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Principles of How God's Work Grows | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Would you connect your faith with mine as we trust the Holy
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  Spirit to help us? Lord, we do pray humbly before
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  you. We thank you for this building
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  for this room, for the people that are here, filling this
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  place. Well, we look to you as the
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  Living God. There is no doubt in us.
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  That you are the real God. The true God.
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  The only God but we believe that what we have in our hands is
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  your word, but we also understand that this word apart
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  from the spirit will not move us.
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  Will not change us and so we ask that the holy spirit's help his
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  power. The same holy spirit that
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  anointed the sun while he was on Earth.
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  We pray for that anointing to be known in this place.
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  And so Lord, we confess our weakness and our dependency on
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  you. We know that what will make this
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  time effective is not eloquence nor will it be any personality?
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  It will be the power of the holy spirit.
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  So we confess that and we trust that he will meet us here.
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  May the Son of God be glorified in our midst and Jesus name we
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  pray. Amen.
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  Mark 426. And he said, the kingdom of God
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  is, as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, he sleeps
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  and Rises night and day and the seed sprouts and grows.
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  He knows not how the Earth produces by itself.
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  First the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
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  But when the grain is ripe at once he puts in the sickle
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  because the Harvest has come You can imagine the range of
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  emotions that disciples felt up to this point of hearing, their
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  Messiah, the Messiah, explain after one Parable following the
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  next principles and foundational truths concerning the kingdom of
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  God. The kingdom that was prophesied
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  about the kingdom that was long-awaited, the kingdom that
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  would establish a people and Redemption for the world.
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  Here they are as these pupils. Soaking in everything that their
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  teacher is saying. And again, it makes you wonder
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  what they felt. Surely.
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  There was excitement, surely there was curiosity and perhaps
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  there was even uncertainty because as Jesus is teaching,
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  it's not far-fetched to imagine that.
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  These disciples are perhaps feeling concern concern that
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  could be one growing thought because With this Revelation is
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  coming. The realization of the great
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  responsibility, that is being placed upon their shoulders
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  here. They are being prepared.
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  After being selected to launch out into the world.
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  With a truth with the aim of saving.
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  Souls of seeing people, converted of seeing people who
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  also be included in this Kingdom.
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  I mean, imagine being a pioneer of a movement that has been
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  planned from eternity past. Imagine being one of the
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  founders. So to speak of this message,
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  going forth, that will recruit and win people the masses to
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  Salvation. These disciples perhaps sought
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  to themselves. Do I have what it takes?
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  What is required of me? How can I ensure success?
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  Do I need to adopt some kind of a method?
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  Do I need to make this message more palatable, more acceptable,
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  more attractive? What is it that I can do to make
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  sure that I will not fail in this Grand?
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  Task that the Son of God is commissioning me too.
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  And whether or not the disciples were thinking such thoughts,
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  Jesus, the Lord Jesus the Chief Cornerstone Usher's them through
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  this parable. Of a truth that would bring them
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  relief. Bringing them a Repose a
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  comfort. Something that would not just
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  last for the moment but something that they can hold on
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  to for the rest of their Ministry on Earth.
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  Jesus gives this teaching to his disciples, for the sole purpose
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  of reminding them how success will come.
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  How the growth of the kingdom of God will occur.
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  And you. And I here today who are true,
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  Servants of God will also benefit greatly from what the
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  Lord here, has to say you and I hear or eager to see fruit,
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  whether or not you are part of a certain Ministry, whether your
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  family is your ministry. Whether you're part of some kind
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  of Evangelistic Endeavor outside of these walls or you serve
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  Within These Walls, every True Believer has a desire to see
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  fruit in their labor Every True Believer truly wants to see the
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  people that they come in contact with that God providentially
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  leads into their lives, to be changed to be transformed.
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  They want to see Souls rescued and they also simultaneously
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  want to see the saved mature in Christ likeness And what we see
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  here is that Jesus provides the formula.
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  He gives them insight and the goal of this.
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  The emphasis of this is that through this Revelation, they
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  would know an inward rest that they would be able to battle
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  discouragement that they would be able to overcome doubts, that
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  they would be able to silence all suspicion and they would be
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  able to with longevity to continue serving God.
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  Knowing this truth is ringing in their ears.
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  And there's many ways of dissecting these verses to help
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  us understand how it is that God's work multiplies.
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  How it is that God's word grows and brings about results but I
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  want to simplify it. I want to make it as simple as
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  possible and I believe the simplest way of understanding,
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  what Jesus is trying to communicate here, not just to
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  his disciples, but to us today, is that there is two sides to
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  this thing. There is one human
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  responsibility. And to, there is the realization
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  of divine sovereignty. That's it.
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  If you can remember, those two things moving forward, you will
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  understand how it is that God's work.
