When the Dirt Takes Over

Man, I'm so grateful to be here at One Church.

It's such an honor to be back here.

I feel like I'm just like a distant cousin that y'all don't know, but I know you, everybody.

And uh, you know, I've I'm so grateful for this church.

Uh the impact that you all make, not only here in the greater Columbus area, but all around uh the world, honestly, your your impact.

I was thinking about when our church first got started uh five years ago, and uh you all invested financially into our church, and I'm here to report to you that that was a great investment on your behalf.

This past Sunday, we baptized our 500th person over the last five years.

And uh God's doing a great work, and I just want to say thank you to you for giving to this house.

Thank you for serving.

Uh, thank you for being an all-in and growing the kingdom of God right here at One Church because of what you do here, it makes an impact all around the world.

And I'm so grateful for your pastors.

You got some amazing pastors.

How many people know that Pastor Greg and Shaylin they are the real deal?

And uh I'm so grateful for who they are, just how they challenge me and pour into my life.

And uh uh I'm every time I'm around Pastor Greg, I'm drinking a sweet tea from McDonald's and he's judging me.

Come on, somebody.

And uh I don't I want to have a body like his, but I'm okay with my roles.

I'll pray God, I'll praise God with my roles, everybody.

Come on, we all can't look as good as him.

So I'm I'm grateful for who I am.

I'll keep rocking my thick thighs.

Come on, somebody.

I don't know why I said that.

Now you're gonna be looking at my thighs for the rest of this sermon.

But I'm so grateful for uh who they are and what they mean to my life, and uh man, I'm it's a it's an honor and a choice privilege to be here.

Uh, as was said, I am married uh to my beautiful wife, Brittany Jones.

She came here a few years ago.

She is 5'9, super fine and all mine, y'all.

Come on, somebody.

And we've been married for uh next next month would be 17 years of marriage, and uh grateful for that.

And got two beautiful daughters, and so grateful just to be here and grateful for this season of life that I'm in.

But I want to I do I do want to share a word from God uh uh to you today.

I know we don't have much time.

Uh they gave me only 32 minutes and 34 seconds left, and so I want to make sure I honor God with the time that He's given me to share with you a word from God.

Uh lately, um I I've been in a Bible study that I do with a few business people of our city uh every single Wednesday, and the study that we've been in over the last six months is we've been studying the kingdom of God and what does it mean to live and to breathe and to operate within the kingdom of God.

Uh, one of the things that I've noticed over the last uh few months is that the kingdom of the world is very contrary to the kingdom of God, and sometimes what happens is that we use worldly measurements uh when we are living within the kingdom, and sometimes what we do is that the kingdom of the world's idea sometimes creeps into the kingdom of God's ideas, and so what I want to do is kind of maybe share with you some principles that I've been learning about the kingdom of God.

You know, one of the things that I recognize when it comes to the kingdom of God is that it is completely different from the kingdom of the world, and Jesus, what he has done is that he he used the majority of his teachings uh to his followers and to his disciples uh to teach on this new kingdom.

You know, the Old Testament ends with the book of Malachi, and there was a promise of a savior that was going to come into the world.

And then once Malachi was over, uh there was a 400-year gap uh in the intertestamental times between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

It's almost like God ghosts the people of God for 400 years.

And uh, and so when when the New Testament starts, that there's this guy named John the Baptist, and he was teaching on this kingdom of God.

He told us to repent, to change our lives, for this this new kingdom is at hand.

And Jesus, what he had did is that he gave us many different teachings on this kingdom that we get to live in.

And one particular teaching is found in Mark chapter 4, uh, that's starting at the 26th verse, that he was teaching on the kingdom of God.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

And so the people are at the edge of their seat, waiting for what Jesus was going to talk about.

Like I they've been waiting for this new kingdom, they've been waiting for this new way of life and this new way to think, and this new life and new kingdom that Jesus is bringing into the world.

And so I want to read to you this scripture found in Mark chapter 4, starting in verse 26 through 29.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

It says this, and he, referring to Jesus, also said, This is what the kingdom of God is like.

It's like a man who scatters seed on the ground.

Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and it grows, though he does not know how.

And he says this all by itself the soil produces the grain.

First the stalk, then the head, then the full cornel of the head.

Then it says this, verse 29, and all the grain, and when all and as soon as all the grain is ripe, ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.

The harvest has come.

Now, if I was describing the kingdom of God, I would use adjectives or words like big and flashy, streaks of gold, amazing.

