Sermon

Jesus’ Vision of the Kingdom — Mustard Seed, Leaven, Salt & Light

Kingdom Family Ministries

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  1. Welcome to the Kingdom Family Podcast, where

  2. we rediscover our identity as sons and daughters

  3. of Yahweh and learn to live the life of the Kingdom.

  4. Let's jump in to today's episode. All right,

  5. we are back to our conversation on rethinking.

  6. the end times. This is something we began last

  7. week. We're going to continue it on this week

  8. and for the foreseeable future. If you're looking

  9. for a different lens of how to see the end times

  10. and I would say a more hope -filled lens, continue

  11. listening. This has been fun for me. I'm jumping

  12. in kind of studying some of this. I have learned

  13. there is a lot of information, a lot of different

  14. rabbit holes that you can go down and for someone

  15. like me that can be very dangerous. Because if

  16. you listen to my podcast you know that I can

  17. sometimes get on rabbit holes. But that is what

  18. it is. I would encourage anyone to pray for,

  19. pray that the Holy Spirit would adjust your lens.

  20. and allow you to see scripture and read scripture

  21. through Christ. That has been the biggest thing

  22. that has helped me with a lot of different things.

  23. Some would call it a deconstruction journey.

  24. I look at it more as, I look at it more of a

  25. reconstruction journey, because I'm not just

  26. tearing down to tear down. I'm allowing Holy

  27. Spirit into the conversation. and allowing her

  28. to adjust the lens that I view things through.

  29. When you do that, that changes a lot of things

  30. and that's just my opinion. There's so much if

  31. we would allow Holy Spirit to begin to teach

  32. us. Kind of like how I tell teenagers, you have

  33. to sit down with a word, which this is definitely

  34. a word. you have to sit down with a word with

  35. the word. And the word has a name and his name

  36. is Yeshua. In the beginning was the word and

  37. the word was with God and the word became flesh

  38. and dwelt among us and all that. So the word

  39. has a name. I know I can offend people when I

  40. say this, but our Bible is not the word of God.

  41. It's definitely a word. It's one of the greatest

  42. books that if not the greatest book that we have

  43. I've looked at it as a love letter as an invitation

  44. to know him deeper But it's not the Word of God

  45. the Word of God has a name and his name is Yeshua

  46. I think that's important even if you consider

  47. back to when the writers wrote this they didn't

  48. have scripture they were writing inspired by

  49. the Holy Spirit and quite frankly you can see

  50. my Bookshelf behind me have a lot of different

  51. books. I think the Holy Spirit still inspires

  52. people to write today I've wrote two devotionals

  53. now. I'm writing on it working on an actual book

  54. this time I've got another devotional that I'm

  55. actually I'm trying to expand my 30 -day devotional

  56. to a 90 -day. That would be one of my next steps

  57. And all of this that I feel has been inspired

  58. by the Holy Spirit to do and I don't just write

  59. to write In in those moments that I'm working

  60. on this these items I invite Holy Spirit into

  61. the room And into what I'm writing so I can have

  62. Holy Spirit in Trinity's perspective Do I get

  63. it right all the time? No, none of us are going

  64. to get it right all the time There's always going

  65. to be things that we see through our lens or

  66. how we were raised and this, that, and the other.

  67. And that's just part of it. It is what it is.

  68. Does that mean that we're bad people? No. I mean,

  69. I don't know why I'm going down this rabbit.

  70. See, already four minutes in and I'm on a rabbit

  71. hole. So here we are. Anyhow, enough of all that.

  72. I'm just saying that I believe personally the

  73. Holy Spirit still inspires people to write today.

  74. Even with this stuff right here, the notes that

  75. I use, I use a lot of AI to help and then I go

  76. and do my own studying and deep diving and pulling

  77. out things of Scripture, looking at early Church

  78. Father quotes. There's actually a website that

  79. I found that you can look at a verse and see

  80. what an early Church Father has said about that

  81. verse to see if it's beneficial or not for what

  82. you're working on. So it is what it is. I'm not

  83. one of those who just takes AI and runs with

  84. it. I think AI is a tool, just like Google or

  85. internet or cell phones, technology, whatever.