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  Multiplies human responsibility, Divine sovereignty.
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  And here is what impresses me of this Parable that we just read.
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  It's only found in mark. This and another Parable and
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  Mark chapter 13 are exclusive to this gospel writer.
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  You will not find what we just read in.
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  John Matthew, you will not find it in Luke and that is by the
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  design of the author. Because remember the whole
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  construct of this book, the whole theme of Mark is to
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  portray the Son of God as the perfect servant of God.
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  And how fitting is it for the Holy Spirit to include two
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  additional teachings, two parables in Mark that are short.
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  Yes, but also dealing with the theme of work in this text.
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  It is because yes we are also going to see Jesus as the
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  perfect servant but as our example in service as well.
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  And so with this book we have something more for us in the
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  lane of serving our God. So this is not, this is not an
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  accident here. This is for those who say, I
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  want to I want to be effective for the Lord.
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  I truly want to bear for. I don't want to waste my time.
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  I don't want to waste my energy. This is for you.
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  And as you look at it with me, your realize that not only are
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  there two sides, but there is an emphasis, the emphasis here is
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  not human responsibility, though.
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  It is included. It's God.
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  It's God's work. God's hand God's mind, God's
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  wisdom, God's timing. And so let's do this together.
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  We will look at first the human responsibility and he said in
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  verse 26. The kingdom of God is, as if a
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  man should scatter seed on the ground, you were there.
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  When we learn about the parable is Surah where you not remember
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  what Jesus said to his disciples when they proved that, they
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  could not understand what that Parable was all about.
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  He said earlier in the same chapter and verse 13 and he said
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  to them, do you not understand this Parable?
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  How then will you understand all the parables?
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  In other words, the parable of the sower, which deals with the
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  responsibility, of how we hear the word of God holds key
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  interpretational ideas for The Parables, that Jesus would teach
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  from then on. And so, we have to understand
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  with the parable, the shore, and our, and the backdrop that What
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  we learned from then applies to this so that helps us
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  understanding crack a little bit of this quote code.
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  Number one, we know that the man here speaks of the one who has
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  the truth and plants it who has the truth and gives it and
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  offers it and proclaims it. We understand that the seed is
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  the word of God Incorruptible pure.
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  And we understand also that the ground here speaks of the hearts
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  of men. And so here we have a sower
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  going out, planting the gospel planting God's word in the
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  hearts of people. And what we see here though is
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  that Jesus brings us to our memory again to emphasize a very
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  important point. That growth in the kingdom of
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  God, fruit. And the people that we are
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  ministering to our Ministries being blessed by the Holy Spirit
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  and people being blessed by. It is completely Inseparable
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  from the implementation and the application and the faithfulness
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  to the word of God, growth ain't happening without God's word.
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  That's why he's here in the Forefront of this, Parable.
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  You and I have to understand that Jesus is bringing this to
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  our minds because for the Servants of God, there will be a
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  constant temptation. To rely on.
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  Secondary matters as the substance of her gospel
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  persuasion. and so people think this from time to time and this
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  obstructs that well you know, if I if I just dress a certain way
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  if I speak a certain way, if I'm more eloquent, if I'm more
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  intelligent, if I have more of a philosophical flare, if if I'm
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  more funny, if I'm more laid-back, if I have more of a
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  pedigree, if I am more educated with current events and
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  politics. If I smile more, if I smile
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  less, if my hair is this with my hair?
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  Is that way, if more approachable, and whatever the
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  case may be. Now let's magnetize a
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  corporately. if our service is geared, towards more
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  contemporary if our services more traditional, if we start at
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  10 a.m. if we start at 1 p.m., if we have more natural light,
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  if we have more dim and cozy lights, If we have more
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  activities, if the preacher dresses, this way, he dresses,
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  that way, if the worship. He looks like that.
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  The worship looks like this. If we do all these things then,
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  surely the gospel will be more acceptable.
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  And there will be more growth. Was verse 26 is all about is,
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  all you need is God's word. That's what Jesus is saying.
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  All you need is God's word. Preyed upon Faithfully.
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  Handled boldly, declared dealt with, with patience, and
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  compassion, and love. All you need is to scatter the
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  seed and that is the basis for the Harvest to come. you can't
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  have a harvest without this word and the Bible, testifies of
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  itself concerning the great power and might that it has and
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  what it can produce in the recipients heart, the recipients
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  heart, there was a time when there was a pastor Or Prophet
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  who is ministering in a time when there are other so-called
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  prophets who claim to speak on behalf of the Lord.
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  And the Lord gives commentary on how these false Messengers
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  operated and what they depended on and comparison to those who
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  are faithful messengers of his, I want to show you that in
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  Jeremiah 23 as go to the Old Testament briefly Jeremiah 23.
