WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.080 We've been spending, we're going to spend a few weeks going through Matthew chapter 13. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:06.559 Matthew chapter 13 has these parables in it. 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:10.640 Parables are these stories that Jesus told, and he's comparing. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:12.080 He's comparing one thing to another. 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:16.160 He's telling about one thing in order to teach us something. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:18.079 And these are kingdom parables. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:23.039 So he's saying stuff like the kingdom of God is like this. 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:31.679 And he's saying this not to teach us about the seed or the farm or today the weeds and the wheat, but he's saying it to teach us something more. 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:38.880 He's saying it to teach us something bigger, something divine. 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:44.000 And so the kingdom of God is the power of God entering our world. 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:49.920 It's the forgiveness of sins, it's the taking away of condemnation, the taking away of shame, but it's more than that. 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:51.280 It's bigger than that. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:55.039 It's about how all things will be made right. 00:00:56.320 --> 00:01:08.879 That eventually this broken world, economically broken, racially broken, family wounds, abuse, that all of this mess will one day be made right. 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:16.719 And the kingdom of God also creates the question: what does it mean for God to reign in us? 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:21.120 What does it mean for God to be in control of my life? 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:22.319 What does that mean? 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:26.400 Is it just another beatdown to outperform another Christian? 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:28.640 Or does it mean something more? 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:38.000 And so Jesus tells this story, verses 24 through 30, and then he takes a break from the story and he tells another story, which we're going to talk about next week, and then he comes back and explains the first story. 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:43.439 So we're just going to concentrate on the first story, and then next week, that story that's in the middle, we'll go after it. 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:47.200 So here we go, Matthew 13, 24 through 30. 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:49.120 The text is in your bulletin. 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:58.319 He put another parable before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:04.879 But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:09.199 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:16.080 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:17.599 How then does it have weeds? 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:20.400 And he said to them, An enemy has done this. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:24.159 So the servant said to him, Then, do you want us to go and gather them? 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:26.240 So they're like, Hey, do you want us to pull the weeds? 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:28.240 You want us to get rid of them? 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:36.400 But he said, No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:40.080 Let both grow together until a harvest. 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:49.199 And at harvest time I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn. 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:58.000 Okay, so the gist is that good and bad coexist for a season, and then another season will come. 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:00.080 And spoiler alert, the farmer's God. 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:01.599 Go ahead and just go ahead and I'll let you know. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:08.479 The farmer's God, which is crazy, because the thing that the farmer says is is crazy. 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:16.400 I mean, the people here are an agricultural society, and so of course, of course, all the workers say, hey, should we pull all should we pull the weeds? 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:17.840 Like we should pull the weeds. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:20.000 This is what you should do. 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:21.120 You pull the weeds. 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:27.520 When I walk through my yard, when you walk through your yard, whether you pull your weeds or not, right? 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:28.879 Okay, maybe you don't. 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:32.560 Whether you should, whether you do or don't, you know you should. 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:36.800 Maybe you walk by them, but you know you should pull them. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:39.280 Like we know we should get rid of the weeds. 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:41.919 There's never a moment when you walk through and you go, this is great. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.319 I'm just gonna really let the weeds go. 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:47.439 This is the best choice for my yard. 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:49.520 We know we should pull them. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:04:01.680 But the point of the story is not a lesson of farming, it's a bigger lesson, and it's a lesson about how the universe works, it's a lesson about how the God of the universe works in this world, and then it actually says something to us. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:04.719 And the story quickly becomes a reality, right? 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:11.199 Because while they're asleep, the enemy comes and plants weeds, and the word there is xania. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:14.639 And so this weed, it looks just like wheat. 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:17.519 It looks exactly like it until harvest. 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:20.240 And then it never bears fruit. 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:32.000 So all the time, all the time it's there amongst the good, and it is just sucking life out of the soil, and it is taking up space. 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:34.560 And maybe you're here and you know zazania. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:36.879 Like, oh, I know zazania. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:42.319 I know that abuse, I know that wound, I know that loss, I know that betrayal. 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:44.720 I know weeds. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:49.360 I know that feeling of failure that I can't shake. 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:57.519 Or that feeling of failure I can't shake because somebody else won't let me shake it. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:03.759 Or that prejudice you feel, or that betrayal. 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:21.040 Or maybe just worn down by the continual difficulty of your kid or your parent or your girlfriend or your spouse or your job or traffic or shopping at Walmart, and there's three lanes open, and there's like 50 lanes, right? 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:23.680 And you're like, this is weeds, this is the Xania. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:25.839 This is a broken world, right? 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:26.959 Broken system. 