  86. I think all of that is a tool, but not to be

  87. replaced. with Holy Spirit and with us doing

  88. what we need to do as far as inviting Holy Spirit

  89. into the conversation, into our prayer and our

  90. study time, because ultimately the Holy Spirit

  91. is still the greatest teacher of it all. That's

  92. something that was told to me a long time ago

  93. by evangelist, bishop. Pastor Lance Johnson was

  94. at a church and he looked at me when I was at

  95. the altar and he said Son, he said that the Holy

  96. Spirit will be the greatest teacher that you'll

  97. ever need. I did not know the journey that I

  98. was about to go on after those words but here

  99. we are and this is this is where we are so let

  100. me get my notes pulled up. I'm probably going

  101. to start today where we ended off last week but

  102. give me just a minute let me pull this up. So

  103. we ended last week talking about the mustard

  104. seed and what does that have to do with the end

  105. times? Well if you look at the end times I think

  106. it's important that we get an understanding of

  107. What Jesus was saying what he was doing what

  108. the people then would have taken this information

  109. as And so Jesus was explaining The concept the

  110. idea of what the kingdom was like and so he uses

  111. the metaphor we ended with this last week But

  112. I'll just hit on this briefly Jesus uses the

  113. metaphor that the kingdom is like a mustard seed

  114. and we read that in Matthew chapter 13 verses

    Matthew 13:31–32

  115. 31 through 32. I'll pull that up here and read

  116. that just so we have the context to start this

  117. out. Matthew 13 verse 31 through 32 and again

    Matthew 13:31–32

  118. I'm reading out of the passion. Then Jesus taught

  119. them another parable heaven's kingdom can be

  120. compared to the tiny mustard seed that a man

  121. takes and plants in his field Although the smallest

  122. of all the seeds it eventually grows into the

  123. greatest of garden plants becoming a tree for

  124. birds to come and build their nest in its branches

  125. so small beginning massive growth This It's important

  126. to understand farmers would not have just planted

  127. the mustard seed And the the reason for that

  128. is it was considered an invasive crop I think

  129. last week and I'll use the same example this

  130. week if I was to do it where we are at I'm not

  131. part of the world I alluded to something like

  132. monkey grass. I don't know if you've ever planted

  133. monkey grass, but if you ever start planting

  134. it It will take over a section And that's some

  135. of the hardest stuff to remove to be such a small

  136. smaller plant. It is hard to remove at times

  137. so this was the smallest thing that they commonly

  138. used as a proverb and Jesus is using yet again.

  139. He's using a common expression of that day to

  140. help express what the kingdom was like. Okay,

  141. so Again, we can't just read this and think of

  142. it in our terms today. We have to understand,

  143. and this is important when you're reading scripture

  144. anytime, is to ask what would they have heard

  145. that as? A perfect example of this, and I'm not

  146. gonna go down this trail today, but I'm gonna

  147. say it enough to make you maybe go read and do

  148. some thinking on it or whatever. It's the concept

  149. of hell. We have this idea and notion of what

  150. hell is like because of what we have been taught.

  151. But if you go back and look at the original language,

  152. there were three different terms used for our

  153. English definition of hell. None of them mean

  154. eternal torment. So I'm going to leave that there.

  155. I'll come back to that maybe later on. But that's

  156. just another example of we have to think about

  157. what they would have understood this as. and

  158. not look at the stuff that Jesus is proclaiming

  159. is going to happen, that he's talking about 2000

  160. plus years away when Iran is in another conflict

  161. with the United States. That's how we judge it

  162. every time. Any time of 36 years, let's see,

  163. let's say 25 years, enough to know what was going

  164. on. Any time that there is something going on

  165. in the Middle East, we look at it as it's got

  166. to be close to the end. September 11th, 2001.

