that it dies from distraction. The deceitfulness of wealth speaks of security or control, identity, safety. I think that what he's speaking to here is that wealth slowly replaces dependence on God. And lastly, the good soil. Matthew 13, 23 says, but the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown. Hearing in the scriptures means receiving, it means welcoming, it means giving weight to, and submitting to what is heard. I think that scriptural hearing says this is a word that I need to hear. The Greek word there means to listen to with intent to respond. I think this is probably my first moment of um of family camp chat. I think in New Zealand, one of the things we struggle with as a nation is cynicism. What cynicism will do to us, um, and I think it's born uh most clearly and embodied in tall poppy syndrome. And so what it will do to us is we will take great things and we will pull them down because we want everything to be at the same level. Now, a part of that I think is great. I was talking with Joe before, and he's like, I like the setup. And I was like, Joe, we walk. He said, Did they normally have it like this? I said, no, blank canvas, you walk in, you know, place smells dank and everything's all the chairs are on the side. But I said, we came as a team and we were all like, it was kind of like we were all just like, yo, nah, we don't want stage. Let's like, let's like, or not us looking at these guys worshiping, and that's certainly not the heart of our worship team to be the ones looked at. But man, how this is it. If I could have church in this building or have a church like this, I would. I'd love this so much. Because I just felt like when I was here or wherever I was, and James is like, do what you want. And everyone's like, amazing. I felt like we were all worshiping together. It's so visceral. The fancy word for that is egalitarian. So we like a flat, New Zealand we're like a flat tier. So we want everyone, we want to make sure that everyone's we're on the same level. Like, no one's better than anyone else. And I think that's good. Because I think that's true. And I think it's I think it's scriptural, I think it's kingdom, I think that's great. The downside is that when something truly is great, something is said that is great, when someone does something that is great, we then get concerned because of our insecurities and our cynicism in our hearts. We go, oh, easy, mate, and we bring it down. There's there's I gave this illustration a few months back about Richie McCaw. He's basically consistently the number one him like Edmund Hillary, Richie McCaw, like Ernest Rutherford, consistency the number consistently number one Kiwis of all time. So Richie McCaw has played 150 tests for the All Blacks, 100 as captain, 80% winning average, uh is a pilot, is the most humble person ever. So, in order for Kiwis to truly respect somebody, you have to be one in a trillion. And I think that's a challenge. What happens here with the scriptures is that the very thing, the very next thing that happens is that Jesus goes to his hometown and can't perform any miracles because of familiarity. Because we want to just make sure that it's Jesus, and then they say things like this and say, isn't that the carpenter? Isn't that the carpenter's son? Isn't that Joseph's son? What good can come out of Nazareth? And we want to bring him down. Now, the challenge with what I'm saying right now is ordinarily we're sitting here and we hear a preacher or a pastor say these things, and what they're really trying to say is that they want you to honor and respect them. So then we go, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that I want us to respect him and one another. Because we are made in his image. But if we come around the word and our soil is not good, and we sit there thinking that's a word for someone else, then we tear down and bring to our level the great thing that the Lord has for us for our hearts. But if we have good soil and we can say, yes, I receive it for me, then the Lord can do wonderful things in our life. Now, year 13 science, litmus paper test. Here's a good test for us, and I'm going to wrap this thing up. A good test for us as New Zealanders, I think, is how easy can we encourage others? If we find it difficult to encourage others, then we need to look at the soil of our hearts because tall poppy syndrome has got a hold of us. But if we find it easy to encourage others, that means that there's a freedom, there's nutrients in the soil, and we want to give away what's been given to us. And so I wonder this weekend, maybe this is the first insight into the kingdom for us, that we might walk away and resonate and sit and reflect and say, Lord, how easy is it for me to give away encouragement? How easy is it for me to lift up other people? Look, I don't want to make this about talent, but I will just for one illustration. Because I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who thought that Brooke sounded great tonight. She started singing, and I looked at Grady, and Grady's like, Grady will love this. But I pray that we just don't go, Father, that was awesome. But we might afterwards pull Brooke aside. It'll be meaningless now if I've told you to do it. They say, Brooke, you know, Brooke, wow. Man, not just sounding good, there's an anointing on your voice. That was great. As soon as you started singing, I was like, it wasn't just quality of voice, Brooke. It was like, I just felt like the Holy Spirit just kind of just broke through. Like, I can't even put words to it. That was cool, man. Like, can I grab you a brisket? You know what I mean? Like, we just and we're but New Zealanders, we this is what we would do. Yo, Brooke. That was wicked. I think we need to get better at that. And I think when we get better at that, I think that that's a reflection of the receptivity of the soil in our life. Can we receive that tonight? Good soil. Good soil. Good soil, hearing the word, to be receptive, says, this is a word that I need to hear. Not perfectly, but persistently. Matthew 7, 24 says this everyone who