SPEAKER_00: This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information in our church, please visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Lance Williams, and I'm the Spiritual Formation Pastor here at Grand Parkway.
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: It's my pleasure to welcome you here to worship for sure.
SPEAKER_00: If you have not been with us, we are in a series for the summer on the parables of Jesus, and today we are going to continue in on that, and we are going to be in Matthew 13 and cover three whole verses.
SPEAKER_00: We are in Matthew 13, 31 to 33.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have your Bible, there is a Bible at the end of your row, and we are on page 819 of that Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And let me extend the invitation that Wade gave last week.
SPEAKER_00: We just restocked for our row Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: I would call them pew Bibles, but we don't have pews.
SPEAKER_00: So our row Bibles, we just restocked.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and if you don't have a Bible, please take one.
SPEAKER_00: It'll be our gift to you as you leave today.
SPEAKER_00: We would love for you to take that, and we will uh we'll put one there in its place as you leave today.
SPEAKER_00: Uh again, we are continuing on in the parables of Jesus, and we are going to cover two parables today.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you might think that's a lot, but Jesus tells them uh basically back to back in three verses for a reason.
SPEAKER_00: And it's the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of leaven.
SPEAKER_00: But before we get to that, and before I open my Bible and start reading there, uh let me ask you a couple of questions.
SPEAKER_00: First, what do you see when you see these blankets?
unknown: I see.
SPEAKER_00: I see love, I heard hope, I heard color.
SPEAKER_00: The first service said warmth.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: What?
unknown: Joy.
SPEAKER_00: Joy, yes, from the back row.
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate you.
SPEAKER_00: You need a microphone next time.
SPEAKER_00: Good.
SPEAKER_00: Uh all right.
SPEAKER_00: We'll just pass the mic around next time.
SPEAKER_00: All right, that's good.
SPEAKER_00: These are visible expressions uh uh of really just love and care and intentionality, and one little piece of fabric woven together with others all of a sudden makes a blanket.
SPEAKER_00: Uh our Romania team is taking these out to Romania this week as they leave on Thursday, and they're gonna take these and hand them out to the villages there.
SPEAKER_00: They don't have blankets, and it's cold.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh the women's ministry of our church, of your church, uh has come together on numerous occasions, and it's over 160 blankets.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know exactly how many, uh, and they have no idea how they're gonna get them there, but they're gonna get them there.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: It'll be a work of God.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but okay, so that's what you see when you see this.
SPEAKER_00: Now let me ask you this.
SPEAKER_00: Put a picture up on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: What do you see when you see that?
SPEAKER_00: Work.
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody else?
SPEAKER_00: Creation.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I think I see a need for roundup, perhaps.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you see a tree, do you see uh uh a crop for harvest?
SPEAKER_00: Do you see a weed?
SPEAKER_00: I see a weed.
SPEAKER_00: If I if I'm thinking in with my natural eyes and my mind, that's what I see.
SPEAKER_00: I see a weed.
SPEAKER_00: But doesn't you know what this is?
SPEAKER_00: It's a mustard tree.
SPEAKER_00: This is a mustard tree.
SPEAKER_00: This is the thing that Jesus would have walked across along the path and along the road and said to his friends and the people that were testing him all the time, and he would have looked at this and said, Hey, you see that right there?
SPEAKER_00: That's like the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: No one said kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't have said kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: This is like the kingdom right here.
SPEAKER_00: And so we read the parable of the mustard seed, which all of a sudden grows into something like this.
SPEAKER_00: Most people, if you Google uh mustard tree, you'll see all kinds of fabricated lies.
SPEAKER_00: Uh because a mustard uh doesn't really grow into this big sprawling tree like an oak.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, it grows into something like that.
SPEAKER_00: Able to be harvested.
SPEAKER_00: And so we'll read this parable today, and that will come into play as we read it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because Jesus calls the mustard uh shrub a mustard tree, and there's a reason for that that we'll read now in Matthew 13, verse 31 to 33.
SPEAKER_00: Read with me.
SPEAKER_00: He put another parable before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
SPEAKER_00: It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is larger than all the garden plants, and becomes a tree.
SPEAKER_00: So that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.
SPEAKER_00: And he told them another parable The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour till it was all leavened.
SPEAKER_00: Now the great thing about Jesus is that he is one of inclusion, not of exclusion.
SPEAKER_00: And so he tells you two parables basically illustrating the same thing, and one was for men, and the other one was for women.
SPEAKER_00: And so you can get mad at that, you can get offended at that, I guess, but really there's no need.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, according to the roles of first century Israel, the women were cooking and the men were in the field, and that's just the way it was.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now I realize that that's not always the way it is today, so don't get mad at me, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Uh you want to get mad at somebody get mad at Jesus for painting with a broad brush.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but he tells these stories to include everyone, not for exclusion and not for division, but for unity and inclusion.