  167. If you are old enough to know what that day means,

  168. you probably, when I said the day, you probably

  169. remember exactly where you were when that day

  170. happened and when you found out the news of what

  171. happened. Same thing happened. This is the end.

  172. It's talking about, it's time for Christ to return

  173. and all this, that and the other. And this is

  174. my concern is that we look at the end of things

  175. to be this, how can I put this? We look at the,

  176. how dark it is to be an indication that the end

  177. is near as if we're saying that Jesus lost that

  178. somehow at the end of all this that darkness

  179. gets a greater say than what the kingdom of life

  180. gets and what the kingdom of light gets and here's

  181. the problem is light wins every single time if

  182. i was to cut i can't do it because there's an

  183. app on my phone to do all this, but I've got

  184. three lights on in here. If I was to turn them

  185. all off, okay, and my screen go completely black,

  186. the moment I hit a switch and to tell them to

  187. come back on, darkness ceases to exist. And here's

  188. the brilliant thing is that there's no argument

  189. between light and darkness. The moment light

  190. shows up, darkness ceases to exist. There is

  191. no battle. There is no fight. The problem is

  192. Jesus has called us more than conquerors. He

  193. tells us in Colossians chapter 2 that he has

    Colossians 2 chapter mention

  194. stripped the powers of the enemy away from him.

  195. So he has no power. He has been effectively defeated

  196. and yet we still believe that there's something

  197. left undone. That this thing has to end in a

  198. certain way. Has to end and us bullying each

  199. other up and all this that and the other. to

  200. say that, oh, it's time for me to get out of

  201. here because to heaven with me and to hell with

  202. everybody else. That's ultimately what I hear

  203. when we begin to talk like this. And the problem

  204. is, Jesus actually did, I just happen to believe

  205. it, Jesus actually did what he came here to do.

  206. So when he stretched on the cross and said, it

  207. is finished, to Telestah, he meant it. He knew

  208. what he was sent here to do. He completed it.

  209. And now it's up to us. Go back to Romans 8. The

  210. earth is groaning and travailing for the manifestation

  211. of the sons and daughters of Yahweh. It's not

  212. groaning and travailing for the manifestation

  213. of the rapture. It's not groaning and travailing

  214. for Christ to come back. No. creation is groaning

  215. and travailing awaiting for you and I to come

  216. to our senses to metanoia to step into who we

  217. actually are inside of Christ and begin to proclaim

  218. back to creation who she is. So All that because

  219. we're talking about the mustard seed. Jesus is

  220. explaining that the kingdom is like the mustard

  221. seed that almost begins invisibly small. Again,

  222. I told you this last week. Go Google an image

  223. of the mustard seed. Look at how small he's referencing

  224. that the kingdom is like this. And I think that's

  225. just what they had a reference to back then.

  226. I think Jesus today, because of science and technology,

  227. that he could reference the kingdom as something

  228. even smaller. Because the smaller you go, it

  229. looks so insignificant. But if we don't understand

  230. how significant those small things are. Okay,

  231. think about the stuff in your body that your

  232. human eye cannot see that we can see your blood

  233. cells that we can see Atoms and molecules and

  234. all this stuff under telescopes and if those

  235. things cease to exist Where would we be I mean?

  236. It's kind of it when you begin to think about

  237. this and think about how small those Excuse me

  238. how significant those small things are it begins

  239. to really mess with you and it speaks volumes.