hears these words of mine, Jesus says, and puts them into practice. The question is not this. Is the word powerful? The question is this, what kind of soil am I? The question is not, is the word powerful? The question is, what kind of soil am I? And I think the last thing I'll say is this. Matthew 4.17 says that from that time Jesus began to preach. The first word he said was repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. And then in verse 13 and in chapter 13, he then tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who sowed seed into a field, and there were four kinds of soils. He said, Repent, for the kingdom is here, and the kingdom of heaven is like a man sowing seed. He said, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. Then he said, The kingdom of heaven is like a man sowing seed. Repentance is soil work. Repentance is soil work. Have you ever heard the phrase green thumbs or green fingers? Someone who's really good at growing things. Have you ever watched someone who's good at growing things grow things? And have you ever watched someone who doesn't grow things try and grow things? I guess sometimes there's no visible difference between the two. Just tone. Sometimes there's no visible difference between the two. But Nadia uses this phrase. She says, when when she makes something wonderful, or when someone does, she'll use this phrase, because it was made with love. When I say that word repentance, that soil work, I wonder if for some of us we go, repentance is like um severe. Like, I want to give us all a moment to repent, you know, and then everyone's like, ah. Or someone shouting out sexual sins, you know what I mean? Like, I'm sorry, Lord, you know, whatever. Like, and then it's repentance. That is repentance. But repentance, I think, is just when you tenderly care with the soil of your heart with love. Repentance could be tonight when you go to bed, and just before you go to sleep. Oh Lord. As I go through today, Lord, what was kingdom and what did I learn? What was something that you are doing in me? And Lord, I repent that I haven't seen it before, but I receive it now. Repentance for you might be saying, Man, when Levi was preaching from Matthew 13, I felt like there were a few things that resonated with me about the wrong soil in my life. And then you might just say, This, oh Lord, help me. Oh Lord, I want to be good. There's not one person here that doesn't want to be good soil. There's not one of us. There's not one person here that paid money to come to a camp that doesn't want to be good soil. Repentance just says, Lord, help guide me so that I can change the quality of the soil that's my heart to receive your seed. This weekend we're going to be preaching tomorrow on the parable of the weeds, which I'm looking forward to it. And then tomorrow night the parable of the yeast and the seed again, which is a different parable. And I guess I just wanted to just say something from tomorrow night, tonight, so that you can think about it during the day. And that is this the parable of the yeast and the parable of the seed show us that the kingdom of heaven is very small, which is my my example about young adults coming and they're looking for something impressive. They didn't find it, so they left. And I'm not j I'm not judging anyone who's done that ever. I've done that. But the kingdom of heaven is so small. Mustard seeds, you could put one on your finger, eh? It's tiny, smaller than an ant, but then grows into the biggest tree. We need to stop looking for impressive trees in the kingdom and start looking for little seeds. And the second thing is that the kingdom of heaven is yeast, which is actually invisible once it goes in the dough. So Jesus is so, we're so thankful, Jesus, for your mysterious preaching because the kingdom of heaven is small and invisible. And so I wonder as we go through the camp that you might walk slowly so that you can see what small and invisible things that the Lord is doing. Which makes no sense. Because how can you see something that's invisible? Because if it was visible, it wouldn't be invisible. It would be visible. But we we pray, Lord, for eyes to see. Lord, and for ears to hear what he's doing in our lives this weekend. Amen. And Father, we thank you, Lord, for your presence. We're grateful. Father, we're praying for the kingdom of heaven at this camp. We're thankful, Lord, for a diligent worship team who's leading us so wonderfully. Grateful, Lord, for the Taylor family being such cornerstones and foundations of that team of our church. Thankful for James and a supportive wife who's allowing him to be a cornerstone. Grateful for Brooke, a wonderful new addition. Thankful for the team for Karina. Thankful for Ryder, for Anna, for Tim, for Nick and Phil. But Father, we're asking tonight, Lord, for each and every one of us, Father, that you would come near in our hearts. That tonight, as we go and have brazier, as we go and have some treats, as we hang out with friends, Lord, that you would give us eyes to see your kingdom at work. Give us ears to hear your kingdom at work. Lord, we want and desire so deeply to have good soil. And we want to receive the things that you're going to drop into our hearts this weekend. Holy Spirit, in this moment of reflection, in this moment of repentance, let us do that soil work. Holy Spirit, pour out your wonderful presence on our lives. Lord, on our teenagers, on our intermediate students, on our primary kids, on our kids in the kids program, on our toddlers who are sleeping, kids who are crawling around the back. Lord, let them just be so filled with your presence. In our cabins, in our lodges, in our rooms tonight, Lord, be there, speak to us, fill them even right now, Lord. That would rest well, have great conversations. We ask this in your precious name, your matchless name, Lord, your majestic name, Father. The name above every name, the name that paid the ultimate price, the name that got us to this camp. The reason why we're here, Lord, in your beautiful name. In the name of Jesus. And everybody said. Amen. Amen. Awesome.