SPEAKER_00: And he says to uh uh the the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: It's like the parable.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's it's like the mustard seed, the kingdom of heaven, it's like the leaven.
SPEAKER_00: And so we look at this parable, these two parables told back to back in three verses, we can get at least three points.
SPEAKER_00: But the first one I want to make today is this that in the kingdom, small is significant.
SPEAKER_00: In the kingdom, small is significant.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and let me tell you what I mean by that.
SPEAKER_00: There's been all kinds of discussion about is the mustard seed really the smallest seed?
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because Jesus says it's the it's the smallest of all seeds.
SPEAKER_00: Uh is this mustard tree really a tree or is it a shrub?
SPEAKER_00: So let's just uh put to bed all these different uh thoughts and ideas we have.
SPEAKER_00: When we approach the Bible like that, what we're really saying is, Jesus, do you know creation?
SPEAKER_00: Um and he would say, Yeah, I created it.
SPEAKER_00: Remember?
SPEAKER_00: Remember, remember that?
SPEAKER_00: That was good.
SPEAKER_00: I might know a little bit about agriculture because I created the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we think about mustard seeds, when we think about mustard trees, it may not be what we think in our mind, but that's the whole point of the parable.
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to correct us, trying to get us back on path from what we expect to what he's actually bringing.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the mustard seed would look something like this.
SPEAKER_00: It'll come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: It's a little black mustard seed.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, look how tiny that thing is.
SPEAKER_00: If I was to pass that off to you, we would surely lose it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's that small.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and Jesus says, and he looks around and he walks along the path, and he says, The kingdom of heaven is like the little tiniest thing that you can't even see right now.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know about you, but if I was building a kingdom or announcing a kingdom, I probably wouldn't say the kingdom of heaven is like a small mustard seed or like a little pinch of leaven that a woman would have taken from their previous batch of bread, taken it out of that batch, and then inserted it into the new batch so that the leaven would permeate the entire loaf.
SPEAKER_00: It's probably not the way I would start this whole instruction on uh on parables, uh, but I'm not Jesus, and thank God for that.
SPEAKER_00: Uh instead, I probably would have said, the kingdom of heaven is like the cedar of Lebanon.
SPEAKER_00: Uh that that falls to the ground here as well.
SPEAKER_00: Cedar of Lebanon is what they they built the temple out of, so that was a strong tree.
SPEAKER_00: Uh or maybe in our own uh uh contemporary culture, the kingdom of heaven is like an acorn.
SPEAKER_00: Someone told me at the end of uh uh of uh of the last service that the message says pine nuts and then it turns into a big pine tree.
SPEAKER_00: All those things are great, but miss the point.
SPEAKER_00: But let me just tell you a little bit about how, and and if you don't know this, we're all living in one kingdom or another.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we kind of like straddle kingdoms, uh, and you really know this by whose kingdom you're willing to defend.
SPEAKER_00: Like I like to defend my own kingdom all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily God's kingdom, uh, but I'll defend my kingdom almost to the death.
SPEAKER_00: I've called the cops of my neighbors two times in like the past month because they're infringing upon my kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Uh I've sent uh texts to my neighbors with yappy chihuahuas before because they're infringing upon my kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Uh matter of fact, these little chihuahua's, I don't know who who came up with that.
SPEAKER_00: Who came up with that word?
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but anyways, that's what they're called.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh they'll be in our front yard when we're in our front yard, when we're in our in our own driveway.
SPEAKER_00: They'll be in our driveway yapping at us.
SPEAKER_00: We'll be in the backyard.
SPEAKER_00: The girls will be playing on the on the on the on the swing, doing whatever.
SPEAKER_00: They got their little noses underneath the underneath the fence yapping at us.
SPEAKER_00: They drive me crazy.
SPEAKER_00: My kingdom is being threatened.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I was saying all that one day at dinner with my family, and uh, this is probably Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_00: And lo and behold, the next holiday is Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: And uh my thoughtful and wise sister decided to give me probably one of the greatest gifts I've gotten in the past year.
SPEAKER_00: She got me a slingshot.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what the name was that came from the manufacturer on the slingshot?
SPEAKER_00: El Diablo.
SPEAKER_00: Now we're talking.
SPEAKER_00: Now we're gonna put this baby into use.
SPEAKER_00: So it comes with ten little pellets, right?
SPEAKER_00: Little BBs, I call it ammo or peacemakers.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and so I realized quickly that I was gonna run out of those pretty you know pretty fast.