  240. So the kingdom is like those small little things

  241. that seem so insignificant, but give it some

  242. time, give it life and let it begin to expand

  243. beyond your wildest imaginations. And I'm seeing

  244. this in our kingdom family ministries with the

  245. teenagers that we have and the families that

  246. we have that encounter the love of Abba, that

  247. Papa encounters these young people when we have

  248. our services and such. that they are encountered

  249. by the love of papa it's and the thing is it

  250. starts small it starts small but then it begins

  251. to grow organically so again something that we

  252. said last week is what the jews would have expected

  253. the jews expected a political kingdom they expected

  254. a military overthrow of rom a visible Revolution,

  255. a mighty military force, that's kind of what

  256. they were expecting. So when Jesus starts talking

  257. about the kingdom being a seed, they're going

  258. to have some questions and probably some issues

  259. with this. Mustard basically considered a weed,

  260. I think I mentioned that last week. But once

  261. mustard grew, it spread everywhere, it took over

  262. fields and it was hard to remove. So. When Jesus

  263. made the statement in the scripture that we read

  264. just a minute ago, that a man planted mustard

  265. in his field, the listeners would have probably

  266. thought, why would somebody plant that? That

  267. stuff, it takes over stuff, it takes over my

  268. field. Why would anybody intentionally plant

  269. this? And that's the point, why? Because the

  270. kingdom spreads uncontrollably. You cannot contain

  271. the kingdom. The kingdom will get out one way

  272. or another. Like the mustard seed, the kingdom

  273. advances through transformation, through influence,

  274. through multiplication, through life. It's never

  275. by force. And I'm not going to go too far down

  276. this rabbit hole, but I do want to make mention

  277. because I think the things that we have in Scripture

  278. is important and it takes us time and stuff to

  279. actually dig in and allow the Holy Spirit to

  280. speak to us and reveal those mysteries. That's

  281. why I like I believe it's proverbs it talks about

  282. that it's uh I have to go live but basically

  283. it's it's He loves to hide things for them For

  284. us to be able to search it out. It's essentially

  285. I'd have to go read it word for word, but it's

  286. it's a favorite one of mine That it's for kings

  287. to go and search out the mysteries so he had

  288. stuff intentionally So one of the things he says

  289. in this verse is he says, it eventually grows

  290. into the greatest of garden plants, becoming

  291. a tree for birds to come and build their nest

  292. in its branches. This is actually, again, Old

  293. Testament language, and I did not know this until

  294. studying this out some, that in the Hebrew scriptures,

  295. great empires are described like trees where

  296. birds or nations come to nest. So birds here,

  297. would have been equal to the nations or the Gentiles.

  298. So Jesus is hinting even with this statement

  299. that the kingdom of God will become something

  300. where all nations find refuge. And again, likely

  301. would have been offensive to Jewish listeners

  302. who expected the kingdom to exalt Israel over

  303. the nations, not include them into this. But

  304. Jesus is saying the kingdom grows into something

  305. where everyone belongs and that's important to

  306. understand. So the kingdom works from the inside

  307. out. One more thing here as far as mustard, the

  308. mustard seed cannot be controlled once planted.

  309. So you think you control the king god's kingdom

  310. through the temple system but the kingdom is

  311. breaking out beyond your system and I believe

  312. we're seeing that even today that the kingdom

  313. is breaking out beyond systems. It'll spread

  314. to fishermen, to tax collectors, to Samaritans.

  315. This is offensive language in that day and time.

  316. To fishermen, tax collectors, Samaritans, Gentiles,

  317. and ultimately the entire world. And both Mustard

  318. and Leaven share a key trait. They work invisibly

  319. at first. You don't see the growth immediately,

  320. but eventually the growth becomes undeniable.

  321. And again, this reflects the nature of the kingdom.

  322. It begins within people and then it spreads through

  323. people. So and then we have Matthew 13 chapter

  324. chapter 13 verse 33. It says then he taught them

  325. another parable Heaven's kingdom can be compared

  326. to yeast that a woman takes and blends into three

  327. measures of flour and then waits until all the

  328. dough rises And we'll read dr. Simmons footnote

  329. here It says these two parables about the tiny

  330. mustard seed and the yeast both teach of God's

  331. kingdom having a small beginning but growing

  332. unto its influence permeates and prevails into

  333. all the earth. The three measures of flour was

  334. nearly 22 kilos, enough to feed 300 people. What

  335. once looked unimpressive rises to impact and

  336. feed many. The number three always points to

  337. resurrection life. So again, we have small influence

  338. leading to the transformation of the whole. Mustard,

  339. if you think about it, it's external spread.

