Luke, Chapter 8: We’re going to talk this morning…If I had to say there were three or four passages of Scripture that I think are very important to my life personally, I would say the prodigal son is by far my favorite, my favorite parable that’s ever been written. We’re going to talk about that later in Luke Chapter 15. I also love the story of the Good Samaritan; it’s one of my favorite stories. It’s so rich; there’s so many things in the Good Samaritan. And we’re going to talk about that too. It’s coming up in Luke.
But this morning, I want to talk to you about the law of the farm. The law of the farm. I mentioned a minute ago that 3 ½ years ago, over 3 ½ years ago, we had a tragedy on our campus. And it was, it was such a dark day. And I get asked all the time, “How in the world is New Life Church not a big used car lot because that what, really, there’s no church in American history—Bill Heigel’s told me this, he said, “Brady, there’s not a single church in American history that has undergone two death blows like your fellowship has and has survived, much less thrived. Last year, last year we baptized nine hundred people last year. [Applause] You know that? Nine hundred people baptized last year.
And I’ll be looking for more than that this year. And I don’t care about attendance. I don’t ask about attendance. Pastor Garvin will tell you. I’m not fixated on it. I don’t care. Pastors ask me all the time how big is New Life? I say I don’t know. I know my family and I go there. I have no idea, I don’t care. I don’t fixate on attendance. What I do know is God is among us. The lampstand of God is among us. There’s life happening here. There’s peoples’ hearts being changed here. There’s friendships and families being formed here. And for that I am thankful.
So pastors ask me all the time, “Well, you know”—and I’m speaking at a couple of pastors’ events in the next couple of months. And the question is “How in the world did all that happen? You guys should not exist. You guys should be like a small gathering of people trying to figure out how to gracefully sell the building.” And honestly that’s what should have happened. But somewhere along the way, God showed me something. And I have watched it happen among us.
What I’m going to share this morning is not only I believe a clear picture of what God did in us as a church, but I believe it’s a clear picture of what God wants to do in every one of us in our hearts if you’ll embrace the law of the farm. You know, last week we talked about being disappointed in Jesus, about Jesus going to John the Baptist and not answering all of his prayers. And we talked about each of us last week about having prayers that we prayed to God that were not answered and how that can lead to disappointment.
And I certainly do believe that God is a miraculous God. I believe that God can immediately answer a prayer, He can immediately heal a body, He can immediately bring marriages back together, He can immediately bring the prodigal home. God can do anything immediately. But most often the way God does things in our lives is through a process. And we have to learn as Americans, in our microwave culture, that God is not into microwaving all the time. Most often he’s into marinating. And a lot of times the work of God that happens in our lives is a process. It is something that is formed and shaped over time.
And so I’m going to share this with you this morning in the law of the farm. Luke, Chapter 8: are you there? All right; now I want you to notice something. I’m going to start reading in just a minute in verse 11. But would you look. If you have your Bible open, look down to verse 4 and notice something very important here. In verse 4, it says that Jesus stood before a big crowd and said this parable. Is that what it says there in verse 4 in your Bible—that Jesus was in front of a big crowd and he told this parable about the four types of soil? Now, I’m going to point this out to you because I believe this is important for the way we do church, the way we are as a fellowship.
So Jesus stands before a crowd maybe this size, maybe bigger, smaller—I don’t know. It doesn’t say the number of people who were listening. And he shares, really, about a five or ten minute talk with a big crowd of people. And he gives a parable for them to think about. Then in verse 11, the disciples, the twelve men that he primarily spent his time with, they came to Jesus and said, “Hey, Jesus”—it was probably Peter. Peter probably came to Jesus and said, “Jesus that was a good talk. Man that was good. I mean, they laughed at all your jokes. You were on, man. If you were ever on, you were on this morning. And that message—Wow! Life changing; I will never forget it.
What did you mean by all that?’ [Laughter] That’s really what he said. He said to Jesus, “Would you explain this a little more?’ Now, I’m bringing this up because last week I brought this point out that this is not enough. Just listening to me teach some Bible lesson on Sunday morning is not nearly enough for any of us to become fully-shaped disciples. And while the messages may be good, may be—good or bad—it doesn’t matter. What needs to happen is these messages need to become a part of our conversation. It needs to be embedded into a listening ear and speaking tongue.