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  And meet me here in verse 28. The Lord speaks to the prophet
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  and says, let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream.
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  But let him. Who has my word, speak my word
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  Faithfully. What a straw in common with
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  wheat, declares the Lord. So, what you had in this time
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  were false prophets who were claimed to speak on behalf of
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  God, but the substance of their message was subjective
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  experience. they would claim to have visions or dreams in the
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  night and then they would come to an audience and they would
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  try to convey some kind of Message from God that was for
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  them. That was obviously false and
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  something that they came up with.
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  It was something that they conjured up from their own
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  imagination and for the naive and The Superficial, it worked.
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  It was attractive, there was something mysterious about it
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  and they seem to be God's men because look, God speaking to
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  them and through them to us or surely they are someone special
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  And we see here that there is this great hype around,
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  phenomena Paranormal Activity, Supernatural things occurring.
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  And this is what was drawing a crowd.
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  This is what was swaying. The people away from the true
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  and living God. And then he makes a distinction,
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  the Lord says, but my messengers, my ministers, my
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  servants, they rely completely on my word on my word, they see
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  that the word is sufficient. You see the struggle today?
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  Among Believers is not so much, whether the word is infallible.
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  I believe today, the greatest struggle among Believers is
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  whether or not the word of God is sufficient.
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  Is it enough? Is it enough to save my children
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  and to preserve them throughout this wicked generation?
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  Is it enough to draw in a twisted and corrupt culture to
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  saving faith? Is it enough to see this local
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  church grow with true disciples or does it need some help?
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  Should we not add some hint of subjective experience or some
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  kind of a spectacle or some kind of cultural credibility?
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  Jeremiah says, My word is enough and those who are Faithfully,
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  proclaiming my word are those who are mine, and then he makes
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  this metaphorical picture. What a straw in common with
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  wheat, declares the Lord straw is the, the waste that comes
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  from wheat. It's the shouts of the stuff
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  that you disregard holds no value.
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  It's to be trampled upon it. In fact, it's supposed to be
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  burned, there's no nutritional substance.
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  There's nothing that can offer the consumer.
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  And that is what he Likens to these prophets.
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  Who rely on dreams? It doesn't do anything for
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  anybody. It isn't produced life, there
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  isn't nourishment, there aren't ingredients in that that can
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  actually bring about change. But uh, my word my word is like
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  wheat. There is something in my word
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  that actually can contribute life-giving power to those who
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  are willing to eat it, and take it and receive it.
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  My word has value. My word has sustenance, my word
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  can supply, my word can change, my word can make you grow my
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  word, my word alone. And so you see that those who
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  are lying anything, but the word are really relying on nothing.
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  And God adds to this, he expands on the thought of his word and
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  verse 29 is not my word like a fire declares the Lord and like
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  a hammer that breaks the Rock in pieces.
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  What does fire do? Fire cleanses it consumes it
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  overwhelms. It brings warmth it illuminates.
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  Fires of force with many many outcomes.
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  It's hard to ignore. It's hard to come in contact
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  with fire without something happening to that very object.
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  My word is like fire. Not your dreams.
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  Not your Miracles Miracles. Can't do this.
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  Motivational speeches from secular entrepreneurs.
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  Can't do this. Pop's, I kept psychology, can't
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  do this. My word is like a fire.
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  Then he goes on to say, it's like a hammer, like a hammer,
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  what does the hammer do? What we read it breaks it breaks
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  resistance. It crushes that, which is
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  undesirable. Undesirable in US, my word,
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  breaks down, Pride it shatters Envy.
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  It brings to nothing to find powder, lust and covetousness
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  and jealousy. And impatience and murmuring and
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  complaining my word destroys. That it eradicates it.
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  Oh, but a hammer does more than destroy if you have it in the
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  right hand, it can also build It can construct and he wrecked, it
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  can create and surely the word of God does that.
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  After it does destroy wants to build something in you, and it
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  wants to build in you that which nothing else can offer, you
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  Holiness, loveliness godliness, and all those wonderful fruit of
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  the holy spirit that we know of in Galatians builds.
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  Again, let me say nothing else can do.
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  What the word of God Alone can do.
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  And, and here's why this is important.
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  God gives this truth in the book of Jeremiah.
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  Why? Because it has reached its peak,
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  the nation has reached its peak of apostasy, you had the nation
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  of Israel. Turning their back on God,
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  bowing down before idols. And it's now reached a boiling
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  point where God says enough is enough.
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  I'm sending the Babylonians to take you out and it is at that
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  time, that the spiritual climate was so bad.
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  That this truth comes to us. Why to reassure and re-establish
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  the prophet. And those who are faithful to
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  God in their faith in the word of God.
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  This is the only thing that's going to work.