  340. Leaven is internal transformation. And we in

  341. our Bible study did a study on the leaven because

  342. Jesus warns us of the leaven of hair, the leaven.

  343. excuse me if I could speak today, the leaven

  344. of Herod, the leaven of Pharisees, and the leaven

  345. of the Sadducees. All three of those are important.

  346. I would encourage you to go and study what those

  347. are and why he warned us to beware of them, to

  348. be mindful of them, to be on guard against them.

  349. I think it's important if you go and read that

  350. and kind of study what are those, what do those

  351. leavens represent and then understand when he

  352. calls the kingdom like leaven. That's important

  353. because it's internal transformation. Leaven

  354. works by penetrating everything. Just a tiny

  355. amount transforms the entire batch. This is talking

  356. about making bread. Again, most Jews expected

  357. the kingdom to come through political revolution.

  358. They wanted military force. That's what they

  359. wanted to do because they wanted to overthrow

  360. Rome. That was their whole intention. I'm 20

  361. minutes into this. There's no way that I'm going

  362. to get all this out in this one. But it's okay.

  363. We're going to keep tracking. I got plenty of

  364. time. But Jesus says the kingdom, it comes through

  365. influence, transformation, multiplication, and

  366. life spreading. I've said that over before, but

  367. I feel like that needs to be repeated, that that's

  368. how the kingdom... comes. It comes through influence.

  369. It comes through transformation. Transformation

  370. of what? Transformation of us as individuals

  371. as we allow the Holy Spirit within us to do the

  372. transformative work that people around you begin

  373. to take notice of the change within you. And

  374. then what they begin to ask, what are you doing?

  375. What is your secret? What's happening with you?

  376. And then you can begin to explain to them with

  377. the joy of the Lord that, hey, it's my God. It

  378. is Holy Spirit within me. Let me introduce you

  379. to Papa. Let me introduce you to the love of

  380. my dad. That's where the conversation begins

  381. to happen organically. Because here's the thing.

  382. I believe the generation that we have today is

  383. looking for the authentic thing. They're looking

  384. for the real deal. So basically, the kingdom

  385. is organic. It is not imperial. Jesus didn't

  386. build an army. He didn't build a government.

  387. He didn't build a political movement. He's not

  388. a Republican, a Democrat, a Libertarian, an Independent.

  389. He's none of that. Jesus focused on people, why?

  390. Because people are the kingdom carriers. The

  391. seed multiplies through people. That's what begins

  392. to happen. Even what I'm watching happen with

  393. our group here, where we are at. And I may have

  394. told this story last week, I don't know, but

  395. it bears repeating because it spoke volume to

  396. me. One of the last couple services we had, we

  397. had a young 18 year old girl there. And when

  398. we started out the service and stuff, she did

  399. not want to be around the group. She wanted,

  400. she was with one of her friends. They kind of

  401. stayed out to the side. They didn't want, did

  402. not want to be around people. And when we began

  403. to pray, I felt I was just obedient with the

  404. Holy Spirit and set up a... I guess an environment

  405. you would say to where she could encounter the

  406. love of Papa and understand that there was people

  407. around her. And by the end of that service, she

  408. was laughing, she was dancing with the group.

  409. It was like a total transformation in this young

  410. girl that I saw from beginning to end. By the

  411. next week, she was in our Bible study. And then

  412. I was told, I think it was the week after that,

  413. that she had a friend that she wanted to bring

  414. to our gathering or service, whatever you want

  415. to call it. But see, that's what I'm talking

  416. about. It grows organically. We don't have this

  417. massive group of hundreds of people, but something's

  418. beginning to happen to where these young people

  419. are encountering something authentic that they

  420. want to bring somebody else into this environment.