So what I’m hoping to do today is to raise some questions. I am not here to completely answer all of your questions out of Luke 8. I cannot answer all of your questions from Luke 8. What I am hoping will happen is though you will take these into conversations today, tomorrow, and throughout the week. I am praying that conversations will begin to happen and these messages will be embedded in a listening ear and a speaking tongue. All right? Luke, Chapter 8. Now, he is sitting with his disciples. He’s not speaking to the crowd. He says, “Okay, guys. Let me tell you what I really meant by that fascinating talk”--from verse 4.
Verse 11: This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God. Can we please get this right in charismatic circles? The seed is the word of God. It is the most living, active, powerful agent of change we have in the universe—the word of God. Jesus himself said it: “The seed”—say it with me—“is the word of God.” I’m not going to get off on a tangent on that. Verse 12: Those along the path—now remember he’s talked about four types of soil, seeds scattered on four types of soil—those along the path are the ones who hear. And then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not be believed and be saved. Now, let me stop here for a second.
Can I tell you something? If you’re a mature Christ follower, sitting in this crowd this morning, you have a participatory obligation this morning, along with me. While I have been commissioned to preach the word this morning, you are now commissioned—I am commissioning you now—to pray with me as I speak. As the word of God goes forth, our enemy who roams about trying to steal, kill, and destroy, our enemy will roam about the crowd this morning. A lot of people are watching on the web. A lot of people will listen to this via podcast for years. Years from now people will still be listening to this message via podcast because of technology. As the word is spoken, the enemy is there to try to steal and to try to snatch it away.
Can I ask you this morning, as any time, anybody is up here preaching, anybody is up here teaching, you begin to fervently pray that the enemy will not snatch away the word from the very people who need the life-giving message that’s being spoken. Would you do that with me this morning? So silently, just as God, as the Holy Spirit reminds you as you’re sitting in the crowd, you have a role to play with me. You pray that the enemy would not snatch it away from people who need to hear it. Okay?
All right. Let’s keep reading here. This is very good—Verse 13: Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. There are people who go, “Man, that was good. That was awesome. I loved it.” But they have no root. They believe for a while. But in the time of testing, they fall away. Notice it’s not if bad times happen to all of us, it’s when. All of us will walk through the valley of the shadow of death. You cannot live life without ending up in places that seem dark. You cannot live life void of suffering. We must embrace suffering into our theology, and understand that God is with us on the mountaintop and God is with us in the valley. But suffering and understanding that tough times happen is a part of becoming a mature Christ follower.
It says this group of people, though, were not prepared for the tough times that were ahead. And when that time of testing came, they had no root. In other words, these were people who heard the word but never let it go deep down in their heart. They never talked about it. They never had conversations about it. They never prayed about it. They never studied it on their own. They just heard the pastor teach and walked out and went to their car. And nothing ever got down deep into their soul. Nothing ever took root in their life.
Verse 14: Now here’s the third type. The seed that fell among the thorns stands for those who hear—in other words, they hear the word, they heard the preaching—but as they go on their way, they are choked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures. And they do not mature. This is America; this is the Americans. He’s talking about Americans, Western civilization. This is exactly what happened. There are more people sitting in most churches today who care more about what Steve Job’s is talking about than what Jesus is talking about. I knew it would get very quiet right at that moment. This is the point I’m making. They are choked, literally choked by stuff, by worries, riches, and pleasures. They are consumed by the culture. The culture has engrafted them in their heart. Everything they think about, everything they talk about is cultural pop cultural things around them. Stuff they have, stuff they don’t have, stuff their friends have, stuff their neighbors have. It has consumed them, and the word of God literally just bounces off, bounces off. The word of God just bounces off because their heart has been captured by something that is very temporary.
Alright, Let’s keep reading. I knew that would get really quiet there. Verse 15: But here’s the fourth type of soil and here is, if I have a motive or if I have an ambition for all of us is we become a part of this fourth group. Verse 15: But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart. Notice where the transformation begins always: it begins in the inner circle of our heart, the core of our heart, the inside. The Gospel is an inside out message; it always starts on the inside.
