WEBVTT 00:00:04.519 --> 00:00:07.139 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:07.139 --> 00:00:10.400 Sermons. This week we are continuing our teaching 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:13.439 series called Growing Season. And today we're 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:17.120 talking about what grows in the dark. After you've 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:19.140 planted that seed when it seems like nothing 00:00:19.140 --> 00:00:21.780 is really happening, is there anything going 00:00:21.780 --> 00:00:25.320 on? Is God still at work even during that time? 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:32.759 Today's reading is from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 00:00:32.759 --> 00:01:04.700 4. verses 26 to 29. He also said, then the head, 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:10.540 then the full kernel in the head. As soon as 00:01:10.540 --> 00:01:14.200 the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, 00:01:14.219 --> 00:01:18.620 because the harvest has come. The word of the 00:01:18.620 --> 00:01:23.260 Lord. We're doing this teaching series, which 00:01:23.260 --> 00:01:27.099 we are calling Growing Season. And that is because, 00:01:27.140 --> 00:01:29.120 really, the more that you read the Bible, the 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:30.959 more you realize that the Bible is actually kind 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:34.519 of written by farmers. It was written to farmers. 00:01:34.700 --> 00:01:37.920 It was written through the worldview of farmers. 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:41.920 And in the Bible, it actually says that, you 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:45.120 know, God is like a farmer. God is like a shepherd. 00:01:45.180 --> 00:01:47.519 God is like the owner of a vineyard. And we, 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:53.560 his people, are his feet. We are his flock. And 00:01:53.560 --> 00:01:56.859 so the way we read the Bible and reading the 00:01:56.859 --> 00:02:00.319 Bible through the lens of a farmer allows us 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:04.000 not just to better understand what God's word 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:06.439 is saying to us, but it actually points us all 00:02:06.439 --> 00:02:11.610 toward the great farmer who is God. Now. I grew 00:02:11.610 --> 00:02:14.889 up on this dairy farm. And of course, we don't 00:02:14.889 --> 00:02:17.110 own this farm anymore. We sold it years ago. 00:02:17.229 --> 00:02:20.710 But a few weeks ago, Alex and I had a chance 00:02:20.710 --> 00:02:23.930 to go down and visit it again. And I thought 00:02:23.930 --> 00:02:26.330 that as I went back to that farm, I was wondering, 00:02:26.430 --> 00:02:28.449 oh, how am I going to feel when I walk on there? 00:02:28.509 --> 00:02:30.650 I haven't been on there for like 15 or 20 years. 00:02:30.830 --> 00:02:33.770 Would I feel kind of nostalgic? Would I say, 00:02:33.849 --> 00:02:37.650 oh, I miss this feeling of home? Would I say, 00:02:37.710 --> 00:02:42.360 oh, how I long for a city? simpler life. But 00:02:42.360 --> 00:02:45.500 that's actually not what I felt at all when I 00:02:45.500 --> 00:02:47.919 walked back onto that property. I was surprised 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:51.939 that the first feeling that hit me was this feeling 00:02:51.939 --> 00:02:58.120 of like dread and slight relief. Because the 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:00.139 thing that struck me, the thing I remembered 00:03:00.139 --> 00:03:05.460 most was just how much hard work farming was 00:03:05.460 --> 00:03:11.759 in those days. living there. And my dad, he worked 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:15.319 hard. So hard. There is actually an old saying, 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:18.500 a farming expression, that a farmer works from 00:03:18.500 --> 00:03:21.280 can to can't, which means that a farmer works 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:24.840 from the moment he can see from sunrise all through 00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:28.060 till the moment that he can't see at sundown. 