You know, I I would use those type of adjectives or words to describe the kingdom of God if I was the one in charge of giving an example of what the kingdom of God is like.

But it's almost like Jesus uses the opposite words to describe this kingdom.

He uses words like small, little seed, dirt, soil, uh, seed being buried under the ground.

And it's really interesting of Jesus' description of this kingdom that you and I get to live in versus our description of this kingdom that we choose to live in.

You know, uh the first point that I want to make today when it comes to this new kingdom that you and I get to live in is that in this kingdom that Jesus is introduced into the world is that there is a value of what we call insignificant.

But in the world, what we call insignificant in God's kingdom we call significant.

It's really interesting to note that like when Jesus was describing this kingdom, the first word he uses is small, little seed.

And I just want to talk to somebody here today where you may feel like you're in a season where it appears to be insignificant.

Maybe you have a role right now that you're living in, and you have an assignment that you have that it appears to be insignificant.

And maybe you're living in a life and you have a calling right now that the world may call insignificant.

But it's really cool that this new kingdom that God is introducing to the world and he's teaching in Mark chapter 4, that even the small roles and even the small situations that you may call insignificant in God's kingdom, it is significant.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

It is an encouragement to our soul that whenever you find yourself in an assignment and maybe a calling that appears to be small, that appears to be small according to the world, it's an encouragement to you and I that every small season that we're living in, it is significant in God's kingdom.

I am so grateful that we serve a God that we can live in a situation and have small roles and small callings on our lives, but God calls significant when the world calls it insignificant.

I thank God for every season of my life.

I thank God for the seasons where God has me on the stage as I am right now, but I also thank God when God has me in my home cleaning my dishes.

Come on, somebody.

Like everything that we have and every season, every calling, and every role, it is significant in God's kingdom.

But here's the problem when you measure your season and when you measure your life with worldly standards, it may appear to be small and insignificant.

But when you measure it in kingdom metrics, what you recognize is that God uses the stay-at-home moms and God uses the people who pour coffee, God uses every insignificant role to make a significant difference.

I'm so grateful for that because I know that some of you may be walked into this room today looking at your life, and it may appear to be too small.

It may appear to be a ministry assignment, a calling assignment that appears to be really small.

And I just want to, man, man, just get behind you and encourage you that in this kingdom we measure things way different than the world measure things.

In the world, we measure how big something is, but in God's kingdom, we measure how small something is.

I'm so grateful for that.

And I remember my first job out of my uh Bible college, I was on the preaching team at my Bible college, and so I was really um excited to be on a preaching team, and we would send us all out all throughout Central Florida to preach uh to different camps and different things.

And I never forget there was professors that would say, Travis, one day God's gonna use you in a great way.

And I received it as God's word.

And my first job I got outside of Bible college, I thought that I was gonna be a youth pastor at a large church, but can I tell you, can I report to you that my first youth pastor job, it was a whopping two people.

Come on, somebody.

And they were the pastor's kids, you know.

So, and and I never forget me walking and I called, I walked outside, called my professors, and I said, Y'all lied to me.

Y'all said God was gonna use me to do something great, and I got them.

I'm a youth pastor at a church that has two kids.

And I'll never forget my youth pastor, my professor said, Hey, be a youth pastor and treat those two kids like they're 2,000 kids.

So I did exactly that.

I went into the little office they had for me.

I made a full production schedule for our first youth service that we're gonna have.

I made a whole production schedule.

I made a bulletin for one kid to pass out to the other kid.

I remember playing, I remember playing the heel song music so loud.

We're blasting the worship.

I mean, it technically was a small group, but I treated like a big a big service.

And I remember preaching a sermon to them for 45 minutes, and they're like, why is this black guy screaming at us?

And I just preached the gospel for 45 minutes.

But I'm so grateful that that small, what the world calls insignificant season, I'm so grateful that those two kids turned to four kids and four kids turned to eight kids.

And by the time I was done with their youth ministry, we had over 120 kids.

But here's why.

It was, it seems to be insignificant, but thank God for the seasons of our lives where it was insignificant, but really they were significant.

One of the things that I recognize is that you don't know the significance of a season until you're out of that season.

Like I thank God for the seasons of life where I didn't have much.

I remember our first year of marriage, my wife and I, first year of marriage, and we were on the struggle bus.

We didn't make no money at all, everybody.

I mean, we were dead broke.

I was a vegetarian, not because I wanted to be.

I just couldn't afford meat, y'all.

Come on.