SPEAKER_00: And so I had my little helpers out in the front yard one day.
SPEAKER_00: Now remember, this is back in December, we've run through spring, everything's you know, popping like crazy in spring.
SPEAKER_00: We had a long winter, and what came after the long winter, but a gift from heaven?
SPEAKER_00: Acorns everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: It was an endless supply of ammo.
SPEAKER_00: And so it was it's it was great.
SPEAKER_00: So I had my little helpers out in the front yard that gathered all the acorns in the world, and I tell you all that because if I was announcing or defending a kingdom, I have learned the hard way.
SPEAKER_00: Seeds are a terrible way to defend a kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: I haven't hit those dogs yet.
SPEAKER_00: And I bet I've shot a hundred acorns at those things.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's I'm not hitting them.
SPEAKER_00: It's never gonna happen, but it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: So don't call PETA on me, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I haven't done anything to these dogs.
SPEAKER_00: I have fantasies about doing something to these dogs, but I won't do anything to these dogs.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: But here's the deal: we all live and defend a kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: The question is, whose kingdom are you living in?
SPEAKER_00: Whose kingdom are you defending?
SPEAKER_00: Seeds are a terrible way to do it, but yet somehow Jesus says, Oh, by the way, the kingdom of heaven, it's like this little seed.
SPEAKER_00: Fascinating.
SPEAKER_00: Would have completely changed and rearranged the mind of a first century Jew.
SPEAKER_00: If you all are faithful people, believing people, the faithful people back then were all Jewish people.
SPEAKER_00: And they lived underneath this thumb of Roman rule that was there to oppress them and keep them in check.
SPEAKER_00: The Romans didn't like the Jews, and the Jews didn't like Romans, and so they were thinking and praying and asking God that he would send his kingdom, and what kingdom were they looking for?
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't one that was built like a mustard seed or reminded anybody like a mustard seed or like a little pinch of leaven.
SPEAKER_00: They were looking for the kingdom of the Old Testament that was coming with the promised Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: It's written about in Daniel 7.
SPEAKER_00: 7, 13, and 14 says this.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel says this about one of his dreams.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man, and he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him.
SPEAKER_00: And to him was given dominion.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this kingdom now.
SPEAKER_00: This is what they're expecting.
SPEAKER_00: And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, all nations and languages should serve him.
SPEAKER_00: His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away.
SPEAKER_00: And his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
SPEAKER_00: So when they're thinking of a kingdom, they're not thinking of a king that would come and announce his kingdom with a parable of a mustard seed, the parable of leaven.
SPEAKER_00: And he's saying, Yeah, this is like the kingdom, this is exactly like the kingdom, something that grows up into a shrub or a weed.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's like the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Completely insignificant in this world.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus shows up and redefines significance and says, Small is significant in my kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: But they missed it completely.
SPEAKER_00: They missed because basically they were expecting something different.
SPEAKER_00: And just so that we don't judge them and think harshly of them, let me bring this back to where we are.
SPEAKER_00: We are, and I heard that I've heard this over and over again over lunch in class, wherever we are, we are constantly forward-thinking people, which is a great thing, but we get caught up a lot in the coming kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And so we think of the kingdom of heaven not as the here and now, but as the Revelation 19, 20, 21, this kingdom where God's gonna make everything great, the rider on the white horse, the sword coming out of his mouth, he's got this, you know, this robe that's dipped in the blood of his enemies.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's Jesus, and he's coming back and he's gonna make everything right, and that's true, and that's certain, and that will happen.
SPEAKER_00: But when we think of the kingdom, that's usually where our thoughts end.
SPEAKER_00: We don't think of the here and the now.
SPEAKER_00: What is it and how is it that the kingdom is coming to earth now?
SPEAKER_00: Uh, let me let you in on a little conversation I had with my oldest daughter Reese, who's now five, uh, and she was sitting right there, but not anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but she's uh she came up to me one day, great question, and uh she said to me one day, great, I mean, unbelievable question as a dad, as a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: I love the question.
SPEAKER_00: She said, Hey, um uh what why is it important for people to believe in Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Great question from a five-year-old.
SPEAKER_00: I love that she asked the question, and I get excited.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh yeah, now we're talking.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna bring the gospel and all kinds of measures and ways, and we're just gonna wow you.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, all right, Reese, love that you ask.
SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so Reese, this is why people need to believe in Jesus, why they should believe in Jesus, because your whole life can change.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, before you couldn't pray, you thought you could pray, but you couldn't pray, and now you can pray.
SPEAKER_00: Before you thought you were pleasing God, but you weren't pleasing God, and now you can please God.
SPEAKER_00: Before you thought you were obeying God, but you really weren't obeying God, now you can obey God.