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  This is the only thing that's going to win.
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  This is the only thing that will preserve and produce.
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  It's my word and what you have and I have to understand in
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  Mark, chapter 4 verse 26. Remember, I'm speaking to those
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  who want to see God's kingdom grow.
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  That's your desire. Believe the word of God.
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  Believe that it is enough. Believe that we don't need any
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  other gimmicks. We don't need any other tricks.
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  That if this is given to a people that in due time,
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  something will happen. This is the human
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  responsibility. This is the human
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  responsibility. Well, is that it?
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  Well, it's not it because we continue here and quickly go
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  from Human agency. To something else that now comes
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  into operation and it's found in verse 27, he sleeps and Rises
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  night and day and the seed sprouts and grows.
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  He knows not how you won't find that in any other gospel account
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  only here in mark and it is one of the most refreshing Parables
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  when it comes to serving the lord.
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  Jesus Christ. Here's what happens.
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  The man plants the seed. He goes home and he sleeps and
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  this is just a summarizing way of saying he just went about his
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  daily routine. He went to bed.
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  He woke up, he had breakfast. He worked.
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  He picked up the kids from school.
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  He came back, spend time with his family, went back to bed,
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  repeat and day after day night. After night, he was doing this.
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  And while this was going on, there was a seed that was buried
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  some time ago and it is germinating.
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  And it is sprouting. And it is growing. and the key
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  phrase in this versus as we are now, exploring the Divine
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  sovereignty aspect of God's work being multiplied and growing He
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  knows not how. He doesn't know.
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  Even with our Advanced science today, scientists can't fully
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  comprehend. The complexity is when this
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  little seed that goes into the Earth and the right soil can
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  germinate, and become this giant oak tree, that it just hard to
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  comprehend fully. And we see here that there is an
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  appeal to mystery, he knows not how is intended to tell us that
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  he has. Absolutely, not just no
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  knowledge of how it occurs but no contribution to it.
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  He's going about his own Affairs, he's doing what he's
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  doing and the seed is doing what it's supposed to be doing, and
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  this is exactly what the Lord is trying to communicate.
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  The growth that you want to see in your ministry for the kingdom
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  of God. All over the Earth is dependent
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  upon a source outside of yourself.
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  Upon a work and upon a hand that is invisible to your site.
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  It is something that you must learn to rest in.
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  And what we see from this is that the pressure of producing
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  results is now. Off of us, the human
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  responsibility has been taken care of.
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  Now, in verse 26, parents hear this, Let the burden.
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  Roll off your back. Pastors here this and let there
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  be relief as week after week, you're going out and planting
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  the word of God. The faithful evangelist that
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  can't go anywhere without telling somebody about Jesus by
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  seeing little fruit in it. Realize, realize that once you
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  drop that thing, all responsibility now is off of
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  you. This is what the Lord is saying,
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  he knows not how he doesn't comprehend.
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  And he doesn't have anything to do with it.
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  Well, if that's true then who is in charge of the growth.
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  Look at verse 28, the Earth produces by itself, The phrase
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  there by itself in the Greek, I may say it wrong.
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  So, forgive me. Forgive me, YouTube.
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  Automate has sound familiar. Automate has where we get the
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  word in English automatic? The Earth produces by itself.
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  And there is only one place in the entire New Testament where
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  this Greek word is used, can I show it to you?
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  Go to Acts chapter 12 quickly, This is the account when Peter
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  was in prison. The church is praying praying
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  desperately. Something Supernatural happens.
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  An angel from the Lord comes wakes.
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  Peter up tells him to get up and as they make their way towards
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  the exit, something occurs here. In verse 10 of chapter 12, when
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  they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to
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  the Iron Gate leading into the city.
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  It opened for them of its own accord, that phrase of its own
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  accord automaton has And they went out and went along one
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  street and immediately, the angel left them to places in the
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  entire New Testament, where this Greek word is use.
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  And so in the same way that this giant iron gate moved on its own
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  accord implying, what there is no help.
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  There was no assistance. There is no outside
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  intervention. It just did its thing in the
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  pendant lie. Yes supernaturally but
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  independently in the same way that's how this seed works.
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  This seed is unassisted the seed is independent.
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  The seed is moving and pushing and bring forth life without
• 25:54
  anything else. Helping it it's automatic.
• 25:58
  You don't read of this farmer with a magnifying glass hanging
• 26:01
  over that bed of dirt yelling at it to grow.
• 26:05
  He doesn't stick his hand in there and Meadow with the
• 26:07
  Affairs, he's totally unaware. He's going about his business.
• 26:12
  While this seed it's doing is business.
• 26:15
  It's moving. Cracking life is coming.
• 26:20
  Drawing, nutrients. Pushing through Little Rock's
• 26:23
  and little Pebbles, it's coming to life.
