The Kingdom Is Growing: Seed, Patience, and the Harvest

Hey, we're going to get into God's word. If you brought a Bible, get it out right now. This is no ordinary book. This is living and active. God wants to speak to you today. We do not want to just learn information. We want to experience transformation. If you brought your Bible, hold in the air like you care. Come on, somebody. This is your sword, your weapon against the enemy. If even if you didn't bring your Bible, join with me in shouting word on the count of three. One, two, three. Word. We're getting into God's word. So God's word gets into us. All of us at some point in our lives will discover that things are not the way they are supposed to be. Like those lights today. Come on, somebody. At some point, you'll discover that things aren't the way they're supposed to be. We live in a broken world. We learn this lesson early, unfortunately. Like the child who witnesses their parents getting a divorce. That's not the way it's supposed to be. Or that person that gets

the doctor diagnosis or the phone call that shapes and changes your life. That's not the way it's supposed to be. How many of us have been to a business or a restaurant where you come in as a customer and you're going to give your hard-earned money only to have the employees rude or mean or or the place is filthy? Anybody ever been to a place like that? And you think to yourself, "This isn't the way it's supposed to be." We look in our own city and we can look around at homelessness, addiction, depression, suicide, and we ought to say in our city, "This is not the way it's supposed to be." We even look at the world we're living in for such a time as this. And there are world wars and we have our own armed forces in America, men and women who who are willingly

putting their lives on the line. And we look at these wars and there should be something in our souls that says this is not the way it ought to be. And I came here today to tell you the solution to all of your brokenness. I know the solution because Jesus gave us the solution. And I'll warn you in advance that the world does not want the solution. But Jesus has given us the solution. We're going to study some teachings of Jesus today which will teach you what it looks like to make right that which is wrong in your life. Jesus wants you to know the solution. And the solution is simply kingdom come. It's God's kingdom come. It's God's kingdom come in your life. It's God's kingdom come in your family. It's God's kingdom come in this church.

It's God's kingdom come in our city, our state, our nation, and for all the nations of the world. Now, if if this is really the solution, why doesn't everyone accept it? Well, there are only two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of God, and there's the kingdom of this earth. That is the kingdom of the enemy. We can call it many different ways. The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of Babylon. There's only two kingdoms. And when I refer to the kingdom of God, what I'm simply saying is Jesus is king and it's allowing his way to rule in your life. You want God's ways in your life, not the ways of this world. So the reason this world doesn't want the solution is this world thinks that they can operate under the understanding of God's ways, his rule, his uh they don't want they don't want God's authority or his way in their lives. Jesus teaches us

that he is the one that binds up the brokenhearted. He He is the one that sets the captives free. He is the one that heals the sick. He is the light in the darkness. And today I want you to see that with his kingdom. Even if you can't see it, even if you can't feel it, even if you can't understand it, this is God's solution for your life. And the title of today's sermon comes from the text in ma Mark Mark chapter 4. If you got a Bible, you can turn to Mark chapter 4. The title of today's sermon is the kingdom is growing. The kingdom is growing. I need you to understand this because even if you can't see it right now, it is the truth. Whether you can see it or not, the kingdom is growing. Say that with me. The kingdom is growing. This is

important that you understand because God wants you to understand his kingdom in your life. Let's dive into the text today. We find ourselves in Mark 4:es 26-34. Jesus is teaching parables. These are fictional stories with the great big truth. He's comparing the things of this earth to the kingdom of heaven so that we understand who he is. I'm going to read you the text and then we'll break down the application. If you're able to, would you stand for the reading of God's word? Mark 4:es 26-34 Jesus is speaking and he said the kingdom of God as is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day and the seed sprouts and grows. He knows not how the earth produces by itself. First the blade, then the ear, then the full grain

in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts a sickle because the harvest has come. And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God? Or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is the smallest of the seeds on earth. Yet when it is sewn, it grows up and becomes larger than all the other garden plants and puts out large branches so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." With many such parables, he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples, he explained everything. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. I want to start with the end in mind that Jesus used parables so that we would understand who he is. Now, I want

you to see what the text also says is God loves you so much. He wants to spend time with you privately. The reason we elevate the word of God is that when you get into this book, you get to know God. You're not just meant to receive this on Sundays, but when you get into this book on Mondays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays, it's not just meant to be information in your head. It's meant to transfer from your head to your heart. How does that happen? You ask God to speak to you privately. Ask God to reveal to you, give you wisdom, revelation on his word. And I'll tell you, God is so faithful. He will do it. The more you read the Bible and the more you pray and ask God to speak to you, he will do just that. Let's dive into the text. Mark 4 26. We start with Jesus teaching this parable and he says, "The kingdom of God is as if." Let's