  421. So I'm not here to boast about me or to boast

  422. about the family that's hosting this. We're all

  423. just creating space for... Papa to have his way

  424. and to minister to the people that show up. That's

  425. all we are doing It's like this podcast. I mean

  426. man Let me just pull it up just so because I

  427. was floored And I don't I don't know what I'm

  428. doing this is this stuff is completely new to

  429. me, I don't understand it all It's not nowhere

  430. probably professional My youtube has not got

  431. hardly any hits. I'm just kind of doing what

  432. I'm doing as I am as I go but I put up our podcast

  433. this past week and just looked at the analytics

  434. I do that occasionally and I was floored to see

  435. the many different nations it was reaching like

  436. United States of course Vietnam Uzbekistan Ecuador

  437. Mexico Bangladesh India Algeria Venezuela Colombia

  438. Iraq Argentina Turkey uh kenya and egypt vietnam

  439. is sitting at 21 of my downloads i'm not sure

  440. who's listening in vietnam i honor you i bless

  441. you um guys leave a review hit the follow button

  442. subscribe button whatever they're called leave

  443. a review email me um i believe my this is sad

  444. i don't even know my email but i believe i know

  445. you can do it I'll just leave it here while we're

  446. having this conversation. But you can't email

  447. me what that email is. I will get it. I think

  448. it's chris at echoes of eden dot com. If I'm

  449. not too crazy. See, this is what happens. I go

  450. down rabbit holes. I will get my email out there

  451. for you guys. I want to hear from y 'all. I want

  452. to hear, you know, do you hate this? Do you wish

  453. I would shut up? Or is this helping anybody?

  454. Is this teaching? What do you want to hear more

  455. of? That kind of thing. I think that's important

  456. for me to know what's going on out there and

  457. what's for my listeners. Is there something you

  458. want me to go into more detail with and study

  459. with or whatever? Guys, let me hear from you.

  460. If you're in Vietnam, if you're in the United

  461. States, whoever, leave a review, help out here

  462. with some of this. I don't know what to ask for

  463. because I don't do, like I'm not, I'm just doing

  464. like any one of you listening could do. I'm just

  465. trying to be obedient with what I feel the Holy

  466. Spirit leading me into, guiding me into, but

  467. by no means am I the expert out in this field.

  468. But this is the kind of stuff I'm talking about,

  469. is it starts so small. I was getting one or two

  470. downloads here and there along the way and just

  471. in the past 30 days I am getting I would say

  472. anywhere between seven to ten downloads per day

  473. and you know that doesn't sound like a big number

  474. but it's organic growth and I don't know what

  475. the I'm not I'm not doing anything different

  476. I'm not spending money advertising all this I'm

  477. just a normal guy. I'm a dad. I'm a husband.