So when we had meat with our hamburger hairpo, that was a good day, y'all.

Come on.

And it wasn't any type of meat, it was a meat inside the tube, y'all.

Come on, like, you know, like 90% meat, and the rest we don't know.

You know what I'm talking about?

And though those were great seasons I look back on.

Those were the moments where God used uh used that season the most to teach me more about his provision and teach me about faithfulness and teach me about trusting in God.

I thank God for those seasons where we could not afford cable.

Man, thank God for those seasons.

I remember our first year of marriage, we could not afford cable.

So all we had was a DVD set of the first two seasons of Gilmore Girls, right?

So that's all I watched, and some of y'all black folks, like, how this black brother watching Gilmore Girls.

Like, I knew the whole song.

If you're not all alone, feeling lonely and so cold.

All the black folks in the room, like, what is that?

You know, like I I just remember those seasons.

I remember thinking I I lived in an apartment seat, an apartment complex, and and there was this one family that did not have a lock on their internet.

Praise God for the Johnson family.

I don't know who they are, I never met them, but thank God for the free internet that I had in those seasons.

Here's why.

Because I every time I look back on a season, I thank God what He taught me in those seasons.

And inside our kingdom that we get to live in, it is a kingdom that values the small that the world calls insignificant.

In God's kingdom, it's called significant.

So maybe you walked in here feeling like your life and your calling and your season is insignificant.

I just want to encourage you today that your life is not insignificant, your season that you're in is not insignificant.

It may not be connected to the dots of your dream, but can I tell you God can use every insignificant season as something significant to change the world?

And it's we gotta be careful because what happens is that the metrics of the king of the world sneak into the metrics of the kingdom.

And so now you're feeling overwhelmed, like you're small, like you're behind what you're calling, and you're behind in your goals, because now you're using the worldly metrics to just determine your kingdom calling.

And God will just remind you today that yes, you may not be where you want to be, but man, you're in a significant season.

You may not be exactly where your dreams and the calling of God over your life, but you're in a significant season.

You may not have that ministry assignment that you feel like you need to have, but you're in a significant season.

You may not be with the dreams and the calling of God that's over your life, but you are right where God wants you to be, because this is how this kingdom that we get to live in operates.

Not only do we see that in this passage of scripture that God uses the insignificance of a small seed to explain this kingdom that we live in.

But also in this kingdom that we live in, God celebrates not only the insignificant, but God also celebrates the invisible.

We see here in this text where the Bible says there is a time where the seed is no longer visible to the human eye.

And all you see is the dirt that's on top of the ground.

And all you see is the seed that's under the dirt.

And I just want to talk to you real quick because some of you, you are here today, and the calling of your life seems to be hidden.

It seems to be invisible.

Maybe you're in a season right now where you can't see what God's doing in your life, you can't see the activity of God, of Him moving in your life.

Some of you have been praying the same prayer over and over, and it seems like God is answering everyone else's prayers but yours.

Some of you have been believing God for something special in your life.

You've been believing God for that healing, or you've been believing God for the healing of that marriage, or you've been believing God for that spouse, or you've been believing God for the healing of your mind and your mental illness.

Maybe you're here today and you've been believing God for a breakthrough in your life, and it seems like God is not moving.

But in the world when there's no activity, there's no activity.

But in the kingdom of God, when there's no activity, God is moving behind the scenes that you can't see.

And the Bible says in this text that literally there is a season and a time where the seed is under the dirt and you can't see it.

You can see the movement of the growth that's happening under the ground.

And some of you may just be in a season where God is moving behind the scenes and you can't see it.

Recently, uh, my family and I, what we like to do recently is that we like to go on vacation spots where hardly there's any people, right?

We want to escape people.

Our world is filled with people, right?

Staff, uh, church, and you know, it's just a lot of people in my life.

And so I try to find the most random places to go on vacation.

And so we found this one place on the East Coast in Pennsylvania called Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

It is Amish country, y'all.

So we're there a few weeks ago, and uh, I mean, it's just straight Amish.

I mean, it's just like we don't, I don't belong there.

I mean, a brother from Miami, Florida don't belong in Amish country.

People looking at me crazy, like, what is he doing here?

Like, I mean, just and so we were there and uh we went to this play.

Uh this this production is called Sight and Sound.

And uh this is just recently, and we watched the the show Daniel.

It was a Broadway level production.

And as we were going to Sight and Sound, my my my wife and my kids were there.

Uh in the middle of the play, there is an intermission.

