Grace and Truth with Pastor William Brocker

Speaking of God (Sowing and Reaping) 1-4-2026 Will Brocker

Will Brocker

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 1:11:58
#Sermon #SowingAndReaping #Galatians69 #DoNotGrowWeary #ReapWhatYouSow #SowTheWord #SpeakOfGod #Faith #JesusOvercame #John1633 #HopeInChrist #Gospel #BibleStudy #Christian #Jesus #GodIsGood #WordOfGod #Perseverance #OvercomeTheWorld #PeaceInChrist #SowSeedsOfFaith #HarvestTime #ChristianLiving #Preaching #SundaySermon #ChurchOnline #Revival #Testimony #Salvation #HolySpirit #Amen #GTC #PastorWillBrocker #GTCSermon #SowingTheWord #BibleVerse #JesusChrist #Christianity #Prayer #Worship #Grace #Truth #Blessed #Hope #FaithOverFear #RevivalInVenezuela #PrayForVenezuela

Connect With Grace & Truth Church 

Website: https://gtchouston.org/

Visit Us

Sundays: 10:30 am service (10 am fellowship)

21902 Northwest Freeway Access Rd, Cypress, Texas 77429

(in the VFW Post 8905 small hall - next to Carl's BBQ)

Onine Giving

https://graceandtruthchurch.churchcenter.com/giving

Connect with Pastor William Brocker

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@willbrockermin

Follow on Socials: 