  478. I've got three beautiful children I'm just doing

  479. what I feel like the Holy Spirit is is asking

  480. of me Leading me into that kind of thing. So

  481. that's the whole point of what the kingdom looks

  482. like it looks organic It looks small. It looks

  483. like somebody who maybe doesn't know what the

  484. crap that he's doing But he's just on for the

  485. journey. He's on for the ride so Again, people

  486. are the kingdom carriers and the seed multiplies

  487. through them. So everything that Jesus is talking

  488. about here is expansion metaphors. The kingdom

  489. is going to expand. Trust and believe. Then we

  490. have, let's talk about salt and light. I want

  491. to look at Matthew chapter five, verses 13 through

  492. 16. But if you withhold forgiveness from others

  493. your father withholds forgiveness from you Why

  494. do I not all that's cuz that's Matthew chapter

    Matthew 6 chapter mention

  495. 6 that has nothing to do with what I'm reading

  496. Excuse me Matthew chapter 5 verses 13 through

    Matthew 5:13–16

  497. 16 Says your lives are like salt among the people

  498. but if you like salt become bland, how can your

  499. saltiness be restored? Flavorless salt is good

  500. for nothing. I'll be thrown out and trampled

  501. on by others your lives light up the world for

  502. how Can you hide a city that stands on a hilltop

  503. and who would light a lamp and then hide it in

  504. an obscure place? Instead it's placed where everyone

  505. in the house can benefit from its light. So don't

  506. hide your light. Let it shine brightly before

  507. others so that your commendable works will shine

  508. as light upon life. And then they will give their

  509. praise to your Father who is in heaven. Salt

  510. preserves Light exposes darkness, neither works

  511. if removed from the environment. Hear what I

  512. just said. So the problem with this whole Rapture

  513. idea is that salt ceases to be salt and light

  514. ceases to be light if it's removed from the environment.

  515. Makes sense? To me it does. Does it make sense

  516. to you? Do you see the problem here? If we are

  517. pulled out of this world, where's the salt and

  518. where's the light? That just doesn't make sense.

  519. That does not track with what we see in the person

  520. of Jesus who is very restorative by nature. And

  521. I believe that's what we are called to do as

  522. sons and daughters is to restore, to partner

  523. with Holy Spirit and see restoration and reconciliation.

  524. You see, the first Christians believed that Jesus

  525. already reigns. This is the early church mindset.

  526. Their job was to announce that reign. Their message

  527. was Jesus is Lord, which would directly challenge

  528. Rome's claim of Caesar is Lord. So here's the

  529. thing. The gospel does not call believers to

  530. escape the world, but to transform it through

  531. Christ's life within them. That's important.

  532. We are called to transform the world around us

  533. by the Christ within us. See that's why I think

  534. it's important that the Holy Spirit had me do

  535. the revelation of Christ and all before this.

  536. Because we first have to understand one, that

  537. Christ is within inside of us and two, that Christ

  538. is within every individual that you and I encounter.

  539. And when you begin to allow Holy Spirit to allow

  540. you to see through their lens, the Trinity's

  541. lens, the Father's lens, it begins to change

  542. your heart toward people. It really does. Just

  543. something to think about. Just something to think

  544. about. So again, If the kingdom is like leaven,

  545. the kingdom is like the mustard seed, it may

  546. look small, but I think that's why Jesus, and

  547. I forget where it's at, but I think that's why

  548. the scripture encourages us to not despise the

  549. day of small beginnings. To remain faithful in

  550. the little things. To remain faithful in the

  551. small things. Not as a Let me be faithful with

  552. this so I can get more But understanding that

  553. the more you take care of the small things that

  554. seem Not to matter the more those small things

  555. become two bigger things think about children

  556. When you first they first into your life, they're

  557. so small and They're so small they're helpless

  558. you have to do everything for them But the more

  559. you begin to be faithful in the small things

  560. The more that child begins to grow and to grow

  561. and to become more independent to more to become

  562. Less dependent on you to do stuff for them and

  563. they are capable of doing things themselves Why

  564. because you were faithful in the small things?

  565. You were faithful in the beginning to help nurture

  566. that child to help care for that child to help

  567. love that child It's the little things that matter

  568. it's the little moments in life that matter This

  569. is not about even in marriage. It's not about

  570. the you know, you think about Valentine's Day

  571. It's not about that one day and doing this old

  572. great big thing I love you and then the rest

  573. of the year you just don't do nothing That's

  574. that's that will not help your marriage. I promise

  575. you To me our Kind of our marriage is we just

  576. Valentine's another day. Like I try to love my

  577. wife every day that I can Am I perfect I Would

  578. like to think something no, I'm not no Am I perfect

  579. dad no, I get that wrong too much we just had

  580. a conversation of that yesterday There's days

  581. and I'm working on an e -course for men for fathers,

  582. but there's still some some days that I just

  583. feel like I blew it But I'm reminded that it's

  584. the small things that we have to do My wife has

  585. to be that voice to me. Sometimes it's the small

  586. thing. So the kingdom is the small things that

  587. we do It's loving the unlovable It's it's releasing

  588. hope to the hopeless It's praying for the sick

  589. and seeing them recover It's being an ear to

  590. those who need an ear. Being a voice of heaven

  591. in situations that needs heaven to intervene.