SPEAKER_00: And I was telling her all these different things about life here and now and how much your life can change, how much you can have purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And she looked at me like I was speaking Mandarin.
SPEAKER_00: And her eyes glazed over, and she had no idea what I was talking about.
SPEAKER_00: I go, oh, you want this answer?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's important for people to believe in Jesus so that you can go to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: She's like, awesome, thanks, and skipped away.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't know if she listened to me or not.
SPEAKER_00: She was just happy that I was done talking at that point.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I that keeps just I keep thinking about that little exchange over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: And then I thought to myself, what would the American church look like if we got past a simple understanding of the kingdom or a relationship with Jesus as something that we just get to go and be with him forever and ever in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: What if the real results, the the right here, right now results of believing in Jesus was that we get to actually live a life that pleases him, much less go and be with him.
SPEAKER_00: Going and be with him is going to be a whole lot less attractive if we don't like to do it now.
SPEAKER_00: Dallas Willard said this about the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: It is the realm in which what God wants done gets done.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's kind of a vague generalization of the kingdom, but it's absolutely true.
SPEAKER_00: That can happen here and now.
SPEAKER_00: Not just then and there in Revelation 19, but in Matthew 13.
SPEAKER_00: Because remember, Jesus shows up and he says, This is a great way to announce a kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Not the way I would announce my kingdom, but I'm glad I'm not Jesus and he's not me.
SPEAKER_00: But he says, Hey, guess what, guys?
SPEAKER_00: Repent.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of heaven is here.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if that doesn't just attract, you're just not attracted to that, I don't know what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: But no, if I was to just tell all of you today, repent, repent, repent, you'd all walk away and go, why is the guy so angry and mean?
SPEAKER_00: He just talking about how I'm in sin all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus shows up and says, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is here.
SPEAKER_00: It is near, it is within your grasp.
SPEAKER_00: Why would he say that if he wasn't inaugurating and starting something completely new called the kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: We prayed at the beginning of service, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: It's the here and in the now and in the kingdom small is significant.
SPEAKER_00: We can't miss this truth because we were expecting something different.
SPEAKER_00: We can't miss this truth because where Jesus reigns and rules, it's the little bitty things that matter to him.
SPEAKER_00: The little bitty measures of faith, of repentance, of love, of good deeds, of worship.
SPEAKER_00: That's what means the world to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's what should be the thing that defines who we are.
SPEAKER_00: And let me just say this for all of us, for anybody that's in the room today, small as significant in the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: If today you're struggling, maybe an accurate picture of who you are, maybe you don't have a big enough picture of who you are, the things that we would call weeds that we would pour Roundup on, or just go, man, that's a whole lot of work.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure I'm up for that today.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus never looks at you that way.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't look at you and go, wow, that's a whole lot of work.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just sit down and take a little breather.
SPEAKER_00: Let me get a nice cold glass of lemonade before I work on you.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't do that.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't see you for how you are now.
SPEAKER_00: He sees you for what you will one day be.
SPEAKER_00: That's a beautiful picture of the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Even the seemingly insignificant things are useful here.
SPEAKER_00: Something that looks like weeds is useful in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Smallness is significant in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: But not only that, things don't stay small in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: The realm in which what God wants done gets done.
SPEAKER_00: Second point that I think Jesus makes throughout these two parables is this in the kingdom, growth is slow but steady.
SPEAKER_00: In the kingdom, sl uh growth is slow but steady.
SPEAKER_00: Uh let me just read this and tell you what I mean.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 32 says this it is the smallest of all seeds, all the garden seeds.
SPEAKER_00: NIV says all of your seeds, but when it has grown, it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree.
SPEAKER_00: And again in verse 33, it is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour till it was all leavened.
SPEAKER_00: Now we look at that, we looked at that plant earlier, that shrub earlier, we would hardly categorize that as a tree.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what Jesus is saying is that compared to the wheat and the barley that was harvested in those days, which would have been maybe to here or here, the mustard tree can grow all the way up to ten feet tall, ten, twelve feet tall.
SPEAKER_00: And so it would have been the tallest thing in the field.
SPEAKER_00: So that birds of the air would have gone.
SPEAKER_00: It's the highest up off the ground, it's the safest place for them to dwell.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom is a place where growth is assumed.
SPEAKER_00: If you look at the language in verse 32, it says, But when it has grown.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the kingdom, growth is necessary, it is assumed, it is something that is slow, but it is steady.
SPEAKER_00: And it is also something that is hidden.
SPEAKER_00: Growth in the kingdom, just like with the seed, it's hidden in the earth, just like with the leaven, it is hidden in the three measures of flower.