https://www.facebook.com/GTCpeople/


SPEAKER_00

And we're all praying and believing for all of our families. Amen? Speaking of families, we want to say hello and and happy new year to all of you online or those of you who will hear or watch in any other place at any other time. I always mean to say hello to you because we are aware of you. Praying for you, I pray for each and every one of you. Everyone who thinks of this church and as your church and uh you are fed the gospel through these messages wherever you are. I think of you as part of our church family, and the whole church is one body, and uh this is just a part of the body, but we consider you a part and pray for you and love you even when we don't know you in person yet. And those of you who we do know that aren't here, can't be here, and everyone who has partnered with this ministry and this church and uh sows into this ministry, you sowing into good ground, and we praying over your seed for it to be blessed into the kingdom for the gospel and for God's work and return seed to the sower multiplied in a thousandfold return in Jesus' name. Amen. I see you uh in Japan, lots of you and India and uh Canada, and then here in the states, that Texas and uh Iowa, uh, Illinois, Indiana, California, even. And so I see those things, and uh God bless you. We're praying for you. That's just to name a few. Praying for all of you in South America right now, praise God. Excited for you in Jesus' name. Galatians 6 verse 9, and I like this NIV 1. Galatians 6, 9, says, let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Now there is a lot in that. A lot. So the message in itself, right there, is just so powerful, just that entire scripture. It's very self-explanatory. But I want you to see that the Lord in this particular place, the Holy Spirit was talking about reaping a harvest of well-doing, of good deeds. You see that? Those good deeds are seeds. You see that? And he says, if you don't give up, you will reap a harvest for those. There's a promise from God. And there's a spiritual law attached in there. Praise God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this wonderful new year and this day that you've given us, this time to come together, your children, to worship you, to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for using me as a willing earthen vessel to the conduit for the manna from heaven to reach the hearts and minds of your children here in the earth, Lord. Thank you for that if they receive it into good ground and protect it, nurture it, and allow it to take root and bear fruit in their lives. In Jesus' name. Amen. I have a I have a really awesome friend who none of you know, doesn't live near here. But this friend, many people may not may not see what I see or see who I see in him, the man that God made him to be. But God has shown me and uh just made a divine connection between us. He's one of the best guys I know. And I'm just telling you this because I'm using him as an example today. Um, but this guy he he works hard, he he loves his family, his wife and children. He's he's got sort of a rough outer outer shell, you might say, like so many of the people I've known, and not too unlike myself of in the days past. Um he he served several tours in uh, I think four, in the Middle East, in uh in wartime, uh in the Marine Corps. Um and I don't want to reveal or say too much. I mean, it's as a real person, so but he let's just suffice to say he saw terrible things, um got blown up a little, took some shrapnel, um, had to do some terrible things. Um and and and he has some issues with God. Um he has some issues with himself. Um when I first met him, he I was like started talking about the Lord as as I tend to do. And he said, Oh, it's preach. He called me to preach. He said, It's too late for me. He just prayed for my family. You see, so that's where we started out. I think we've come past that, but it's not too late for him. And uh I'm gonna do what I can to be sure that we meet in heaven. As you know, that's my that's my aim for everyone that I know or meet, praise God. But he doesn't understand why good people who just want to have a better life suffer. When people who do evil seem to prosper. And how a good God could allow, for example, a country like the United States, who is so blessed, to export Christianity, and then people receive it with joy, then God allows those people to be killed and persecuted by the people who live around them. You see what I'm saying? Just for trying to be Christians and live for God. He also sort of sees Christianity as religion, you know, the Ten Commandments, I guess, that sort of thing. Do good, get good, do bad, get beat. Which most people who aren't here yet, that's how they see Christianity. And so I told him, I said, you know, those are all good questions. God does not mind those questions. They're sincere, they're from the heart. He's not bitter, he's just a little confused about it all. He wants, he wants, I believe he wants there to be a good God, but everything he's experienced and seen, it just he can't make it add up. And he was, it was very cool of him just to open up because I asked him specifically to tell me these things. And so that's a synopsis of some of the things he shared. And I said, they're all fair questions, and I have answers to every one of them, if you believe that or not. And I do. But it's not about me being right or knowing everything, it's about him being reconciled to God. Amen? And trust me, you can't fix all that in one conversation. Even if you do you are you with me so far? Do you believe what I just said, that last statement? Even if the person is, even if the person is receptive and ready to hear everything that you have to say, which is usually not the case either. You know, it's like I've gone this far without believing and developing all these mindsets about God, and and all of a sudden you, you know, this who are you, you're the one person that knows everything, you know. I'm supposed to just, you see what I'm saying? So I'm just being fair in the assessment, you see. Because I don't, we don't want to always just preach to the choir, right? We're trying to reach the lost. Because that's who Jesus died for, all of us, amen. So what do we do? We sow the word, we share Jesus, we pray. Amen. One plants, Paul