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:30.740 And that was definitely true of my dad. My dad 00:03:30.740 --> 00:03:33.460 was up before the sun. He was out in the barn 00:03:33.460 --> 00:03:36.099 milking cows while we were still sleeping in 00:03:36.099 --> 00:03:39.060 our beds. And then by the time the end of the 00:03:39.060 --> 00:03:41.039 night rolled around, it was long after sunset 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:44.020 by the time he got back into the house just in 00:03:44.020 --> 00:03:46.439 enough time to sit down on the couch and fall 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:49.840 asleep while watching the nightly news. It felt 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:53.139 like he was always working. There were always 00:03:53.139 --> 00:03:55.919 cows to milk. There were always crops to tend, 00:03:55.979 --> 00:03:59.740 always fences to fix. There were always machinery 00:03:59.740 --> 00:04:02.240 that needed repairing. It just never ended from 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:07.979 sunup to sundown, from can to can't. But, and 00:04:07.979 --> 00:04:10.000 this is a very big but, every farmer eventually 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.020 learns that there are some things that hard work 00:04:14.020 --> 00:04:17.939 just cannot do, right? You can prepare the soil. 00:04:18.040 --> 00:04:21.139 You can plant the seed. You can fertilize. You 00:04:21.139 --> 00:04:25.240 can spray. You can harvest the crop, but you 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:30.399 can't make the sunshine. You can't make the rainfall. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:35.800 You can't make the seed grow. And so at some 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:39.819 point, every farmer reaches the limit of what 00:04:39.819 --> 00:04:45.129 he can do. And it's not just farmers. It's not 00:04:45.129 --> 00:04:48.350 just farmers. We also, whatever your job is, 00:04:48.470 --> 00:04:52.850 we work hard. In our culture, we work hard at 00:04:52.850 --> 00:04:56.569 our jobs. We work hard at our marriages. We work 00:04:56.569 --> 00:05:00.089 hard with parenting. We're always working hard. 00:05:00.189 --> 00:05:03.430 But eventually, we too run into situations where 00:05:03.430 --> 00:05:06.410 there's just nothing more that we can do. You 00:05:06.410 --> 00:05:09.930 can't force your business to grow. You can't. 00:05:09.930 --> 00:05:12.269 You can try, but you can't make it happen. You 00:05:12.269 --> 00:05:16.050 can't force a child to make wise choices. You 00:05:16.050 --> 00:05:20.579 can't force your marriage to be healed. And often 00:05:20.579 --> 00:05:23.240 when we run up against this reality that we can't 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:26.019 do these things, our reaction is actually to 00:05:26.019 --> 00:05:28.579 try harder. Well, let me put in more time. Let 00:05:28.579 --> 00:05:31.259 me put in more effort. Let me work harder. Let 00:05:31.259 --> 00:05:34.540 me worry more. Maybe if I stay up later, maybe 00:05:34.540 --> 00:05:37.220 if I work at it all night long, then I can keep 00:05:37.220 --> 00:05:40.160 it going. Then I can get it going. But farming 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:43.980 teaches us something different. There comes a 00:05:43.980 --> 00:05:50.709 point where effort ends. And trust begins. Eventually, 00:05:50.709 --> 00:05:55.350 the farmer has to go to sleep. Eventually, the 00:05:55.350 --> 00:05:58.649 field is left alone. And the seed disappears 00:05:58.649 --> 00:06:01.649 underground. And in the dark of night, and in 00:06:01.649 --> 00:06:04.269 the dark of the soil, and in the dark of the 00:06:04.269 --> 00:06:08.350 winter season, we just have to trust that something 00:06:08.350 --> 00:06:13.720 is happening, even if we can't control it. That's 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:16.040 why Jesus tells this strange little parable that 00:06:16.040 --> 00:06:18.319 we heard in Mark chapter 4. It's got to be one 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:20.600 of the shortest parables ever. And for that reason, 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:22.500 it's probably one that many of you never even 00:06:22.500 --> 00:06:25.319 heard before. It's so easy to overlook. But it's 00:06:25.319 --> 00:06:27.160 easy to remember. You can just go home and tell 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:28.699 your friends about it after church. It goes like 00:06:28.699 --> 00:06:31.560 this. A farmer goes out, scatters seed on the 00:06:31.560 --> 00:06:34.939 ground. And then he goes to bed. And he wakes 00:06:34.939 --> 00:06:38.480 up. And he goes to bed. And he wakes up. And 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:42.439 the seed grows. But he doesn't understand how. 00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:48.500 End of story, right? I find that a fascinating 00:06:48.500 --> 00:06:50.240 little parable, but you might say, what is there 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:53.480 actually to learn from that parable? Well, there 00:06:53.480 --> 00:06:56.540 actually is a very powerful and important lesson 00:06:56.540 --> 00:06:59.819 in there for us today. The things that matter 00:06:59.819 --> 00:07:03.740 most are often the things that we cannot control, 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:08.279 right? God's timing we cannot control. The work 00:07:08.279 --> 00:07:11.259 of the Holy Spirit, we cannot control. The kingdom 00:07:11.259 --> 00:07:14.319 of God, we cannot control. These things matter 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:18.040 so, so much to us. But these things are often 00:07:18.040 --> 00:07:21.899 happening beneath