WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:12.720 Mark 4, in a series right now, if you're new with us or you've been gone for a while, or I don't know, you just haven't been paying attention, we're in a series called He is Good, looking at Mark's Gospel because that's what he titles his gospel. 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:15.359 Um Jesus is good, basically, is what he says. 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:20.079 And uh and then he spends a lot of writing, a lot of ink, trying to communicate that to everybody. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:25.120 Because I think at the end of the day, even people who he's writing to, Christians in Rome, were still wondering, is he good? 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:28.559 Because they were being thrown to the lions and a lot of different things going on. 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:30.000 And he's like, no, no, no, he's good. 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:31.039 You need to remember that he's good. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:32.799 And I think that still matters in our culture. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:34.240 And so we're looking at this. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:38.000 We're in Mark 4, and thank you, Andrew, for reading the text. 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:41.600 Um, I wanted to start by just giving you just a handful of things. 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:56.960 Just um there are certain things in people's lives, my life, your life, that um you would see people do and not understand why they do it, but the the the hidden stuff, like the the thing behind the thing uh that kind of makes a person function and makes a person work. 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:03.520 So for instance, if you ever see me in a photo, if I'm ever taking a photo, um, I normally stand this way, okay? 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:13.280 The reason is because I broke this arm when I was eight years old and it reformed incorrectly because uh we didn't have enough money to go to the doctor, and he's like, You're fine, just rub some dirt on it. 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:16.560 Well, it broke and then re-healed uh incorrectly. 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:21.680 And uh, and so this arm is just really a lot smaller than this arm, and I'm insecure about that. 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:28.159 And so normally in a photo, like I will stand this way, and if I ever have to stand this way, I'm normally like arm up here, arm back here, trying to hide it. 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:33.200 But that's just like some hidden insight that maybe you didn't know that now you know that's that's the way that functions. 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:35.200 Another one is I hate sharing food. 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:37.519 I will do it, but I hate it. 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:40.319 And so if we're out somewhere and you're like, can I try some of that? 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:46.000 It is an act of grace in my life to share my food with you for a couple of reasons. 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:48.079 One, I don't know your germs and you keep them. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:48.959 I don't want them. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:51.760 Uh the second is I grew up with three other siblings. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:55.760 If I didn't eat, or if I didn't go fast, if I had like I had to share food forever. 00:01:55.840 --> 00:02:00.560 We were splitting Snickers bars, like it was like everybody get a bite, and I was the you know third on the totem pole. 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:02.000 I got like this anyways. 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:03.599 I don't share food, not even with Rainy. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:04.400 Rainey hates it. 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:05.359 She's like, let's just split something. 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:07.280 I was like, buy your own food. 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:08.560 Or I'll buy it. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:11.680 She's like, I don't want a whole thing of fries, I just want like three fries. 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:13.840 Then buy fries and eat three of them. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:15.919 Stop sharing my food. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:20.319 A couple of Rainy. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:24.319 If you ever walk into our house, you ever you're talking about she's not in here right now, but these are these are good. 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:28.080 Uh if you ever walk into our house and she's listening to hymns, that means she's had a bad day. 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:35.360 And so if she's listening to hymns and like old school hymns or something, if she's singing them, that means I know something happened, something's wrong. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:37.199 She's stressed out, she's listening to hymns. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:38.639 We got the old rugged cross there. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:40.240 Like, I'm like, Teddy, run for the hills. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:42.560 Something, something bad happened. 00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:44.639 And uh and so we're like, you good? 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:45.199 Everything's fine? 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:46.000 You want me to do dinner? 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:46.400 Okay. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:48.639 I'm not gonna share my food with you, but we can. 00:02:49.039 --> 00:03:00.240 Um I said this last week that Rainy's a words of affirmation person, and so I could spend a thousand dollars on her in gifts, uh, and she would still not feel as loved as if I just commented, like, hey, you look really beautiful today. 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:01.439 That means more to her. 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:02.800 It's just the way that she functions. 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:07.199 She the words of affirmation really stir her up in a way that money never would. 