SPEAKER_00: You can't see it.
SPEAKER_00: You can only see the results of it.
SPEAKER_00: And so the same thing happens for us.
SPEAKER_00: It happens in our heart, in our soul, in our mind, on the inside of who we are, and then it works its way outward.
SPEAKER_00: It changes who we are, our identity, and then it changes our behavior.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the other way around.
SPEAKER_00: It's hidden.
SPEAKER_00: If we were to look at the world and how it grows its kingdoms, we would likely look at skyscrapers.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, throughout the years, that's kind of been the mark of when a nation kind of makes its mark on the world.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you look in the Middle East and they're putting skyscrapers up like crazy right now to renounce to the world our kingdom is legitimate.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jesus says it's hidden.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of heaven is not something that you're gonna be able to look at and go, oh yeah, there's the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, it's one of repentance, of faith, of love, working its way into your heart through the whole, through the whole measure of the heart, and working its way out.
SPEAKER_00: It's persistent.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, that's the beauty of the leaven, is that just a little bit works its way through the whole lump of flour.
SPEAKER_00: This lady that was making uh uh bread obviously was expecting a feast because the three measures of flour is about sixty pounds of flour.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know how much flour you have in your house, but I would venture to say that sixty pounds is not anywhere close to the amount of flour you have.
SPEAKER_00: You may have a pound, which will last you probably a month, maybe even more.
SPEAKER_00: And this woman that Jesus is talking about has three measures of flour, and this little bit of leaven was going to permeate the entire three measures.
SPEAKER_00: That's the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And as I was preparing for this, I was thinking about my role here.
SPEAKER_00: My role here is spiritual formation pastor, and so what I do is uh I just I'm thinking, I'm praying, I'm teaching, I'm leading in all these different ways of how we can grow.
SPEAKER_00: How can we really assess who we are right now and what are we kind of up to?
SPEAKER_00: Where are we at spiritually, uh, and all those different things, and then where do we need to be, and then what's it gonna take to get from A to B?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's like my job, just kind of simplified.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so I just kind of started thinking about who we are as a people.
SPEAKER_00: Uh what do I hear in conversations?
SPEAKER_00: What do I hear in prayer requests?
SPEAKER_00: What do I hear in classes?
SPEAKER_00: What stink on everybody else?
SPEAKER_00: What about me?
SPEAKER_00: What's in my heart?
SPEAKER_00: I'm a pretty good indicator of what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: And I really started thinking about two people that I think uh this message goes out to today.
SPEAKER_00: Either two people or perhaps it's two different stages of the same person.
SPEAKER_00: Either way, uh I think it makes the same difference.
SPEAKER_00: The first one is this there's two people when it kind of comes to growth.
SPEAKER_00: The first one is this uh no there because there's no growth, there's there's no effort.
SPEAKER_00: And there's no growth because there's no effort.
SPEAKER_00: Um So, some of us in this room need to read the Bible a little bit and go to Philippians 2, where it says to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
SPEAKER_00: And then other parts of the Bible in 2 Peter 1, 5, where it says, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue.
SPEAKER_00: You got to add on to your faith all these different things of love and gentleness and goodness and self-control, all these fruit of the spirit that should eventually start to pour out of you as you mature and mature in believers, as believers.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if I was a spiritual formation guy, I'd be all over that.
SPEAKER_00: And then the Lord said, Hey, easy.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you look at the other side of the coin?
SPEAKER_00: You might want to look at really your life.
SPEAKER_00: And I was mowing the yard yesterday, and Need to Breathe came on my headphones, and I had to run it on repeat about four times.
SPEAKER_00: And they start one of their songs and they say, I'm a failing engine from driving way too hard.
SPEAKER_00: Are you weary?
SPEAKER_00: Have you just been trying too hard?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's one side of the coin that you hadn't tried at all, and your life is still the same as it always has been because you've never really put things together.
SPEAKER_00: If you were overweight, you would put a regimen of exercise and diet together to be able to lose that weight.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in debt, you're going to make sure you get into a Dave Ramsey class and get out of debt.
SPEAKER_00: But for the people that do all that and your life is alright and you're still dry and weary, maybe it's time to just let up off the gas.
SPEAKER_00: Give yourself a break.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual maturity is painstakingly slow.
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to be where you want to be.
SPEAKER_00: If I was to ask you to raise your hand right now, hey, who's satisfied with their prayer life?
SPEAKER_00: It'd be the same amount of people raising their hand right now.
SPEAKER_00: We're not satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: There's an unrest in us about our maturity, about where we are.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm 34 now.
SPEAKER_00: I never thought I'd be still be struggling with things that I'm struggling with.
