Parables: The Growing Seed

Mark: Good morning. It is good to be together today. Good to see you. Sunday is my favorite day of the week. I love to be able to hang out with people that I don't normally get to connect with this last Monday night. We had a guest dinner, which was beautiful, and we get to sit at a table with people that I don't really know and hear the stories of what God is doing. we have a special community here. How many are thankful for our church? I am too. I am too. I want to jump right into the word of the Lord today. over the last few weeks we've been looking at the parables of Jesus, and what we've seen is over and over again, again and again, Jesus uses this language of seeds and oil soil and grow oil. He does do oil, but we haven't gotten to that yet. seeds and oil and growth and harvest. He uses these kinds of pictures and these words, and he takes things that they could actually see with their own eyes to reveal things. That they could not see spiritually. And ultimately, what he's doing to these parables is he's he's letting us in on what the kingdom of God is like. How many want to live in the kingdom of God? I do too. And so that's what he's doing. And I wanna stay in that theme today and look at another parable that Jesus gives us. In some ways, today I'm gonna be kind of referencing some of the parables that we've been in over the last month or two. And so I if you've been here, it'll connect. And if if if some of the stories don't, I want to encourage you to go back and read those parables. we're gonna be in Mark chapter four and several other places today, but this is a parable of Jesus here. Mark chapter four, verse 26. It says, And Jesus said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps. And rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows. He knows not how. The earth produces by itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe at once, he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come. Because the harvest has come. Over these weeks. There is something Jesus wants us to understand about the kingdom of God, and it's this: the kingdom begins like a seed, and it's moving towards harvest. It's moving towards harvest. And you watch the progression through the parables that we've been in. The first one, remember the parable of the soils. The seed in the parable of the soil is the word of God. And that seed then is. Planted, it goes out, it's scattered. Jesus scatters his word. It goes out and it lands on different kinds of soil, different kinds of heart. And where the word is received into the good soil, remember what he said? He said there's a there's a a harvest of 30, 60, 100fold. So the word, he says, is sown into us, into our hearts. But then we we were in the parable of the wheat and the weeds. How many remember that one? It got kind of intense. But you came back. So I'm glad. In that parable, Jesus changed the picture. You remember? He says now the good seed, he doesn't refer to it as the word of God. He says the good seed is the sons and the daughters of the kingdom. So get this. In one parable, the seed is the word of God. In the next parable, the seed is you. Turn to somebody and say, the seed is you. The seed is you. First, he sows the word into us. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God, right? Like his word takes root, the word changes us, his word produces life in us. We become born again, right? We become new creation people, kingdom people. So first he plants his word in you, and then what does he do? He plants you in his field. He plants you in his field. In the parable, the wheat and the weeds, Jesus calls us the sons and daughters of the kingdom, and he scatters us throughout his field. And what is the field? Y'a failing this test, this quiz. What's his field? The world. Okay, the world. The world sounds so big. The world is Springfield. The world is Ozark. The world is is Nixa. It's Republic. It's Marshfield. It's Willard. It's Bolivar. It's Lebanon. Am I forgetting other? Seymour. Seymour. What is it? Rod Yes, Rogersville. How we forget that? It's because I used to live there. It's dead to me now. I'm just kidding. It's not. I'm sorry. I love Rogersville. It's one of my favorite places. I'm sorry. gosh. Rogers Rogersville people are leaving right now. They're just, they're like, I love Rogersville. I love it. I don't know why I said that. It's wild. Do you know we have people that drive like an hour and a half every single week to come here? Hour and a half one way. We have people that that it's it's not like just a couple, it's like lots of people drive from all over. It's wild. So so he has planted us in all these places. Guess what? He's he's planted us in the nations as well. And he what he does is he takes his followers, he takes his church, he plants us in the world, he scatters us in the earth. like seed all over. That means where you have been planted matters. Your neighborhood matters. Like your workplace matters. Your school matters. Your family matters. The people that you interact with every single day. Think about them. You aren't just there by chance. You are actually planted in those