start with the reality that God loves you so much he wants you to understand the kingdom. This is the first message he preached. Repent, which means turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then he continued to preach about parables so that we would understand the kingdom. I need you to understand this because God does not want you to be ignorant of these things. He does not want you to overlook these things. He wants you to not only know about the kingdom, but experience and encounter the kingdom. And I love that God is so kind that when he teaches these stories, he doesn't say it in such such abstract ways that we have to take a college course to understand it. He doesn't use academic language that the normal listener wouldn't understand.

Instead, in this particular story, he uses an illustration of a farmer, a man who should scatter seed on the ground. This is something all of us can understand. For those of us that went to public school, you might remember in elementary class going through the lesson of understanding a seed germinating and turning into something where the teacher hands out a cup to all the kids and then they put soil in the cup and then you take your finger and dig a little hole. Then you put the seed in that hole and you cover it up and you put some water in it and you might put it on the window seal. Anybody do something like that in elementary school? Look at how many of us I don't know if the homeschoolers do that as well. You might actually go out to your own gardens.

Mom and dad say, "Pull those weeds up first and then dig some holes." But listen, listen. This is something so simple that we learn it in elementary school. And Jesus says, "I need you to understand the kingdom in such a way that it's like this that even kids in school are understanding these things. And I need you to understand the kingdom because the kingdom is growing. It's like a seed that goes in and you might not see it right away. You plant that seed, you water it, you put on the window seal, and every few minutes you come back to see if anything changed. You come back after recess and you look and it's still the same. You look at the cup one more time before you go home and nothing has happened. You come back the next day and nothing's happened. You come back a few days later and all the other kids are excited because something sprouted up except for yours.

That happened to anybody else? And you you wonder to yourself, "What did I do wrong? What's wrong with my seed?" Only to find out a few days later that your sprouts up as well. Sometimes the kingdom works quietly, even gradually. But just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not happening. Jesus likens it to to a farmer that scatters seed. And it's kind of mysterious in the sense that there are times that we don't even know what God's doing, but God is doing it. It might just be happening underground. He He says he sleeps and rises night and day. And just because he's sleeping and just because he's going about his business doesn't mean that God's not working. Because that seed will no longer be a seed. But it sprouts and it grows. But he knows not how. I love that Jesus

likens the kingdom to this because the farmer when he scatters the seed, he's not stressed out. He's not panicking. The farmer has trusted the process that has happened before and he knows it's going to happen again. We can look back in history and we've witnessed God work many times. We can look back in history and see God does work through difficult days. We can look back in history and say when it looks like it's over, sometimes God's just getting started. We can trust the process that God is still God. He's always in control. We may not know it. We may not see it. We may not even feel it, but we can believe it. Our process in the kingdom is not to force the transformation. It's up to us to be obedient. It's God that brings the outcome. It's God that makes it work.

There are times, to be honest, I don't know when or how or what God's going to do, but he's always going to do it. That's why we trust the promises of God's word that we know that when we keep loving him, he will work it together for good. This is for his purpose. But we've also got to recognize there are two conflicting kingdoms. There's the kingdom of God and there's the kingdom of earth. And the kingdom of earth loves to expedite things. We love the quick process. We love the quick fix. We like the instant gratification. We like to get our coffee through the drive-thru. We like the microwave life. We like our information right now. Means massive headlines. If there's a cell phone outage, what do we do? Can't get a hold of you instantly. I can't get what I want instantly. It's not like that in God's kingdom. It's not

about you. It's about God's ways. It's about God's ways, understanding he's going to make a way. And I don't know about you, but I know for me personally, I've tried the kingdom of this world. I've tried the quick fix. I've tried to get what I want. I've tried the instant gratification. I've tried the I'm not happy with the way things are, so I'll just make it happen. I've tried to cut the corners only to find out that I don't want the kingdom of this world. I want the kingdom of God because every time I experience the kingdom of God, I realize God is always good. God is always right. God is for us. So, who could be against us? But we've got to recognize the tension of the two kingdoms. And you can't force in your life what God alone