said, another one waters. God gives the increase. Hallelujah. My friend saw way too much death because war and destruction were sown. But he hasn't seen what happens when real hope is sown. You see what I'm saying? Hope in Christ is the more powerful seed than any destructive bomb or bullet. One verse, one declaration, one testimony from a believer is a seed that can change a life. We just speak what Jesus finished, not what the enemy is trying to do or his lies, you see. And we trust God. Paul said in Romans 1.16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. So we trust in God. We trust in that. We trust the word. Even Jesus in John chapter 16 on that last faithful night, he said, and I paraphrased, he said, guys, you know, I have lots more I want to tell you. You remember that? But what did he say? You can't handle it right now. Didn't he say that? He said, You can't bear it right now. So, when the Holy Spirit comes, the Spirit of truth, he will tell you everything. In John 16, 15, he says, All that the Father has is mine. Therefore, I said that he will take, speaking of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Wow. The truth. He would declare the truth, the words of God, the life. My words are spirit and they are life. You see? He will declare life to you. He will declare truth. He will declare my word, because it's my Father's word, and everything that's his is mine, and he's going to share from what is mine. They all want to get on the act, you see. Anytime you see all three persons of the Trinity kind of tied up in a scripture, it's because they're excited and they all want to, like, it's it's very powerful. Oh, it's such an adventure with the Lord. You have to start seeing that. The thing is, he's God. We're not. You see, we're nobody's savior. We want everybody saved, just like God does, because that's what the Father's will is. But we are just witnesses of the Savior, Jesus Christ. We point people to Him. We are ambassadors here. And we need to conduct ourselves. This is the other thing he said, because then he mentioned other Christians that he sort of admired and looked up to, but then he saw their fall or some other thing. And so it kind of let the air out of his sails. You see, because again, this is not just my friend. This is basically every uh unbeliever or people who haven't come to know the truth of what salvation is all about and the grace of God and the faith of God, they believe that it's all about behavior modification and the Ten Commandments and things like that. And so they're watching. They're watching Christians. They're wanting to find, they're wanting to believe. They know they have a God-sized void. They just don't know how to say that. I don't know where this message is going today because I I had something in mind I said I was going to preach about last week, and we'll see if it gets there, but I think it all is about that. Sowing and reaping, spiritual laws. So that last point is that we need to conduct ourselves as such, as ambassadors, as witnesses for Jesus Christ. Not to earn God's approval, but because the world is watching. Amen. We don't want to be that stumbling block. And see, they have no one else to judge Jesus by except for those who call themselves by his name. Amen. And didn't Jesus say this is how the world will know that you are my disciples, your love one for another. So it's fair to say that the world has every right to judge believers if they don't see us loving one another as Christ loved the church. So that's fair. So that's one of our responsibilities and privileges. Because we have what everyone else needs. And it doesn't mean that we're better than them. You see, when we when we say that, they go back to the Ten Commandments thing, and they're like, well, if I can just be better than this Christian who lives next door, which isn't going to be hard to do, then apparently I'll be, God grades on a curve and I'll be accepted. And that has to be overcome, you see, that mindset. Because it's not at all about that. The behavior modification is a fruit of the relationship, not the root. You can't earn relationship with God, and we know that, but they don't. Jesus had a lot to say on that last fateful night of his life and his ministry as a man. I say that because he had to become a man in every way in order to be our kinsman redeemer, to qualify to redeem us. And he had some hard teaching that night at that Last Supper before they walked down across the Kidron Valley to the Mount of Olives. And it was pretty hard. Beautiful, but hard to hear, hard to understand, hard to accept. And some of it was very painful at the time because they couldn't see as far as God, as far as Jesus. Amen. Remember that. Because that's important to remember. We never see as far as God. But we can know He loves us and He is good and good for us. Amen? And He only wants the best for us. If we learn to rest in that, then we won't have to know all the details all the time and the wins and the hows of it. And if we stay in faith and stay connected to the vine, Jesus, he'll take all that the devil means for evil and he'll turn it for the good for those that love him and are called according to his purpose. And if you're saved, born again, you are called according to his purpose. Amen. He will give you beauty for ashes. So we can always expect times of refreshing from the Lord. Amen? The Bible teaches us in Psalm 37, verses 1 and 2. And this is gonna, this is all gonna come together for you because I feel, I think I know what the Lord. We see good people suffering, and we see what I won't say evil people, I'll say people that are doing evil, we see them seeming to prosper. And it's hard to take sometimes, isn't it? Yeah. Well, the Bible, in case you, I just have to remind you, because I know that you know because you've read it, is it talks about that a lot. A whole lot. And every time it does, it says, don't worry about that. Don't worry about them. Verse 2, for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Now, that's just the first couple of verses. You can read Psalm 37, like the first 11 verses, and it's all wonderful about that. It tells not to worry about them, tell us what your part is, and just so forth and so on. That's very powerful right there. You just spend the whole week on Psalm 37. But it just