places for a purpose, with purpose. And I don't know if you've you you've gotten this yet as you read the scriptures, but you aren't just here to live a nice, comfortable life. That's all about you. She was like, what? Not if you if you read the gospels, not if you read the scripture. Like your life isn't actually about you anymore. Like you are actually planted where you are on purpose with purpose. Some of us get that, some of us are getting that, and some of us haven't gotten it yet. But I want to tell you, he wants you to get it. And that that purpose is a kingdom purpose. You haven't just by chance ended up where you are, you are planted. With purpose and the Lord planted you, get this, with a harvest in mind. Because everything is leading to a harvest. And the Lord planted you in that place with that in mind. He saves us and then he sends us. He doesn't save us to sit us. He saves us to send us. That's the mission Jesus gave the disciples. Remember, go. Go. The Great Commission. Matthew 28, 19 and 20. I've been in this over the last months. Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. Behold, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. That was their mission. And guess what? It's our mission. It's still the mission of every disciple. This isn't somebody else's mission. This is actually the mission of every single follower of Jesus. It's not only the mission of a pastor with a microphone or a title. It's for every person that follows Jesus, has this title. Has this call. This is our call. Jesus didn't just command it, he actually showed us what this would look like. My voice cracks, so that means I'm excited. I wanna just say that to you today. Like I think sometimes in church culture we start thinking that that this was about them as disciples instead of a call to every single one of us as disciples. This is every one of our call. It isn't just like the mission of a church, it's the mission of a person. Everyone. Everyone. And it's so subtle how it gets in us where we kind of compartmentalize this thing, like, that's for that person. No, if you are a follower of Jesus, you are on mission. And you've been planted where you are with a purpose, whether you realize it or not. Let's turn again over to Matthew chapter 9, where Pastor Steve was last week. And I want us to look again at this passage, Matthew chapter 9, starting with verse 35. It says this, and Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. How many thankful that that's what he does? That's not just what he did, it's what he does still. Every disease, every affliction. And then watch what happens next. It says when he saw the crowds, when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. This is one of the things I love about Jesus that Jesus doesn't look at the brokenness of the world with irritation. He doesn't look at the at the brokenness of the world with anger. He looks at the brokenness of the world with compassion. And then he turns to his disciples and he says this, verse 37. He says, He says, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. I love how the message reads. This little line here, it says it like this, it says, What a huge harvest, he said to the disciples, how few workers. And then the message version reads it like this, on your knees and pray for harvest hands. On your knees, pray for harvest hands. So here is Jesus out not only, not only teaching, not only preaching, but he is demonstrating the kingdom of God. He's demonstrating it by healing people, by by setting people free from every disease and every affliction. And you you notice the progression of what we just read. He saw something. He saw the crowds. He had compassion because of their condition. They were harassed. And helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. You think about this, these people that he's teaching and he's preaching and he's proclaiming the kingdom to, they they had religion. They had religion, they had all kinds of religious leaders. They had the teaching of the law, they had the traditions of men, but guess what? It wasn't leading them to freedom and to life. And what they needed was a mess, they didn't need a message of religion, they needed a message of the kingdom of God. They needed the message. Of Jesus. And it is the same today. Jesus sees the people and is moved with compassion. And this word compassion is an amazing word. It's it's this we probably all have different ideas about it, but what it really is is this this deep sympathy, this deep ache for someone who's hit by misfortune. And with it, it isn't just that. It is also this strong desire to alleviate that suffering. That's compassion. The word isn't only simply a feeling of sympathy or pity, it's also a desire to act, a plan to act. True compassion is birthed in an emotion, but guys, it gives way to an actual motion. It's not, I just feel for you. It's also, I'm gonna do something. I'm gonna do something. This is the gospel. How many are thankful God didn't just have pity on you? And keep walking by you. No, he loved you so much that he sent his only son to die, to redeem you, to save you, to claim you. He had compassion on