  592. Do you see how big of a deal that you are because

  593. Christ lives within you? And then you have the

  594. opportunity to partner with the Holy Spirit?

  595. To release the kingdom of heaven through you

  596. into the world around you? Do you see how big

  597. of a deal that is? That's massive when you think

  598. about it. That's so important when you think

  599. about it. It's like leaven. You can't see leaven,

  600. but yet it causes the entire loaf to rise. Why?

  601. Because the kingdom works like leaven. It's the

  602. internal transformation that you can't see anything

  603. happen. I remember on my own personal journey

  604. with the past few years that when... When I really

  605. begin to allow Holy Spirit to take me on this

  606. journey and I begin to submit to her Lordship

  607. And I begin to allow Holy Spirit to do the transformation

  608. that was needed It was my my wife and my kids

  609. who began to see the difference in me long before

  610. I did They were seeing the living the loaf rise

  611. before I did remember having a playdate with

  612. my daughter We try to do a daddy -daughter day

  613. each month and that that particular night We

  614. stayed home and I said you got an hour with daddy

  615. in your room. We'll play whatever you want to

  616. play No, excuse me This was a different day.

  617. This was this was on a Saturday I believe when

  618. I was off of work and I was sitting in her room

  619. We was joking doing something and she said daddy.

  620. Why are you in a good mood? Now as a dad that

  621. kind of broke me a little bit but then I looked

  622. at the bright side that my daughter was paying

  623. attention and took notice that something about

  624. daddy was changing something something something

  625. was happening inside of her daddy that's my friend

  626. that's what the kingdom is like and so if you

  627. want to rethink the end times If we're called

  628. to be that light, if creation is waiting on you

  629. and I, if we're called to be like salt, then

  630. if we get removed in a rapture situation because

  631. everything's going to hell, quote unquote, then

  632. what happens to the world around us? Where's

  633. the hope then? Where's the light supposed to

  634. come from then? It goes back to what I like to

  635. repeat from Damon Thompson. Don't check your

  636. brain at the door. If we get removed and raptured

  637. out because everything's just going chaotic,

  638. which again to me says an indication that Christ

  639. did not complete what he completed. If we get

  640. removed, where's the hope for those that's left

  641. here? that situation or is the truth that we're

  642. called to stay the truth that we're called to

  643. occupy until he comes like we talked about believe

  644. last week occupy until he comes believe we I

  645. believe we addressed that maybe we didn't yeah

  646. we did I got it in my notes meaning to engage

  647. in business, to trade, to conduct affairs. We're

  648. called and put here to occupy the kingdom, to

  649. occupy earth and to release the kingdom of God

  650. through us, to partner with the Holy Spirit,

  651. to release His love, to release His grace and

  652. His mercy to those around us and to see transformation

  653. not happening with force. But a see transformation

  654. transformation happened little by little by little

  655. by little That's that's so much better news Anyhow

  656. Think we'll stop there for today and next week

  657. we will jump into Part two of this which is how

  658. biblical prophecy actually works That's what

  659. we'll start diving into looking at some the some

  660. of the symbolic imagery and stuff of that nature.

  661. So My friends be blessed again, like I mentioned

  662. earlier leave a review share this subscribe whatever

  663. I'll get my email into the thing. I would love

  664. to hear from some people that's listening It

  665. is it helping you. What would you like to hear

  666. more of that kind of thing? Until next time my

  667. friends be blessed Thanks for spending some time

  668. with me today on the Kingdom Family Podcast.

  669. If this episode spoke to you, take a moment to

  670. share it and help someone else rediscover their

  671. identity as a son or daughter of Yahweh. And

  672. don't forget, follow the podcast so you can stay

  673. connected with everything happening through Kingdom

  674. Family Ministries. Until next time, live love,

  675. live free, and live from the life of the kingdom.