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Thank you for listening to this message from Life House Church.

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Good morning, good morning, good morning.

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Turn to somebody beside you, give them a high five, tell them Merry Christmas or you can

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give them a fist bump or an elbow bump.

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I heard that's the thing today.

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Just tell them, hello, Merry Christmas.

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Merry Christmas to West Shore, East Shore, our online group.

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We got folks listening all over the place and it's good to be with you.

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It is December.

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It is Christmas time.

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It is the month that we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, His entry into this earth,

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right?

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God with us, Emmanuel, the message of Jesus.

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You know, Jesus came to complete the plan of God for all of mankind.

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I don't know if you realize that or not, but that was the completion.

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That was the link.

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That's what reconciled us back to God and we should be filled with nothing but hope

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at this time of year because Christ showed up because He came because hope is for real,

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right?

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That's my message to you.

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Look over to the sides, look on the screen.

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Hope is for real.

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Turn to somebody, give them a high five.

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I won't do this too many times today.

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Tell them hope is for real.

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Tell them hope is for real.

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It really is.

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And listen, this hope is not an instantaneous hope.

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It's not a momentary hope.

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It's not, how many know it's not the cheesy Hallmark hope?

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Anybody watching cheesy Hallmark movies yet?

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Come on, raise your hand.

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Yeah, I know, some of you have been doing it, right?

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It's not the hyped up hope.

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It's not the, just the Christmas season hope.

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It is hope for real.

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It's hope that creates everlasting change.

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It really is everlasting life too.

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And we need this hope in the world.

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You need this hope.

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I need this hope.

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Our neighbors need this hope.

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We need the expectation of a desired godly outcome.

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We really do.

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We need to know that all is not lost, right?

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Despite what's happening around us in the world.

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We need to know that evil will not ultimately triumph.

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We need to know that.

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Every time I watch the news or every time I read the news, I don't watch a whole lot

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of it anymore.

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I do more reading than I do watching.

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I need to know that evil is not going to prevail because a lot of times it's, I feel like that's

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all it's on there is evil, right?

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We need hope in Jesus.

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And I came this morning to tell you that in December we're going to talk about hope.

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We're going to talk about how hope is for real in Jesus Christ.

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It really is.

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And we're going to start this December, this Christmas, Jesus hope in the book of Matthew.

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So if you've got your Bibles, you can turn to Matthew chapter 13.

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And if not, they're going to put it up on the screens.

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Maybe you got to look at it on your device.

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And we're going to talk about what hope for real looks like.

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And I'm going to ask you to do something.

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I challenge you to start doing something.

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Maybe you not done this in the past, but maybe think about doing this and that's take notes.

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Now, I'm not saying that because I'm preaching.

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I'm saying that because the word of God is the word of God.

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And you never know during a gathering, if God's going to speak to you, if the Holy Spirit's

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going to give you a revelation on something that said, he's going to speak something into

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your spirit.

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Sometimes people come up to me and they're like, pastor, the Holy Spirit spoke his into

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my spirit.

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I'm like, I didn't even preach on that.

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Right?

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I'm speaking to him while the while the service is going on about something completely different.

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You never know.

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And here's the thing.

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If you don't write it down, sometimes you forget.

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Anybody forget if they don't write something down.

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Yeah, most of you.

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Right?

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We forget.

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Sometimes you forget the details.

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So take notes.

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I see some of you do it, but just get ready because God might speak something in your

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spirit.

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That's how the word of God is.

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It's not me.

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It's the word of God.

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Matthew chapter 13 lets us know some of the hidden hope in Jesus.

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It is hidden in the parables.

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Jesus many times spoke in parables.

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He told stories.

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Jesus told parables to believers and it was this secret messages kind of threaded in those

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parables that he spoke.

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He stories the word of God says it was actually mysteries that are from the foundation of

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the earth were wrapped up in these parables.

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And I kind of call it this morning.

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I call it the hope code and a lot of the parables there's hope code and it is so vital because

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it answers questions that will drain us of hope if they go unanswered.

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Do you know that some questions you ask will drain you of hope if they go unanswered long

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enough?

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Sometimes if we can't get our questions answered and that question plagues us long enough, hope

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begins to fade.

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Whatever it is.

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Right?

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So if we ask a question and young people do this all the time, right?

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They get a boyfriend or they get a girlfriend, you know, and they're like, do they love me

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or do they like me a lot?

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I don't know which one of those.

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Right?