And so our kids went to go get some snacks, went to the restroom.

We're there just watching, and they kind of closed the stage with the curtain.

And when they started act two, they opened the curtain, and it's a completely different scene.

I mean, they have built buildings while the intermission was going on, they they have built like this large boat, and it was just like incredible what they did.

Well, all we saw was a curtain, but the people were working super hard behind the curtain, creating a different scene.

And sometimes in your life, all you see is a curtain.

You don't see God moving, you see everybody else's life being blessed.

You open up Instagram, you open up Facebook, and everybody else is receiving the blessing of God, and all you see is a curtain.

But in our kingdom, we can thank God when we see the curtain because that means that God is working behind the scenes, recreating something special for your life today.

And this is the kingdom of God that we live in.

It is so good that we can live in a kingdom where God is moving in the background.

Guess what?

I want to encourage you right now.

There is never a season of your life where God is not active and moving behind the scenes.

That is a truth and a promise that we can rest on in this new kingdom that he's teaching about.

Because in this kingdom, not only do we celebrate the insignificant, we also celebrate the seasons of life where life and the blessings of God appear to be invisible.

But I got one more just blessing and encouragement about this kingdom that we live in.

It's not only that we can celebrate the insignificant and the invisible, you're gonna like this one.

We can celebrate sometimes us being ignorant of situations in our lives.

I like what the Bible says.

It says night and day in verse 27, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows.

And here's what it says, though he does not know how.

This is so incredible.

Because I would think that in the kingdom of God, we have to have it all together.

We have to know our next steps, we have to know about every season of our lives, but in this kingdom that you and I get to live in, we can be encouraged that we don't have to know the next step.

There's a sense of ignorance that comes in this kingdom.

The Bible says that we don't know what happens under the ground when that seed gets there.

We we know about a little bit about germination, but we really can't explain how we got here today.

You you think about like the car that you drove here today, you turn on the initial, but you have no idea what happened with the spark plug to get your car started.

We we we got here, but we don't know how we really got here.

Can I tell you today that in God's kingdom that there's a sense of ignorance that we all have?

And and some of you may be found in seasons where you don't know what the next steps is when it comes to healing your marriage.

You don't know what the next steps steps is when it comes to uh parenting or teenager where you have no control.

You don't know what the next steps is when it comes to your job and the next level of your job or your career.

Sometimes we don't know the next steps, but I'm so grateful that in this kingdom, when we feel like we're ignorant, that's when we can trust in on the power of the Holy Spirit to rest on our lives.

And this is why I'm so grateful to live in a kingdom where it's okay to not know the next steps.

And it's okay to say, God, I don't know what the next steps are, but I'm gonna trust in the power of the Holy Spirit that is guiding my life, that has allowed me to take one step and one day at a time.

This is his kingdom that we get to live in.

But I really didn't come to talk to you about that today.

That was just my intro, y'all.

Come on, somebody.

I got 14 minutes to talk about the real part that I come to talk to you about.

I want to talk to you real quick about dirt.

Can we talk about dirt, everybody?

It says here in the text, it says verse 27, night and day, whether he sleeps or whether he gets up, the Bible says that the seed sprouts and it grows, though he does not know how.

And here's the most amazing part of the scripture that I love the most that stood out to me as when God was explaining his kingdom.

In verse 28, it says this all by itself, the soil produces the grain.

I'm gonna read that to you.

It says, All by itself, the soil produces the grain.

First the stalk, then the head, then the full corner of the head.

Here is the secret sauce for the harvest of God over your life.

You would think would be like the holies of holies and the glory of God.

You would think the secret sauce of your life for you walking in a harvest that God wants you to have in this kingdom would be some amazing prayer service, and though those are amazing.

And though we seek God and we seek the presence of God, it is amazing.

But here's what he said the secret.

For you being who God calls you to be in this kingdom is dirt.

It's just this.

It's just all by itself.

It's the soil that produces the grain.

Meaning this, it's like it's so amazing that in this kingdom that we live in, this kingdom that we we call the kingdom of God.

That is the dirt of our lives.

That's going to be the very anointing that God's going to use to see God do the greatest things that you've ever seen God do in your life.

And I know there are some people here today, you're surrounded by dirt.

And maybe not physical dirt, but some of you got some dirt maybe in your marriage.

You got some situations in your marriage that you're trying to figure out and you don't have all the answers for.

Maybe you're here today, you got some maybe mental health problems in your lives, and maybe anxiety is just running running your life.