the surface, beyond our sight, 00:07:22.100 --> 00:07:26.860 and outside of our control. In the dark, in darkness, 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:31.779 where we cannot see. That's what I want to talk 00:07:31.779 --> 00:07:33.519 about today. I want to talk to you today about 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:36.819 farming in the dark. I want to talk about the 00:07:36.819 --> 00:07:38.920 darkness underground. I want to talk about the 00:07:38.920 --> 00:07:42.019 darkness of night. And I want to talk about the 00:07:42.019 --> 00:07:45.360 darkness of winter. We're asking the question, 00:07:45.540 --> 00:07:49.980 what is God doing when we can't see what God 00:07:49.980 --> 00:07:54.019 is doing? And the answer is, a whole lot can 00:07:54.019 --> 00:07:57.360 happen in the dark. Now, I've given you some 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:00.019 little sermon notes here. I would encourage you 00:08:00.019 --> 00:08:01.819 to follow along. I think there's lots here that 00:08:01.819 --> 00:08:05.430 we need to learn. let's start with the darkness 00:08:05.430 --> 00:08:09.649 of the soil. Jesus says, the kingdom of God is 00:08:09.649 --> 00:08:11.430 like this. It's as if someone goes out and scatter 00:08:11.430 --> 00:08:13.529 seed on the ground and he would sleep and rise 00:08:13.529 --> 00:08:16.269 night and day and the seed would sprout and grow 00:08:16.269 --> 00:08:21.189 and he does not know how. Now, short parable, 00:08:21.250 --> 00:08:25.029 but really where is the action all taking place? 00:08:25.089 --> 00:08:27.930 The action is all taking place underground. It's 00:08:27.930 --> 00:08:30.129 taking place out of sight. It's taking place 00:08:30.129 --> 00:08:32.970 beyond the farmer's control. If you were to go 00:08:32.970 --> 00:08:34.809 into this farmer's field the next day and look 00:08:34.809 --> 00:08:37.909 out over that field, you would see nothing that 00:08:37.909 --> 00:08:40.350 indicated to you that anything was happening. 00:08:40.409 --> 00:08:42.289 You would just see no evidence. You would see 00:08:42.289 --> 00:08:44.629 no progress. You would see no results. You would 00:08:44.629 --> 00:08:47.769 just see dirt. You would just see dirt. And that's 00:08:47.769 --> 00:08:49.730 exactly what makes this parable so difficult 00:08:49.730 --> 00:08:53.919 for us because we want visible growth. We want 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:57.120 to see that something has happened. We want immediate 00:08:57.120 --> 00:08:59.740 results in our lives. We want the reassurance 00:08:59.740 --> 00:09:03.419 that our efforts are actually paying off somehow. 00:09:03.779 --> 00:09:07.779 But the kingdom of God refuses to work that way. 00:09:07.899 --> 00:09:12.590 The kingdom of God grows underground. Before 00:09:12.590 --> 00:09:15.370 it ever grows above ground for you to see something. 00:09:15.549 --> 00:09:18.370 You see, when you plant a seed underground, do 00:09:18.370 --> 00:09:20.169 you know the first thing it does? First thing 00:09:20.169 --> 00:09:23.169 it does is not send up a shoot so everyone can 00:09:23.169 --> 00:09:25.350 see something's happening. No. What's the first 00:09:25.350 --> 00:09:28.190 thing it does? First thing it does is send down 00:09:28.190 --> 00:09:31.889 a root, right? It sends down a root into the 00:09:31.889 --> 00:09:36.679 darkness where no one can see it. And if a seed, 00:09:36.700 --> 00:09:39.580 I think, were to send up a shoot before it sent 00:09:39.580 --> 00:09:42.799 down a root, it probably wouldn't survive. No, 00:09:42.860 --> 00:09:46.519 God always grows the root before he grows the 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:50.360 fruit. The hidden work comes first. The foundation 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:54.240 comes first, right? We want visible progress. 00:09:54.340 --> 00:09:58.200 We want shoots and we want fruits. But God is 00:09:58.200 --> 00:10:01.740 far more interested in our roots, our character, 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:07.080 our humility. Our trust, our growing faith, things 00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:10.240 that nobody else can see. I think, you know, 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:13.080 sometimes we pray, God, you know, change my circumstances. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:15.279 But God says, nah, right now, I just want to 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:19.799 change you. God is growing roots and roots take 00:10:19.799 --> 00:10:22.960 time and they grow in the dark and no one applauds 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:27.799 and no one sees. You know, science actually tells 00:10:27.799 --> 00:10:30.919 us. That when you plant a seed underground, something 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:33.899 quite fascinating happens. That seed coats, that 00:10:33.899 --> 00:10:37.960 hard, rigid exterior, it absorbs water. And it 00:10:37.960 --> 00:10:40.480 swells and it swells and it swells until finally 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:43.139 it cracks open. It breaks. The seed actually 00:10:43.139 --> 00:10:46.620 looks like it's blowing up and destroying. And 00:10:46.620 --> 00:10:50.399 that is actually one of the most important lessons 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:53.120 about growth that we can learn. Is that sometimes 00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:56.559 growth in our life begins with some kind of a 00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:01.379 breaking. Right? It's a loss of certainty. It's 00:11:01.379 --> 00:11:04.059 a loss of control. Loss of a dream. Right? The 00:11:04.059 --> 00:11:06.679 seed breaks. You break. Your life feels like 00:11:06.679 --> 00:11:09.480 it's breaking and shattering. All of our certainties 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:13.500 get cracked. But that breaking is not a sign 00:11:13.500 --> 00:11:17.899 of failure. It's often the beginning of growth. 00:11:18.179 --> 00:11:21.000 And it looks like nothing is happening. Or even 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:23.940 worse, when it's breaking, it looks like everything 00:11:23.940 --> 00:11:28.480 is falling apart. But growth is actually happening 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:31.240 in that moment. The farmer can't see it. We don't 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:34.379 see that from above, right? The seed doesn't 00:11:34.379 --> 00:11:36.940 even understand it when it's happening to it. 00:11:37.019 --> 00:11:42.779 But God is at work. And it is true that great 00:11:42.779 --> 00:11:47.360 transformation often resembles death before it 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:51.519 resembles life. Which means this morning, if 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:55.080 you find yourself in an underground... right 00:11:55.080 --> 00:11:58.059 now, if your prayers seem to be going unanswered, 00:11:58.059 --> 00:12:02.220 if your growth seems to feel invisible, if everything 00:12:02.220 --> 00:12:04.700 in your life seems to be breaking and cracking, 00:12:05.100 --> 00:12:09.360 don't assume that God has stopped working, right? 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:14.080 The soil may be dark, but lots can happen in 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:17.320 the dark. Okay, but Jesus doesn't just teach 00:12:17.320 --> 00:12:20.120 us about dark soil. He also teaches us about 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:22.419 dark nights. Listen to what Jesus says. He says, 00:12:22.500 --> 00:12:24.120 the kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:27.940 seed on the ground and would sleep and rise night 00:12:27.940 --> 00:12:30.879 and day. Now, that detail seems a little unnecessary 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:34.059 to me, right? Why does Jesus need to tell us 00:12:34.059 --> 00:12:36.039 that the farmer sleeps? Why not just tell us 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:40.820 that the seed grows? It's because Jesus, as always, 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:43.720 is teaching us something very important. Notice 00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:46.500 what the farmer is not doing. The farmer is not 00:12:46.500 --> 00:12:49.899 pacing anxiously across the edge of his field. 00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:54.039 The farmer is not digging up the seed every morning 00:12:54.039 --> 00:12:57.679 to look and see if it has started growing. The 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:00.679 farmer is not out at the field at 2 a .m. in 00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:02.559 the morning with a flashlight saying, come on, 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:09.279 grow, grow, right? No, the farmer sleeps. And 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:11.220 that's remarkable because farmers are not lazy 00:13:11.220 --> 00:13:13.220 people. My dad certainly wasn't a lazy person. 00:13:13.419 --> 00:13:16.639 But even the hardest working farmer eventually 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:21.419 has to stop because there is nothing more that 00:13:21.419 --> 00:13:26.019 can be done. And so he goes to bed. Not because 00:13:26.019 --> 00:13:28.059 he doesn't care. Of course he cares. But he goes 00:13:28.059 --> 00:13:31.220 to bed because he's already done everything that 00:13:31.220 --> 00:13:35.639 he can do. The rest now is beyond his control. 00:13:37.320 --> 00:13:39.899 Again, do you know what scientists tell us? That 00:13:39.899 --> 00:13:42.840 most of a plant's actual growth takes place during 00:13:42.840 --> 00:13:46.720 the night. During the day, the plant absorbs 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:49.399 all the energy from the sunlight, but then it's 00:13:49.399 --> 00:13:54.120 during the night when the farmer is asleep that 00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:57.940 that energy gets spent in elongating the stem 00:13:57.940 --> 00:14:01.440 and deepening the root. Just hear that again. 