The Bible says our mouth always betrays our heart. So what’s in our heart will come spilling out of our mouth. What’s in our heart will affect our actions. What is inside of our heart will affect everything about us: our habits, our attitudes, our desires all begin with our heart. So he says those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word—notice this, they hear the word—retain it. Can we stop there for a second? What does that mean you think? They hear the word. So the word is spoken whether it’s a good message, a bad message, a great message. It doesn’t matter. If the word of God is spoken, either by an amateur, by a professional; it doesn’t matter. They hear it and they retain it.
Now I want to challenge you something, all right? I said this last week. Studies have proven that if you don’t write something down or have a conversation about it within a few hours of hearing it, you will forget it in three days. So by Tuesday or Wednesday, you will have no recollection of anything that was said here this morning if you don’t write it down or have a conversation about it or both. Can I start challenging you? I know something and I’ve had people tell me, “Pastor Brady, I get distracted if I take notes. So I listen to you and then I go back and listen to it on podcast and take notes.” So I understand. I know you’re wired differently.
But a lot of you needed to have something to write with when you come on Sunday morning because there is a slight chance, an outside chance -- at best, I know-- that something might be said that is worthy of repeating. [Laughter] So they retain it. So these are mature people who learn to retain the word. They hear it and they catch it. They grab hold of it. They make it a part of who they are. They make it part of their conversation.
And by persevering -- notice that word: so it’s not always instant is it? It doesn’t always happen right, immediately, right? Sometimes walking with God requires us to persevere, to keep going. You know what that word really means? It means to take another step. One more step. And I talk to people all the time, and they said, “Pastor Brady, I just feel stuck. You know I feel stuck. I’m not going anywhere” I said, “Listen, the journey’s long. The journey’s not about the destination. The journey’s about taking the next step.” Take the next step sometimes. Make yourself move forward even if it’s a small movement.
But persevering is a part of the Christian faith we have, we don’t talk about that very much because we are a microwave culture. Add water; put it in the microwave: instant meal. That’s our culture. But that’s not the ways of God. That’s not the ways of Jesus. He’s saying, “Listen, sometimes it’s going to take you months. It might take years. It might take a long time, more than you have imagined. But by persevering, you will produce a good crop.
So I want to talk to you for a few minutes about the law of the farm. And I get this. When I read this a few months ago, I really caught this like I’d never caught it before. I grew up in northwest Louisiana on a piece -- I can still see it very vividly in my mind, this place where my Mom and Dad built their house. They built a house with their own two hands. Some family and friends helped them. And my Mom and Dad built the very first house they lived in as a young married couple. It was 800 square feet. It was a tiny little thing. And it was three bedrooms, one bath, a little kitchen area, a little place where we ate, a little dining area, and a little living area right there. And I remember this house. They painted it red for whatever reason. The whole house outside was red. It was a wood frame house, and they painted it bright red. I mean bright red. I don’t know why; they just were excited about the red color.
But this house was there, and then behind the house was about two or three acres of open pasture land. And my Mom and Dad grew up themselves in like a very rural agricultural area. And my Dad worked at a poultry plant, a chicken plant, where live chickens went in and fried chicken came out the back door. [Laughter] That’s where my Dad worked, okay? My Dad worked there. And so if you liked live chickens, not a good place to work. So my Dad worked there. You know, he was a minimum wage, blue-collar worker growing up. He worked really hard, worked his way from like a 19-year-old who was loading on the back docks to becoming manager of the plant. This was my Dad. So he was a hard worker. My Dad was a very honest guy, very hard worker.
But my Dad also was a farmer. We had a horse named Ranger. And this was in the 1970s. I’m not describing something from the 1930s here. I’m describing something from the 1970s, okay. Which still for some of you sounds like 50 years ago. But it’s not, all right. It’s only about 40 years ago. So my Dad would have -- we were so poor though my Dad had a horse named Ranger. And we actually had a plow that he would hook to the back of this horse, okay? And my Dad would get back there and he would cut these long, straight rows in the sandy north Louisiana soil. He would -- and I said it right: “Lusiana.” If you’re from there you say, “Lusiana.” That’s how you know they’re a native, all right. If they’re a native, they call it, say, “Lusiana.” If you’re not from there, you go, “Louisiana,” which is the proper way of saying it. So anyway, so he cuts these long straight rows.