says, fret not, don't worry about those evildoers, don't be envious about them, those wrongdoers, because they're gonna fade away like the grass and wither like the green herb. So, in world news, because we like to talk about everything from the pulpit, amen. If it's going on in the world, we don't want Christians developing their opinions and everything just based on what they see on demonic news networks. So for almost thirteen years down in Venezuela, this tyrant drug dealer, terrorist type was in charge, right? And that's oversimplifying it. But and and I can tell you this why? Because once you allow anything disguised as social. Or Marxism or communism to have control. And why would anybody do that? Because what it does, it comes in and he's like, they promise to redistribute all the wealth of a beautiful, prosperous nation to the people. And dollar figures get in their eyes and they're like, yeah, that sounds good. And so they allow it. And then, because they're going to de-redistribute this wealth, and everybody's going to be rich after all. The nation is wealthy, and why not just give it all to all of us so that we're all the same? Do you see? Well, it's a lie. It's always a lie. And I can tell you why, spiritually speaking, but that's for another time. But once you allow the devil in, and that's who is behind socialism, Marxism, communism, anything you want to call this utopia-minded thing that only is going to happen when Jesus returns, because the heart of man is desperately wicked, not basically good, without Jesus. But when you allow that in, the devil takes control, and then the ruling class and the military, because they have to have the military to keep the people in check, because it won't take long for them to realize that they've been lied to. And now they have this totalitarian rule and reign, and the military has to keep everybody in check. What's the next thing? Which was really the goal of the devil the whole time. They have to go after the church. They have to go after the church, and then you can inspect any communist society, they go after the church because it's the only source of truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Him. And mind this, they aren't afraid of religion. You notice you look around at these regimes and things, and there'll be churches and big buildings and stuff where people are still allowed to meet. That's for show. Because religion has no power. So if people want to meet and check church off of their list every week, no problem. The devil doesn't mind that. He's got plenty of people in that organization. Meeting and all that. So he has plenty of people there, along with those who went and thought that they could check off their God thing for the week and then go back to whatever life they want to live. But over the past, especially six years, I guess, or so, when he really lost for sure an election. This wicked ruler, this bus driver turned dictator, Nicholas Maduro. Then that kind of reminds you of an army corporal, a failed artist, painter back in the 1940s, who became a diabolical murderer and dictator in Germany and killed six million Jews and countless other millions of people around Europe. Anyway, Maduro, in the past six years, he's been shutting down churches by the hundreds of evangelical churches, arresting pastors on fake, trumped-up charges, confiscating church buildings, and banned foreign missionaries. That's what happens when people fall for this redistribution of wealth, propaganda, nonsense, and it's always a lie because all it does is take the will of the people away and put it in the hands of a few rulers who lied their way into office, and then they get the military to back them and keep the people in check. And then they prosper, that ruling class and the military. Well, now, thanks be to God, and the prayer of countless millions. He had a visit from the U.S. Navy SEAL Team 6 early Saturday morning, I guess, Friday night, late, Saturday morning, and now he's here, I guess, in New York City in custody. And churches all over the country of Venezuela are supposedly dancing in the streets, and and and pastors who had been in hiding are preaching the word of God. And so we're praying that that country returns to a prosperous and peaceful nation, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached, and that we see a great revival there in this third great awakening. And we're believing that for everywhere in these last days, including Iran, which is looking good. Hallelujah. But praise God, you know, even in the midst of the terrible adversity and the persecution, which I could have told you without even looking it up, but the underground church in Venezuela exploded during this time. People were meeting, and the church was growing and multiplying like crazy. And I believe that true disciples were probably being made stronger and more solid Christians under the pressure and persecution of that terrible regime in this time of great stress and persecution than you would see when things were just going so easily and smoothly. And it's always been that way. The church has always prospered in times of greatest persecution. God will see to it. Jesus said, I'm going to grow my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Amen. So Jesus said it, so it's true. Hallelujah. So back to Jesus in that last fateful night, that last supper. He says in John 16, verse 33, he says, I've said these things to you, because he told them a lot of hard things, and he told them what was going to happen to him. Though they didn't still quite put it all together, obviously, or they wouldn't have behaved the way they did after, right? And I've told you these things that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart. I have overcome the world. Right? So he's telling those followers there, but he's telling his followers everywhere. He's telling us today, you're going to face hardship. You're going to face trouble in this fallen world. But take heart, be encouraged, because I've overcome the world. And everyone who calls on Jesus in truth, he accepts them, doesn't he? When we turn to him, he receives us with open arms. He will accept you. He will forgive you and offer you peace and victory and eternal life. Despite the trials of life that we will go through. So suffering is expected. This is