October 22, 2025 • 71 mins
🌱 It doesn’t take much—just a seed.
In this bold and hope-filled message, Chaplain Heidi reminds us that some of the greatest revolutions begin with the tiniest spark of faith. You don’t need to have it all together. You just need to plant the seed and trust God with the growth.
“You are not too far gone to grow into something beautiful.” “God doesn’t throw mustard seeds away—He multiplies them.”
This one’s for the dreamers, the doubters, and anyone wondering if their story could ever lead to something greater. Start where you are. Plant what you’ve got. And watch what God can do.
📲 Listen to more messages at: sobernotboring.podbean.com 📱 Download the FREE Sober Not Boring Community App to access local resources, events, a supportive recovery community, and more! ( www.sobernotboring.com )
💬 Was this message for you? Tag a friend or drop a comment with your thoughts—your story might just plant a seed in someone else.
#outreach419, #sobernotboring, #mustardseed
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00:00 Opening Prayer and Gratitude 00:44 Prayers for Healing and Support 04:20 Message Introduction and Personal Reflection 04:48 Understanding the Mustard Seed Parable 07:18 Biblical Examples of Faith 09:40 Faith in Recovery and Community 15:37 The Role of the Church 20:55 The True Meaning of Mustard Seed Faith 25:14 Abraham's Faith and God's Promise 27:39 Step 12: Sharing and Serving 29:50 The Importance of Community Support 33:55 The Great Commission and Final Thoughts 34:40 Life and Death: A Different Perspective 35:27 The Power of Testimony 37:42 The Mustard Seed: A Metaphor for Faith 40:07 Living Out Faith in Everyday Life 43:43 The Church's Role in Society 46:32 A Call to Action: Be the Change 01:00:48 Faith in Action: Lessons from Around the World 01:01:49 The True Meaning of Revival 01:05:37 The Importance of Love in Faith 01:07:34 Challenges and Reflections on Faith 01:09:27 The Urgency of Faith: Life and Death 01:10:17 Conclusion: Embracing Mustard Seed Faith
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Father God, I thank you once again
(00:02):
for another beautiful day, for muchneeded rain, for those beautiful
colors on the trees that I'm seeing.
We get to pull out our sweatshirtsand sweaters and I'm kind of
excited about that, but prepareme for the winter that's coming.
I'm so thankful, father, foreverybody that is here today,
I pray a
(00:23):
special blessing on each one of them.
I pray Father, that you will meetthem exactly where they're at.
You know more than anyone, youknow, even more than us, what
it is that we need and you alone
can provide.
we
bring to you, father, those
that we have carried in today, and we ask
(00:44):
that you continue to be withCindy and Mike as a face.
This cancer journey, it's so difficult,father for a family when cancer
is a diagnosis, but then
when it's
more than one at a time, it's
just we pray, father,
that you are
all over this and we pray for healingin your name, if it's your will.
(01:07):
We celebrate with John that he ishome and that prayers were answered,
we pray.
Thank you, father, for unexpectedblessings that you have showered on.
Robin.
We are so.
Thankful to you and you area father who answers prayer.
We pray for safe travels for Dan whois doing some training for this new
(01:30):
job, and we pray also that Fred justcontinues to improve as he anticipates
being released and coming back home.
We pray father, that as a communitywe can be the support that he needs.
We pray for Christina also as shetransitions and makes some adjustments in
life also, and we are here for her too.
(01:51):
Father
God, we bring to you Maria, Ipray, increase stability and
ease of walking, that eventually
this walker and even a cane can be
things that are not needed.
Father, we pray this for her.
her.
we pray for Becca, who is in the
hospital with complications froma spinal tap, and we just pray
(02:15):
that this has resolved quickly and
she is home soon.
We pray for Marble Ann and her sonSteven as they walk this journey.
Father, we pray thatanswers come this week.
That help is accepted and given in a way
that helps Steven reach
(02:36):
healing and
restoration and recovery.
I pray for Marvel and as she walks thisjourney, we know those of us at her
parents,
We know the
weight and burdens of watching ourchildren struggling in life, and we
pray that she feels that your lovein a special way and that she feels
(02:56):
too, that there's a community herethat loves her right where she's at.
We are excited for Phoenix as he hashad some successes at work and some
promotions and changing shifts, and
Father, I just pray that that goessmoothly, that there is good transitions
with coworkers and into these new jobsand I'm grateful that he has a place
(03:19):
and a job that he is doing so well at.
I pray, blessings overthose kids downstairs today.
I'm so grateful to have them here.
It's beautiful.
Father, to hear the sound of kids inthis space, I love to see families
here and I know that you do.
Also,
I pray your blessingson this message today.
(03:39):
Father
as always, please get me rightout of the way and let it
be your words that are here.
Bring to us that which we need to know
And what you want
to share and
teach us.
I thank you, father for your son, Jesus.
I thank you
for all that he was willing to do.