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:32.879 And so the quick natural response from the workers is, should we pull the Xania? 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:36.160 And he says, no, no. 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:38.240 Let them grow together. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:40.079 Let them grow together. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:43.279 We could end up pulling up some of the good stuff. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:50.879 What's just clear and it's so difficult for us is that the farmer just he doesn't care to fight a minor battle. 00:05:51.279 --> 00:06:01.360 He's after something bigger, and what's hard is that the lesson is, is that God concedes for the weeds to exist for a while. 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:09.040 Not because he likes it or because he doesn't love you, but because he is still working through the suffering. 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:14.160 And catch this, he's still working in the person who causes the suffering. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:15.759 Right? 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:22.800 We always want justice when suffering is done to us, but if we ever cause suffering, now we're ready for a moment of grace. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:28.720 But one day it'll all be made right. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:47.199 And maybe this is heartbreaking because you are heartbroken, yet it actually explains a lot because it relieves you of trying to make God into somebody he's not, or trying to get him to want to operate in this world in some way that he has no intention of working right now. 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:52.160 It relieves you from the false belief that this present universe is fair. 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:52.879 Right? 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:57.120 I mean, this is why the evil guy gets power in the world. 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:02.560 This is why the immoral person can keep getting the better deal. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:09.839 It's why certain evils are legal and other really good things can become illegal. 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:15.439 That's why someone, it's possible, can never pay for the wrong they do. 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:20.879 That's why your life's harder than you want it to be. 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:24.879 Because weeds and wheat coexist. 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:31.759 And I'm like you, I'm like the workers, I am frustrated with this parable. 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:36.959 I mean, this week, I'm just frustrated with this parable because I want justice now, or at least I think I do. 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:38.959 I want justice for everybody else, not necessarily for me. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:47.040 I want it for everybody else, and I want the brokenness that's out there, I want justice out there for that shooting or that abuse or that addiction. 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:54.000 I mean, this is all about God's sovereign patience in this world. 00:07:55.360 --> 00:08:03.839 And so I mean this week I'm I was just hearing some real hurts from some different people, began to relive some of my own hurts and my life. 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:10.000 And you feel you ever you hear, you hear stuff or you and you get tight like inside. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:12.959 Just your chest tightens up. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:16.000 I just wanted to go back on sabbatical, to be honest. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:24.079 And two things developed in me was first just frustration with God. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:27.360 I mean, just real frustration with him. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:32.559 Like I'm just tired of seeing this stuff. 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:35.679 I'm tired of hearing about it, I'm tired of dealing with Zazania. 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:39.600 I don't like that there's this coexistence of wheat and weeds. 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:40.399 I don't like this. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:42.639 I'm tired of this. 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:51.200 And yet you look at the farmer in this story, and he's operating without an ounce of hesitation. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:53.360 Right? 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:57.039 The farmer never seems stressed about his good crops. 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:01.360 There is no fear in him. 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:03.919 There is no anxiety in him. 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:10.639 And and all of a sudden, I I found this like flip side in me that there was also this awe of God. 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:23.519 That in a world where there's the existence of weeds and wheat, that he has this patience and he has this, he's not afraid. 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:30.639 But I I mean the the reality is that I ended up it with frustration. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:33.759 Just sorted frustrated. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:47.679 And then I found myself remembering just God's sovereign, worry-free patience, and then reading in this text how much that the kingdom of God is at work in us, and that the enemy can do nothing about it. 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:52.559 See, nothing in the text is about the enemy uh harming the good crop. 00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:55.279 You are not Zazania. 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:03.840 And those Zezania will irritate you, and perhaps Zania will make you weep. 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:07.039 The kingdom is in you. 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:12.799 And the kingdom is coming to this world, and he can do nothing. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:16.559 The enemy in darkness can do nothing. 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:31.519 And then I realize that my my life, my story can be written either in frustration with God, or it can be written in awe of God. 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:56.960 And I recognize that if you decide to write your story, if you write your story in the awe of God, I recognize that this requires humility and trust and a sense of mystery of how all this kingdom is gonna play out. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:00.159 How is he working good amongst these weeds? 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:08.559 Now let's read the second half of the parable because Jesus starts to break the parable down even more. 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:18.320 And so then the second half, uh, there's some terms we're gonna read, and when I read them, you're gonna it's gonna maybe create a little like confusion, or maybe you're not quite sure what that word means, or what do we mean by that? 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:23.360 And so there's four terms I want to give a definition of before we read the text. 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:25.759 And the first is the sons of the kingdom. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:27.919 So we could say children of the kingdom. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:30.639 I mean, these are Christians, is what this is. 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:41.759 It's those who have entered God's rest, known solely in the person of Jesus, and he has taken upon your guilt and your sin, and he has given you his righteousness. 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:43.039 So that's who that is. 