you. He didn't just have pity on you. He did something. It's the whole purpose Jesus came to the world. I came to seek and to save that which was lost. How many were lost at one time? Every single one of us. He came for the broken, he came for the hurting. He came for the addict, hi came for the alcoholic, hi came for the prodigal, hi came for the for the liar, hi came for the cheater, hi came for the one who was ready to give up on life. I say this today. If you're harassed and you feel helpless and you feel hopeless today, I want to tell you, he came for you. He's not mad at you. He wants to be your shepherd. He wants to set you free and he wants to heal you. This is the gospel of the kingdom. It's not talk, it's a demonstration. It's available today. His compassion comes to where people are. His compassion preceded the miraculous. That's what stands out to me as I'm in that passage. His compassion preceded the miraculous. When he saw the great multitude, he was moved with compassion and he healed them. I wonder, do we have this in us? When you see broken people, do you feel compassion or do we feel judgment? Are we overwhelmed with grace for them? Or do we feel a little arrogant and snooty? Like, well, they're ruining their life. They're gonna get what they deserve. Listen to me. If you see people that way, you don't see people like Jesus sees people. If we ever begin to feel deserving of what we have been given, and that somehow others aren't, we miss the whole thing. I feel like there should have been a bigger amen. We'll miss the whole thing. I hope we live with the reality of the gospel, and that's this: that God knows everything about me. He saved me and he loved me anyway. Like he knew my sin, he knew my failure. He knew my brokenness. Sometimes we forget this. Sometimes we forget and we need to remember what he has saved us from. Sometimes we have to remember that whatever flavor, whatever version of it, we were harassed and helpless too before Jesus. And He had compassion on me anyway. Cause the moment that you think otherwise, you're not playing for Team Jesus. Do we anybody that wants to play for Team Jesus? I know I can feel it in the room today. So he sees the crowd and he has compassion on them. Church, we need this. We need this. I I wonder I've said this before. I wonder if we would see more miracles if we had more compassion. 'Cause when Jesus was moved with compassion, God moved in the miraculous. Right? We pray for a move of God. I honestly wonder if we need to pray for a move of compassion. So much in life just numbs us out from people. Thought what Pastor Steve was sharing last week was so powerful. Like, like we just miss who's in front of us. We need God to touch our hearts. We need God to give us his compassion. So Jesus sees the people, he feels this deep compassion, and then Jesus sees something else. He sees the harvest. He tells the disciples, and I think he's telling us, the harvest is plentiful. It means massive. It means it's huge. It's huge. Bad. Such a dad thing to do. Huge. He's saying there's an unlimited opportunity here. There are so many ready to come into the kingdom. But here's the problem. The workers are few. The laborers are few. I love Steve's picture. Do we have that from last week? I thought it was just so well done. The harvest is plentiful. The workers are few. In other words, you don't have a harvest problem. You have a worker problem. You have a worker problem. His sense this massiv. Harvest of people that are ready to come in, but the harvest hands are few. The harvest hands are few. You think about it, there's such an abundance of opportunity right now. Sometimes we don't see it. We have to have eyes to see it, right? Like you can walk down the hallway of Hope Church down here, and you can see the wall, the missions wall that we're a part of all over the world. It's incredible the ways that we are a part of. Seeing the harvest happening in the nations of the world. I'll tell you, we don't, we're we're not a church that hypes what we do up very much at all. I feel like sometimes we need to we should talk about things more, but I want to tell you, we have a massive reach around the world. It's a massive reach through Glob Global Missions, through Hope Church, through your giving, through your praying. I mean, we are touching nations. I mean, we're talking major things happening around the world. But let's not even say the world. Because that that sometimes can just seem so big and so far out. Let's talk about the harvest that's right here in our city. Let's talk about the opportunity that is right here. You know, you can read all these articles. I've read them all, all the averages, just that Springfield's rates of all these things are just higher, right? Anxiety, depression. I I read a thing that said our depression rates are 36% higher than the US average. I won't even go into the crime and the abuse stats. Let me tell you, people are hurting in our city. People are broken in our city everywhere. People are lonely. People are harassed. They're being oppressed by demonic forces. There is such a harassment of minds and hearts and lives. There's such