is forming. And sometimes when God is forming it in your life, you can't see it. It's still buried underground. Earlier Jesus likened the seed to the word of the kingdom. That is the word of God. There are two words in the scriptures. There's the written word which we have in the Bible that God has shown us who he is through this word. He's shown us the ways that we should live our lives through this word. That's the written word. And then there's the living word. The living word is Jesus. It's God himself. John describes Jesus as the word. In the beginning was the word. And when you have the living word with the written word and it's implanted inside of you, it might start one way, but when you have the word, it changes

everything. The way that God says it through the prophet Isaiah is, "So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth." When God's word goes out, the Lord says, "It shall not return to me empty." When God's word goes out, God has a purpose and a plan for that seed. and it shall accomplish that which I purposed, God says, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent. God's word does not return void. I was talking to someone earlier in the first service and they told me that they invited friends to Easter last weekend. They said, "Well, they came, but we may not see them until next Easter." And I said, "That's okay because the word went out and at just the right

time, God's going to do what God's going to do. It might might be a tragedy. It might be in the car. At some point, the word of God will will germinate inside of our hearts. And you realize that I actually need God's ways. I need what he has to say. So when God's word goes out, we may not see it. We may not know what it's doing, but God says it will not return empty. God's doing something. We live in a world today where we're genetically modifying our seeds. We're genetically modifying our seeds so that they grow quicker. We're genetically modifying our seeds so that the produce, the what comes out of the seed will be the most beautiful vegetable or fruit that you can imagine. But it's not natural. It's not organic.

And so many times we do that with our own faith. We try to genetically modify our faith. If we just do this formula, then God will do what we want him to do. We can package our faith right and it will look more beautiful. But let me just tell you, sometimes the kingdom of God is messy. Sometimes it's difficult. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's slow. Sometimes you got to realize the kingdom, the way up is to go down first. Jesus said, "It's the last that will be first." He said, "You got to be more like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven." Jesus said, "As as I've washed the feet, I want you to wash the feet. I need you to get down in the dirt." The kingdom is not always this neat nice package where we get to genetically modify it and say, "I'll take this and I'll take that." Because that's not the real kingdom.

The real kingdom is the fullness of God's word at work in our lives. I'm going to trust Jesus. I'm going to say he's supreme overall no matter what I'm going through, even if I don't understand it. Some of us are like the farmer where we hear the word of God. We we hear the seeds, but we're still stressed out. We're still wondering when is that provision going to come? When is that thing going to happen? What's going to happen? But let me just tell you, you can't force transformation. You can't force salvation. You can't force somebody to be saved. You can't force somebody else's life to be transformed. You can't force that breakthrough that God's been working on for several years. But here's what you can do. the seed. You can be faithful to God's word. You're you're not the one that grows the seed.

You get to be a part of the kingdom, but it's God that does the work. When Paul had started a church called Corenth, he writes a letter to them. He was their pastor. He was their preacher. And then he went off and started other churches. And another pastor named Apollos came in and he took over for Paul. And there was confusion about who was the better pastor, who's the better preacher, who was more talented. And and Paul just gets down to it and he says this. He says, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth." It's only God who gives growth. That's why I love when I get to preach God's word, someone will tell me, "It's as if that message was for me, pastor." It's like, "You know what I'm going through. Oh, that message was for me." It's like, "You know what I'm going through. I don't know any of those things, but the Holy Spirit, God does. And his word is

speaking to you today. And so, I'm not the one that does the work. God's actually telling you, "I see you. I know you. I love you. I'm not finished with you. I've got a great plan for you." So, we've got to understand that God is doing more work than we fully see. He's doing more work than we fully understand. So, if I don't see the completion of what God's planted in my life, it doesn't make me give up on God. If you're praying for your family and you don't see it yet, keep praying for your family. If you're praying for that breakthrough and you don't have it yet, keep praying for that breakthrough. I know it may feel like a long time for you, but it's not a long time for God. He's always on time. He's never late. You're going to keep loving like Jesus. He never said

it's going to be easy. In fact, he flipped it upside down and said, "I need you to love your enemies. I need you to pray for those who persecute you. I don't need you to live out the kingdom of this world. I need you to live out my kingdom of love like Jesus. And today I'm believing over your life, God's kingdom come. Because the kingdom is growing. I'm believing that in your life that you wouldn't stay where you are, that God would take you to the place he wants you to be. The kingdom is growing. I pray that over your family. Don't ever get apathetic to the reality in where you are. God can turn anything around at any time. He He's a redemptive God. He takes the dead and brings them to life. I'm believing that over this region. When we say central Oregon shall be saved, let