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:08.879 I am the exact opposite of that. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:11.199 I don't want your words, I want your money. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:12.319 I want your stuff. 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:14.719 Like, if you like, how do I feel loved? 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:15.759 Give me things. 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:20.400 Like I would like, that's how and so uh so this is very sweet. 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:22.800 It's a it's a huge gift, and I feel very, very loved. 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:24.879 Um, but I had people come up to me, I was like, that was really good. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:25.840 I really, I really like them. 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:27.520 I was like, uh, and Rennie will say this all the time. 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:29.759 She's like, I just love, I just say these nice things to you. 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:32.159 I was like, great, can I can I buy that thing I've been wanting to buy? 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:34.000 Because that would actually make me feel a little bit more loved. 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:40.080 If you really love me, but there are hidden things in each of us that normally just aren't on the outside. 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:44.479 But they actually do define a lot and explain a lot about how we actually function. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:47.680 And the reason I say all those things, one, is we just want to know each other. 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:50.800 Uh, but two, Jesus is doing that about the kingdom of God. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:57.360 In this text, what he is doing is he is displaying hidden secrets of how his kingdom works. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:03:58.479 That's what he's doing. 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:05.439 And so uh when he says in verse 21 through 23, he said to them, Do you bring a lamp and put it under a bowl uh under a bowl or bed? 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:08.080 It's like, no, like this is meant to be disclosed. 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:10.960 There are hidden things that are supposed to be disclosed. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:13.680 Um, whatever's concealed is meant to be brought to the open. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:15.360 And he's saying, that's what I'm doing. 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:27.199 If you're wondering what I'm why I'm telling these parables and why I'm saying these stories, I'm trying to display hidden things and hidden secrets about how my kingdom functions, how my word works in your life. 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:31.279 I'm trying to tell you some hidden stuff that you might not see, and I want you to know that thing. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:39.040 And so two weeks ago, when we talked about the parable of the sower, what Jesus was seeking to communicate was what he wants to do. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:41.439 I want to give you my word like someone sowing seed. 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:45.120 I want to give you my word so that it sinks down into your life and bears fruit. 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:47.040 So you experience life from it. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:50.399 Every seed is packed, all of my word is packed with life. 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:53.920 And if you can sink it down into your soul, it will bear life into you. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.000 And so that's what he was trying to communicate two weeks ago. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:05:16.959 And now what he's saying is like, and now I want to show you and teach you and help you understand how it's going to take place and really how it works, so that as you understand not just what I want to do, which is build life into you, but now you understand how it works, you can actually posture yourself in a space where you can experience more and more of that life in you. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:23.360 And so he is good in trying to just explain some things about how his kingdom and how his word works. 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:28.000 And so the way that he does this is really through three minor parables. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:34.000 Um, and I'm calling them three spiritual laws of how his kingdom functions, like the law of gravity. 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:38.240 It's not like a law, uh like a command, but it's like it's a way that the world works. 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:40.240 And he is doing the exact same thing. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:51.439 He is giving us three spiritual laws about how his kingdom works so that we could go, like, oh, as I move into this thing, I understand the functioning of it, and now I know how to experience the goodness from it. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:52.720 And so that's what he's doing. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:06:02.319 And so, what I want to look at today are the three spiritual laws of the kingdom of God and how they work and how his word works, so that we can experience what he has for us in it. 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:09.839 So the first, first spiritual law of the kingdom is you get out, and this is what Jesus is saying, you get out as much as you put in. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:12.000 You get out as much as you put in. 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:16.079 Verse 24 through, I believe, uh 25, he says this. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:18.720 He says, Consider carefully what you hear. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:23.360 With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and then even more. 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:28.560 Whoever has will be given more, whoever does not have, even what they do have will be taken from them. 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:34.639 And in this space, Jesus is using the language of a marketplace back in their day where they had the scales. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:36.160 Go to the next slide here. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:57.680 They would have these scales where you would show up and you would have your grain, and you would say, they'd say, put your grain on the scale, and you would lay your measure of grain on the scale, and then in order to make it even out, they would place money on it until it was like zzz, and it and it actually lined up, and it was like, okay, to what you measured, what you gave to this thing is what will be measured back to you. 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:02.560 And so you gave this much grain, it took this much money to even out the scales, that's how much money you get. 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:08.959 So Jesus is using this idea to explain this is also how it works with me, with my word, and with my kingdom. 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:13.439 But the way that he's saying it is he's actually saying, My word works. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:23.920 How you respond and what you do with what I say, how you hear it and then respond to it is the measure with which it will be measured back to you. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:35.199 And so, in effect, Jesus is saying, the effort we bring to his words and the effort with which we seek to wrestle them and practice them into our lives will determine how much we benefit from them. 00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:47.360 Now, if you are a sovereign grace person or just, you know, just a gospel-centric person, I love that, so good, but you can think that it's what Jesus is saying is that sounds like work, works-based faith. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:49.519 I have to work for my salvation, and that's not true. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:51.439 Salvation is free, and I'm only going to say this once. 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:53.519 Salvation is a gift, pure gift. 00:07:53.839 --> 00:08:03.279 But experiencing the goodness of the kingdom, Jesus is saying, hey, it takes effort to under to seek to understand my word, it takes effort to put my word into your life. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:06.480 And as much as you do that, it will be measured back to you. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:13.279 You will experience as much life as you do work to actually shove it into your heart and into your soul and into your life. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:34.320 And so, because his word is filled with life, as he said two weeks ago, what he's saying is our experience of life, if you want to experience life from those words, our experience of life from his word is directly proportionate or connected to how we listen and then how we practice, how you hear what he's saying, and then how you put it into your life. 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:34.879 N. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:35.120 T. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:45.600 Wright says it like this says, Jesus is telling his followers that if they grasp what he is saying and go deeper and deeper into it, they will get more and more from it. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:55.200 The level to which they pay attention to and appropriate, put it in their lives, what he's teaching them will be the level at which they will experience the benefits of the kingdom. 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:59.039 And Jesus actually says it works both ways, that it goes, it goes back and forth. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:10.399 And so if you think, go to the next slide here, if you think that his word does nothing, I just I just think it does nothing, and then that will lead you to do nothing with them, he says, your experience will be, I experience nothing from them. 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:11.759 And that's what he says there at the end. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:15.600 If you think it does nothing, it will do nothing for you, and then you go see, it does nothing. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:22.720 And even what you do have, even what little understanding or little desire you do have will go away because at the end of the day you think this doesn't matter. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:23.840 This doesn't do anything. 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:25.840 And he says, This is this is the way it works. 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:30.879 Or if you think his words, if you believe him, I think his words are filled with life. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:32.000 I think he's good. 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:37.200 I think what he's telling me to do is something that I I don't quite understand, but I believe it's filled with life. 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:44.799 And then you put those words into your life by applying what he's saying, what he says is you will experience what he has for you in your life. 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:47.200 You will experience that life he has for you. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:48.960 What I'm wanting to do is give you life. 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:53.360 And if you believe that that's true, and then you put it into your life, you will experience those things. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:10:04.720 Now, to me, that is a beautiful, beautiful gift because he's saying, like, I'm I'm teaching you how the kingdom works, and I'm teaching you how to experience life inside my kingdom. 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:08.480 I want to give life, you're desperate for life and constantly looking for life. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:09.840 I'm telling you how to find it. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:15.200 And so it's supposed to be this real beautiful thing that he's going, you're desperate for it, you're longing for it. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:16.320 Let me show you where it's at. 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:18.799 I want to give it to you, and let me show you how to get it. 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:21.360 And so it's supposed to be this really, really beautiful thing. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:33.679 For instance, if you want to experience, and it would work this way, if you want to experience more life inside your marriage, I want to experience God's what he has, the promises that are available to for me inside my marriage. 