New Year's. You're supposed to tell me how rich I'm going to be this year. Like all the other preachers are. Listen, you don't have to pray for God to bless you. You're already blessed. Do you understand that? All things pertaining to life and godliness have been given to you. You've been blessed with every blessing in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. Now we're going to learn how to cooperate with the spiritual laws that are at work so that we can lay hold of the things that God has given us. The land of promises. Hallelujah. But suffering in this life, because it's a fallen world, is still expected and it will happen. And Jesus was just forewarning us, not because we're excited about that or look forward to those things, but he's saying, don't worry about that. I've already defeated all of that. I've overcome this world, and now you're in me. And if you truly died on the cross with him, then you're alive with him in the spirit. Amen. Death has lost its sting. He's triumphed over evil. And in Christ we have a hope and strength. Our peace comes from abiding in him, not from the absence of trouble. Peace in the midst of the storm. Hallelujah. Remember like I told you last week? I said, so you mean I can take off my armor when I go to when I go to bed? And he's like, Yeah. Don't you pray? I will lay down. I will both lay down in peace and sleep because you alone watch over me, O Lord. I say, yes, sir. He says, Well, I got it. When you get up, put it on. We can walk above the situations and circumstances of this life, above the troubled waters. Amen. We're above only and not beneath the head and not the tail, because we have his perfect peace and life within us. We're in this world, but we're not of this world. This fallen world is opposed to God's kingdom. And so there will always be struggles, distress, and persecution in the world. But Jesus said, Take heart, I've overcome the world. So his victory over sin and death is the foundation for us to find courage and strength and peace. And empower us to overcome every challenge. Every challenge. There's nothing that's too big for God. God doesn't even consider any of our problems, no matter how large the mountain is to us, it doesn't even seem big to him. Hallelujah! We just have to get into agreement with him and see things as he sees them. His promise is peace in him, not freedom from challenges in this life. So he was just trying to prepare us for the reality of this life in a fallen world. And point us to the ultimate hope and victory we are assured of in him. Amen. Yeah. John 5.24. Always like it when Jesus says, truly, truly. It's like, listen, you gotta believe me. The one who can never lie. Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life. Not will cross over from death to life. You have crossed over from death to life. Thank you, Jesus. And see, there is a spiritual law at work even there. I'm trying to help you to start to start to see the spiritual laws and how they work and how we cooperate with them anytime you're reading Scripture or reading the Bible. The only thing more important than that, from the Old Testament through the new, is to see Jesus in everything. If you can get those two things down, this year is going to be your best year ever. I mean that. Romans 8, 2 says, for in Christ Jesus, now watch this. Because we're focusing on spiritual laws, right? And so I'm reading some things to you that you probably never really caught it that way before. But now you will. For in Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death. Spiritual laws are a big deal. God is all about his legal system and holding himself accountable to it. That's why he had to send his son to die the terrible death he did to make it all legal. If he has to cooperate with his own spiritual laws, don't you think we do too? And don't you think when he put them in place, they weren't there to harm us, but to benefit us. But like I always talk about the natural laws, the same with electricity and gravity, those things are here to help us too, but they sure can kill you if you don't learn to cooperate and respect them. Amen. Amen. And they're all in here, hidden, not from you, but for you. Amen. Okay, so I was asking God about some things. I smile because if you only knew. I have fun with Jesus. I have so much fun. And sometimes I, you know, he laughs and has a lot of fun with me, and sometimes not so much. I'm a big baby sometimes, and we always want to know, you know, with grandchildren, you know, it's always they they want what they want when they want it, and if they don't understand why, they want to know why, you know, and sometimes they just don't need to know, you know, all that right now. Same with us. That's why we need to learn to know that he's good and good for us and only has good for us, and we can trust him so that we don't get so anxious and upset and depressed and oppressed and allow the enemy to lie to us. Because, see, the enemy will come right behind something like that when we just really feel like we need something, we need it this way, we need it at this time, and the Lord is not responding. You know who will come and say, I'll give you that? The devil. Remember that. So I was asking God about some of these things. And he showed me some things. I'm still processing. I have like sometimes I have dreams, sometimes I have open visions, I sometimes I don't remember what. I get pretty caught up. And uh anyway, I don't know how to really explain it. But but my uh my friend that I started telling you all about a little bit, he uh he saw a lot of death overseas, you know. And uh he was like, you know, if God is good, why why all the evil allowed? And uh and the Lord showed me a picture because I was praying about this because not praying about it, because I know the answers. I honestly know the answers to everything he mentioned. I know enough. How's that? I'm not saying I'm you know, you get my point. Yes, I know I know the answer to to the extent that I am totally completely satisfied with what the Lord has shared with me regarding every single concern, right? That that that a person in that condition or that that that level in their pursuit or of God or what they consider to be their pursuit of God, which is really God pulling them in. But where they're at, I already have