Maybe you can't even sleep at night.

Some of you, your soul is tired.

Some of you are overwhelmed.

Some of you are walking through a season of loneliness that you've never experienced before.

Maybe you got kids in a situation where you just believe in God for the salvation of your kids or maybe your grandkids.

Maybe you are an empty nester and you're figuring out what is next.

Maybe you are a high school student figuring out who you are.

Can I tell you today that in this kingdom we all have dirt?

And I just so grateful that I know in a culture in the world where we think that people inside the church has to have their lives all together and everything has to be all perfect.

And I know that this room is amazing, it smells good, you all look good, and everything looks great right now.

But can I tell you today, we are all wrestling with some type of dirt.

And the cool thing about this kingdom is that your dirt is okay in this kingdom.

The cool thing about this kingdom, and even about this church, maybe you're here for the first time.

Can I encourage you?

Your dirt is welcome here.

The problems of your life is welcome here.

In fact, we don't have to have it all together to be a part of this kingdom.

In this kingdom, God uses the dirt of your life to produce the greatest harvest that you will ever see in your life.

It's the dirt that does the work in your life.

So a few years ago, my wife and I we built a house and we it was like a dream house of ours.

I always wanted to have a house where I needed a four-wheeler to check the mailbox.

Come on, somebody.

I just wanted land.

I grew up in Miami, Florida.

I grew up in the city, and so I always had a desire to have land.

And so we we live on a big lot, and uh when we built our house, it's an amazing house.

It's it's it's incredible what God has done in our lives and how God's provided.

So we love the house that we live in.

And so whenever the builders were done, we loved everything about the house, but there was one thing that was not good about our house, and it was our grass.

It was terrible grass, right?

It was super brown in the middle of the summer.

I'm like, what is going on?

Like, I just want a brother, just want some green grass.

I want stripes in my line, in my in my yard.

I just I just wanted it.

And so um we were the fourth house in our neighborhood, and so the first house, the first two houses that were built, I mean, their grass is absolutely plus green, amazing.

So I went to my neighbor to introduce myself and it asked how he gets green grass.

And so I knocked on the door, hey sir, how you doing?

Hey, I just want how'd your grass get so green?

And so he told me, he said, Hey, here's what you gotta do.

We gotta call this company, here's the number, and ask for two yards of compost.

Like two yards of compost dirt, and and uh, and just have them uh bring it to your house and just spread it all your yard, overseed it, water it, and watch, man, you're gonna have great grass.

I said, I got you.

So I'm more I'm I'm at my church a few days later, walking into a staff meeting, I said, Let me call this company real quick to deliver the dirt.

It's a Thursday, so I'm gonna take all day to Friday to kind of uh spread the dirt out.

And so while I'm on the phone, I had this idea because I'm so competitive.

I wanted better grass than my neighbor.

So, like he told me two yards of dirt.

So I said, How about we triple it?

Let's do six yards of dirt.

So I call the company, I said, sir, I want six yards delivered of dirt.

He said, Sir, you sure you want six yards?

I'm like, Yeah, you're right.

Make it eight.

Come on, somebody.

And so you gotta remember, I'm a city boy, I have no idea.

I'm thinking about a football yard, not like a cubic yard, you know what I'm saying?

And so, like, literally, I have no idea what I'm experiencing.

And so I get out of the staff meeting, I head home, and I notice a mound of dirt far in the distant near my house.

I'm like, what they building?

I guess they're building another house next to our lot.

So I have no idea what's happening right now.

So I'm as I get closer, I said, oh Lord.

This place, like literally, I as I get closer and closer, I realize, Travis, you stupid boy.

And literally, look, there's a guys, I can't explain it.

It was such a large mountain of dirt in front of my house.

It's right on our driveway, so I couldn't park in my driveway for a couple months, you know.

And so uh my wife pulls up a few moments later, and I'm embarrassed, and she's mad at me, and uh she and she's really mad.

I mean, the mountain's dirt are there, but I didn't realize that compost it comes with a smell, y'all.

So, literally for months, our house smelt really bad.

Like we we were called the stinky house with the big massive pile of compost.

And uh I like I remember calling the company and like, hey, we don't we don't want the dirt.

Like, sir, we don't come back and get that.

We just gotta figure it out.

So put it in your backyard, you got a lot of land in the backyard.

So my wife she opens our garage up, she hands me this shovel, and she just says, Boy, you better start digging.

So she hands me this shovel, and that's what I start doing, just little little shovels at a time.