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:44.480 The devil's the next. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:46.960 We could also use the word the liar. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:52.559 This is the person, or maybe you want to think about more of a personal force in the world. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:54.080 This is evil in the world. 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:56.480 He is the source of lies and confusion. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:58.080 He is the source of zania. 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:01.840 Evil is darkness. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:07.200 It's that which does not have the origin or the home and the goodness and the light of God. 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:18.879 It is confusion, it is lies, it is hurt, it is despair, it is the darkness of debauchery, but it is also the darkness of pride and self-righteousness and self-deliverance. 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:26.399 And then we're going to read the word hell, the idea of hell. 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:30.480 And the Bible uses all sorts of imagery for hell. 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:34.320 We read about fire, we read about gnashing of teeth. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:41.200 And the point is that this is a place of isolation and decomposition of the soul. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:45.039 That the soul is apart from its creator. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:50.000 Hell is the loss of the supportive and needed presence of God. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:54.799 A person who says their whole life, I just don't need them. 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:56.080 I'm good. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:59.200 I will deliver myself. 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:02.240 And they get what they want. 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:06.480 They get to be isolated from God. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:10.320 So let's read this very difficult text. 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:11.679 Verse 36. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:18.639 Then he left the crowds and he went into the house, and his disciples came to him, saying, Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field. 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:22.159 And he answered, The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:23.360 So that's Jesus. 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:28.080 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:36.960 The weeds are the sons of the evil one, or the liar, the devil, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:40.399 The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:44.960 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:14:01.440 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all who call the all causes of sin and all lawbreakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace, into that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:05.919 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:10.000 He who has ears let him hear. 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:12.559 So what does all of this mean for us? 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:17.200 Well, it's an alarming statement in 2015 America. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:20.559 It didn't used to be an alarming text. 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:22.720 It's just an alarming text now. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:25.919 All of this used to be very quite accepted. 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:30.080 The idea of eternal hell, eternal heaven, this was actually quite accepted. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:33.600 It's just recent that we have such difficulty with it. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:38.720 People used to just refuse it, but they kind of knew or agreed with it on some level. 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:44.399 Now we're just not even quite sure if there's even existence of these things, but the text says it and Jesus says it. 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:46.080 What does this mean for us? 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:52.879 Well, maybe it simply means you quit fighting God to be or to do something he has no intention of doing until the kingdom fully comes. 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:56.240 He's saying this will happen, but it's going to happen in another season. 00:14:56.399 --> 00:15:03.519 Maybe it means for you, some humbling conclusion that you are not the center of the universe and you don't get to make up truth. 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:07.759 You don't get to determine who's good and bad. 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:11.360 Yet you're a precious part of the universe. 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:19.440 Maybe it means for you, you get to finally stop trying to sort good people and bad people. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:21.679 We love to do this sort of thing. 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:30.240 I mean, this is our self-righteous crusade in life to sort people and then put ourselves in the better category, and it helps us make feel better about ourselves. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:39.919 Listen weeds are no good, but weeding seems to be the wrong path for us. 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:44.960 Weeds are no good, but weeding seems to be the wrong path for us. 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:51.679 And in this text, it just seems so passive to live alongside weeds, doesn't it? 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:53.440 You read it, you're like, what does this mean? 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:55.600 I mean, does this mean we just like put up with everything? 00:15:56.080 --> 00:16:01.360 And I think there's a difference between like uh community and nation and personal. 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:09.200 And there's some passivity in the personal that we will trust God to sort it out in the end. 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:12.000 But I wonder if it's incredibly freeing. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:13.200 That's what I wonder. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:14.240 I've been wondering all week. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:16.720 I mean, what if you didn't have to be the judge? 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:19.279 What if you didn't have to be the moral police? 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:30.240 What if you were simply called to graciously and patiently live beside all people, a human next to a human? 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:38.159 Six months ago, a fireman came to uh my little girl's school. 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:48.639 And so she learned everything about how in your house you need an escape plan, and you know what door to go to, where your parents' bedroom is, and if you have a window in your uh in your bedroom, do you have a ladder for that window? 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:53.840 And she learned all this information, how to you know you can crawl and check the doorknob and you know, all that kind of stuff. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:57.519 So she comes home and she's ready to share all of this information with us. 00:16:57.600 --> 00:16:59.440 And I'm like, thank you, fireman. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:02.559 This is great because we're now gonna deal with this at our house. 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:09.519 And so all day she's just sharing the information, and then that night we put them all to bed, and then uh this little one came out. 