• 26:27
  So does the word of God? So does the word of God?
• 26:31
  Here's what I'm trying to restore.
• 26:33
  Our faith in the Supernatural power of This Book of the truths
• 26:39
  laced in this book, that when this seed Meats, good soil, when
• 26:46
  it is welcomed by an open heart, like we heard in the parable is
• 26:49
  sore. This word is so powerful in that
• 26:52
  life that you can step away from it and trust that something will
• 26:57
  happen to that soul. And again, I don't know what
• 27:02
  that does to you, but it helps me a lot.
• 27:05
  First it reminds me that I must concentrate and focus simply on
• 27:09
  being faithful. And what I do with this word
• 27:12
  that when I sit across that coffee table, with a friend who
• 27:15
  is not saved and everything in me is trying to tell me to
• 27:20
  persuade him to Christ with different ways or means.
• 27:24
  It's just realize that if I give him the seed, yes and wisdom.
• 27:27
  Yes. In the right timing but the seed
• 27:29
  nonetheless, that that thing can do wonders, it can do wonders.
• 27:35
  I don't need to be clever. I don't need to manipulate.
• 27:39
  I don't need to appeal to the emotions, just scatter the seed.
• 27:43
  You know what? I love about this, this man does
• 27:45
  not lay anxiously at night. He does not Wonder, did I did I
• 27:49
  use the right scattering technique, could I have been
• 27:52
  more precise Kevin more articulate, nothing of the sort.
• 27:58
  This neighbor doesn't ring his hands and then that midnight
• 28:01
  hour ago, over to the fence and Peak over and see what's going
• 28:04
  on in his neighbor's crop and compares.
• 28:08
  Nothing of the sort. He goes to sleep.
• 28:12
  He wakes up. He works goes about his Affairs
• 28:17
  and he sleeps again. Here's what I take from this.
• 28:21
  Here's what I take and here's what you take for.
• 28:23
  The soul who Frets for the soul who wonders because from time to
• 28:27
  time I know it. You can peek over into the
• 28:31
  little corner that God has designed for you in his Grand,
• 28:33
  Vineyard the one that he's called you to minister in the
• 28:36
  family that he has given to the children.
• 28:38
  The spouse. The homeless shelter, wherever
• 28:42
  you may be wherever God has placed you and think to
• 28:44
  yourself. Am I doing this right?
• 28:48
  Am I doing enough? Do I need a switch up my
• 28:51
  technique here? What, why aren't things
• 28:56
  happening? And here's what you take from
• 29:00
  this. Did you pray for Lee and
• 29:02
  Faithfully? Plant the seed?
• 29:05
  Yes, go to sleep. Go to sleep and go about your
• 29:14
  Affairs and trust that the human responsibility has been
• 29:17
  performed. And now Divine sovereignty is at
• 29:20
  work but I want to know how You will never know how never.
• 29:29
  It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.
• 29:31
  Proverbs tells us there is a measure of Glory in which God
• 29:35
  conceals things that offends the intellectual.
• 29:39
  But it is to the glory of God that he does not expose all his
• 29:42
  methods. All his ways.
• 29:44
  There are some measure of mystery that brings pleasure to
• 29:47
  God and keeps God in that category of God and us as
• 29:51
  creature. so, as that seed goes in, Go to bed.
• 29:59
  Go to bed with a smile on your face knowing that you've done
• 30:02
  your part. Yeah.
• 30:03
  You might have dirt underneath your fingernails, but there is a
• 30:06
  bigger and more mightier hand now, taking over, is it?
• 30:10
  That simple as that? He's I just yes, that's why it's
• 30:14
  here. Yes, But there's more to say
• 30:20
  there's more to add to this idea of the sovereignty of God as
• 30:23
  much as it's so simple and straightforward.
• 30:25
  There's there's deeper realizations of the sovereignty
• 30:28
  of God in the work of Salvation. And sanctification that we must
• 30:33
  understand. Let me give you two sub points
• 30:36
  to this category of divine sovereignty.
• 30:38
  Number one, God's work as you just heard, but I'm an expound
• 30:42
  on. It is mysteriously silent to us.
• 30:47
  It's mysteriously silent to us. If you have the new testament
• 30:53
  which I hope you do one of the most exciting studies and maybe
• 30:57
  this is just for me now because I'm reading through one of the
• 30:59
  most exciting studies that you can go on.
• 31:03
  Is the life of Solomon with that new testament dictionary by your
• 31:07
  side, and to see how it relates to our current Covenant.
• 31:11
  One of the things that have moved my heart and reading those
• 31:14
  early chapters of First Kings of not just the mind of Solomon,
• 31:18
  but the projects of Solomon, Is how the Bible describes the
• 31:23
  construction process of the temple of God.