those answers. And I'm thankful for that. But I was still praying about it because why? Because we want to be effective, don't we? We want to know how to reach those people. So that's the essence of a lot of my prayers and my conversations with God. And I and that's why I said, we're not God, we're nobody's savior, we're representatives, we're ambassadors, we're pointers. Because that frees us up from carrying that burden that we're supposed to give to God. But then we still go back and say, but how can I, how can I say, what do I say? How can I be used, you Lord? How can I be, how can I reach them? I'm looking right at Evelyn'cause because I know her heart. Not that we're not all like that, but praise God. So the Lord showed me this picture, and like I said, I don't remember if it's a dream or an open vision, but I it was so clear. And it was just at first, it was just like a map, it was like a almost like a drawing, like it, and there was just a like an island here, an island here, but and then then it became more clear. Anyway, it was it was like there were there were two two um two friends, let's just say, from different lands, is what it culminated into, the the explanation of it, the essence of it, and what it turned out to be. One was a desert land, right? And the other was uh a blessed land, like a garden, right? Far apart. And the and and it basically also represented not just two lands, but two friends, right? And and the guy from the blessed land, he sends the guy in the desert a seed. And remember now, everything is a seed, okay? So don't it doesn't have to be a literal seed. Remember, everything is in seed form in the kingdom of God. And so, in this particular thing, that that seed was an olive tree, okay? And the desert guy he plants the olive tree and he waters it and it grows and it bears fruit. It's prospering, and he he begins to prosper because of it. And Before the prosperity can spread in that desert land, the jealous, bitter neighbors come and cut it down. Right? Lord, I hope you wanted me to share this. And the Lord showed me the guy who who did the good deed, the guy who sowed the olive tree to his friend in the desert, he wasn't evil, was he? Because he sent the tree. All he did was offer a blessing. And the people cutting down the tree, they didn't prove that the gift was bad by cutting it down. It proved that the soil was good. It was good ground and it was ready for the tree, and it needed that tree. So we keep sowing the seed. The word of God, Jesus. Hallelujah. God sowed his best seed. It was cut down. But it didn't end the church. It just caused it to prosper. Many seeds. He became the first of many brethren. Hallelujah. And the law of sowing and reaping applies to everything. Everything. You plant truth. The word of God. You plant love. You plant mercy. You plant faith. You plant money and resources and anything good in God's eyes, and you will reap a harvest. We open up with a scripture that said so. In due season, if you don't give up. Just don't quit. When we see him face to face, let it be right in the midst of us still doing what he wants us to do. Sowing toward growing his kingdom and his church. Amen. We're going to reap a harvest of what we sow later than we sow, more than we sow. Isn't that right? Seed, time, and harvest. As long as it's sown in love and with the kingdom of God and the glory of God, the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ as the primary motivation of our heart, we'll never lose. Put God first, you'll never be second. No matter how things seem. We don't live by sight, we live by faith. It will be good. It will be a godly harvest. God said so, and so it is so. Just don't put your own terms and conditions and strings on whatever you sow. Let go and let God. The adventure becomes so much more fun when you relinquish control over how God has to send you your harvest. That's a big thing. I said it fast, but it's a big thing. In Mark chapter 4, which actually it's in all three of the synoptic gospels, but in Mark chapter 4, one of the places, the synoptic gospels are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But Jesus taught about sowing the seed of the Word of God and about the different conditions of the soil, the hearts of men. And to save time, I'm just not going to probably go over there right now. But it just represents how people receive God's word. Right? And he tells it in a parable at first, and then he explains the parable. First he tells about that some seed fell on the hard path, right? And that's just people who are basically unreceptive to the word. And so what happens? Satan comes immediately and steals the word from them. Then there's the people that referred to as the heart of rocky ground. And these are people that are shallow. Just to put it in texan, they hear the word with joy, and as long as it's cotton candy and rainbows, they're good with it, you see? But if any pressure or criticism comes at them or is applied because of what they have come to believe, then they're easily swayed to appease man instead of God. So they fall away under pressure. And then there's those that Jesus described as thorny ground, the thorny soil. And these are people that they hear the word, but then it's choked by worldly cares and riches, and they're just attached to the world and the things of the world. And then there's the good soil. What I call simple faith. Those who have the childlike faith that God is so pleased with and that we all long or should long to walk in. Amen. Say, yes, Jesus, when you return, you will find faith in me. Amen. Just say amen. That means it's for you. They hear God, they believe God, they act on his word. What I've been talking about since I started talking about Joseph and Mary around Christmas time. Simple faith, childlike faith. Doesn't mean it's easy. It just means you've made up your mind. When you hear God, you're going to believe what he says, and you're just going to act on his word, trusting in him as God who loves you and is for you. That last soil, the good ground, is the only one that produces fruit. The only one. And reaps a harvest. So the seed, God's word is always good. Amen? It's perfect. I believe this word is infallible. But the heart's condition determines the spiritual harvest of the receiver, you see. Mark 4.13, Jesus said to them, If you don't understand this parable, the one I just described, he said, then how will you understand all of the parables? So this is foundational in the Christian life to understand the law of sowing and reaping. In this particular case, he's talking about the word of God as the seed, but we see through Scripture that everything is in seed form to God, and it's all based, hinged off of this spiritual law. Okay, good. So this law of sowing and reaping, it applies to everything, doesn't it, May? Galatians chapter six, verses seven through nine. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. If I would have been more self-serving, I'd backed up a verse where it says, if you receive spiritual things from your teacher, you should share all natural things with them. But that's not the lesson. This is about the law of sowing reason. He says, do not be deceived. Don't lie to yourselves, even he says. God is not mocked for whatever one sows. You see that? Whatever. Circle that on your iPhone. In your Bible. Whatever one sows, not everyone, whatever, anything you sow, whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Go to a farmer's place. He always had cotton there on that pasture. Went year after year for a long time. Went back another time. There's no cotton. There's something else there. It's like, hey, where's your cotton? Didn't plant any cotton. Well, why didn't you plant cotton? Didn't want cotton. Well, what what is that? Soybeans. Why did you plant soybeans? Wanted soybeans. Let's go to the house. You know there's a powerful lesson in that. Whatever you whenever you have a need, sow a seed. But if you need soybeans, don't plant a cotton seed. Hello? It applies to everything. Whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh, now he's getting to a spiritual truth, about the same law, though. If you sow to your flesh, you'll reap corruption. There's an old saying when it comes to tithing and giving and offering and things like that. Just because Jesus talked about money a lot, because it's something we understand and we have it catches our attention, right? So but there's an old saying that says, don't uh don't eat your seed and don't sow your your food, right? So there's a place. You know what I'm saying? It's another lesson. For whatever we sow, we reap. For one who sows to his own his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. There's a scripture that says, the one who lives for pleasure is already dead. You see? But the one who sows to the spirit, capital S, the Holy Spirit, will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. That's where we started today. Knowing God's word is the only way to find out who he is, what pleases him. You say, Well, I didn't think I had to please him to be accepted by him. You don't. But if you're accepted by him and you know and you love him because of what he's done for you, Ephesians go to the five and dime. Ephesians 5, 10, find out what pleases God. We want to know what pleases God, don't we? If we love him, we want to please him. The only way to know who he is, what pleases him, and true who you truly are, and how to cooperate with God to walk in the abundance and blessings that Jesus died to provide us with and the favor that he has for us, we have to get into the word. The word is important. I know some preachers have become so bored with the word that all they are after is the sensational. I love the sensational, I love the supernatural. But don't ever let anyone tell you that the word of God is not the main thing, because it is. Amen. But Jesus was constantly teaching the truth about God, the Father, about the kingdom of God. It's the word of God that changes people's lives. A miracle is wonderful when you need one, but it's not God's best. And from the word, you can learn that you're already blessed and the favor of the Lord surrounds you as a shield, and you can learn how to cooperate and appropriate the things that God has for you through the promises of God and through faith. Hallelujah. John 8, 31, 32. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Hallelujah. Romans 10, 17 says, faith comes by hearing the word of God, doesn't it? So Jesus was a teacher of the word first and foremost. The miracles were like a like a dinner bell. And then they simply confirmed the word of the truth that he taught afterward. You see? So that it would stick in their minds and in their hearts because people's hearts were dull. Matter of fact, it really kind of upset him a lot of times. These multitudes would be following him, and he says, You're only here because I, you know, after he fed the multitudes with a sack lunch, he says, You're only here because of that. That didn't please him. That didn't bless him. He wanted them there because for him, for the Father, for the kingdom, to hear the word of God and to receive it with joy, and that's what had the ability to save them. Amen? The ground, the ground of the hearts of those we're trying to reach is sometimes very stony. You know, Muslims are coming to the Lord, and I'm about done here. Muslims are coming to the Lord by the thousands, the tens of thousands. It's beautiful. Because Jesus wants everyone to come to know him. Amen. But God, in his mercy, he's reaching those Muslim families by dreams and coming to them and revealing himself in other ways. In his mercy, he's doing that. Why? Because they're brainwashed against the word from the time they're little children, many of them. They will always say, Jesus never said he was God. Well, the truth is he always said he was God. But if you try and show them that in the Word, they will freak out. I'm praying with a broad brush, I'm not saying everybody, but many times they'll get violent, they'll get angry, they'll start yelling, and all that kind of nonsense. And I had a friend, a preacher, who grew up in Iran. He was a, I don't, you know, he's an acquaintance, but he he he was a he was a Muslim, raised as a Muslim, taught to hate Jews and Americans and all that in Iran, and then he got freed and delivered and found Jesus got a hold of him and he got converted. And now he lives in Israel and he married an Israeli girl, and they're both Christians. But he was arrested in the Mall of America here in the United States just for answering a question that a Muslim asked him about Jesus. He