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And if they don't get an answer to that over a long enough period of time, hope begins

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to fade that that might be the case.

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Right?

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Will life ever get better?

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People I've heard people say that will life ever get better?

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Will whatever change?

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And if you don't get some kind of answer to that, hope begins to fade.

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If I ask the question, is my wife going to make my favorite chocolate chip cookies after

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supper if I ask her that question and she doesn't answer me, my hope fades.

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Okay.

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It fades away.

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Proverbs 13 12 says this hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled as

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a tree of life.

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Jesus answers questions in his parables and it gives us hope and he does not leave us

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heart sick.

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He does not leave us hanging on the hook in the parables for believers.

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He reveals the secrets that have been kept literally from the foundations of the earth

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and it's so that your heart doesn't get sick.

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He said it this way in Matthew 13 34, all these things, Jesus spoke to the multitude

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in parables and without a parable, he did not speak to them that it might be fulfilled,

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which was spoken by the prophet saying, I will open my mouth in parables.

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I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.

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The parables give us answers to the questions that make my hope rise.

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It brings hope to us and we might not love every answer.

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I can tell you that right now.

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You're going to find answers sometime in scripture.

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You're not going to love the answer, but at least you have the answer.

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How many know you can go forward if you have the answer, right?

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If you get sick and you get the diagnosis, at least you know what it is.

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At least you know how to go forward in things.

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If you don't know, you start to lose hope, right?

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Jesus wants to give us the answers.

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He wants to tell us and if you get the answer, you can deal, right?

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No cookies today.

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Which would be my next question would be how about brownies?

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Hope for real.

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So let's go to the code.

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Matthew chapter 13 verse 31 says this, another parable he put forth to them saying the kingdom

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of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed

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is the least of all the seeds.

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But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree so that the birds

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of the air come and nest in its branches.

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Jesus tells a parable in 31 and says the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.

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Before we dive into the discussion of the mustard seed, because that's the main subject

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right of this story, we need to clarify something about the kingdom of heaven because in the

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parables that I'm going to give you today, there's two parables, we're going to talk

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about the kingdom of heaven and we're going to talk about the kingdom of God.

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And you might say to yourself, well, I'm not really in the kingdom of heaven right now,

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right?

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I'm not in the kingdom of God right now.

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That's a one day thing.

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Someday when I die, I'm going to go to be with God.

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You know, if I know Jesus is Lord and Savior, I'm going to be there and I'm going to understand

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the kingdom of God.

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I'll read about it a little bit in scripture, but I'm not really there.

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You might say that to yourself, like I'm living in the kingdom of man right now.

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I'm living in the kingdom of the flesh, right?

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What does that really have to do with me?

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Well, I'm going to say not so fast because if you look in Luke 17 20 says this, now when

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he, Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered

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them and said, the kingdom of God does not come with observation, nor will they say,

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see here or see there for indeed the kingdom of God is within you.

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Say that right now.

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The kingdom of God is within me.

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The kingdom of God is within me.

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If you know Lord is Savior, Jesus is Lord and Savior, the kingdom of God is within you.

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And when Jesus is talking kingdom, he's not just talking about the someday place.

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That is the thing, right?

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One day we're going to go be with him, but he's also talking about what's inside of us.

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He's talking about what we carry in him.

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And right now it's completely relevant for here and now.

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So when we read these parables, when we get into these scriptures, it's here now.

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So when Jesus talks kingdom, he's talking about the intersection between heaven and

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earth.

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He's talking about the intersection between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man.

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He's talking about these kingdoms colliding together and always being interconnected.

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And how many know that Jesus is Lord of both, right?

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He's Lord, he's King of kings, Lord of lords.

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Amen.

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That's true.

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It's true.

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He's in control.

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So Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like this.

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It's a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in a field, which indeed is the least of all

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the seeds.

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But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree so that the birds

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of the air come and nest in its branches.

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In his kingdom, we are mustard seed.

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Right?

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We're mustard seed that's planted in this world, in the field of this world.

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It is the smallest of seeds.

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Now they're going to put a picture up there.

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You all take a look at that picture.

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I may know that's a tiny seed, right?

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That's your index finger.

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That's a mustard seed.

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That's the size of a mustard seed.

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And it's the smallest of seeds, but it is an herb and it grows greater than all the

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other herbs.

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When that mustard seed grows, a lot of times they literally call it a tree.

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It'll turn into a mustard tree.

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And what is the mystery?

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What is the hope for real in this parable?

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That the kingdom of God in me, as I am planted in this world, can become something great.