(04:01):
It is only in him that wehave our hope for this future.
It, he is the reason for us to be able to
have the faith that we're gonna
be talking about today.
So bless us, father, and we pray all these
things in your son's name.
Amen.
Okay.
(04:22):
I was sitting
making that
big decision of which directionare we gonna go this week?
And I stumbled across something thathad me sitting back and thinking,
and it became very easy that wewere gonna be talking about this and
been sitting with this all week.
And
I'm as excited about ittoday as I was when it
(04:44):
first came.
So
I found.
That I was, those of us have,we, we've all heard about the
mustard seed in relation to faith.
I, those of us that were raised in
church.
And I realized
suddenly that I was taught very wrong.
What this actually is saying in the Bible
(05:07):
has nothing to do with a tiny faith,
has nothing to do with being small, hasnothing to do with hanging on by your
fingertips and saying, God, I'm going to
trust you with this faith thatI have that's this big right
now, and I'm reallyexcited to talk about it
So we're gonna start here.
We're gonna be talking about
(05:29):
that mustard
seed.
So first of all.
We are gonna read Mark 4 26 through 29.
Again, I do read from themessage version Bible.
So if you're using one from thepews or your own, it could very well
sound different, but I promise you
it's just a paraphrase.
(05:50):
So this says, then Jesus said,God's kingdom is like seed thrown
on a field by a man who thengoes to bed and forgets about it,
the seed sprouts and grows.
He has no idea how it
happens.
The Earth does it all without his help.
First, a green stem of grass, then a bud.
(06:12):
Then the ripened grain.
When the grain is fully formed,
he reaps and it's harvest
time.
So as we talk about faith and we use asay, a seed to demonstrate and describe
this.
we have to
start
way back at the beginning.
(06:33):
You can hold this seed in your hand andit doesn't look anything at all like
the finished product is going to be.
But there is a process that a seedhas to go through in order for
it to become all that it can be.
And the same is
true
for us
in the process.
That seed has to be put
underground and covered up.
(06:54):
It's
in darkness,
it gets water,
it gets nutrients, and
over time that outer shell will breakdown and it has to break in order to
grow.
So I want to take this aspect first.
The planting
of that seed and thinking
of.
it
representing
our
faith.
(07:16):
So we're gonna start withthat biblical example of
David.
David had a seed, a
mustard seed planted in hislife when he was anointed
to be king.
And for a lot of us here
we can
imagine, well, you're anointed asa king when you're ready to be king
and walk up and take the throne, and
it's part of that whole thing.
But it didn't go that way for
(07:36):
David.
David was anointed when aprophet came to the family home
and said, God
has sent me here because the King
of
Israel is one of your
sons.
Of course, he's so excited.
I've got
a bunch
of
sons, it's gotta be the oldest.
Brings the oldest.
He's like, yeah,
not
this one And the
(07:57):
next, and the next and the next.
And, and, no, no.
All the
sons
are
through the line.
And he is like,
it's not them.
Do you have.
Any other sons?
Yeah, my youngest, he is out in the field.
He is a shepherd.
He is just, you know,out with a sheep and that
get him over here.
So
here comes young little David
(08:20):
running from
the field,
baby of the family.
and this is the
one,
this is the
one he was anointed that day.
But did he go to
the
throne that
day?
No.
There was a process he
had to go through.
And for David, it was
some pressure that he got put
under.
So think of it, when he was
(08:42):
anointed,
that
seed was planted and thenhe is sent back out into the
fields.
You know, I
had
talked
about it
before in
my imagination, all David practicinghow a king walks and walking
up to the throne and ruling the
thing.
But as time goes on, he's like.
When is this
gonna
happen?
(09:03):
Bad things
are happening.
Saul who is the king, hears he'sgonna be king, wants nothing of it.
So now David finds himselfrunning for his life.
He's hiding in caves,just trying to stay alive.
He's
like
how am I supposed to be king if I'm dead?
He had to have
faith that even in these situations,
(09:26):
it's like his seed underground
was softening
and breaking and growth washappening, but he wasn't there yet.
then we think of
us and because most of us inhere are people in recovery
or know people that are,
(09:47):
that seed
planted can often be our surrender.
You know, we reached that rock
bottom.
We haven't
gotten sober.
We're not in
recovery, but.
We're rock bottom.
It's dark.
We're breaking,
but
we know we want
something else.
It's
time.
(10:07):
It's time.
I want something different,
and
it's not easy
for us to surrender to the unknown.
It's not easy for us to
be this tiny little seed
saying, okay, I'm
gonna break And grow
into this new way of
living.
It's not easy.
(10:27):
There's a lot of things that we have
to
face.
There's a lot of thingsthat we have to do,
but that surrender, thatwillingness to look at ourselves
And say, something has to
change.
This can't continue this way.
I can't stay this tiny little seed.
I
have to become everythingthat I'm meant to be.
(10:49):
And then I think, what is
that planted seed for the church
itself?