Now, I’m going to give you a quiz here. And I suspect because you’re from Colorado you may fail this miserably, but there might be some hope for some of you, right? So let me give you a quiz. There is a word that you say to the horse to make him go to the right and there is a word you say to the horse to make him nudge to the left. Do you know those words? [Inaudible] Gee, wow! I’m totally impressed! It’s “gee” and “haw,” right. “Gee” to the right; “haw” to the left. This is useful information should you ever find yourself behind a horse with a plow. [Laughter] This is very useful information.
All right, gee to the right; haw to the left. So my Dad would be behind this plow--”Gee; Haw”--tugging on those reins. And this horse had been trained so well he’d cut these perfectly straight rows. And my brother and I would follow along behind him because as you cut that row for the first time, earthworms would come up. We’d grab the worms and that would be our fishing bait for the next day.
Listen, I grew up Huckleberry Finn. When I read Huckleberry Finn, I thought it was completely overrated because I thought everybody grew up like that. That’s how I grew up, seriously. I’m not embellishing that. I had a gun, and a horse, and a hatchet. And I was gone all day long at 9 years old. I was Callie’s age, and I’d be gone all day long on my horse, with a hatchet attached to my side, and a gun and a scabbard. I was John Wayne. That’s how I grew up, all right?
So my Dad would cut these long straight rows, and then we would, he would have it cut in these perfect rows, about two acres. And then we’d go down to the feed store and buy seeds. And we would have corn, lots of corn. We would have okra, which we fried, and tomatoes, lots of tomatoes. And then we would have my favorite: purple hull peas. And does anybody know the difference between black-eye peas and purple hull peas? Oh, man. [Laughter] You know, okay, if you eat black-eyed peas, you’re eating the worst of the, all peas. If you’ve never experienced purple hull peas, you’ve not experienced the greatness of peas. All right, the greatness of peas are purple hull peas.
So we’d plant long rows of purple hull peas, all these vegetables. And then that’s what we would eat. We spent the rest of the summer harvesting those vegetables. Mom would put them in bags and canning. Have you ever, anybody here do canning? Anybody? That’s kind of a lost art. But my Mom -- and that’s what we’d eat the whole winter. We would eat those vegetables. We were organic before organic was cool. We ate a lot of vegetables at my house. And that’s the way we survived.
So let me talk to you about the law of the farm. Number one: here’s the first step in the law of the farm. The soil is prepared. If you’re going to grow, if God is going to do anything in your life, if God’s going to do anything at New Life, the soil has to be prepared. And throughout Scripture, soil is synonymous with the human heart. God is looking for somebody who will humble themselves. God is looking for somebody who will obey his voice, who will live life with a broken heart. God is looking for somebody whose heart has been broken, who the soil of their heart has been broken either by life or by God or by the Holy Spirit through worship, through obedience, through a hunger for God. The soil of their heart’s now broken.
If you’re sitting there today and you’re bitter and you’re unforgiving, and your heart is hardened toward God, God can do very little with your life. But if you’re sitting here this morning and your heart has been broken through worship, through humility. If you’ve already made up your mind, I am going to be a person who obeys God; then I can tell you something: you are ready; you are ripe for God to do something supernatural in your life. But it has to start with a choice that we make. “God, I’m going to live life with a broken heart. I’m going to live my life with a humble broken humility. I’m going to live my life as someone who hears the whispers of your voice, and is quick to obey you.” The soil has to be prepared.
The second step is that the seeds are sown. Seeds are sown. Now you’re sitting here this morning. Your heart has been broken. The word of God comes forth -- the seed is the word of God, remember that. The seed is the word of God. And here’s the great thing about Scripture. Scripture is continuously articulate. Scriptures never stop talking. God did not write the Bible and then stop talking. God says, “No, I’m going to give you the Scriptures, and they are alive.” They’re speaking to us. They’re continuously articulate. I want you to write that phrase down. That’s a great phrase to have a conversation about. Do, are the Scriptures still, do the Scriptures still speak to you or not?
And here’s the problem. I’ve told you this numerous times. The problem with becoming a mature Christ follower, someone who’s read the Bible a lot, is that we know the end to all the stories. I know Jesus comes out of the tomb. I know that Moses gets across the Red Sea before Pharaoh captures him. I know the end to all the stories. I know Goliath gets a rock to the forehead. I know all the ends to all the stories. And the problem is: when I read those Scriptures that I’ve read hundreds of times, I can become so acquainted with them, that they’ve lost their mystery and they stop speaking.