I would be digging this dirt and uh just digging the dirt, like just dirt job, you know, like and I feel like when God was describing his kingdom, it's a lot like our lives.

It's like some of you, if you if you can be honest, some of you feel like you have a life where it's just filled with dirt, like you take two steps forward, four steps backwards.

It's almost like God is giving you like the dirt assignment.

It's like you know, you took that leadership position and you thought that you was gonna get just a pay raise, but you got a dirt raise too.

Come on, somebody.

Because here's what I recognize that in this kingdom, every calling and every assignment, and every level that God takes you to, there's an increase of dirt, an increase of problems, stress.

I didn't recognize that when I became a lead pastor.

I thought it was just preaching and on the stage, but no, it was an increase of weight, my family, my marriage, problems.

Because every time God blesses you, it comes with dirt.

And and what's interesting about like this the text that we read today, when God was explaining the kingdom of God, it's almost like He's saying to us, Some of you are about to give up on relationships, on callings, because all you see is dirt, and you said yes to a seed, and you're about to say no because of the dirt that you see.

And God will tell you today, don't give up when you see the dirt, just pick up a shovel and start digging day by day, dealing with the dirt of your life.

And some of you, that dirt, maybe it's mental health, and you just going to therapy and making sure that your life is healthy.

Maybe for some of you, that dirt is relationship problems, maybe it's loneliness, maybe it's finances, maybe it's your calling and your job.

Can I tell you, encourage your soul today that our God is a God that specializes in working with the dirt of your lives?

And can I report to you today that after dealing with that pile of dirt, I now have the greenest grass in the block, y'all.

Come on, somebody.

Praise the Lord.

I mean, those lines are nice and crispy, y'all.

But it's only because the dirt that did the work.

And you think that your relationship problems, or maybe your past, or maybe your current addictions or past addictions, and you think that what you're dealing with is holding you back from receiving the harvest of God, and it's an encouragement that in this kingdom, no, your dirt, the dirt of your life is the very anointing that your calling needs.

And you feel like you're behind because you're looking at everybody else's life, and they have what I call the glitter assignment, and you have the dirt assignment.

You took you turn on Facebook or Instagram, you say everybody else, like everybody's life is perfect, and and all you're looking at is just dirt, piling dirt every single day.

Dirt.

You take a step forward, two steps backwards, dirt.

But the thing about dirt is this not only does God use the dirt to be anointing in your life, we gotta recognize that the God that we serve, He specializes in working with dirt.

Oh, he's a God that loves working with dirt.

I think about the beginning of the world when God could have used anything to make mankind.

I mean, literally, he could have made use anything to make mankind, he could have used gold to make us, he could have used silver or platinum.

Come on, like I wish he would have used something else.

But the Bible says that he took the dirt of the ground and he formed you in high, and he made a human with dirt.

Here's why because there is life in the middle of your dirt.

I think about Moses when he threw the staff on the ground on the dirt, there was a miracle.

In fact, in the New Testament, there's a story where the Bible says that Jesus spit in the dirt of his hands and he made mud and put it on a blind man's eyes, and that man experienced the healing because of the dirt.

Here's why.

Because there's actually healing in the middle of your dirt today.

In fact, there was a story where the Bible says that the disciples were arguing who's the greatest, and Jesus got on his knees and he washed the dirt from the feet of his disciples.

Here's why, because they're serving and they're service in the middle of your dirt.

But think about the greatest story that we know of.

And when the Bible says when Jesus was buried in the dirt for three days, on the third day, he came back to life.

Here's why.

Because there is resurrection power in the middle of your dirt today.

Our God, from the beginning of time, has been a specialist in working with your dirt.

And I know what the world thinks, and the world thinks that your dirt is gonna move you backwards, but in our kingdom, the dirt is the very anointing that you need to move your life forward.

That's the God that we serve, that's the kingdom that we live in.

So maybe you walked in here with a hand filled with dirt.

Can I tell you, church, God works with your dirt, and this is why here in a minute or so we're gonna celebrate baptisms and people going public with their faith because they just recognize that they can't manage the dirt of their lives on their own.

Oh no, no, no, we can't manage the dirt of our lives on our own.

We need a Savior named Jesus to help us to wash us and to cleanse us and to help us to navigate the dirt of this world.

This is why we celebrate our God.

Would you be encouraged today?

Let the dirt of your life is not the thing that's gonna move you backwards, it's what's gonna move you forward.

And this is the kingdom of God.

This is the kingdom of God.