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It's not just a little tiny herb with a little tiny seed.

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It can become something great.

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If I have the greatness in me, if I have any kind of greatness in me, it's because the

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kingdom of God is in me and it is not in this world, right?

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And as I'm in this world, this little insignificant mustard seed can become a great tree.

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And great things can happen in me and around me.

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So much so that the word of God says that the birds of the air will come and nest in

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its branches, that I can have that kind of impact on others, that this little seed in

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a large and sometimes hostile world can grow and surpass the herbs that are growing around

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me, that this little seed planted in the world can become strong.

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This little seed planted in the world can become a haven for birds to nest in.

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That those little seeds planted in this world that have the kingdom of God in them bring

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hope.

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That something great can come out of them.

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Now, let me clarify this.

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I will never be great.

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Okay?

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I'm never going to be great in me, but something great can come out of me if the kingdom of

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God is in me.

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It's God's plan.

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Is there anything great in me as this little mustard seed?

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Absolutely not.

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It is only when the kingdom of God is coming out of me that something great takes place.

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It's not the seed.

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The seed doesn't do anything great.

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It's God inside the seed.

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It's the kingdom of God inside the seed.

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It's not because the seed has anything significant.

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And it's not because maybe I have some kind of potential to grow, right?

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That self-help thing that we always talk about.

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It's the king in the seed that makes it great.

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It's the kingdom coming out of the seed.

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It's how it works in the kingdom of God.

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And why do we need to hear this message of hope?

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Because sometimes people feel so insignificant.

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Sometimes people feel so irrelevant.

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Sometimes they feel so unqualified.

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Sometimes we feel so small.

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Sometimes we feel so hopeless.

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Sometimes we feel like we've got literally nothing to offer anybody else, right?

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That we can barely grow and survive on our own.

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We're just these little herbs trying to make it through, right?

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That how in the world could I even provide branches for anybody else to sit on when I

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barely can take care of myself?

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And I'm here to tell you, it's not the seed.

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It's the kingdom of God that can do great things through the seed, through the plant.

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Some of you work so hard to achieve some kind of greatness.

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Can I tell you something?

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Take a breath.

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Do it right now.

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Just breathe in.

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Take a breath.

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You're just a mustard seed.

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It's the kingdom of God in you that does the great thing.

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It is the kingdom of God coming out of you.

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It's the kingdom that does the great and lasting thing, the eternal thing, the thing that can

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change other people's lives, the things that will bring other people to come and nest.

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It is the kingdom that is great.

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And His greatness does not resemble worldly greatness, does it?

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Worldly greatness is really all about me.

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It's about my recognition.

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It's about my fame.

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It's all about what people see in me.

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And that's not what this is.

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God says if you're going to do greatness, right?

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That's why Jesus said if you want to be great in the kingdom, you got to be servant of all.

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He said that.

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He said you got to be servant of all.

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The kingdom of God is greatness in the kingdom is when the kingdom of God works through you

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and out of you.

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And it always points back to God.

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The Lord did not plant you in this place to say this to begin and end as this little insignificant

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seed.

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He didn't die on a cross.

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Jesus didn't die on a cross raised from the grave, right?

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Ascended to heaven, said the Holy Spirit back to empower us so that you could see this insignificant

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seed under the soil, right?

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Hopefully, you know, just barely getting by.

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That's not what he did.

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Let me help you understand something about this hope.

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The kingdom of God, everything that the kingdom of God touches grows.

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Do you know that?

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Everything that the kingdom of God touches strengthens everything that the kingdom of

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God is near bears fruit.

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Everything that the kingdom of God gets close to it brings provision.

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It brings power.

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It brings God.

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And when the kingdom is inside of you, that is the greatness that can come out of you.

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Don't chase the world's greatness.

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Don't don't don't try to try to say, you know, I'm just going to keep improving my seed,

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00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:03,280
right?

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Someday I'm going to be great.

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Man, greatness is in him and what God can do in you.

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Amen.

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Mystery solved.

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00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:16,600
How do you get great?

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00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:21,080
Let the kingdom of God work through you and in you.

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How do you get to a place where other people can come and land in your branches?

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Let the kingdom of God come to you.

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Jesus unpacked these mysteries in the parable.

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Let me give you another one.

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You ready for another one this morning?

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I'm going to give you another parable.

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00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:36,560
Matthew 13, right?

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A mystery held from the foundation of the earth.

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Matthew 13 24.