me just tell you, this is not hype. This is the belief that God knows what he's doing. And sometimes the kingdom is gradual. And when we sew into the kingdom and we keep praying and we keep watering at just the right time, we're going to see some growth. See, the the Lord tells us it's a process. Jesus said in Mark 4:28, "First comes the blade." That's the aha like, "Wow, I can't believe this just happened." And then comes the ear and then the full grain. In a world where we want instant results, God tells us it's a process. It's a journey. It's not a destination. We've got to recognize that God works in stages. Let's look at these three stages briefly. The blade is the beginning. Oftentimes, beginnings start small. You come into the world small and then you keep growing. So, it is with many principles of life. If you're is given

an abundance of wealth. You don't know what it's like to be poor. You don't understand the blessing and the hard work that comes with it. But but but the small beginnings sometimes are the way that God's designed us so that we can understand his kingdom. The the small blade is a small beginning. That's going to church when you haven't been going to church. It's saying yes to Jesus for the first time. And although you may not be completely changed, you might feel the same when you leave here, it's a small beginning. And that blade is important because you you just broke through. You're no longer a seed. You don't want to go back to who you used to be. In the wisdom of Proverbs, it says it's like a dog returning to his vomit. Don't don't go back to the dirt. You've broken through. So the small blade equals the small beginnings. Then then Jesus says,

"Next comes the ear." That's the visible progress. We would use spiritual terms. That's the fruit. There's something changing in you. People start telling you, "You're not the same person. you used to be. You don't go where you used to go. You don't say what you used to say. You don't do do the things you used to do. That that's the visible progress. Somebody sees something different in you. But don't don't stay stuck there with the with the visible progress with the fruit of your life because God wants you to continue to grow into the full grain, which is maturity. and and we we see that there's a strategic process here. That life is never about a destination where you just arrive and you've got it all figured out. We recognize that God always starts with small beginnings so that we can grow into maturity. I like how the

prophet Zechariah says in the New Living Translation, "Do not despise small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin." So don't don't despise your your blade season where it just feels like just something little happened in your life. No, God's doing more than you can see. In fact, I would dare to say that if God told you what he's going to do, you'd be freaking out. So, sometimes he lets us go in slow and mature stages so that you can see who he is and grow into that. Some of you might be discouraged right now because your prayer life isn't where you want it or your spiritual life isn't where you want it. Some of you just feel buried by the burdens of this world right now. Let me just tell you, the season you're in is where God wants you to be. You can trust the process. Don't

give up. Don't quit. The Bible reminds us in Philippians 1:6 that I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. If God started it, he'll finish it. And he started it. Sometimes you got to preach to yourself, God, you started this, so I need you to finish it. You're not stuck where you are. God might be doing more than meets the eye in your life so that you'll mature to a different level. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says you're being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. From this comes from the Lord who is the spirit. What that means is as you grow in your faith, you get to know God greater. When you're the small blade, you realize God made you and he loves you and you're amazed at it. But the more you get to know God, you

continue to grow in that love. You continue to grow in the understanding that he made you as his workmanship with good works prepared in advance for you. And you continue to go from glory to glory. See, I've experienced this in more than 30 years of being a believer in Jesus. I keep feeling like I'm getting born again and again and again. I'm like, "Wow, I didn't know God loved me that much." When I read the Bible, I'm like, "Wow, I've read this a hundred times and now I understand it new or fresh revelation or with more maturity. Wow." And you keep going from glory to glory. And you don't settle until you're with God in glory. You keep maturing. You keep understanding that while you're here, God has a plan for you. Because there is a time coming where you will

see God face to face. And he is a real judge. And whenever Jesus tells these stories, he's honest with us. He doesn't want to scare us, but he does want to prepare us. A judgment is coming. The kingdom is growing, but there is a moment when we've got to understand that God is going to come reap the harvest. Verse 29, when the grain is ripe, but once he puts in the sickle, a sickle in the Bible is always reflective of judgment. When when you're cut off, the time is up because the harvest has come. This is where we learned in one of Jesus parables of the wheat and the weeds. They grow together. But God doesn't pull out the weeds because it might also pull up the wheat. That right now we are in the world and we are with people that

might look like Christians, but they're not Christians. We We might be in the world with people who who are living far from God. But God wants you to be faithful. He wants you to trust in him. He wants you you to obey in his word. God is so patient with you. He wants you to know that there is a time where you're going to face him. There there's a time that he is coming again. He's promised his second coming is soon. We are closer today to Jesus second coming than we were yesterday. And and he always fulfills what he promises. And we should have an urgency, an expectation. Jesus is coming. I want to be ready. I want to be thinking about and doing the things that God wants me to do. And if Jesus doesn't come, you're going to die.