• 31:28
  And how it relates to you and I being the Temple of the Holy
• 31:30
  Spirit today. Can I show it to you first Kings
• 31:33
  chapter 6? Look at this one verse with its
• 31:37
  glorious description of how this building project came about. 1st
• 31:51
  Kings. Chapter 6.
• 32:01
  Look at this verse and pay attention to it, when the house
• 32:05
  was built. It was with stone prepared at
• 32:09
  the query. So that neither Hammer nor acts
• 32:13
  nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being
• 32:18
  built. What an interesting thing for
• 32:22
  God to put in his word. So here's how it went in
• 32:27
  Practical terms. The team that Solomon gathered
• 32:31
  to build this project, we took many many years to accomplish
• 32:35
  apart from the site of, where this Temple would be established
• 32:40
  from a distance. He had his men work on the
• 32:44
  elements, so that there would be no sound heard among the common
• 32:47
  people in Jerusalem. And so, all the polishing, all
• 32:50
  the cutting, all the hammering, all the chiseling was done far
• 32:54
  away where those sounds were not heard. they were not heard and
• 32:58
  at the right time, they would bring the right portions and
• 33:02
  with reverential rhythm and with great Elegance, one piece would
• 33:10
  be placed on another one element was placed on another in.
• 33:14
  It was fashioned over those months and over those years. and
• 33:20
  if you had been living in Jerusalem at that time, and if
• 33:23
  you were a distracted person, You would not have realized what
• 33:28
  was going on most of the time, because there was silence.
• 33:35
  There was silence saying, brother.
• 33:37
  Whoa, why are you bringing this up?
• 33:42
  Solomon was behind this. You and I worship the one who
• 33:45
  is, greater than Solomon. Whether you know it or not, he
• 33:49
  is and has been for the past 2000 years, building a temple.
• 33:55
  And, you know what's been happening.
• 33:56
  These past two thousand years. God's been at work.
• 34:02
  And oftentimes, it's silent. It's not immediately perceived.
• 34:09
  It's not easily, calculated. See what we have among the
• 34:14
  people of God. Is this strange idea that?
• 34:16
  If the Lord is working, it has to be loud.
• 34:21
  There has to be a thunderous conviction.
• 34:25
  There must be a River of Tears. There must be an explosion of
• 34:30
  Miracles. Not so not so.
• 34:37
  What we see here is that as this Temple was being built, no sound
• 34:41
  was being heard. God works quietly a lot.
• 34:49
  And just like that seed was in the ground Beyond perception
• 34:53
  beyond the naked eye. So we see here that to the ear.
• 34:59
  It was not necessarily registered of what was taking
• 35:03
  place, all that you would have seen was from time to time.
• 35:06
  There was more wall. More ground taken over.
• 35:12
  More things being fashioned, more elements around the worship
• 35:15
  of Israel that time being placed.
• 35:18
  You would see it periodically. You have no idea what's
• 35:24
  happening in the people sitting beside you.
• 35:27
  You don't know what's happening in the people that you pass by
• 35:29
  in the people that you invest in or the people you have invested
• 35:33
  in at some point in your life. You have no clue.
• 35:37
  It's not always loud. Oftentimes, it is being done in
• 35:42
  secret and that blesses me. That blesses me because God's
• 35:47
  work, doesn't equate noise? And immediate progress, It's
• 35:53
  incremental, it's slow. It's not always strong it in
• 35:58
  your face. It's not always calculable and
• 36:03
  measurable. Now, take that truth for your
• 36:05
  own life believer. Never mind, the person that
• 36:07
  you're investing, take it in your life and for your life.
• 36:11
  You have other believers who are agitated about their own growth,
• 36:13
  they're not seeing, they're not perceiving, they're not being
• 36:16
  able to measure, but what if God and surely, he is working
• 36:19
  quietly in you. What if he has slowly and
• 36:24
  steadily building you? What if only in increments of
• 36:27
  perhaps, long periods of time? Will you look back and say there
• 36:30
  is something different about me? There is there's more Devotion
• 36:35
  to me, more Lovin, me more sacrifice more consistency in
• 36:38
  me. Do not depend upon day-to-day
• 36:42
  evaluation of where you're at. It's not the most encouraging
• 36:47
  thing to do, but trust that if your heart is good, soil, that
• 36:51
  seed is doing something in you. It is.
• 36:55
  Well, I can't hear it, I can't. That's okay.
• 36:58
  God designed it, that way, God designed it that way, which
• 37:01
  brings me to the second. Sub-point that God's work is not
• 37:05
  only mysteriously silent to us, but God's work is always It's
• 37:11
  always a process, go back to Mark, 4 verse 29.
• 37:22
  First 28, rather the Earth produces by itself.