00:14:02.139 --> 00:14:06.159 The farmer is asleep when most of the growth 00:14:08.540 --> 00:14:12.899 That is true, I think, spiritually as well. Some 00:14:12.899 --> 00:14:16.019 of the most important growth in our lives happens 00:14:16.019 --> 00:14:19.960 during night seasons, right? During the night 00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:23.039 of grief, the night of your uncertainty, the 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:25.799 night of disappointment. The night when your 00:14:25.799 --> 00:14:28.320 prayers just seem to be bouncing off the ceiling 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:31.759 above you. We tend to think, oh, growth. No, 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:34.539 growth happens during the bright and sunny moments, 00:14:34.659 --> 00:14:38.759 the days of success. But God often grows us the 00:14:38.759 --> 00:14:43.659 most in the night. And I think that's because, 00:14:43.700 --> 00:14:48.740 you know, night forces us to stop working, forces 00:14:48.740 --> 00:14:53.740 us to stop performing. Night strips away from 00:14:53.740 --> 00:14:58.679 us the illusion of control and forces us to actually 00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:03.059 trust God. And that leads to growth. Now, some 00:15:03.059 --> 00:15:06.980 of you will say, well, sure, sure. Yeah, I might 00:15:06.980 --> 00:15:08.879 not be able to work at night, but I can worry. 00:15:09.379 --> 00:15:13.039 I can worry at night. And we might think that 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:16.580 somehow the more that we worry, it means the 00:15:16.580 --> 00:15:20.539 more that we care. But the farmer does not stay 00:15:20.539 --> 00:15:23.879 awake worrying either. Worrying about a seed 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:26.960 does not make it grow. Worrying about tomorrow 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:30.620 does not fix tomorrow. In fact, Jesus said something 00:15:30.620 --> 00:15:32.299 like this elsewhere. He says, can any of you 00:15:32.299 --> 00:15:35.840 add even a single hour to your life by worrying? 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:40.059 The answer is no. Worrying away our nights does 00:15:40.059 --> 00:15:44.100 not make things grow. It actually stunts our 00:15:44.100 --> 00:15:50.539 own growth. But rest. is an act of trust. Sleep 00:15:50.539 --> 00:15:57.620 is a sign of faith. Rest says, God is still in 00:15:57.620 --> 00:16:01.779 control while I sleep. God is still God even 00:16:01.779 --> 00:16:05.139 when I'm asleep. God is still working when I 00:16:05.139 --> 00:16:07.899 rest. God can carry what I can't. God can watch 00:16:07.899 --> 00:16:10.799 over what I can't watch over. And God can grow 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:14.899 what I can't grow. Sleeping is not giving up 00:16:14.899 --> 00:16:18.779 responsibility. It's giving up The illusion of 00:16:18.779 --> 00:16:23.179 control, right? Sleeping is not abandoning the 00:16:23.179 --> 00:16:25.879 field. Sleeping is actually entrusting the field 00:16:25.879 --> 00:16:30.399 now to God. And I think that's why for some of 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:34.320 us, sleep is the most difficult spiritual discipline 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:38.820 of all because we believe we're the fixers, right? 00:16:38.980 --> 00:16:42.559 We're the problem solvers. We're the saviors. 00:16:42.980 --> 00:16:47.320 But eventually every disciple has to learn. That 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:51.179 Jesus already has that job. He's the fixer. He's 00:16:51.179 --> 00:16:54.580 the problem solver. He's the savior and not us. 00:16:56.500 --> 00:16:58.399 Some of you might know this, but there's a beautiful 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:01.139 prayer that's found in some Anglican prayer books. 00:17:01.340 --> 00:17:03.899 And it's often prayed right before bedtime, right 00:17:03.899 --> 00:17:06.019 before your head hits the pillow. It goes like 00:17:06.019 --> 00:17:10.920 this. It is night after a long day. What has 00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:16.160 been done has been done. What has not been done. 00:17:16.759 --> 00:17:22.660 Has not been done. Let it be. Wouldn't it feel 00:17:22.660 --> 00:17:25.940 good to pray that prayer at the end of a night? 00:17:26.019 --> 00:17:29.799 Not because it's encouraging laziness, but because 00:17:29.799 --> 00:17:31.900 it encourages us trust. Look, the day is over. 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:35.140 We worked hard, but now the work is finished. 