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:38.639 What he's saying and applying this principle is it's available to you. 00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:43.919 If you want to experience, it's available to you, and you will experience measure for measure, though. 00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:54.080 And so the idea is if you put more of Jesus' words into practice inside your marriage, you will experience more life from God inside your marriage. 00:10:54.159 --> 00:11:01.600 And so, for instance, if you decided that to practice what Jesus' words for your marriage, you just, I'm like, I'm gonna, we're just gonna submit to one another. 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:04.399 We're gonna practice mutual submission to one another. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:07.840 We're gonna start considering the other person better than myself. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:11.679 I'm gonna consider her needs more important than mine, I'm gonna consider his needs more than mine. 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:18.799 If you begin serving one another, outdoing one another, and showing honor, these things that he says, relationships function best in these particular ways. 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:20.240 We're gonna seek to forgive one another. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:22.240 I'm gonna seek to own the things that I do wrong. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:33.039 If you can consistently take those words and don't just see them as advice, but you snag them and go, I think I'm gonna start practicing this more and more and more inside the dynamic of my marriage. 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:37.759 What Jesus is promising is you will receive measure for measure and even more. 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:50.080 You will, my life will slowly and my word will slowly spring to life in you inside your relationship, to where what you had as a relationship, as a marriage, turns into actually experiencing something far greater than what you could do on your own. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:52.320 And so it's supposed to be this really beautiful thing. 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:54.720 It's like, where do you want to experience more life? 00:11:54.879 --> 00:11:57.120 Find his word, put it into your life. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:16.399 And so, again, if you want to experience victory over temptation and sin, Jesus would say, if you put more of my words to practice into your life by fleeing from sexual immorality, by confessing your sins one to another, by confessing your sins to me, and not just capitulating to them and going, This is just who I am, I'm just gonna struggle with this the rest of my life, I guess, or this is just who I am. 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:33.600 If you choose to practice cutting those sins out of your life and plucking them out, if you take his words on how to deal with sin and you appropriate them into your life, he's saying, you will experience more victory over temptation, you will experience more victory over sin because you will receive measure for measure. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:46.159 But if you think, no, this is just who I am, or this is just what I'm gonna struggle with the rest of my life, then and you and you choose not to put those things in, then you're never gonna experience any fruit that actually comes from his word because you're not appropriating it. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:49.039 You're not seeing it and going, I'm gonna shove this into my life. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:55.600 If you want to experience more peace in the midst of your anxiety, Jesus would say, Put my word to practice in your life. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:57.200 Take it and shove it in there. 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:05.519 And what Paul says is like, if you'd actually do that, if you wouldn't, he says, when you experience anxiety, when you experience worry, just pray about those things. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:07.919 And we're like, and I'm not anti-medication. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:11.039 I think if you have anxiety and you take medication, I think great, that's awesome. 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:13.600 Um I also wear a seatbelt in the car, so it's fine. 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:15.519 Um I think those are wonderful things. 00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:20.320 But Paul says, turn every worry, turn every anxious thought into a prayer. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:29.679 And what Paul says is that if you would do that, over time, what will happen is the peace of God will begin to bear witness and bore born? 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:36.960 It will it will it will create things into your life where life will be born in that, to where peace will begin taking over anxiety. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:47.279 But if you choose to go, like, I don't think that'll work, I don't think praying about my anxiety is gonna do anything, and then you choose not to do it, Jesus is saying, Well, then you're probably gonna experience nothing from it. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:14:01.200 And so over and over and over again, he's just he's just giving us this principle, like the way that you choose to measure it, the way that you choose to understand it and seek to understand it and apply it, will be directly correlated to how much you actually experience the goodness from it. 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:10.559 To me, the issue that people in my experience primarily face is believing that what Jesus is saying is actually true here. 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:17.120 It sounds too simple or it sounds like work and it sounds like too much effort, and so we struggle to believe that it'll actually do anything. 00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:20.799 And so they don't believe it'll work, so they don't do it, and then they don't experience it. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:23.600 And then I talk to Christians who go, like, that just doesn't work. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:31.360 And what Jesus would say to a person that's like, you you think it doesn't work, what he would say is, it's actually working in your life right now. 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:34.720 You think it does nothing, it's doing nothing, and you're experiencing nothing. 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:36.399 He goes, That's the way it works. 