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He says this another parable he put forth to them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like

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a man who sowed a seed in his field.

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But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

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But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.

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00:15:55,840 --> 00:16:01,160
So the servants of the owner came and said to him, Sir, did you not grow a good seed

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in your field?

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Then how then does it have tares?

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And he said to them, an enemy has done this.

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The servant said to him, do you want me to go and gather them up?

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But he said, no, lest while you gather up the tares, you will also uproot the wheat

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with them.

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Let both grow together until the harvest.

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And at the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, first gather together the tares

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00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:27,920
and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.

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00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:30,820
What life mystery is in this parable?

337
00:16:30,820 --> 00:16:32,760
What hope does this bring to us?

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00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:39,320
What question is answered in this parable that drives hope within us and raises hope?

339
00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:43,480
And I think the question this answers, a lot of people ask this all the time.

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00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:47,880
Why does the Lord allow evil to continue around us?

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That's the question.

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00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:51,120
Anybody ever ask you that question?

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00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:54,720
As a follower of Jesus Christ, they ever ask you, why does your God let evil continue on

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00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:56,360
the face of the earth?

345
00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:57,360
Anybody ever ask you that?

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00:16:57,360 --> 00:16:58,360
Right.

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00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:03,640
And if you ever stand beside somebody that's a shattered victim of some kind and some someone

348
00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:09,920
who suffered great tragedy at the hands of evil and you're thinking yourself, right,

349
00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:11,400
Lord, I don't understand this.

350
00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:12,520
I don't get this.

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00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:14,480
Lord, can't you stop this?

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00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:15,480
Anybody with me?

353
00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:16,480
Right.

354
00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:17,480
Maybe you're all more spiritual than I am.

355
00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:18,480
Right.

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00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:21,720
Stand beside a child that's been abused, maybe a woman who's been battered in some kind of

357
00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:22,720
way.

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00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:27,200
I remember when I was young, a friend of mine, he had just gotten married and he had a house

359
00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:30,680
and I remember standing outside his house and we were in the front yard one evening

360
00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:35,400
talking and he had a neighbor that lived nearby there and it was a young lady about our same

361
00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:40,400
age and I remember, I'll never forget this, she was walking up the street and she just

362
00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:44,560
got into the light, the street light in front of his house while him and I were talking

363
00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:48,880
and I see this young woman walking in the darkness and she's battered.

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00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:50,160
She's bruised.

365
00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:52,840
She's bleeding and we're like, what?

366
00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:54,640
And we ran down and said, what happened?

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00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:58,600
Her boyfriend got mad at her, beat her to a pulp and threw her out of the car.

368
00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:03,480
She walked home and you want her like, God, just zap him.

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00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:05,480
Get him, Jesus.

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Take him down.

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00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:10,240
Do whatever you got to do.

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00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:16,360
We think that and we're like, God, why don't you just get him?

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We think that way.

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00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:18,640
Anybody else think that way?

375
00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:20,640
Is it just me?

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00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:21,680
Yeah.

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00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:25,520
But if we look at Jesus' explanation of the parable and then we look at the parable itself

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00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:30,180
because he did explain this parable to his disciples because they asked the question,

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00:18:30,180 --> 00:18:31,680
we start to see the answer.

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00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:36,280
Matthew 13, 36 says this, when Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house

381
00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:40,560
and his disciples came to him saying, explain to us the parable of the tares, of the field.

382
00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:44,000
And he answered and said to them, now listen closely because you want to pick up on the

383
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:45,440
analogy here, right?

384
00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:47,080
Because parables are an analogy.

385
00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:49,280
He who sows the good seed is the son of man.

386
00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:51,360
It's talking about Jesus himself, right?

387
00:18:51,360 --> 00:18:53,440
The field is the world.

388
00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:58,720
The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.

389
00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:01,400
The enemy who sold them is the devil.

390
00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:06,640
The harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are the angels.

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00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:10,440
Therefore the tares as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so will be at the

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00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:11,720
end of this age.

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00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:14,720
The son of man will send out his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all the

394
00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:19,160
things that offend and all those who practice lawlessness and will cast them into a furnace

395
00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:20,160
of fire.

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00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:24,080
There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth, then the righteous will shine forth as the

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00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:26,760
son in the kingdom of their father.

398
00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:28,560
Who has ears to hear?

399
00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:29,960
Let him hear.

400
00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:35,680
Now if you couple that explanation that Jesus gave and you go back and read the parable

401
00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:39,520
itself and say, so the servants of the owner came and said to him, sir, did you not sow

402
00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:41,720
good seed in your field?