Could be a car accident. It could be cancer. We know not the nor the day. But we do know that all of us are going to die and you shouldn't wait for another day or a better day to be right with God. Joel the prophet, he warned in a similar illustration. He said, "Put in the sickle. Here comes the judgment. For the harvest is ripe. Go in tread for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for the evil is great." We could be living in a world of this kingdom where evil is prevailing, where evil is all around us, where wickedness and evil is everywhere. And that doesn't mean you have to compromise and give into it. This is your opportunity to seek first the kingdom of God. This is your opportunity to go for God's grace, which is a free gift. God's grace is the

ability for God to do in you what you could never do on your own. It's the power of God at work within you. And that window of grace is open today. But one day Jesus says it will shut. One day God will ask, "What did you do with what I gave you?" I'm here to ask you, don't give into the world. Don't go after the kingdom of this world. Don't give up seeking first the kingdom of God. Galatians 6:9, there's an encouragement to the church. Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. What you do right now will determine what happens later. If you're sewing seeds, there will be a harvest. If you're watering, there will be a harvest. The kingdom is growing.

Jesus says something shocking about this. He's likening a sewer with seeds and it grows and it's mysterious and it starts slow, but then eventually there's a harvest. Then he says this. He says it grows exponentially. This is the shocking part. Look at verse 30 through 32. He said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God or what parable shall we use for it?" Let's just pause right there for a moment. Of all the seeds, he could have said, he could have said, "It's like the cedars of Lebanon, which were towering trees in Jesus day. They were used biblically to be strong and fortified. It was what they used to build big palaces." But Jesus didn't say the kingdom is like a a a tower or cedar of Lebanon. He didn't say it's like the sequoia tree or the redwood tree. Jesus says in verse 31, he says, "What can we compare it to? It's like a grain of

mustard seed, which when sewn on the ground is the smallest of the seeds on earth. Yet when it is sewn, it grows up and becomes larger than all the other garden plants and puts out large branches so that the birds of the air can make nests in it shade." Jesus likens the kingdom of God to something so small, something that seems so insignificant. I've got here a packet of mustard seeds. Our friend Joanne puts these in the child dedication basket that we give to parents when we dedicate a child. And inside here, I'm going to pull out one of these so you can see, is an actual mustard seed. Do you see this?

It's there. It might seem insignificant to you. It's It's actually there. I've got here an actual mustard seed, and it's it's actually the mustard seed that Jesus would have compared the kingdom to. It's it's black. It's not a yellow mustard seed like we see in our world today. It it might seem insignificant. It might be something that's e easily overlooked. In fact, the kingdom of this world has overlooked the kingdom of God because it doesn't come in the way you would expect. The kingdom of this world would expect that if you're going to rule and you're going to reign and you're going to be great, then you're going to force people to do it. You're going to show your power. And yet, what does God Almighty do? The one that created heaven and earth, he comes humbly. He comes as a servant. He

demonstrates what love really is. He gives his life instead of taking life. The kingdom might seem small. It might seem insignificant. It might be easily overlooked. But Jesus says, "Be not mistaken. It's massive and it multiplies." And what God starts, it might be small. And there is a seed right here. It might start small, but God always makes it big. It's gone. Now, I believe God demonstrated this illustration to show us that God is God and you are not. He's the one that makes it happen. He's the one that works it. Let's just look at this illustration. A seed when planted, when the seed goes into the ground, it goes into the dirt.

It no longer stays a seed. Imagine you have a a seed of a tree. It goes in as an acorn and it comes out as a tree. This is the principle of the kingdom. God's word goes into your heart one way. You were dead, but once you've received the word, you now come alive. The fullness of this demonstration is Jesus Christ himself. God gave dominion over all the garden to Adam and Eve. God made man and woman in his image unlike any other creature and said, "I I I give you authority and dominion over all these things." And what did Adam and Eve do? Adam sinned. He rebelled against God. And yet in Genesis 3:15, God says, "I'm making a promise.