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:38.320 It's actively working in your life. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:39.360 That's how it functions. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:42.159 If you think it does nothing, you do nothing with it, it will do nothing for you. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:47.279 What you're experiencing is actually the proof of what I'm saying, not a discrepancy in what I'm saying. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:51.759 And so Jesus would actually encourage us like that is the spiritual law. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:53.039 You will get measure for measure. 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:56.559 If you hear them, do not believe them, don't do them, you won't experience them. 00:14:56.799 --> 00:15:04.320 But to those who actually believe them, seek to figure out I want to wrestle these things into my life and figure out how to do those things, how to practice them the way that he says. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:08.000 He goes, those people will experience more and more life from those things. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:10.000 And this is why he says, consider it carefully. 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:12.480 He says, consider carefully what you hear. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:17.039 Consider carefully what I'm saying to you because there's life in them for you. 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:20.159 And that consider carefully is the same word for beware. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:21.919 It's not like be afraid of them. 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:25.200 But it's like go slowly, examine them. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:27.039 There is life in these things. 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:33.919 And if you just slough them off and go, like, I don't know, I heard what he said, but I don't really think it's that important, he goes, then you want to experience it being important in your life. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:35.279 You'll experience nothing from it. 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:42.000 But if you will go slowly and look at it and believe, like he said his word in that space is filled with life. 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:50.000 And if I can figure out how to understand it and shove it into my heart and put it into my life, then more spaces in my heart, in my life, will experience more life. 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:53.759 And that's why he's saying, consider carefully, you will get measure for measure. 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:57.200 And so it leads to the question: where do you want to? 00:15:57.279 --> 00:15:58.799 It's supposed to lead to this question. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:04.000 Where do you want to begin seeing more life or God's life breaking into your life? 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:06.559 Because what Jesus would say is like, it's available. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:08.080 It's all available to you. 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:11.360 It's all these things I have constantly, I've poured out my words on you. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:12.480 It's for you. 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:15.679 It's in the scriptures, I've I've told you this is the way the kingdom works. 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:19.200 And if you want to experience more, where do you want to experience more of his life breaking into yours? 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:35.360 With your finances, with your with your marriage, with your relationships, with your sin struggles, with whatever, with your inability to forgive, or like your prayer life, you want to experience more and more of God working in the midst of your prayers, he would say, You will get what you've what you've put in. 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:39.200 And so if you want to experience more life in your prayer life, pray more. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:42.159 Spend more time doing this thing, seeking me earnestly. 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:49.519 You will experience, not necessarily more and more prayers being answered, although I actually think that's true, but you will experience more and more life from this practice the more you put into it. 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:50.720 And that's what he's saying. 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:55.840 Consider carefully what you hear, because the more you seek to follow him, the more that you find. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:00.799 The more that you seek in search, the more that you will actually come up with and go, like, oh, he he was true. 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:02.879 He was not lying, it's actually true. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:08.000 And so for us, where do you want to begin seeing more of God's life breaking into your life? 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:19.119 And I would just examine what God says in his word about that particular space, and then wrestle, like Jacob and in the Old Testament, wrestle those things into your life and into your soul. 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:22.799 And the promise of Jesus is you will begin to see life in those ways. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:24.240 So where do you want to see that? 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:29.440 And the promise is find it, appropriate it, and you will experience it because you will receive measure for measure. 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:31.759 That's the first spiritual law of the kingdom. 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:32.799 That's how it functions. 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:33.680 How are we doing? 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:34.240 We okay? 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:35.200 That was a lot of explanation. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:41.279 I told Randy, I was like, one of the things that's hard about explaining the parable is you have to explain the parable, and then you have to apply the parable. 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:43.519 And it feels like I'm giving two sermons at every point. 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:46.720 I'm doing like, here's what it means, and here's what it, why it matters. 