SPEAKER_00: I'm 50 now, I never thought I'd still be struggling with this stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we just need to let up, count the successes for what they are.
SPEAKER_00: I was bowling the other night with my community group and I started thinking about this.
SPEAKER_00: And there were like all the all the all the ladies that were bowling, it was great, it was fun, everything was fine.
SPEAKER_00: All the guys are just hyper competitive.
SPEAKER_00: And apparently we take it to the bowling lanes to work it out.
SPEAKER_00: Ooh, that's where a man lives.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I was one of I was one of the worst.
SPEAKER_00: You'd hit, I mean, we'd throw the ball down the lane, and I mean, apparently we're exercising our manhood by how fast we can throw it down the lane, and I leave, I left a pen, I don't know how many times, one pin, and I got so angry.
SPEAKER_00: It was like, oh my gosh, just give me one strike.
SPEAKER_00: Never got the strike.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody else got a strike.
SPEAKER_00: I just thought to myself, that's that is that is that's who we're talking about here.
SPEAKER_00: It's the people that hit down nine and leave one.
SPEAKER_00: The perfectionists in the room, woo-hoo! Lay off the gas.
SPEAKER_00: We need to read passages like 2 Corinthians 3, 5 that says, uh, not only not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.
SPEAKER_00: I love the way the NIV actually says that as well.
SPEAKER_00: He says, not that we that we are competent in ourselves, but that our competency comes from God.
SPEAKER_00: AKA, quit trying so hard.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't about you and your efforts and your task lists.
SPEAKER_00: I've talked about that a couple weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is again, just flowing out of me.
SPEAKER_00: Our competency, our sufficiency, that which says that we're all okay, our identity comes from God.
SPEAKER_00: And this growth is constant, it is slow, it is sometimes painful.
SPEAKER_00: But let me tell you something, it's worth it.
SPEAKER_00: It is absolutely worth it.
SPEAKER_00: And as I finish the second point, move on to the second, let me just say this: that growth in the kingdom of God, whatever sin you're struggling with, whatever heartbreak you've encountered recently, whatever chronic illness you're suffering from, the kingdom is persistent and pervasive in nature.
SPEAKER_00: You have hope because God has promised in his word it will grow in you, just in spite of you or for you and with you.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever's going on, he knows.
SPEAKER_00: And he's not ashamed of it.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't look at you and go, that's a lot of work.
SPEAKER_00: Let me get the sickle out today.
SPEAKER_00: He looks at you and goes, Yeah, all right, that's why I came.
SPEAKER_00: He knows that you're gonna fail.
SPEAKER_00: He knows that I'm gonna sin.
SPEAKER_00: He knows that we need repentance.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he said, Hey, by the way, here's a great indicator of the kingdom: repentance.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a great indicator of how you live.
SPEAKER_00: If you repent, he knew that we were gonna struggle and mess things up and have hurts and have pains.
SPEAKER_00: It's the simple reason why he came.
SPEAKER_00: So the more that we press into that and actually enjoy a little bit of that failure, enjoy a little bit of that one pin standing up, the more we realize, oh man, God is king, God is savior, God is conqueror, and I'm not.
SPEAKER_00: And that's a great thing.
SPEAKER_00: Second, or excuse me, the third point that I think Jesus is trying to make for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: At the end of verse 32, says this, so that the birds of the air, the garden plant, this garden plant that would grow up higher than anything else that you would harvest, becomes a tree.
SPEAKER_00: So that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.
SPEAKER_00: And again, we've already talked about this this measure of leaven works its way through the measure of flower till it was all leaven.
SPEAKER_00: The final thing that I think Jesus is making for all of us is that in the kingdom, you're home.
SPEAKER_00: In the kingdom, you are home.
SPEAKER_00: There is shelter there.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the whole point of the branches that are sprawling out over everything else that would have been harvested.
SPEAKER_00: So that birds of the air, and oh, by the way, uh, this is a symbol of the nations of the world coming into the kingdom and finding rest, finding hope, finding shelter, finding security, finding significance, finding satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: It's a place to call home.
SPEAKER_00: What does home smell like to you?
SPEAKER_00: Can you sense it?
SPEAKER_00: One of the strongest indicators of memory is smell.
SPEAKER_00: What does home smell like to you?
SPEAKER_00: Apparently, for Jesus, it was freshly baked bread.
SPEAKER_00: Does it smell like home to you?
SPEAKER_00: For me, it was uh clean laundry.
SPEAKER_00: And every time I walk through the back of uh through my house, uh I don't know why, there was always laundry going or being folded or something, and so every time I walked right into the house, it was clean laundry.