hopelessness. I've recently, I mean, I'm always at the hospital visiting people, it feels like, but I've had to go to the ER a few times in the last few months with different things. And I'll tell you what, you wait in the ER at Cox or Mercy and you will see brokenness. If you're feeling full of faith and you want to go touch people, go sit in the ER and ask God who He wants you to pray for and go love on Him and pray for Him. I'm telling you what, there is a harvest right there of brokenness. But we don't even have to go to those places because you see it right where you are. So do I. The places that you go to it's all around us and it is in all kinds of flavors. It's no different than what Jesus saw. And here's what's wild Jesus doesn't say, pray for a harvest. He doesn't actually say to us right there, pray for the lost. He says, pray for laborers. Pray for laborers. Here's what I love. The people that Jesus tells to pray right there, the disciples in Matthew 9, are the very people that he sends a few verses later in Matthew 10. They pray for laborers and guess what? They become the laborers. Yes, they do. They become the laborers. Because something happens when you pray. Something happens when you pray. Prayer doesn't just change things, prayer actually changes you. And if the stats are true, we do very little of it. Somebody said this and it really stayed with me that prayer is like it's like the operating room to transform your heart. It's this it's it's it's when you pray about something, it starts touching your heart. That's why Jesus, I think, says, pray for your enemies. Right? Pray for those who spitefully use you. Pray for pray for those who persecute you. Cause when you pray, you actually get into the surgery room of heaven. And he begins to touch you and he begins to put his love for enemies in your own heart. You can't do that on your own. That's not a natural thing. It's a spirit thing. When we come out of prayer over time, we begin to love our enemies. Say I think it's the same thing that happens when we pray for the harvest. When you get his heart for the harvest, you start praying the prayer that Jesus said to pray. How many of us know if Jesus says, hey, pray for this, we should probably pray for that. Right? Like we can't, we shouldn't ignore it, be like, that's a nice idea. Thank you, Jesus. No, he actually says, pray for this. We pray for all kinds of things, but maybe we should focus in on what Jesus says to pray for. Right? Because when you start praying for this, your heart actually starts to change. And what happens is I think you actually begin to get compassion. You begin to get God's heart. And guys, I really feel this. We need God's heart. Like we can't flesh this. We can't will this. We need the heart of God beating in us. Otherwise, we'll just make people projects. I don't know about you, I don't like to be somebody's project. Like I don't want to just be like like a a little thing that they you know have on their list. We'll hurt people, but when we get his heart and his compassion through prayer, the prayer shifts actually from God send somebody to God me. God send me, God, like use me. Like I'm praying for somebody else. I'm praying for the laborers, but all of a sudden in my heart, I'm like, I actually want to be a laborer. Like I didn't want to tell people about Jesus. Now I do. I was afraid, I didn't have a vision for it, but now in prayer, I I can't help but let it out. I don't want to keep this good thing to myself. Remember the parable of the great banquet a couple months ago, month and a half ago. Remember the heart of that story? There was this great banquet, the invitations went out, everything was ready, and they made the announcement to the people who had received the invitations. And people began to make excuses. You remember them? Like, I I can't come, I bought a field, I bought an ox, I got a wife. I always loved that one. So you remember this? The master then tells the servant in Luke 14, I think 21, he says, Go out quickly to the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame. Why? Because the people that were already invited, they're not coming. Verse 22 and the servant said, Sir, what you commanded has been done, and I love this, still there is room. And the master said to the servant, go out to the highways and the it says hedges. I was always like highways and byways. I don't even know what that means fully. But go out there and compel people to come in that my house may be filled. These words of Jesus are just hitting me right now, you guys. Go out, still, there is room. There is still room in the kingdom. There is still room for your neighbor. There is still room for your coworker, for the prodigal, the addict, the skeptic. Still room for the person who has blown up their life and thinks God could never want me. There is still room. There is still room. The people who were full on life didn't come. But you know what? You know who will come? The people who are recognizing their need, who recognize their brokenness. They'll come. Go out to the highways and the byways and compel people to come in that my house may be filled. Three phrases. Go