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:39.480 Now sleep. Because the kingdom of God does not 00:17:39.480 --> 00:17:43.299 depend on you staying awake. Or let's put this 00:17:43.299 --> 00:17:46.960 like really simply. Sometimes the most spiritual 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:52.099 thing you can do is go to sleep. Not because 00:17:52.099 --> 00:17:55.099 you've given up, but because you trust the one 00:17:55.099 --> 00:17:58.559 who never sleeps. And while you sleep, a lot 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:02.480 can happen in the dark. So there's the darkness 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:05.500 of the soil. Lasts for a while. The darkness 00:18:05.500 --> 00:18:07.420 of the night, of course, lasts till morning. 00:18:07.539 --> 00:18:11.140 But sometimes we experience not just a dark moment, 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:15.299 but we experience a dark season. And every farmer 00:18:15.299 --> 00:18:19.440 often knows better than us the reality of the 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:22.279 seasons. You heard my dad rattle off all the 00:18:22.279 --> 00:18:24.480 things that happen in different seasons. There's 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:26.240 a season for planting, a season for growing, 00:18:26.380 --> 00:18:29.240 a season for harvest, a season for rest. You 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:33.359 cannot harvest in April. You cannot plant in 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:39.460 January. You cannot force July to arrive in February. 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:43.240 The seasons... arrive in their own time. Now, 00:18:43.259 --> 00:18:46.420 we understand that perfectly when it comes to 00:18:46.420 --> 00:18:51.759 nature, but we struggle to accept seasons in 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:57.240 ourselves. We resist seasons of life. We want, 00:18:57.299 --> 00:19:01.819 in our lives, perpetual summer, perpetual growth, 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:06.359 perpetual success. We want every season to feel 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:10.869 like it's harvest season. But God has not designed 00:19:10.869 --> 00:19:13.289 things that way. That's not how he made nature. 00:19:14.269 --> 00:19:17.970 And that's not how he makes discipleship either. 00:19:18.250 --> 00:19:21.009 Right? The kingdom doesn't work that way. Farming 00:19:21.009 --> 00:19:23.289 doesn't work that way. We can't work that way. 00:19:23.349 --> 00:19:26.329 And that brings us to the season of winter. That's 00:19:26.329 --> 00:19:29.650 the dark season. Right? The days are shorter. 00:19:29.789 --> 00:19:34.569 But winter is not a mistake. It's part of the 00:19:34.569 --> 00:19:37.160 design. I mean, I remember when I was growing 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:39.880 up on the farm, it always felt a little strange 00:19:39.880 --> 00:19:41.720 in winter because now the fields that had been 00:19:41.720 --> 00:19:44.680 full of life just a few months earlier suddenly 00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:47.359 looked empty. The corn was gone. You know, the 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:50.220 wheat was gone. There was just stalks of corn 00:19:50.220 --> 00:19:52.420 left sometimes. The wheat was gone. Even the 00:19:52.420 --> 00:19:54.700 cows were gone. They couldn't go outside. They 00:19:54.700 --> 00:19:57.539 had to be confined to the barn for the winter. 00:19:58.490 --> 00:20:02.390 Everything looked brown and frozen and silent 00:20:02.390 --> 00:20:08.569 and dead. Nothing seemed to be happening. And 00:20:08.569 --> 00:20:10.309 yet every farmer knows that is not the whole 00:20:10.309 --> 00:20:12.450 story because winter has a purpose on a farm. 00:20:12.549 --> 00:20:15.589 Now, in the video, you heard my dad talk about 00:20:15.589 --> 00:20:20.349 winter wheat, winter wheat. And in the video, 00:20:20.410 --> 00:20:23.539 we spent a lot of time looking at wheat. Winter 00:20:23.539 --> 00:20:26.779 wheat is planted in the fall. It sprouts. It 00:20:26.779 --> 00:20:29.259 grows a little bit. It gets about like, you know, 00:20:29.259 --> 00:20:32.900 this high. And then winter arrives. And the snow 00:20:32.900 --> 00:20:35.359 comes and the cold comes and everything seems 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:38.019 to go dormant. You might say, oh shoot, I didn't 00:20:38.019 --> 00:20:39.839 have that timed out very well. I've just killed 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:41.859 a whole field of wheat. But here's the fascinating 00:20:41.859 --> 00:20:46.259 part. The wheat actually needs winter. There 00:20:46.259 --> 00:20:49.779 is this process called vernalization. where the 00:20:49.779 --> 00:20:54.380 wheat must experience a prolonged period of cold 00:20:54.380 --> 00:20:59.019 before it can produce grain. Without that cold, 00:20:59.299 --> 00:21:02.960 it won't mature properly. It won't form heads. 00:21:03.180 --> 00:21:08.039 It won't produce the harvest that it was created 00:21:08.039 --> 00:21:10.099 to produce. So just think about that for a moment. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:14.359 The very thing that looks like it is stopping 00:21:14.359 --> 00:21:19.909 growth is actually making future growth. The 00:21:19.909 --> 00:21:24.690 cold is not an interruption to the process. The 00:21:24.690 --> 00:21:29.190 cold is part of the process. Winter is not keeping 00:21:29.190 --> 00:21:32.470 the wheat from becoming fruitful. Winter is preparing 00:21:32.470 --> 00:21:37.130 the wheat to become fruitful. And some of us 00:21:37.130 --> 00:21:39.769 today, we're going through a dark, dark winter 00:21:39.769 --> 00:21:42.809 season. It could be a season of grief or disappointment 00:21:42.809 --> 00:21:47.569 or uncertainty or of illness. Job loss, financial 00:21:47.569 --> 00:21:50.089 struggle, whatever. And we often assume, oh gosh, 00:21:50.329 --> 00:21:53.269 this season is a complete interruption. But God 00:21:53.269 --> 00:21:57.369 sees those seasons as preparation because some 00:21:57.369 --> 00:22:02.970 things only grow after a cold winter. Again, 00:22:03.089 --> 00:22:05.269 God is not merely interested in changing your 00:22:05.269 --> 00:22:08.930 circumstances. He's interested in changing you. 00:22:09.130 --> 00:22:12.509 And so much of that transformation happens in 00:22:12.509 --> 00:22:17.920 dark seasons like winter. Winter teaches us that 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:22.259 God is still working even when nothing seems 00:22:22.259 --> 00:22:26.539 to be happening. It doesn't make sense in our 00:22:26.539 --> 00:22:29.380 culture, which is obsessed with speed and instant 00:22:29.380 --> 00:22:31.680 this and instant messages and instant that and 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:33.720 instant answers and instant results, but God's 00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:38.299 slow. Often slow. He's seed slow. He's root slow. 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:43.559 He's winter slow. And winter is a powerful teacher 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:46.579 if we let it teach us. It teaches us hope. It 00:22:46.579 --> 00:22:50.319 teaches us patience. It teaches us that what 00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:54.759 appears to be inactivity may in fact be preparation 00:22:54.759 --> 00:22:58.980 for the next season. Now, I put a little piece 00:22:58.980 --> 00:23:01.119 of scripture on the back of your teaching notes 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:02.980 this morning, and I invite you to just take a 00:23:02.980 --> 00:23:06.000 little look at it. This is a reading from the 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:10.559 book of Habakkuk, and I've called this the farmer's 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:14.940 creed, because what Habakkuk does in this reading 00:23:14.940 --> 00:23:18.460 is he looks out at a field with no figs and no 00:23:18.460 --> 00:23:21.880 grapes and no olives and no grain and no cattle 00:23:21.880 --> 00:23:25.359 and no sheep. All the signs of success, all the 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:28.490 signs of success are gone. And Habakkuk says, 00:23:28.849 --> 00:23:34.210 yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful 00:23:34.210 --> 00:23:38.750 in God, my savior. And I would say this week 00:23:38.750 --> 00:23:42.630 or this month or whenever you're wondering if 00:23:42.630 --> 00:23:45.029 anything is growing in your life, I want you 00:23:45.029 --> 00:23:48.970 to pull out this creed and read it again. And 00:23:48.970 --> 00:23:52.509 that last line, the sovereign Lord is my strength. 00:23:52.569 --> 00:23:56.490 That is what faith looks like in the dark season. 00:23:57.049 --> 00:24:01.549 In the winter season. So we talked about the 00:24:01.549 --> 00:24:03.289 dark soil. We talked about the dark night. Now 00:24:03.289 --> 00:24:06.430 we've talked about the dark season. But all of 00:24:06.430 --> 00:24:10.170 this points towards something even darker. The 00:24:10.170 --> 00:24:13.890 dark day. The darkest day. And you might say, 00:24:13.910 --> 00:24:17.329 Rob, come on. Daytime is the one time it's not 00:24:17.329 --> 00:24:20.069 dark. Day isn't dark. But actually there was 00:24:20.069 --> 00:24:23.990 a day. There was once a day of complete darkness, 00:24:24.049 --> 00:24:28.910 a day when for a moment the sun refused to shine. 00:24:29.710 --> 00:24:34.210 It was Good Friday. As Jesus was crucified, we're 00:24:34.210 --> 00:24:37.089 told that from the sixth hour until the ninth 00:24:37.089 --> 00:24:41.210 hour, darkness came over all the land. Darkness. 00:24:41.349 --> 00:24:44.430 And not even just darkness in the sky. Think 00:24:44.430 --> 00:24:47.450 about those disciples, right? Their hope had 00:24:47.450 --> 00:24:51.640 turned to darkness. Everything they had given 00:24:51.640 --> 00:24:55.180 their lives to now seemed to be collapsing. Jesus 00:24:55.180 --> 00:25:00.720 had died. The tomb had sealed. The seed had been 00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:04.259 planted. But really, I think probably the hardest 00:25:04.259 --> 00:25:08.660 day was the next day. Saturday. What we sometimes 00:25:08.660 --> 00:25:11.640 call Holy Saturday in the church calendar. Good 00:25:11.640 --> 00:25:14.299 Friday gets a ton of attention. Easter Sunday, 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:16.220 of course, gets a ton of attention. But what 00:25:16.220 --> 00:25:20.000 about that Saturday? Nothing happens, right? 