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:48.799 And to do one without the other is like, thanks. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:53.039 I could have just read it and figured out what it meant, or to just apply it, it's like, I still don't know what you're talking about. 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:55.920 So I'm gonna explain it and then seek to apply it. 00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:01.279 But the second is the second spiritual law of the kingdom, and this is maybe my favorite one. 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:09.680 The second spiritual law of the kingdom, Jesus is saying, you will likely not understand how my words will lead you to more abundant life, but I promise you they will. 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:14.960 And what I love about that is the acknowledgement, like, hey, this isn't gonna make any sense. 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:16.880 But I promise you it'll do something for you. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:18.960 And this is basically what he says in this in this parable. 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:21.039 He says, This is what the kingdom of God is like. 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:22.720 This is the spiritual law, the way it works. 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:27.519 A man scatters seed on the ground night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, seed sprouts and grows. 00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:29.200 He does not know how. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:30.960 I have no idea how that worked. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:39.200 All by itself, the soil produces grain, first the stalk, the head, and full of the corn uh and the kernel of the head, and then he puts a sickle to it when it's when harvest has come. 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:48.880 What Jesus is doing is he's explaining this law by referencing a farmer back in the day and their understanding of how crops would work. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:51.839 Back in the day, they didn't know what photosynthesis was. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:53.680 Like they were like, they don't, they don't know. 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:56.000 They don't have any idea how any of that works. 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:58.400 They didn't have the science behind it, they had no idea. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:00.000 They didn't know any of those things. 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:05.200 They didn't know the intricacies of how seeds develop inside, the nutrients that are needed, they didn't know any of that stuff. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:07.359 And so Jesus is referencing that. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:08.559 How does it work? 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:09.920 He has no idea. 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:12.640 He just has the simple faith that it does work. 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:13.440 How does it work? 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:14.640 I don't know, but it works. 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:15.839 And so that's what he's saying. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:25.200 If someone would have asked this farmer and asked any of them back in the day, how does the water get into the seed and then generate into a plant? 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:27.119 The farmer would say, I don't know. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:32.319 Well, well, but like, how does the sun use vitamin D to like get into the thing? 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:33.440 And like, how does that? 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:35.839 And the farmer would be like, Yeah, I don't know, I don't know. 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:40.799 I was like, well, but in the soil, like the nutrients, like in the it's gotta be nutrient-rich soil, right? 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:43.920 Like it's gotta be, there's gotta be something that like that does a thing, right? 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:45.279 And it's like, I don't really know. 00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:47.119 And the person would be like, You're an idiot. 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:47.839 What do you know? 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:50.160 He goes, Me plant seed, seed grow. 00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:51.039 That's what I know. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:51.920 Like, that's it. 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:55.680 Like, I don't know anything else other than the seeds grow when you put them in the ground. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:19:56.640 That's what I know. 00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:00.640 And so for us, this is what Jesus is wanting to get across. 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:04.400 He is saying, I'm going to call you to follow me. 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:08.720 I'm gonna ask you to put my word to practice in your life, and it will lead you. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:11.359 It will lead you to the abundant life that I have for you. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:12.480 It will work. 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:14.160 But here's the catch. 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:20.240 It's gonna sound a little crazy, and you're gonna often wonder, how will it work? 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:30.079 How how will doing this thing lead me to experience more abundance because I can't see from A to B how it's actually gonna do anything in my life. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:32.880 And he's like, Yeah, that's exactly the way that my kingdom will function. 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:34.160 It will function that way. 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:42.079 There will be many times that I ask you to do something that will lead you to life, and many times you will just sit there and be like, but I don't see how that's ever going to work. 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:47.839 And he's saying, like the law of gravity, he's saying that this spiritual law works this way. 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:54.240 What I ask you to do will lead you to more fullness and to more abundance, but many times it's not gonna make any sense. 