403
00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:42,720
How then does it have tares?

404
00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:44,920
And he said to them, an enemy has done this.

405
00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:48,760
The servant said to him, do you want us to then go and gather them up?

406
00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:49,760
But he said no.

407
00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:54,480
Listen, while you gather the tares, you also uproot the wheat with them.

408
00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:57,040
Let both grow together until the harvest.

409
00:19:57,040 --> 00:20:00,920
And at the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers first gather together the tares

410
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:06,020
and bind them into bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.

411
00:20:06,020 --> 00:20:11,700
Why does the Lord wait till the end of the age to deal with the sons of evil?

412
00:20:11,700 --> 00:20:13,560
To stop evil itself, right?

413
00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:19,120
To abolish unrighteousness, to stop hate, to stop violence and murder.

414
00:20:19,120 --> 00:20:20,680
Why does he wait?

415
00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:26,480
God allows both the wheat and the weeds to grow together until harvest so that both are

416
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:27,480
not destroyed.

417
00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:29,560
That's what he tells us.

418
00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:35,840
Because if he uproots the tear, which is a weed, while the weed is growing or while they're

419
00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:39,440
both growing together, it will destroy the tear and the wheat.

420
00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:44,920
Now I don't know if you've ever weeded a garden, if you've never farmed or never weeded a garden,

421
00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:46,740
you'll just have to take my word for this.

422
00:20:46,740 --> 00:20:51,240
But if you've ever weeded a garden, I grew up on a small farm, when you go out, my dad

423
00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:53,960
would send us out and he'd say, we've got to go weed the garden, right?

424
00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:58,720
And there might be small plants in there that were growing, carrots, whatever, peas, something

425
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:00,200
that would be growing out of the ground.

426
00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:01,760
You'd have to pull the weeds up.

427
00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:05,480
And if you've ever weeded, you've got to be extremely careful when you weed because if

428
00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:09,220
you weed, if a weed is growing right next to the, to the wheat, right?

429
00:21:09,220 --> 00:21:13,280
Or whatever it is that's planted in that garden, you pull it, what's it do?

430
00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:14,480
It pulls up the earth, right?

431
00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:19,240
And it pulls both up and it unearths both of them and it exposes roots and they both

432
00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,840
come out of the ground and both are destroyed.

433
00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:28,680
And what Jesus was saying in this, this farming analogy that he gave, the enemy has many evil

434
00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:30,600
ones intertwined, right?

435
00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:36,240
In the world, there are, there is a mix of people who are righteous and godly and following

436
00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:39,280
the Lord and there are evil people in our earth, right?

437
00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:43,960
On our earth, they're in our communities, they're around the world in every community.

438
00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,200
They might even, some might even be in your family.

439
00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:47,200
Come on.

440
00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:54,200
You know, they might be in family, but God, you know, if God executed judgment immediately,

441
00:21:54,200 --> 00:22:02,320
if the sin brought by what any sin deserves, which in the Bible is death, it would uproot

442
00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:03,920
all of mankind.

443
00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:07,920
Jesus said it would destroy all.

444
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:10,660
He says you got to leave time.

445
00:22:10,660 --> 00:22:14,200
And God will sort this all out at the judgment.

446
00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:16,640
And you might ask, why does he do that?

447
00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,120
He does it because of mercy.

448
00:22:19,120 --> 00:22:20,540
He has mercy.

449
00:22:20,540 --> 00:22:23,080
He gives us his lifespan.

450
00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:27,720
He gives us his time from life to death, right?

451
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,100
Or if the end of the age happens to come during your lifetime.

452
00:22:31,100 --> 00:22:34,120
He gives us his lifetime to make a decision.

453
00:22:34,120 --> 00:22:38,560
He allows each one of us to decide whether we will follow him or whether we will choose

454
00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:42,520
not to follow him, whether our father will be the heavenly father or it will not be the

455
00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:43,520
heavenly father, right?

456
00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:45,380
The word of God says it's Satan, right?

457
00:22:45,380 --> 00:22:51,120
He says he'll give us time to decide if we're going to embrace Christ as Savior in our life

458
00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:53,880
or if we're just going to walk in our own way.

459
00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:59,160
And he doesn't engage in instantaneous judgment because he's merciful.

460
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:05,000
And we should be so very grateful for God's mercy that he waits because all of us were

461
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:06,720
weeds.

462
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:10,120
Every one of us were lost and without Christ.