SPEAKER_00: So I still require Melissa to have done laundry in the day.
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you're laughing.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, trouble's right.
SPEAKER_00: What does home smell like?
SPEAKER_00: For Jesus, apparently it was fresh baked bread, a whole, whole lot of it, because it was sixty pounds of flour that was enough, at least enough, for 150 people.
SPEAKER_00: This lady was gonna feed a village.
SPEAKER_00: And the point is being made here by Jesus: there's enough nourishment for you.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you believe it or not, the kingdom has enough nourishment for you.
SPEAKER_00: It's got enough branches for you, it's never gonna get crowded.
SPEAKER_00: You can it's a place that you can set up shop, find your dwelling place there, find your security.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Jesus came to earth and said this in John 6.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I am the bread of life.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever comes to me shall never hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
SPEAKER_00: You believe that?
SPEAKER_00: You believe that today, that he, when he said that, that you'll never hunger again, that you'll never thirst again, or at least the capability is there.
SPEAKER_00: We are a people who want to be satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: We are a people who want to find rest, who want to find security, to find significance.
SPEAKER_00: And when we look at Jesus, although he is the only one that can satisfy us and tell us, hey, if you want to find rest, you gotta come to me.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to find significance and safety and sustenance and a full belly in the soul, you gotta come to me.
SPEAKER_00: And we hear that and we go, sounds good.
SPEAKER_00: No idea how to do that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go ahead and go to Facebook and Twitter and whatever else satisfies us, which really means let's just turn our brain off.
SPEAKER_00: Hello?
unknown: Preacher.
SPEAKER_00: I told you John was here.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just say this the world is not sat is not designed.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus didn't create the world to satisfy you.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't create the world to satisfy me.
SPEAKER_00: No amount of Facebook or Twitter, or I'll just speak into my own life, ESPN.
SPEAKER_00: That's why I cut cable out.
SPEAKER_00: No amounts of ESPN or cable or whatever else.
SPEAKER_00: We just kind of turn our brain off, or whatever hobby you love.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the part where I'm gonna hide behind the blankets because I'm gonna offend you.
SPEAKER_00: There's no amount of Glenn Beck.
SPEAKER_00: There's no amount of Michael Berry.
SPEAKER_00: No amount of Sean Hannity or O'Reilly, it's gonna satisfy you.
SPEAKER_00: It's not gonna do it.
SPEAKER_00: There's no amount of politics, there's no amount of conspiracy theory websites that are out there, not gonna do it.
SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna find rest for your soul in any of that.
SPEAKER_00: Do an inventory for crying out loud.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you get done with your hours of Fox News at the end of the night.
SPEAKER_00: Are you restful?
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready to fight somebody?
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus says that I've come to give you rest.
SPEAKER_00: And the only place we're gonna find that rest is in at home.
SPEAKER_00: With him, in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus did not create this world to satisfy us, and so we have got to do everything we can to quit trying to make it satisfactory.
SPEAKER_00: It's not.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he created us, yes, to enjoy it.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you do, eat or drink, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: We can enjoy this place.
SPEAKER_00: I enjoy the heck out of this place.
SPEAKER_00: I was in my front yard yesterday hanging out with my kids and my wife, washing our cars, swimming in a little baby pool.
SPEAKER_00: It was great.
SPEAKER_00: It was awesome.
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
SPEAKER_00: Ain't nothing wrong with that.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever it is, enjoy it.
SPEAKER_00: Just don't find rest there.
SPEAKER_00: Because God is calling all of us and He's created this world not to satisfy us, but to wean us off of the things that we pursue and drive towards so we can get to the end of ourselves and go, oh, there you are.
SPEAKER_00: You're the only one that can give us rest.
SPEAKER_00: I uh had the chance to go to India a couple years ago.
SPEAKER_00: And uh when I was there, um I felt very strongly about a program that we brought back.
SPEAKER_00: Um the team that we kind of talked about while we were there, we were like, yeah, let's do it.
SPEAKER_00: So we came back and we started these um uh adoption programs for these kids, the House of Love Adoption Program.
SPEAKER_00: And many of us are have adopted these kids and and we provide their basic needs through a through a minimal gift every month.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and so um there's four, I think, 40 orphans that were there that were covered within, I think, a matter of minutes here at this church.
SPEAKER_00: And part of that program is that we got uh these refrigerator magnets.
SPEAKER_00: And these refrigerator magnets were their little picture of whoever you adopted, and you had their story, terrible, terrible story, uh, of their parents being killed in a terrible persecution in that region of India.
SPEAKER_00: And so all these kids uh had a great home, had a great life, had a great family, they were growing, everything was great.