I'm going to bring a seed out of a woman." Do you know that you started as a seed? Come on, somebody. That's the birds and the bees. You started as a seed. And God says, "I will use a seed of a woman as the solution to sin, your rebellion." And so God steps into this world, born of a virgin. And then what does God do in the flesh, fully man, he goes to the cross, he who was without sin, that did not deserve death, he died. The seed was buried. Now you study the scriptures. Jesus is called the seed of Abraham. Abraham's the father of our faith. Actually, Jesus is the faith Abraham put his faith in. Jesus is called the

the seed of David, the son of David. He He's the greater king. He is the seed. And when he was buried in that tomb, that seed went in, but on the third day, it rose from the grave. There's life. And then God's plan of all his plan to change the world, here's what God says. I'm not going to start with a massive army. I'm going to start with a few disciples, ordinary men. And now we have a global movement today from such a small group of ordinary guys. This is the seed. Now I I need us to understand h how this how this works because the mustard Jesus is talking about is not the same mustard we have in America, in Israel, in the Middle East, even today as it was 2,000 years ago. This mustard is called a black mustard. That's the

name for it because the seeds are actually black. They're these tiny little black seeds, but when they grow, they look a lot like our mustard. They actually are beautiful yellow flower. Let me see a picture of the the yellow uh flower that comes from the black mustard. This is the the mustard, the black mustard in the Middle East. It's a beautiful flower. Now, let me just keep this image up there for a moment so that you would understand. When Jesus said this, he knew that his hearers would be very familiar with this because this black mustard was everywhere in Israel. And this is what we know of black mustard. You can Google this and you can find this out for yourself. Black mustard is known for this. It's known to spread rapidly and wildly. It produces a lot of seeds that scatter easily because in each pod that's on the mustard seed plant, it has many seeds

inside the pod. So when one pod falls, it actually scatters and starts other mustard seed plants. It's difficult to fully remove once established. Farmers often did not see it as a plant. Even though you can make mustard out of it, like we have today on a good hot dog or a pull of sausage. Come on, somebody. You can use it for good sources, but they didn't see it as something good. It was more like a weed because once it takes over, you could not control it. And Jesus says that's the kingdom. The kingdom starts small, but it's invasive. And once it starts, it can't be stopped. It can't be controlled.

You see, if we were to use an illustration in our day, anybody that's ever done some yard work in our day, it would be as if Jesus was telling a parable. It's like a man who went and scattered dandelion seeds all over his yard. You got to understand, for Jesus original listeners, they'd be like, "What? Nobody plants mustard seed in their garden. because it spreads. And I don't know about you, but if you've ever had a yard, you know that dandelions, they start with one or two. And you don't really think much of it until it rains and then you realize it goes from one or two and it multiplies and then it grows. And when it dies, it becomes this beautiful little flower-like thing that kids love to pick up and they they grab it and then they blow it. And if you're ever the dad that takes care of the yard, you say, "No." Because every single one of those now is a seed.

And what looked like a beautiful little flower is now going to sprout more dandelions. And Jesus says, "I need you to understand that the kingdom is like that. It might start small, but when someone grasps it and a little child blows into the kingdom and actually takes God at his word and says, "Yes, I believe in Jesus. Yes, I believe in prayer. I'm going to pray for my parents. I'm going to pray for my school. Once once the kingdom goes out, it cannot be controlled. And so we see it multiplies. It transforms. Imagine a here in Jesus day in the Middle East. They would have land and they would prepare it. They would have to toil the soil, get rid of the rocks and the weeds. Imagine a man, he gets ready for planting his seeds, but he hasn't done it yet because a holy festival is coming, which is a really serious act

for the Jews. They would travel to Jerusalem. And imagine he gets that farmland ready. Let me just show you an illustration. Uh right here on the left, there's going to be land that is barren. And he has the barren land, but then he travels a week to Jerusalem. It takes him a week to get there, and then he spends a week in Jerusalem, and then it takes him a week to get home. And what was barren land that he was getting ready to sew seeds in for his harvest, he comes back and on the right, what does he find? Mustard has taken over. All it's taken was a few weeks. And so I say to you, when you have the kingdom in your life and someone doesn't see you, after a while they come back and see you, there be should be something that's changed.