00:25:20.039 --> 00:25:24.140 There's no miracles. There's no angels. There's 00:25:24.140 --> 00:25:27.339 no resurrection. There's just silence, right? 00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:29.680 By all appearances on Saturday, the story is 00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:33.920 over. Field is barren. The winter has won. The 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:38.819 seed is dead. But as we have been learning, the 00:25:38.819 --> 00:25:42.480 deepest work of God often happens where we cannot 00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:46.119 see it. The disciples could not see it. The religious 00:25:46.119 --> 00:25:48.759 leaders could not see it. The Roman soldiers 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:51.779 could not see it. But God was working in the 00:25:51.779 --> 00:25:54.140 darkness of that tomb where no one could see. 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:58.380 And on the third day, the plant sprung up as 00:25:58.380 --> 00:26:02.880 Jesus rose from the dead. The resurrection is 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:06.359 God's answer to anyone who has ever wondered 00:26:06.359 --> 00:26:10.369 whether something can grow in the dark. Resurrection 00:26:10.369 --> 00:26:12.849 answers like, does hope grow in the dark? Yes, 00:26:12.930 --> 00:26:15.470 it does. Does faith grow in the dark? Yes. Does 00:26:15.470 --> 00:26:19.910 God work in the dark? Yes. Winter is not forever. 00:26:20.569 --> 00:26:23.349 Darkness does not get the final word. And that 00:26:23.349 --> 00:26:26.109 means that if you find yourself in a dark season 00:26:26.109 --> 00:26:28.410 today, whether you feel forgotten or excluded 00:26:28.410 --> 00:26:32.349 or disappointed or stuck, remember, buried seeds 00:26:32.349 --> 00:26:35.230 become abundant harvests in the same God who 00:26:35.230 --> 00:26:39.440 raised Jesus from the dead. Always. always, always 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:44.940 does the best of his work in the dark. And so 00:26:44.940 --> 00:26:48.279 in closing, I thought I should just mention one 00:26:48.279 --> 00:26:51.279 other little thing my dad said. I asked my dad, 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:55.519 Dad, how do you know the spring is coming? You 00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:59.140 know, a farmer learns to read the signs. The 00:26:59.140 --> 00:27:01.000 days get a little longer, the snow begins to 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:03.960 melt, the ground thaws out, tiny shoots maybe 00:27:03.960 --> 00:27:07.170 begin to... These are small signs that spring 00:27:07.170 --> 00:27:08.829 is on the way. And when we're going through a 00:27:08.829 --> 00:27:11.269 dark period, often all we can focus on is the 00:27:11.269 --> 00:27:15.430 darkness. But I wonder if maybe we should be 00:27:15.430 --> 00:27:17.690 looking for signs of spring in our spiritual 00:27:17.690 --> 00:27:21.950 lives too, right? What about the small things 00:27:21.950 --> 00:27:24.230 that are happening for you? Are you a little 00:27:24.230 --> 00:27:27.849 more patient than you were six months ago? That's 00:27:27.849 --> 00:27:32.690 a sign of something growing. Is your prayer life 00:27:32.690 --> 00:27:35.559 a little stronger than it was a year ago? That's 00:27:35.559 --> 00:27:37.819 a sign. Do you have new compassion for other 00:27:37.819 --> 00:27:40.519 people? Do you have a growing trust in God? Do 00:27:40.519 --> 00:27:42.759 you have a renewed desire to worship? These are 00:27:42.759 --> 00:27:47.079 all small signs that even in dark seasons, the 00:27:47.079 --> 00:27:51.240 spring is coming. God does some of his best work 00:27:51.240 --> 00:27:54.619 in the dark. So if you're living in dark soil, 00:27:54.700 --> 00:27:57.240 you're going through a dark night or stuck in 00:27:57.240 --> 00:28:00.099 a dark season, remember a lot can happen in the 00:28:00.099 --> 00:28:04.369 dark. Keep scattering your seed. Keep... Keep 00:28:04.369 --> 00:28:06.670 worshiping, keep trusting, and maybe tonight, 00:28:06.890 --> 00:28:11.269 get some sleep. Because as the farmer sleeps, 00:28:11.589 --> 00:28:17.390 God works. The seed grows, and one day the harvest 00:28:17.390 --> 00:28:25.950 comes. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thanks for tuning 00:28:25.950 --> 00:28:28.089 in to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons. 00:28:28.089 --> 00:28:30.750 This sermon was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville 00:28:30.750 --> 00:28:35.309 in Mississauga, Ontario on June 21st, 2026.