00:20:54.400 --> 00:21:00.400 And to me, the challenge that we face in any space, this isn't just Christians, I think it's everybody. 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:05.599 We have a very hard time and we struggle to do things when we don't see how it's gonna benefit us. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:07.359 And I think that's just normal. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:09.039 I don't know that this is gonna work. 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:13.920 This is why people give up on diets after not experiencing any kind of change in in less than a week. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:15.759 It's like, are we sure this is gonna work? 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:17.039 I don't see a lot of change. 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:19.200 I was talking to somebody the other day. 00:21:19.359 --> 00:21:23.119 Um, let me make sure they're not in this room before I share the story. 00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:25.359 I have so many meetings. 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:27.839 I'm not gonna tell that story, I don't know that they're here. 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:36.160 But um, that idea happens where it's like, I don't see how it's gonna benefit me, it's hard to press into that thing. 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:42.880 And so, just as an example, what will praying about this situation in our life, what will that actually do? 00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:45.839 Now, if you can tell me six months down the road, it will be different. 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:48.079 If I pray for six months, then it will work. 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:53.839 If you tell me that, I will have a lot easier time doing the thing because I'll know how it's going to work. 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:59.680 But if you tell me that prayer works and I'm supposed to pray over this thing, but I can't see how it's gonna do it or how long it's gonna. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.559 Take. 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:02.000 That is more difficult. 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:03.599 That is much more difficult. 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:06.160 What good can really come from reading my Bible? 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:08.319 Larry told me for 20 years, read your Bible. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:10.160 Like, what good can really come from doing that? 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:14.319 Like, honestly, it's just words on a page, and I hate reading, and it's there's so many words. 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:15.599 I turn every page. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:19.279 There's words on every page, and sometimes they're double columned and they're so small. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:21.680 And like, what is that actually going to do? 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:23.680 How is that actually gonna benefit me? 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:25.279 And it's like, it will benefit you. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:26.400 It will lead you to life. 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:27.119 How? 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:28.319 What will it do? 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:29.680 What will it change? 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:31.279 What will it really do? 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:35.119 How will loving my enemies lead me to greater abundance in my life? 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:37.119 Honestly, they hate me, I hate them. 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:38.319 It's going pretty well. 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:39.440 That's fine. 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:42.480 How is loving them gonna make me feel any different? 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:45.039 How is it gonna lead me to abundance? 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:48.000 What can actually happen by sharing the gospel? 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:49.200 What is that actually gonna do? 00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:51.279 How is he actually gonna work all things to good? 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:52.799 How is he gonna work this thing to good? 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:55.359 I'll believe it if I can see how it's gonna work. 00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:58.240 How is my divorce gonna be worked for good in my life? 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:01.759 How is this person's death gonna be worked for good somehow in my life? 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:02.640 I'll believe it. 00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:05.920 It's just difficult for me to actually see and follow him in the midst of it. 00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:10.720 How could I possibly continue thinking he's good when I don't see how it's gonna work out? 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:12.960 What will turning the other cheek do? 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:16.480 What will it really do for me to be generous and sacrificed? 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:17.920 How will he really care for me? 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:22.880 Like, what does it mean that he's gonna open the floodgates of heaven and pour out blessing on me? 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:26.720 Like, honestly, I think if I just keep the$100, I'll probably be able to bless myself. 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:28.000 I know how that works. 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:29.759 I don't understand the floodgate idea. 00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:31.039 Like, what does that look like? 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:42.880 And so there's all these things that he's saying, he's like, most of life with me, Jesus is saying, most of life with me will be you saying, I really don't understand how this is gonna work, and him going, I totally get it, empathize completely. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:44.720 Just trust me, it'll work. 