Instead, God has really convicted me to really read the Scriptures as if they are continuously articulate. They’re still speaking, they’re alive. Let the word of God, let the word of God be planted in your heart. I can tell you: people who are in despair, people who find themselves in dark places and can’t get out of it are typically people who don’t read the Scriptures very much. And I can get into a habit of that. I can go a few days without reading the Scriptures. And I know immediately there’s an effect on my life because there’s something missing.
Something alive has stopped being planted in my heart. I need to -- never lose our wonder, our fascination with this written word. Ask God: “God, when I read these Scriptures would you help them to come alive to me? Let them be, let me return to my mystery when I read them. God, show me something new in every passage that I read.” The seed now is planted. So my Dad would plant these seeds, and he would let us help him oftentimes. So we would go down these rows, these perfectly straight rows, and we’d drop these seeds in the ground and we’d cover them up. Cover up those seeds.
And then the third step is pretty important. The seeds are watered. The soil is prepared, the seeds are sown, and the seeds are watered. Now, think with me for a minute. What is synonymous with water in the Scriptures? The Holy Spirit. The presence of God is the water that he’s talking about. Let me show this to you, okay, in John? Jesus himself said this: John, Chapter 7, verse 38. “Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said streams” -- listen to this; listen to the words that Jesus carefully used -- “streams of living water.” Notice that the Scriptures are continuously articulate. So is the spirit. The spirit is living. Streams of living water will flow from within him.
And the wording that Jesus is using is overflowing like a cup that you pour too much water, the water comes over the side. It’s like a well that hasn’t been capped and the water just keeps coming out, bursting out, bubbling out. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in all of our lives. And by this he meant, by this he meant the spirit whom those who believed in him were later to receive. He’s talking about embracing the work of the Holy Spirit, embracing the presence of God. Just a moment ago when we were singing those songs -- and by the way, everything we do is worship.
The songs are not just worship; everything we do in life is worship. But those songs, those, that time when we’re singing together and we’re, our focus is on God, the water of Heaven really does fall in our lives. I would notice this with my Mom and Dad. We’d put those seeds in the ground, we’d cover those seeds, and then all the conversations for the next month would be about rain. My Mom and Dad would fret over it, worry over it, talk about it. “You think it’s going to rain? Boy, we need” -- every conversation was centered on rain.
And if you’ve ever been around farmers or ranchers, a lot of conversation -- I used to pastor in the town Herbert, Texas that almost the entire congregation were farmers and ranchers. And every Sunday, that’s all we talked about: was rain. I remember one October: I had never heard this phrase before: one October -- no, it was probably around September -- we got a really slow steady rain. I mean the panhandle of Texas was just getting slowly soaked with rain. And an old farmer said to me, he said, “Pastor Brady, that’s a million-dollar rain right there.” I’d never heard, I said, “What do you mean, that’s a million-dollar rain?” He goes, “That’s the kind of rain that makes the October harvest really good.” He said, he was making a point.
And it stuck with me for this reason: as a pastor who’s, typically I’m around charismatics. I get aggravated sometimes with charismatic people who are always begging for deluge. “Come on, God: the big deluge! Wooo! Knock us down, God! Wooo, come on! Pow! Pow!” That’s not even healthy. You know if you get a three-inch rain for five days in a row, your garden is about three miles away. [Laughter] Can I tell you the rain as a pastor that I wish you had, that I wish I had? I wish every day we’d just wake up and get a slow, steady, boring encounter. Just a little bit of rain on us every day is all that’s really needed. So if you’re running around looking for the next big deluge, you become very unhealthy. It’s not even healthy for a garden to receive a huge deluge of rain.
Just make it a lifestyle of rain. Make it every day wanting the presence of God. Every day there has to be some time where I embrace the presence of God, where I slow down long enough for just a little rain to fall on my heart. Because once that rain hits the soil -- it’s already been prepared -- and once that rain hits those seeds that are underneath that rich soil, something miraculous begins to happen. Something unseen, but we know it happens, right? So seeds under good soil with water, the right amount of water, is a perfect environment for something to magically erupt, something powerful to begin to happen.