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:17.279 You hear the little footsteps down the hallway, and the first time it's like you know, sister is making noises, and so walk her back down. 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:20.880 Hey, sister, can you please not make the noises back in bed? 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:23.440 And then five minutes later, little footstep, da da da. 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:27.440 My legs hurt, you know, that that one if you have kids, you remember that. 00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:32.240 And so legs hurt, all right, let's deal with that back in bed, and you know, a few minutes later, da da da. 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:42.160 And each time it's like, you know, getting a little more amped, she's getting a little more amped up, and then finally it's just like, hey, babe, what like what what's going on? 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:44.799 Like what's bothering you? 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:47.759 And she just says, what if there's a fire? 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:50.160 Like, what if there's really a fire? 00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:50.880 Right? 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:53.839 And and here is the father's privilege. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:56.079 Here's the father's gift. 00:17:57.359 --> 00:17:58.880 You don't have to worry about that. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:04.960 That's why I am here. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:10.079 This is what the farmer's saying. 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:12.799 I mean, this is what God is saying. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:22.000 All these weeds that you can't control, that's why I am here. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:32.079 And I just wonder, what does that mean for a church that listens to that farmer? 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:34.160 What does it mean for you? 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:35.359 What does it mean for your heart? 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:37.440 What does it mean for your relationship with your neighbor? 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:42.240 What does it mean for your family that would listen to that farmer? 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:47.279 Uh a great pastor and author, Robert Capin, he notes that this phrase, let them grow together. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:50.240 Remember when the farmer said that about the weeds and the wheat, let them grow together. 00:18:50.400 --> 00:19:04.319 That word let is a fet, which meat is translated to permit or to allow, but it can also be translated to suffer, and it can also be translated to forgive. 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:22.400 So it's possible Jesus is teaching us about the kingdom, and while he's teaching us about God's sovereignty, and he's teaching us about the kingdom and how he will make all things right and how justice will come, he's also saying to us, forgive. 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:25.359 That's the way forward. 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:28.960 Well, that's easier said than done, right? 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:32.319 Because actually Jesus, when he calls us to forgive, how does he call us to forgive? 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:33.759 Always and forever. 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:37.599 70 times seven, a way of saying, you always forgive, it's never ending. 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:38.720 And how good are we at that? 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:47.279 Well, eventually we break down in that pursuit because eventually we withhold love or withhold a little bit of time or just a little bit of affection or attention. 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:48.319 We find a way. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:54.640 We say we forgive, but a lot of times we'll find some way to make that person pay in some degree. 00:19:55.680 --> 00:20:07.759 And so we don't forgive perfectly, and yet that's even another reminder for us that we actually need his forgiveness, which is perfect and is never-ending. 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:20.079 And it's just this divine, dizzying cycle for us of how much we are called to something, and yet we can't do it perfectly. 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:28.319 And yet we were reminded back that we need an outside source of righteousness, of absolution. 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:30.240 We need God's provision. 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:33.759 We need Jesus the Christ. 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:44.480 And what we realize is that our story is not just written in the awe of God, it is so much written in the grace of God. 00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:48.720 That it's written in both of those things. 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:58.799 And I don't know what you see, uh, but I think if you look at the weeds long enough, you eventually see bits of yourself. 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:03.440 I'll reread something we read just a few weeks ago, Titus 3, 3 through 5. 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:04.079 Listen to this. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:17.039 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:20.160 See, he's saying, Paul's saying here, we were weeds. 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:22.160 We were Zizania. 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:42.559 But when the goodness and the loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of the regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:46.480 So we may be wheat, but there was a day when we were weeds. 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:56.400 But the goodness and the kindness of God came to us, and he saved us not because of our works, but because of his work. 00:21:56.559 --> 00:22:01.039 So our story is written in the awe of God, but it's written in the grace of God. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:05.279 And even now, today, I know you because I know me. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:06.880 We're not perfect. 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:12.079 So even today, we need this goodness and this kindness. 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:13.839 And he gives it. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:18.400 So, brothers and sisters, may the kingdom come in you. 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:22.559 May we live amongst the weeds and live freely and forgive. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:24.079 Let's pray together. 00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:28.480 God, thank you that your kingdom is coming. 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:33.039 That you will make all this right. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:40.880 The hurts we cover up, the hurts we ignore, the hurts we feel, the hurts that are coming. 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:42.960 You know them all. 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:49.440 And God, thank you that you are sovereign. 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:57.920 And while there is mystery in this, because we are frustrated at times, you have no fear. 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:03.599 You have no worry. 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:06.000 You have no anxiety. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:11.759 And that there will be a day when all is made right. 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:23.279 And until we come to that day, would you help us in this day to live freely because of your forgiveness in us? 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:26.160 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:26.880 Amen.