SPEAKER_00: And then radical Hindus came through the region and killed their parents and tried to kill them.
SPEAKER_00: And some of them escaped.
SPEAKER_00: And Beak came in and rescued some of them, the pastor we work with, and uh and and unbelievably hard stories to think about, to be reminded of, but we put refrigerator magnets to remind ourselves we need to pray for them.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's a story, and there's a little, you know, what's your favorite subject in school?
SPEAKER_00: And I think ours is English, the girl that we adopted.
SPEAKER_00: And then what's your favorite verse?
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know about you, maybe I'm cynical, but I'm thinking, all right, they're kind of getting their C legs in the faith.
SPEAKER_00: I'm expecting John 3.16, John 15, Psalm 23.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, these are the things that I'm expecting.
SPEAKER_00: And the girl that we adopted, and some of you, that that may be the verse that's on your card.
SPEAKER_00: That's great.
SPEAKER_00: The girl that we adopted was Exodus 33, 14.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that was on my memory card.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we got that.
SPEAKER_00: We've memorized that verse.
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, I didn't, I have no idea what that meant.
SPEAKER_00: So I went and looked it up, and I, as soon as I read it, I thought, oh man, this girl is perfect for us.
SPEAKER_00: What a beautiful verse.
SPEAKER_00: She understood that the kingdom of God is the only place we're gonna find rest.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God, the place where what God wants done gets done, the kingdom of God where God reigns and rules.
SPEAKER_00: And his presence is made known.
SPEAKER_00: She knew it.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus 33, 14, you picks up right in the middle of a conversation between God and Moses.
SPEAKER_00: And Moses is saying, Hey, how are we gonna know that you're blessing us here?
SPEAKER_00: How are we gonna know that your favor is upon us?
SPEAKER_00: And God says back to Moses, My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.
SPEAKER_00: What are you looking to Jesus for?
SPEAKER_00: Are you looking for rescue?
SPEAKER_00: Moses was looking for rescue, and the answer he got was his presence.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we were talking on Friday morning with a group of men, and we were talking about how Superman came out recently, and one of the guys said, Man, I just wish we looked at Superman like we, or we looked at Jesus like we look at Superman.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, hey, that sounds good on the surface that we want to look to him as like our savior and our rescuer, but that's not the God of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't see you in your circumstances and come and fly down with laser beam eyes and get you out of whatever circumstances you're in.
SPEAKER_00: That's not him, that's not how he does things.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, the God of the Bible says, I'll be with you.
SPEAKER_00: I will walk with you through the valley of the shadow of death.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever circumstance you find yourself in, I'm here.
SPEAKER_00: And oh, by the way, with my presence comes power and authority.
SPEAKER_00: Awesome things.
SPEAKER_00: But we would rather be rescued.
SPEAKER_00: Same thing for Moses.
SPEAKER_00: And so for the kingdom to be home, we've got to find ourselves basking in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: Just his presence, not his blessings, not the things that he can do for you or for me.
SPEAKER_00: Just his presence that he's here, that he's with us.
SPEAKER_00: Is that enough for you today?
SPEAKER_00: Is his presence enough for you today?
SPEAKER_00: For the young lady that we adopted in India, it's enough for her.
SPEAKER_00: Unbelievably hard circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: All she cares about is God's presence.
SPEAKER_00: Not her blessings, not an education, not anything else, just that God would be who he says he is.
SPEAKER_00: Emmanuel, God with us.
SPEAKER_00: So the question today really is the same one that Clyde started us off with, and we'll end with it.
SPEAKER_00: It's basically this which kingdom are you building?
SPEAKER_00: Which kingdom are you defending?
SPEAKER_00: Is it the kingdom of a parable uh of a mustard seed and leaven?
SPEAKER_00: Is it the paro is it the kingdom of uh of a slingshot and an acorn?
SPEAKER_00: That's the kingdom I'll defend.
SPEAKER_00: Is it the kingdom of whatever else that the story that you could put out there for your own life?
SPEAKER_00: Which kingdom are you living in?
SPEAKER_00: Which kingdom are you building?
SPEAKER_00: And is it yours or is it Christ's?
SPEAKER_00: The only kingdom that is promised you rest, the only kingdom that is promised to cause you to grow, the only kingdom that is promised to see you as you are and love you as you once will you one day will be.
SPEAKER_00: Hold your hands out like this if you could.
SPEAKER_00: Speak a word of blessing over you.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God isn't just a future reign and realm.
SPEAKER_00: It is here, it is now.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus taught us, taught his disciples and taught us to pray for it to come to heaven seed by seed, measure by measure, little by little.
SPEAKER_00: Go now and be people of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: The place where what God wants done gets done.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.