Alright. So this is the fourth step is where it gets tough. So the soil is prepared, the seeds are sown, the seeds are watered. Now, here’s the tough part. The weeds are pulled. The weeds are pulled. And this is where it gets messy. And this is where most people lose heart. This is where most people stop the process. You know what a weed is? A weed is anything taking up resources in our lives but not producing any fruit. Cows don’t eat them; cows don’t like them. They might eat them out of necessity sometimes, but they’re not good for them.
Weeds are things that are taking up valuable resources like time; focus; attention; physical, mental, emotional resources. These are things in our lives that our consuming us, taking things away from us, but they’re not producing any fruit. Sports is a big deal to me. I mean, I’m March mad right now. I’m consumed by it. I love it. My bracket’s awful. I’m getting beat by accountants right now. And I don’t like that at all. [Laughter] But the point is it doesn’t have to be anything evil. A weed doesn’t have to be something that’s evil; it’s just something that’s distracting so much that it’s taking away valuable resources. So I watch sports; I do. But I have to govern that, I have to watch that to make sure it’s not taking away so many resources of emotion and time, and time is the big deal with all of us. Time is the most precious commodity all of us have.
We all have the same amount of that, right, the same amount of time? What is it that’s taking up a lot of your time right now, but is not producing any Kingdom resources? I’m not saying, I’m not saying not to have fun. I like having fun. I’m just saying is it something has consumed you to the point that it’s taking up a lot more time than needed, but it’s not producing anything valuable in our lives. These are the weeds that the Holy Spirit -- if you will ask God. “God show me the weeds in my life. Show me the things in my life that are consuming me, taking up the resources of my time but not producing anything that’s fruitful for your Kingdom.” The Holy Spirit will show them to you. And then you have to respond. You either have to say, “Okay, I’m going to pull those things out or I’m going to let them stay there.”
But listen: right now, in fact I looked out at my backyard yesterday, I’m already seeing some green stuff come up in my yard earlier than normal because we’ve had such a warm spring. So, green stuff is already starting to pop up. I’m well aware that that’s not all grass out there. That’s going to be weeds. Now either I have to deal with the weeds now or I’ll deal with them in July and August. Can I tell you that in July and August when they’re two or three foot tall, those obnoxious weeds, they’re hard to deal with then. But if you’ll put out some lawn stuff now, if you’ll kill the weeds now when they’re small, when they’re just beginning to germinate, that’s when you can get control of it. A weed that goes unnoticed or you don’t pay attention to, later in life becomes a thing that has taken over your life now. And it is painful to pull the weed once it’s mature. But if you’ll be prudent to pull the weeds when they’re young, when you’re aware of them right away, that’s when you’re healthy.
Alright. So let’s go over these first four steps. The soil is prepared, the seeds are sown, the seeds are watered, the weeds are pulled. Almost everyone gets the fifth step wrong. What do you think this step is? So the soil is prepared, the seeds are planted, the seeds are watered, you’ve been diligent to pull the weeds. What do you think the fifth step is? Most people say the harvest, and it’s not true. The fifth step is the hardest part: waiting. My Dad would put those seeds in the ground and cover them up. He wouldn’t stand there and go … “I’m giving that 15 more minutes or I’m going to go down to the feed store and I’m going to give somebody my mind. I paid good money for that seed.” [Laughter] “Put a little more water on that. Nothing happening: bad seed.”
And this is the way we treat God. “God, I’ve done everything you told me to do.” This is what John the Baptist -- this is exactly what we talked about last week. John the Baptist was frustrated that he was not getting the immediate results. And he had done everything right. I said this last week. John the Baptist had done everything correct. He obeyed God in every respect that we know of. Now surely, obviously he was not a perfect man, but we don’t read one time in the Scripture where John the Baptist really had a big sin. He was obedient. And yet it wasn’t happening according to his timeline.
But in the unseen realm something very powerful was happening. The Kingdom of Heaven was coming to the Earth. The Kingdom of Heaven was invading the natural realms. He just couldn’t see it all the time. What is it right now that you are waiting for? What are you waiting on God for right now? Do you even believe that anything’s happening under there? And the reason my Dad wouldn’t stand and stare at the soil is because my Dad knew the soil was good. My Dad took good care of the land. He knew that the seeds that he bought from this place that he always bought seeds from were reputable. This is a good place we bought the seeds. And my Dad had always bought good seeds. And my Dad always knew that if it didn’t rain, at least we could take the water hose out there and get a little bit of water on it.