463
00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:14,180
If he gave exact judgment, if sin, right?

464
00:23:14,180 --> 00:23:15,180
Sin equals death.

465
00:23:15,180 --> 00:23:16,800
That's what the word of God says.

466
00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:18,620
It's the wages of sin or death.

467
00:23:18,620 --> 00:23:25,880
If he exacted in that moment the wages of sin, all of us would be weeds that would be

468
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:30,600
ripped out of the ground and burned and destroyed.

469
00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:31,960
He's given an analogy here.

470
00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:34,080
We're not really weeds and wheat, right?

471
00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,480
We're people.

472
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:42,440
Christ came so that the weeds could become wheat so that you have the opportunity to

473
00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:46,560
grow and to rise up in Christ and so that one day we are saved.

474
00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:48,160
That's what God's saving us from.

475
00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:49,160
Judgment.

476
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:55,420
He's saving us from the end of time and the time it's a heaven or hell thing.

477
00:23:55,420 --> 00:23:56,600
He really is.

478
00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:58,900
And God waits.

479
00:23:58,900 --> 00:24:03,160
He gives us a lifetime to do it and he extends that to everybody.

480
00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:08,240
So the next time you think or say, just like I did, why doesn't God just zap him?

481
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:10,400
Why doesn't he just take him out?

482
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,800
Why doesn't he just get rid of him?

483
00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:15,680
Understand it's God's mercy.

484
00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:18,560
It's his mercy to all of mankind.

485
00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:20,560
And even if he had a line, where would the line be?

486
00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:21,560
Can you imagine that?

487
00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:25,300
You'd be going through life and you're like, where's the line at?

488
00:24:25,300 --> 00:24:28,720
If I had six evil thoughts in a row, does God zap me?

489
00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:30,680
Wait for the lightning to hit you.

490
00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:32,040
You're done.

491
00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:33,360
You're toast.

492
00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:34,360
Come on.

493
00:24:34,360 --> 00:24:35,360
It's true.

494
00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:36,920
You know, is it six evil days?

495
00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:38,560
Is it six evil thoughts?

496
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:39,560
Right?

497
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:45,280
Is it, I rejected God just one more time in my heart and my head.

498
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:49,880
And just a little something extra to throw here is I close this message out.

499
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:51,520
Just so you have hope for real.

500
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:56,840
Do you know who should be engaged in stopping evil on the earth?

501
00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:01,040
The mustard seeds that have the greatness of God inside of them.

502
00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:02,040
That's what we're called to do.

503
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:03,040
Amen.

504
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:04,040
I'm gonna ask for everybody to stand.

505
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:05,040
Thank you for tuning in to this message from Life House Church.

506
00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:06,040
We pray that you were impacted powerfully by this message.

507
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:07,040
If you have been personally affected by our ministry and you would like to partner with

508
00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:08,040
us as we love God, love people every day, visit our website at www.lifehousechurch.org.

509
00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:09,040
And we'll see you next time.

510
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:10,040
Amen.

511
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:11,040
Amen.

512
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:12,040
Amen.

513
00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:13,040
Amen.

514
00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:14,040
Amen.

515
00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:15,040
Amen.

516
00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:16,040
Amen.

517
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:17,040
Amen.

518
00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:18,040
Amen.

519
00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:19,040
Amen.

520
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:20,040
Amen.

521
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:21,040
Amen.

522
00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:22,040
Amen.

523
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:23,040
Amen.

524
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:24,040
Amen.

525
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:25,040
Amen.

526
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:26,040
Amen.

527
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:27,040
Amen.

528
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:28,040
Amen.

529
00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:29,040
Amen.

530
00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:30,040
Amen.

531
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:31,040
Amen.

532
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:32,040
Amen.

533
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:33,040
Amen.

534
00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:34,040
Amen.

535
00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:35,040
Amen.

536
00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:36,040
Amen.

537
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:37,040
Amen.

538
00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:38,040
Amen.

539
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:39,040
Amen.

540
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:40,040
Amen.

541
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:41,040
Amen.

542
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:42,040
Amen.

543
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:43,040
Amen.

544
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:44,040
amen.

545
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:45,040
Amen.

546
00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:46,040
Amen.

547
00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:47,040
Amen.

548
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:48,040
Amen.

549
00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:49,040
Amen.

550
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:50,040
Amen.

551
00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:51,040
Amen.

552
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:52,040
Amen.

553
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:53,040
Amen.

554
00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:54,040
Amen.