out, compel them. Fill the house. Go out there. Go out there. Where is out there? Where they are. Where they are. It's not waiting for them to come here. I think sometimes we think that. It's the call, the call is go out there. Do you know who's out there? You. I'm in here and I'm trying to get out there. But I'm I am surrounded by the church, believers. And I'm trying to get out there. I'm trying to, I mean, I take walks in my neighborhood and I just stop every person I possibly can to try and just begin a relationship with them. Like I'm looking for for people that don't know Jesus, but I'm surrounded by a lot of them. But many of you, most of you, don't spend your days here at Hope Church every day. You're out there. The call is go out there where they are. It's a going out to people outside the usual circle. And inviting them, compelling them to come in. You know, compelling it doesn't mean force them. It means urge them. Urge them. Help them understand this invitation is actually for you. It's for you. And sometimes I think we make this so difficult. Like we think, I've got to have all my theology right and I have to have this script. No, no, no, no. I think it's sometimes as simple as saying, hey, do you know that Jesus loves you? You say, that sounds cheesy. Guess what? It's actually everything. Pastor Mark Byrley was telling me just a story a couple days ago of just a random moment where he was going in to pick up a couple of pizzas in the town that they lived in. And when he got there, the lady that you know he paid and she gave it to him, and he was about to leave. And it all of a sudden just something moved in his heart, and he's like, Hey, do you do you know that Jesus loves you? And the woman began to weep, just tears flowing down her face. You know what? He could have grabbed that pizza, walked straight out the door. But whatever reason, he saw her. He saw her. And in that little moment, something shifted. I don't want to tell his story. I guess I did. He he can tell you more detail when he when he has an opportunity to. We can't make people believe, but we can make the invitation clear. What is that imitation? God loves you. Jesus loves you. He died for you. Repent and believe the gospel. Why? He wants his house filled. This is the heart of God. He wants people at his table. He wants the prodigal's home. He wants the lost found. He wants the broken restored. He wants his house filled. He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's his heart. He's He's talking in this parable about people coming into the kingdom, not necessarily into the church, but I believe that the effect of people coming into the kingdom is that our churches will be filled. I believe our church is to be filled. We didn't add parking spots just so it'd be more convenient for you. Although that's we added parking spots because we actually believe that there are many people all over our city that need the good news of Jesus and hope. Right? But how many thankful for the extra space out there? Yeah. It's a secondary. I have no desire to pursue being, you know, a mega church. But I'll tell you what I do have. I have a intense desire that we would reach as many people as possible for the kingdom of God. In church, I'm willing for that to inconvenience us. Are you? I'm willing to add services. Are you? People are coming to Jesus. Are we willing to change schedules? Are we willing to serve? Are we willing to give? Are we willing to lay down our comforts and our preferences because people are coming to Jesus? The father wants his house filled. Sometimes I think we spend so much time hoping for a harvest, but harvest doesn't come merely because somebody hopes for one. Like I'm no farmer, clearly. Sometimes in my mind I think I am, but I'm not. But you imagine a farmer, you know, who's sitting on his porch, and you walk up and you ask the farmer, you say, What do you do? And he's saying, I'm hoping. You just imagine him on a rocking chair in the I'm hoping. You say, What are you hoping for? He says, A harvest. So you ask, Well, did you plant anything? Nope. Are are you planning on going to the field to harvest something? Nope. You probably laugh, say, Good luck, you're gonna be hoping for a long time. Because farmers understand something that you don't reap where you've never sowed. Right? There's seed, there's sowing, there's watering, and there's waiting. There is labor involved. And ultimately, it's this God gives the growth. God gives the growth. But there's labor involved. If you don't plant the seeds, nothing's gonna grow. And if you don't go out to the harvest, guess what? You don't reap a harvest. Remember where we started this morning, back in Mark Four. The farmer scatters the seed, he goes to sleep, he wakes up, and somehow the seed sprouts and grows. And I love that. He knows not how. We don't make the seed grow. That's God's part. What does that mean? It means we don't change hearts. Like we we can't do that. We can't change a heart. We don't do that. We don't save anybody. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. But here's our part we scatter the seed. We plant seeds. We pray. We we love. We serve. We speak. We invite. We are bold and we go. And God does what only God can do. How many know the pressure's off? We aren't responsible for results. We're responsible for being the sons and daughters of the kingdom wherever we are planted and scattering seed that that many would come into the kingdom of God. In John four, Jesus says it like this. He's talking about the harvest. He says, verse thirty five, Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. Think he might say today, lift up your eyes, look up from your phones. Look up from your busy schedules. Look up from making your life all about you and see the harvest. Look at what's in front of you. We say, look at who's in front of you. I was last night on a walk in my neighborhood and I I love to be friendly, but I was intent on getting my steps in. And this sweet family that I've connected with one or two times was with out walking and kids were riding their bike, and I almost just went right past them. But you know what? I stopped. I wanted to get those steps in. But I was like, these people, I need to talk with them. I'd love to say that we had an amazing moment where I told them about Jesus and they, you know, got down on their knees and repent or something. You know, it didn't happen like that. I just shared. Who I was with them, and it was another scattering of seed. But I'm telling you what, I'm believing for them to come into the kingdom of God. But I could have been intent on what I was doing or looking at my phone and walked right past him. Jesus wants us to see who is right in front of us because there is a harvest all around us. They're already there. They're right in front of you. They're right where you go. Sometimes we think the harvest is on the other side of the world, and it is, but most of the time, the harvest is just on the other side of your street. It's it's right next door. It's in the office down the hall. It's sitting at the table next to you. It's on the bleacher at the at the kids' game. It's the server that comes up to your table. It's that random conversation that you strike up with that person. I just want to tell you, the harvest is right where you are. Are you guys with me this morning? God knew what he was doing when he planted you where he put you. He wants you to see it. Your job isn't only about making money. Your business isn't only about building something successful. Your neighborhood isn't only about the place where you live and sleep. You've been planted there with harvest and money. Imagine your neighbors on either side of you. They're not just the ones that like let their grass grow too much and you get irritated with them. You've been planted there for a reason. What does God have for you with those people that you pull into your garage and out without even thinking twice about it? Why does he have you there? Quiet. Give us harvest hands. Give us a harvest heart. I'm praying this for me. And I'm praying this for us. Because you know what? People are coming into the kingdom and I'd like to be a part of it. Even though we have lots of churches in Springfield, our city is largely un largely unchurched, unreached, undiscipled. I'm not here to guilt anybody on any of this into reaching the loss. You can't guilt people into this, you know. But Jesus is saying you can pray, and the prayer will actually change your heart, and you'll actually find yourself becoming the answer to the prayer. Jesus said, You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you to be my witnesses. You think about that. The day of Pentecost, it happened. They're filled with the Holy Spirit in the upper room. But guess what? They didn't stay in the upper room. They went into the streets. They they they changed history. Wherever they went, they didn't stay together. That same day, 3,000 people repented, were baptized. The presence of God actually sends us out to the world. We encounter Him together here, but I want to tell you as we go out, we go out there and we take Him with us. I think when it comes to sharing the good news with people, we forget that it's actually just good news. It's just that. Let's not forget how good it is. How good he is. And sometimes it's just as simple as saying, Jesus loves you, or is there anything I can pray with you for? We have to resist the idea that someone else is coming, someone else more anointed, is gonna come and share the good news. What if God is saying you're the one? I put you where you are for harvest. You're it. Tell you this: if he elevates you and gives you favor, he's done it with harvest in mind. I put you in that office with harvest in mind. I put you in that hospital with harvest in mind, in that school, in that place of authority, in that bank or that business. You have been planted with a kingdom purpose. Guys, I'm not content for us just to coast along and be some nice, comfortable church. I don't want to do that. I would rather do something else. I don't want to be a church that just stays in here and only enjoys one another. That's part of it and important. Jesus has called us to be a missional people. I would even say a missional force in our city and the world. He's not