He knew that if he followed the law of the farm that in about 10 to 12 to 13 days, a little green shoot of life would come up out of that soil. Something invisible was happening underneath the soil. We could not see it. We couldn’t control it. But it was happening. And this is, this is, parents get frustrated with kids sometimes. They get frustrated at their children. And I tell them, “Listen, there’s something happening in the unseen realm. And although you can’t see it, even though they’re still talking back to you, they might still be rebellious, listen: if you have followed the law of the farm with your children, a harvest will come just be patient.
Proverbs 22, 6 says, “Train up a child on the way they should go, and when they are older, they’ll not depart from it.” All right, there’s a lady that’s probably watching us right now. I got a little sweet letter from a lady who I think was around 80 years old watching from Baltimore, Maryland. She’s around 80 years old. She just got saved, just gave her life to the Lord. Isn’t that great? [Applause] And she, her children go to church here at New Life, and they told me a neighbor led her to the Lord. And so it was cold in Baltimore. She couldn’t go to church because it was so cold. And they said, “Hey, you know, our church is online.” So they told her how to pull up the service live. So she’s been watching live from Baltimore, Maryland.
So she sent me this sweet little note saying, “Thank you so much. I feel like you’re my pastor. Thank you for helping me know about Jesus.” She’s 80. I don’t -- her parents are gone. Most likely, her parents are no longer alive, but I can imagine there were people who were praying for her, wondering if it would ever happen. She’s 60. She’s 70. She’s almost 80. Oh, God. But something was happening in the unknown, unseen realms of her life. A neighbor came over and had a conversation with her. And the seed that had been underneath that soil -- germinating, germinating, germinating -- popped up all of a sudden. A little bud of green life came out of that soil, and now here she is, she’s a Christ follower.
I just want to encourage you this morning with this, all right? I don’t know what you’re praying for. I have no idea. I know some of you. I know some of your stories. But there’s hundreds of stories sitting out here. And there’s hundreds of you who are wondering where God is. Why is he not at work in me? What, where’s all the results? It’s happening. If you follow the law of the farm, if your heart is broken, if you’re a person who loves the word of God, if you’re a person who embraces the presence of God, if you’re someone who’s diligent to pull the weeds, I can promise you God is at work in your life. And you’ll see the results. You’ll see it happening over time.
It happened right here at New Life. There were days we were wondering, “Oh, God, where are you? What’s going on? Why so many obstacles. Why so much opposition? But we made sure our hearts were tender, we stayed pure. We continued to worship. And every time we saw a weed, we would pull the weed. We tried to be diligent about the weeds in our heart. And along the way, little green signs of life began to pop up all over our fellowship. Some of them are still popping up. Some of them are still invisible. Some of the seeds are still planted. I just have faith this morning. I have faith for you and for me. And if we follow the law of the farm, step number six is going to happen and that’s the harvest.
The harvest. The soil is prepared, the seeds are planted, seeds are watered, we pulled the weeds, and we’re willing to wait. Oh, by the way, waiting requires faith. It requires faith. What is faith? The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Right? We just want to see it all. We want to know everything. “God, show us everything you’re doing, and then I’ll have faith in you.” Right? It just doesn’t work that way. God says, “No, you’re going to have to trust me.” And the things you can’t see, the unknown realms, the invisible places, I am at work. This is word of the Lord phrase this morning, all right? This is it.
This is the bottom line. God is at work. God is moving. Your prayers are being heard. Your prayers are being answered. And while you may not see the results, I promise you God is at work. He is faithful to finish what he starts. He is faithful to build what he starts. He is faithful to bring the harvest. It’s up to us to follow the law of the farm. God’s going to do his part. I can promise you. God will do his part when we’re not doing our part. All he’s looking for is a group of people who’ll participate with him, who’ll come alongside him, who’ll keep their heart clean, who will welcome the word, welcome the presence, pull up the weeds, who are willing to wait. I can promise you the harvest is coming.