If you're still the same person you were last year, you want to examine your heart. Lord, have I have I let you come into my life. Jesus used the mustard seed in one particular area. In Matthew 17, he likens mustard seed to faith. He says, "If you have faith like a grain of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move." And nothing, and I quote Jesus here, nothing, absolutely nothing will be impossible for you. Not because of you, but because of your faith. Jesus teaches us that every one of us will have insurmountable things in our lives. There will be something you can't move on your own. There will be some mountain that you can't get over, you can't get around, and you're going to go to God

and say, "Why is this here?" And Jesus says, "Don't worry. Your God is greater than what's in front of you. And you're going to need God's help. And according to the book of Hebrewsap 11:6, without faith, you can't please God. God's not happier with better behavior or you working harder. God's happy when your heart trusts in him. And the book of Hebrews chap 11 says that every hero in the Bible did what they did not because they were smart or better or even moral, but it was by faith. We read Abraham by faith went to a land that he was called to. By faith, Noah built an ark even though it had never rained before. By faith, Moses led the people of Israel. All of these people are ordinary people, but they had something inside of them that spread. They had something inside of them that they did they did greater

than they can do on their own. They had something inside of them like when the Israelites came up against the Red Sea, they were able to walk on dry land. which tells me no matter what you go through in your life, here's what God wants you to use. Your mustard seed called faith. So my friends, if you get married, you ought to be married by faith. You have children, let me just tell you, you should raise them by faith. You want to buy a business or buy a building or buy a house. You ought to do it by faith. Some of you are going through a storm right now, and God's not asking you to survive the storm. He wants you to thrive in the storm. And here's how. by faith. I'll tell you today, God's given you all authority that when you believe in him, what Jesus did, you could do. And when someone's sick, you don't have to stress

out. You don't have to worry. You're to heal the sick. How? By faith. We're going to build the kingdom of God in the city of Ben. We're going to see revival in our generation. There will be a great awakening. And we're going to see Central Oregon saved. And it will happen by faith. Because faith doesn't stay the same size. The more I exercise my faith, the more I understand that God is faithful to do what he promised to do. He's done it before and he'll do it again. And if I don't see it, I might just be in the dirt getting ready to press through the breakthrough. So, I'm not going to stop praying. I'm not going to stop getting into God's word. I'm not going to stop obeying him. I want what God wants in my life because that's kingdom. And my kingdom is a representation of growing, of multiplying. I can't keep it to myself. And when I've got something insurmountable in front of me, I'm going

to declare to it to move in the name of Jesus. Because if he defeated death, he could do anything. You've got financial debt, quit making the same mistakes. You say, "Debt, move in the name of Jesus Christ." Honor God with your finances. You got depression, you're not alone. Depression is rampant in our generation. And the government would say, "Then go afterarmacies." And I'm not saying drugs are always bad or doctors are bad or counselors are bad. But have you tried Jesus? Say depression move in the name of Jesus Christ. And by the way, kingdom is not a one time one-time process. You got to wake up every day and say depression move today. You got to say today in the name of Jesus Christ, I am a child of God. Today I hold on to the promises of God. Today I invite Jesus into every He's the king over my life.

Depression doesn't rule over me. Jesus rules over me. When darkness slips into your life, you know what the enemy is? The enemy is an accuser. He's going to come back and tell you what you used to do. He's going to come back and tell you what what was done to you a long time ago. He's going to come back and remind you of what what what happened long ago. But I'm here to tell you, the enemy is a liar. You tell that darkness to flee and you move that mountain of darkness in the name of Jesus. You do it over your house. You do it over your family. You do it over your life. I'm telling you, do it over this region. Listen, if this room right here when driving down Third Street would pray just a little more by faith, this city would change. When you see every pot shop and you just prayed for God's will to be done, we're going to see some change. When you see Star Strip Club, don't just see Star Script Club. You pray for every one of those young girls that is a daughter of God.

You pray for every man that's confused that thinks somehow he got to look at some other woman besides his wife. You should pray by faith. I'm not talking about condemnation. I'm no better than any other person. But what I'm saying is there could be a third street revival if we would just bring God's kingdom come in our lives. If we start praying a little more, we start believing a little more. Listen, I deeply desire. Sometimes I just feel like I'm going to explode. I deeply desire revival, but it can't come from a hype on a Sunday. It has to happen when you take God at his word. When you you if Jesus said it in Matthew 17, go back and read the whole chapter. If he said it, you either believe him or you don't. You can't have a genetically modified Christianity, which is, by the way, what the American church has done.