got off of the charge, but he was arrested right there in the Mall of America just because he talked about Jesus, because of everything that's going up there. We shouldn't just be letting the Charlie Kirks and the Donald Trumps of the world fight all of those battles for us to have a safe place to preach the word of God. Christians need to be involved. And I'm not saying that we're not. I believe it's the prayers of Christians that brought those people into existence. But we need to be as bold as they are. Amen. Especially when it comes to the things of God and to protect and to watch over. You see, because just like down in Venezuela, that's what happened to them. Dollar signs got in their eyes. They had a beautiful, prosperous nation, and people started talking about the redistribution of wealth, and they they went for it. Nobody wants to look back that far, but that's how that seed got sown. They didn't just drive in there with tanks, and nobody wanted that. You know, there was a there were seeds of socialism being passed around. Now they're like, now they'll be the strongest advocates probably against it, hopefully. We'll see. But I'm just saying, we need to protect the freedom that we have in this nation. I haven't said anything except things that are good for people and that are from God and from our Lord Jesus and from the Word of God here today. But there are places all over this world where I would not only be arrested, but I would be killed just for the things I've said here today. We need to make sure because it's this close in many situations, then we don't even really realize it. All it takes is just believing a lie of the enemy and just letting greed and the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life get in the way for a moment, and it can take over a nation. And then the devil gets what he really wants, which is the church. He doesn't tell them that at first. Nobody tells them that at first. They just say, no, we're gonna give you all stuff. The lust sets in. And then when they take power, they go, oh, by the way, that church, you know, the government has to be God, so you gotta go. They don't say it like that. But that's what happens. Anyway, I guess we're gonna be done here today. But you you know, you know, like I said, they say God, Jesus never said he was God. The word is so important because I was thinking about that yesterday, and just you can you can check me on this. I can get some feedback, but I counted like 19 times, and that's taking out the repetitive uh from the synoptic gospels where he said the same place, right? So 19 times I saw where Jesus used the words I am to talk about himself. And the the Greek, because in in in uh Genesis chapter 3, where he says, when it where he told told told Moses who he was, right? Uh I am the great I am, basically. Um but in when they translate to that that to the Greek, it's that it's the word uh egoema. Egoema? Yeah. And and so three times, you know, just in John chapter 8, he said it twice before Abraham was I am. And there was there was no disputing what he was trying to say at that time, what he did say, because they tried to kill him for it. Well, they understood exactly what he said, and that's what he said. And then he said it again in his mock trial in the you know when he was undergoing that. He said it in the Garden of Gethsemane when they said they were looking for Jesus, and he said, I am. In the Bible, it says, I, I'm, I'm, I'm the one I'm him, I'm the one you're looking for. No, he said, I am. And it knocked them down, the anointing of that. But then all through the New Testament, like I said, there was a total of 19 times where he said it, even just sort of like, you know, in the Old Testament, God would reveal himself to us by different names. Right? He's Jehovah, but then he would reveal himself by another name, like at the bitter waters of Meribah. I am Jehovah Rapha, your doctor, the God who heals you. So now we not only know he's God, but we know something else about our God. Another good thing about our God, not only who he is, but what he does for us. And Jesus did the same thing throughout the New Testament. Not only did he say, I am, just like in Exodus 3 several times, but he said it in different ways. He just uh self-revelation in the names of God, anyway, I just going on and on. But I just love it. Because he said, in other words, it ego emma is the Greek for I am, but he said ego amma and then the light. So I am the light, I am the door, I am the shepherd, I am the resurrection and the life, I am the way, I'm the vine. You see what I'm saying? So he said it. So we understand the seed. Everything's seed. We understand the sower in our responsibility as a sower. And we understand, even though the trees from the seeds get chopped down, the friend keeps sending more. Amen. We're a friend. We love the Lord, we keep sowing. Because the friend isn't afraid of the axe. Our God made the seed, the wood, and the axe. Praise God. So we keep sowing the truth. Let others water. Expect God to give the increase and a harvest. Hallelujah. Well, I'm not gonna say what Jesus said. I'm not gonna stop because you can't you can't handle anymore. I'm gonna stop because your seats can't endure anymore. Amen. Your minds can only absorb as much as your seats can endure. Praise God. So we're gonna we're not gonna finish, we're gonna stop and start again next time. Praise God. Did you were you blessed today? Are you gonna go sow some seed? Hallelujah. Are you gonna expect to harvest? Let's say it again. The blessing of the Lord is upon me. The favor of the Lord surrounds me. And good things are gonna happen for me and my family today. In Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you all. Love you. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for your precious word. Thank you for all that you are and you do. Thank you for teaching us your will and your ways and your word and your spiritual laws and truths. That we can learn to cooperate with them, that we can live the abundant, blessed life that Jesus died to provide us with and live out of the overflow to be a blessing for others to receive the same help that we have received. Healing everywhere we heard, empowerment by your promises and your word and your love and your prosperity. In Jesus' name. Amen. Hallelujah.