• 37:24
  First the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear
• 37:33
  spiritual success. Must not be gauged by sudden
• 37:38
  Lee's. by sudden Lee's Sometimes if we're not careful, even when
• 37:45
  we come to the word of God, we can measure the effectiveness of
• 37:50
  our efforts with this stunning examples that God has given us
• 37:54
  to his word and in his word. So we look at the moves of God
• 37:57
  that swept over cities and regions like Nineveh, where
• 38:00
  Jonah and a few words saw a Revival break out or we can look
• 38:04
  at instantaneous, conversions, like the great Apostle, Paul and
• 38:08
  we have every right to be inspired about what God can do
• 38:10
  in a moment, how he can. change things miraculously in the split
• 38:14
  second, but if we're not careful, We can Wonder.
• 38:18
  Well why, why are we not seeing the same?
• 38:21
  Am I not doing enough? Am I not praying enough?
• 38:25
  Am I not fasting enough? Am I not living holy enough?
• 38:30
  And yet Christ gives us the Son of God gives us a rule for
• 38:35
  service unto him. Slow and steady.
• 38:42
  Slow and steady. In stages and God has no problem
• 38:49
  working in stages. If you want to clue, go to
• 38:51
  Genesis 1:1 of the things, you have to learn right from the
• 38:54
  beginning of God. Creating the world is, he's a
• 38:57
  God, that works in stages. And guess what, every step of
• 39:01
  the way he goes, it is good. It is good.
• 39:07
  It is good for us. Even the most fatal car.
• 39:10
  That's not good. I'm still rough around the
• 39:13
  edges. That person it's been a long
• 39:15
  time. They've been enough Bible
• 39:16
  studies and what I see is not good, not good enough at least
• 39:21
  That's not how God things. It is good and we see here.
• 39:28
  That these stages encourage us to be patient to be patient.
• 39:34
  If God is a god of process that we must be his servants.
• 39:37
  Who are patient? you know people sometimes ask me
• 39:40
  what's preaching like what's preaching like what is it about
• 39:45
  preaching and they asked these different questions.
• 39:48
  And one of those questions has to deal with the delivery.
• 39:52
  Do you always feel empowered by God, you always sends his grace
• 39:56
  and his assistants while you're declaring his word and I give
• 39:59
  different answers and stuff. But can I tell you over the
• 40:02
  years when it comes to the ministry of preaching and this
• 40:05
  isn't just limited to preaching at witnessing whatever the case
• 40:07
  may be, any kind of conveying of the word of God.
• 40:11
  The greatest struggle is not inquiring of God for greater
• 40:15
  measures of power and wondering if it was powerful enough or
• 40:18
  not, I'm just being honest. The greatest struggle is what
• 40:23
  Paul told Timothy. In second, Timothy 4, I want to
• 40:29
  show it to you as we close in a moment.
• 40:31
  Look at verse 2 of second. Timothy 4.
• 40:40
  If you want to know, all the letters that begin with t are
• 40:44
  gathered together in the New Testament.
• 40:46
  So if Thessalonians and Timothy Then tied us second Timothy 4:2,
• 40:52
  you know, this preach, the word preach, the word be ready in
• 40:57
  season and out of season, reprove, rebuke and exhort with
• 41:01
  complete patients and teaching. So, preach the word rebuke,
• 41:05
  that's uncomfortable. Sometimes that's uncomfortable
• 41:08
  to look at a sea of people and their faces and say you need to
• 41:12
  repent. Teach every week trying to find
• 41:16
  gold every week, trying to prepare a meal for people to
• 41:19
  eat. Reprove in season out us whether
• 41:24
  you feel like it or not you witness you share you declare
• 41:28
  but those are not the difficult Parts.
• 41:31
  You know, what's a difficult part with complete patients?
• 41:35
  That's the hard part. With complete patience.
• 41:41
  Implying what you're not going to see what you want to see
• 41:43
  right away. You're not going to see all that
• 41:48
  you aspire to see all that you dream to see in your children.
• 41:51
  I know we all want Apostles by the age of 10.
• 41:57
  We want a thriving Ministry where everybody is discipling
• 42:01
  somebody and everybody signing up to be a foreign missionary
• 42:05
  and everybody is sacrificially serving their Community all we
• 42:08
  want it. Paul says, be patient Timothy.
• 42:13
  I've been in this preaching thing for quite some time and
• 42:15
  you're not going to see everything.
• 42:16
  You want to see right away. Trust the process.
• 42:22
  Trust the process with your family.
• 42:24
  Trust the process with your spouse.
• 42:26
  Trust the process with your friends.
• 42:28
  Trust the process with your congregation, trust the process.
• 42:34
  Don't deviate from the word. Don't deviate from the truth,
• 42:36
  don't deviate from the principles of God's word.