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:48.559 But I don't understand, I know, I know, but I promise you it'll work. 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:55.279 And so what Jesus is calling us to do in this space is to walk in faith, and that is what faith looks like. 00:23:55.519 --> 00:24:00.799 And this is what the ancients, it says the the writer of Hebrews says it, this is what the ancients were commended for. 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:05.920 They just believed and they moved forward and they followed God, even when they were like, Where are we going? 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:08.319 He's like, Well, I'm not gonna tell you yet. 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:11.519 It's like, but but like how? 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:16.079 And they're like, Yeah, it's not, we don't, we're not gonna like, but you're gonna follow me? 00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:17.279 Yeah, I mean, I'll keep going. 00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:18.319 I don't know how this is gonna work. 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:20.240 And he's like, Yeah, I haven't really told you how it's gonna work. 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:24.160 But they were commended for taking these steps of faith, and this is what Jesus is calling us into. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:28.880 His kingdom functions and moves forward by people who choose to follow him by faith. 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:31.359 Hebrews 11:1 says this. 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:35.920 He says, uh, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, if you're wondering what faith is. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:46.319 Uh hoped for, to me, and in in our English, is just a bad translation because we say hope like, I hope that happens, and I hope that happens, and if if that's what faith is, that doesn't really make any sense. 00:24:46.559 --> 00:24:49.759 And so the reference to hope is actually to what's been promised. 00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:54.480 And so a better translation would be this one faith is the assurance of what's been promised. 00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:54.960 Okay? 00:24:55.599 --> 00:24:59.200 And so this is what Jesus is calling us into. 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:01.680 I promise you it's going to work. 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:05.599 I promise you that I actually have more life for you than you can ever find on your own. 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:10.240 And I'm gonna call you to do things to enter into that life, and I promise you're gonna find it. 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:21.680 But there's gonna be the gap in between where you're not experiencing any of those promises taking place, but you're walking forward anyways with the assurance that he who promised is faithful, that I'm gonna experience those things. 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:25.279 And that's what he's calling us into, and that's how he says his kingdom actually functions. 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:36.880 Faith is the assurance of what's been promised, and to walk by faith is doing the stuff, following him, anyways, even when it doesn't make sense, but you're assured of he who promised is faithful. 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:37.599 It will work. 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:39.119 I just don't know how it's gonna work. 00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:42.480 And faith is taking those steps, consistently moving forward. 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:48.799 And for us, Jesus is saying, There is a fullness of life that I'm trying to give you. 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:50.640 There's a fullness of life that's available to you. 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:55.839 It just comes about by moving past what you can understand on your own and in your own mind. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:00.160 I have abundance for you, but it's on the other side of your understanding. 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:05.920 And the idea is I have I have unimaginable things you can't fathom abundance for you. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:14.799 And so it actually makes sense to, if he has things that don't make sense to how much we I have so much abundance for you, it doesn't make sense to your life. 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:19.279 It makes sense that the way to get to that thing also might not make sense, and the journey wouldn't make sense either. 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:25.519 If he's leading us to a place that we can't comprehend, it makes sense that the way there also is something that's incomprehensible every now and then. 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:26.799 And that's what he's saying. 00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:32.799 There's this life that's available to us, it's just moving past our own understanding in order to find it. 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:42.640 Larry Hahn and I had lunch this week, which was awesome, and um, we were talking about just this idea of like the difficulty of following Jesus into the unknown. 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:53.279 And um he sent me, he was reading this um devotional by Paul David Tripp, and he sent it to me for me to read, and I was like, man, that's it's it's spot on to because he talks about this. 00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:54.000 He says this. 00:26:54.160 --> 00:26:58.559 I just picked a quote out of it, but he says, God created you to be a rational human being. 00:26:58.720 --> 00:26:59.839 Rational is what we like. 00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:01.759 And God created you to be rational human being. 00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:02.960 He designed you to think. 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:05.359 That is not bad, a bad thing in itself. 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:07.200 In fact, it's a very good thing. 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:08.559 But, and then this is it. 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:10.640 He goes, but you must face this. 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:14.079 Biblical faith will take you beyond your ability to reason. 00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:16.079 Like there's just no other way. 00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:21.279