called us to comfort and ease. That's not what the assignment is. You don't see that anywhere in scripture. He's called us to be a church that refuses to play it safe. Takes his word and steps out in faith out there. He's called us to be his harvest hands. We're seeing this happen already at hope. People are coming to Jesus. I met so many people in the last two or three weeks that just the stories, I'm like, I'm so glad you're here. Met a woman just this last week that just came out of Mormonism, gave her life to Jesus, and she's turned to Jesus right here in our church. I've heard that multiple times over the last year or so. I I was sitting with others who hadn't been in church. For years, and God brought them here. They walked in here. It was just God that did it. And they're sitting in worship and tears are flowing down their faces. And God is speaking to them. And even in our little ministry times, somebody put their hand on them and just gave them a word or a word of encouragement. I'm telling you what, God is showing up. People are coming into the kingdom. People that have been burned out in life, beat up in church, hurt by life, all of it. They are coming in. They are here. They are on the property and they're coming. And I want to tell you, there's more. There's way more coming. It's way more coming. It's beautiful. I believe what God is gonna do over this next decade is going to be nothing short of supernatural with our church and in our city because He has a pent-up desire to pour out his spirit here, and we're a part of that. You're gonna see people coming to Jesus, and I say you, you individually are going to begin to see people come to Jesus. Prodigals returning. You're gonna see, we as a as a church are gonna are gonna see churches planted, I believe. Do we have faith for that? Global missions expanding all over the world. We're gonna see healings, deliverance, freedom. We're seeing all of this right now. Families restored, generations discipled and sent out to do the Jesus stuff. We're gonna see the kingdom come in us and through us. We are not here just to have a good time together. We're here to see the kingdom of God come. That's it. Stand with me. Here's what I'll say: prayer is the foundation. Can I hear an amen on that? Prayer is the foundation. The next three days, as Dana said, our church is doing a time of prayer and fasting that starts tomorrow, ends Wednesday. and our focus is just this: it's it's we're praying for harvest hands, we're praying for the laborers, we're praying for our own hearts. We're praying that compassion for people would get in us and would would would just change our hearts. We're praying for the lost. We're praying that this season would be a season of great harvest. Here's what I want to do. I want to encourage you, join us, jump in on this in some way. Fast tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday. Some people fast the whole time, some people take a meal. I mean, whatever it is between you and the Lord, but let's join together and let's ask God to make us harvest hands. Can I I feel like I want to hear a few more amens? I really do. The second thing is equipping this Wednesday night is happening in this room. There's multiple equippings happening, but I want to plug the one that's in this room because it's for everybody. We're gonna get real practical and we're gonna equip you in how to share your faith. So if you're like, I'm scared of all this, but I want a real practical help with this, guess what? Wednesday night will help you practically be equipped. To share your faith. Fasting, this Wednesday equipping, and this is how we're gonna end today. I'm gonna ask you to get with somebody near you, and if you don't know them, find out their name. And and half the room's getting their blood pressure just went up through the roof. I have to talk to someone. Yes. I want you to introduce yourself and we're just gonna say a simple prayer. It might last for a minute, might last for three. We've got five minutes left till official dismissal. But I want you to join with someone and ask God to awaken compassion in you. That you would have his compassion in your heart. That we would ask him for his heart. That we would ask him to give us harvest hands. That he would make us harvest hands. And then I want to ask you this. If you know one person that doesn't know the Lord, some of you, you're gonna your mind's gonna go right to them right now, who is that one person that you're gonna step out and you're gonna begin to be a witness to? You're gonna begin to share your faith. You're gonna begin to be bold. You're gonna begin to move into what God is releasing. If you have that person, I want you to share that name of that person. That's how we're ending. So some of you be done in a minute, some of you be done in like five. But I want you to turn to that person. Maybe it's your spouse, maybe it's somebody you came with, maybe it's not. But let's make sure no one's left out and just take a minute and let's just ask him to give us his heart today. Okay? Ready, set, go.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention Matthew 9 · chapter mention