• 42:38
  You have nothing else to bank on God's word in God's word alone.
• 42:44
  And we come to the last verse of, Jesus words in this,
• 42:46
  Parable. But when the grain is ripe, I
• 42:49
  once he puts it in the sickle, because the Harvest has has come
• 42:57
  In other words, the same man who sowed the seed.
• 43:03
  And you stepped away, and the increase came from God and he
• 43:06
  knows not how and he can't take credit and he can't comprehend
• 43:09
  it. That same man in Full Circle
• 43:13
  will come back and enjoy the Harvest.
• 43:17
  And he will benefit in some way of what he has done of what God
• 43:23
  has done. And brothers and sisters to some
• 43:26
  degree you and I can relate to this verse.
• 43:28
  You're sitting in that reality right now.
• 43:32
  You enjoyed hearing these peoples voices, the voice of the
• 43:35
  redeemed, The Fellowship of the saved, the comfort of the
• 43:40
  saints, that is the Harvest, and it's a growing Harvest.
• 43:45
  And you, and I, if we have any contribution in this process, is
• 43:50
  that at some point, a seed was placed at some point, the light
• 43:54
  of our witness touch somebody else.
• 43:56
  And as God is bringing the increase, we get to benefit from
• 43:59
  it. Although God is doing the most
• 44:02
  work, if not all work, we know that.
• 44:05
  And here we are enjoying one another's presence and God is
• 44:08
  adding to this number and adding to the church globally until the
• 44:12
  final Harvest is come and that Sickle comes over the whole
• 44:16
  globe and gathers us into the barn house of Glory.
• 44:21
  And we enjoy what God has done for all of eternity.
• 44:24
  As we are by each other's side forever and ever and ever.
• 44:31
  Here's what I want to drive into your heart as we close.
• 44:35
  In this day of age, with your family, with this ministry, with
• 44:41
  your co-workers, with those who watch your social media,
• 44:45
  whatever the case may be, all you need is the word.
• 44:49
  And as you do that, rest smile a little bit, would you?
• 44:55
  Don't beat yourself up all the time.
• 44:58
  Don't believe everything. You see believe that if this
• 45:01
  word was given and that Heart Is Right?
• 45:05
  A harvest is coming a harvest is coming.
• 45:09
  And when it comes, God will receive glory.
• 45:12
  And in the meantime worship, while you wait, love while you
• 45:16
  wait open, your arms while you wait.
• 45:20
  And trust that the right time, you will see it.
• 45:23
  And when you see it, You'll give God praise for it.
• 45:27
  Let's worship and pray. Lord, we come to you.
• 45:48
  We thank you for this Parable with such Simplicity.
• 45:53
  We are reminded we are reminded that we can have relief and we
• 45:58
  can lean on the sovereignty of God in all our efforts.
• 46:03
  And what we think about this ministry, Maranatha Bible
• 46:05
  Church, And we pray that by your great Mercy that you would keep
• 46:11
  us faithful to the seed. And that there would never be a
• 46:14
  time where we would rely on dreams.
• 46:18
  That we were to rely on an outside force, or power or
• 46:21
  persuasion or captivating tactic.
• 46:27
  Lord, Keep Us close to the word. Lord, for the parents who over
• 46:32
  the years or who are currently investing in their children with
• 46:35
  the word. And will perhaps lose sleep at
• 46:39
  night, especially as their children, come to an age where
• 46:41
  they have more Independence. I pray for rest.
• 46:47
  I pray for trust. I pray that there would never be
• 46:51
  a thought from the enemy to say you did not do enough.
• 46:57
  And you have failed your family. Lord, we just ask.
• 47:04
  That not only would we be patient with the process of
• 47:06
  those who are outside of us. That we would also realize that
• 47:10
  you were silently working within us.
• 47:13
  And though, we don't see this spontaneous works of growth
• 47:18
  these spurts. When we day-by-day feed, our
• 47:21
  souls with the truth, help us realize that it is never in
• 47:24
  vain. And change is coming.
• 47:28
  You will renew us and you will change us.
• 47:32
  Thank you. That this word has automatic
• 47:35
  power. That when it is delivered and
• 47:38
  planted. The DNA promises production.
• 47:45
  Well, we worship you as we have reinstalled our faith and trust
• 47:51
  in the sufficiency of the word of God be magnified as we
• 47:54
  worship you. Now not just for what you've
• 47:56
  done in us, what you're going to do, what?
• 47:59
  All those years of faithful teaching and preaching, and
• 48:02
  studying, and discipling, and counseling will do because you
• 48:07
  promised, something will come in, Jesus name.
• 48:10
  We pray. Amen, let's stand and Worship
• 48:13
  the Lord.