I've done it. That's what I actually like about what happened with the lights today. Sometimes we need things not to work to realize it's not about things working that makes God who he is. Sometimes in our worst, that's when he does his best. Jesus invites us to pray. And I'm going to bring this to a close here. He he invites us to pray. He says you can pray and you make it personal when you pray. He says you start off with this. Our father who is in heaven. Our everyone say our. Our listen my father in heaven can be your father in heaven. This is not exclusive to going to the right church or being born into the right family. Our father loves you so much. He made you and he's been drawing you to who he is your entire life. And I know there's been distractions. I know there's things that have happened that shouldn't have happened, things that are

not the way they're supposed to be. But our father, he is in heaven and and he's got a name above all names. Hallowed be his name. And Jesus said, you pray this prayer. Matthew 6:10, he says, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He taught you to pray this not sometimes, not just to repeat prayers, but you can make this personal. I want your kingdom in my life, Lord. I want your kingdom in my family, Lord. I I want your kingdom in this church, Lord. I want your kingdom come and your will to be done. Just like it is in heaven. You know what heaven's like? It's awesome. No sickness, no sorrow, no drama, no gossip, no war. Come on, somebody. It's so good.

In heaven, gas prices are free. There's no there's no potholes that the city hasn't fixed. The infrastructure is perfect. No roundabouts in heaven. Come on, somebody. Let's go. Everything there's there's room for you in heaven. There's room for you. This is a multiplying movement of God. It's yours if you want it. And if you feel outside of this right now and you think, "Well, I don't have it, but I want it." The Bible doesn't say, "Go get your life right first before you have the kingdom." No. The Bible says you need to believe in Jesus because he's the king. The center of this whole story is the seed. The center of the kingdom is Jesus because he's the king. And he came and fulfilled what needed to be done.

He humbly gave his life. He was the seed that was buried. And his kingdom did not come with a great big army. He had no earthly throne. He didn't need any of those things because it doesn't stop him from being the king of all kings. And today he invites you to the kingdom. So what do you get in the kingdom? Everything. You get God's ways. You get his righteousness in exchange for your sin. You get his peace in exchange for the chaos that you go through in this world. Praise be to God. You get the fullness of his joy. That your joy is not contingent upon what you're experiencing, but on whom you put your faith in. Oh, the kingdom changes everything. If you on it today.

It's yours. I want you to leave saved. All you do is believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is who he is. He is the Lord. He is your savior. And if you can say that, God gives you himself. The Holy Spirit is a free gift. God empowers you to never keep living life on your own. Trust in God. And the more you trust in him, the more you get to see him work. He He equips you with gifts that you couldn't you couldn't do on your own, but he's going to give you things in your life. You're going to see that everything is his. Praise God. If you would just close your eyes, I'm going to just ask in the seriousness of this moment. If you want Jesus today, maybe you've never done this before. Maybe you've even attended church before, but you don't want to just be religious. You You want Jesus.

If you want to receive the kingdom in your heart today and you want to be forever changed, I'm just going to ask for you to make a bold move and just raise your hand nice and high as you say, "Yes, that's me." Praise God. Praise God all over. Praise God. You just keep your hands up. I want to just tell you something for just a moment. The Bible says to all who did receive Jesus as King and you believe in Jesus as Lord, he gave the right to become children of God. So I say to all of you with your hands raised all over right now, you are a child of God. You can believe that you're no longer a seed. You've broken forth out of the kingdom of this world and you've now stepped into the kingdom of heaven. The Bible says that he's called you out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of the beloved son of God. That is the kingdom of light.

He doesn't make your life better. He gives you new life. He gives you eternal life. That's yours today. That's yours. When you leave here today, leave your life of sin. You're forgiven. Don't go back to your old ways. You're born again today. That's who you are. Don't look at what you used to look at. Don't say what you used to say. Don't go where you used to go. It's time for you to start acting like a child of the kingdom of God. I want to pray with all of you that raised your hands and I'm so proud of you. If there's anyone else that hasn't raised their hands that wants to, this is this is your moment. Don't wait. You know, not if you have tomorrow. Surrender your life to Jesus today. Is there anyone else? I don't want to miss this. Praise God. Praise God.

You can put your hands down. I'm going to ask you to join with me in prayer. I'm going to just say some simple phrases. Prayer is talking to God is listening to God. And if you've believed in Jesus, you can pray anywhere at any time. God hears you. He answers your prayers. Be faithful. If it hasn't happened yet, keep coming to God in prayer. Don't give up on God. He hasn't given up on you. So today, anyone that's ever believed in Jesus, let's join with those for the first time and say, "Lord Jesus, I believe in you. Forgive me of my sin. Be my Lord and be my savior. You are my king. I believe you died for me and rose again. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. I choose your kingdom

in Jesus name today." Amen. And amen and amen. Praise be God. Amen.