Can I pray for you this morning? I really feel this morning, and it may be different at 11:00, but here at this service, I do feel that some of you are so weary of the wait. Maybe the only reason you’re here today is you pulled yourself out of bed. You’re weary of the waiting. You’re weary of not seeing everything that you hoped you would see. I can tell you this: it hasn’t all worked out the way I thought it would work out at New Life. I’ve been here almost four years. I can promise you that. It hasn’t always worked out the way I thought it would work out. But I have not once lost my trust that God was at work among us. The moment that I ever -- if I ever believed that God was not among us, I’m not going to be among us. I wouldn’t want you to be among us if God’s not among us, right?
God is among us. God is with us. His hand -- we’re in the palm of his hand right now. This is, this is how I imagine myself throughout the day. On the toughest days of my life, I imagine myself in the palm of his hand. And no power of hell or no scheme of man can take me from that palm of his hand. I am with him, He is with me. And even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for He’s with me. You know that’s the part of the Scripture most people overlook. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for he is with us. And the moment you realize that God is with you -- I don’t care what’s going on around me, the moment I can, if I can just grasp for a few minutes that God is with me, I don’t really care what’s going on. The stuff around me, the world around me becomes strangely dim after that, doesn’t it? Doesn’t it? It should. Your sickness, your family, your marriage, whatever you’re struggling with: know this, that if He is with you, just everything around you becomes a strangely dim thing.
Can we pray together right now? Let’s ask the Lord to give us strength to wait, to trust, to believe. You know the definition of hope is this: hope is an expectation that something good is going to happen in the future. Some of you have lost hope. Some of you do not believe that something good’s going to happen in the future. I’m telling you it is. But you have to follow, if you follow the law of the farm -- I don’t want you to lose hope today -- it will happen, something good. It may not be the good that you think will happen or the good that you’re hoping will happen, but something good will happen if you will just trust God this morning and embrace, embrace what God’s doing in your life.
Would you ask yourself, Lord, would you ask the Holy Spirit because only the Holy Spirit can show you this -- I don’t know your heart. I’m not the judge of your heart -- but would you ask God this morning, “What is the condition of the soil of my heart? This is a very big question. Am I, is my heart broken? Is my heart a place that you can use, am I a usable person, God? Have I become cold, bitter or have I come to a place in my life where I am broken, where the soil of my heart is prepared? God, would you help me embrace the mystery of your word, the wonder of your continuously articulate word? Father, would you help me embrace the presence of God. Let the water from Heaven hit the soil of my heart every day. Let me embrace the presence of God every day. Father, help me to be aware of the weeds that are in my life.
And Lord, give me patience. Give me faith to wait. You know that patience is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And we’ve been told not to pray for it. I’m telling you, I pray for all the fruits: love, joy, peace … patience. Pray for it. It’s the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It’s evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work in your life when you’re able to be patient. To wait. So Father, we ask today for the ability to be patient, the ability to embrace the waiting. And Father, we thank you right now that life is coming, life is happening, life, life is happening. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Would you stand this morning? Thank you for coming out on a froggy Sunday morning. Slide back home safely. And I want our altar ministry team, those who pray down at the front, all our prayer team to come down. We are a church that really believes that prayer matters, prayer works. And I would be, it would be hard for me if you walked out, if you needed prayer and you left here today without being prayed for. That would ruin my day. So if you need prayer, don’t ruin your pastor’s day. Let us pray for you. If you’re just need prayer for your body, you’re sick, your family, your marriage, your kids, your job, your dog: we’ll pray for anything. We love praying for you, okay? Come down and let us pray for you.
Guest central’s right there. Normally, it’s right there. Just go right there, right down there. And we’d love to meet you if you’re a guest today. We have leaders, pastors, we have a gift for you. We love to introduce ourselves, talk to you, say hi to you. Okay? If you need prayer, you can come out; you’re not bothering me by stepping out if you want to get prayed for right now, okay? And make sure before your leave, you find some people you don’t know. Listen, this is a huge thing: if you will connect with somebody, it could be the difference between them following Jesus or not. And I know that’s putting a lot on you, but be aware as you’re walking around today that God might point you to somebody and would you just be obedient to just go introduce yourself. Just a simple introduction is powerful, do you know that? People really just wanted to be introduced. So do that before you just run out of here, okay?
Let’s pray together one more time. Father, thank you for what you’re doing in us, among us. Lord, we embrace the work. Thank you for the harvest that’s coming. And we bless you today. We thank you today. In Jesus’ name, Amen. God bless. You need prayer, step out and let us pray for you. Have a great Sunday. Be safe.