And I went back to allthe unseen things that
happen in
church in who takes care ofbuilding or who ministers or
who's caring for each other.
And this is all of
us.
I'm not talking
about
(11:09):
me.
This is the
unseen things that we do.
We're not doing it to get
noticed.
We're just simply doing.
So even the church itself
has even
that seed phase, seed phase beforewe move into some of the growth
(11:33):
The growth is where you start to seethe evidence of what has been planted.
So in second Corinthians, let
me find this.
Two Corinthians five, verse 17 says,
now we look inside and what wesee is that anyone united with
(11:57):
the Messiah gets a fresh start
is created new.
The old life is gone and a new life
emerges.
This new life thoughdoesn't emerge without
something
dying first.
(12:17):
You can
see even on these what used to be
the
seed,
and it's kind of
remarkable to see what iscontained inside of a seed.
We can see it.
I see it all the time on my littleseedlings that come up, that little
tiny seed parts are just hanging offfrom it, but that's what contained
it and like
that seed, everyone
(12:37):
here is potential like that
for Paul.
sprouts and his growth was on his Damascusroad when he came face to face with
Jesus.
Paul at that time was on hisway to persecute, imprison,
and kill people who followed
Jesus.
(12:58):
He was a religious leader.
He was a Pharisee, highly educated.
He had all kinds of
respect,
but He wasn't
who he was meant to
be.
That seed was planted
when he heard about Jesus.
He heard the teaching seeds get planted in
(13:18):
that time.
He wasn't ready to believe, obviously,'cause he was chasing him down.
But that water and that
pressure forced from him,growth that came in the
form of Jesus, meeting
him on Damascus Road,
why are you persecuting
me?
And he knew and recognizedimmediately who he's
(13:40):
talking
to.
He was
blinded
and was sent to a townwhere somebody would receive
him.
They weren't excited
to
receive
him.
This was Paul, the
one
who kills people that believe in Jesus.
And you want me to take him into my house?
Yeah, I do.
And his life was
never
(14:00):
the
same.
He sprouted
like that
on Damascus Road
and didn't stop
growing.
the same
happens to
us.
I think of
that seed underground, thebreaking down of the shell.
We can imagine it growing up towards
that
surface.
(14:20):
That's us when we're in sobriety,like we've stopped using the
substances or what it is that is our
addiction.
But then we
meet
recovery.
We start facing those things
that we don't wanna look
at.
We manage the things in ourlives that we need to manage.
We look at our character defectsthat we all love to sit and look
(14:43):
at, but we don't do it with shame.
We do it because we know it's
not gonna help us reach
our full
potential.
So we're shedding
those things that hold us.
Think of that, like
that seed, that outside of that seed,we need to shed that so we can grow.
We can't do that if
we just stay undergroundor worse, never in the
(15:04):
ground.
I'm gonna keep it safe right here
where nothing can harm it.
But then
it's never more
than a tiny
seed.
Recovery is
where the
growth happens, and Ican see it in people.
It's all over.
People when they findit, your look changes.
You don't look
like that seed anymore.
(15:25):
You may not look like the
finished
plant,
but you don't
look like the seed
anymore.
It's obvious that the growth is
happening.
And then we talk about
church.
So what is
the church's role in this aspect of
the seed analogy?
(15:47):
And you're like, why in the world
do you have up there?
It
disrupts.
And I'm saying that because A,
as that seed grows and becomes visible,it's disrupting the ground that it's
in.
Right?
Well, the church
needs to disrupt
where it is also.
And I don't mean that in a negative way.
(16:07):
I mean that in the
best of ways.
We need to bring things that areof God to a world that isn't of God
that's disruptive.
We bring love when hate is there.
We bring healing
when there is
sickness
there.
(16:28):
That's the
disruption that I'm talking about.
It's looking different.
Then
the world around
us, we have to be willing to disrupt.
We have to be willing to
speak truth and light and love
to a world that needs it.
They may not
(16:48):
always want to hear it,
but we need to do it anyways.
That is a
church's
role.
The church has to be
willing to
do that.
the
church can't just go with the
current trends and cultures andpolitics and all of this stuff.
It can, It has to.
stand on
Jesus.
It has
to.
So that means
you have to be willing
(17:10):
to say,
but
that's not exactly the right
thing.
That's not what Jesus taught.
I can't go along
with this.
And oftentimes you're gonnafind you have to stand up even
against other people that may wear
the label Christian.
because it gets real easy forChristians to not wanna rock the boat.
(17:33):
Oh, it's just their opinion.
But sometimes their opinion is
absolutely contrary to what
Jesus said, how to live.
Sometimes entire denominations continuegoing down a road they shouldn't
because nobody ever dared say anything.
Just because everybody's doingit doesn't mean it's okay.
(17:55):
You know the dumb
analogy, if everybody's jumpingoff a cliff, are you two?
And so often we do.
We get caught in it because you know,
the mob rule, mob mentality,and we haven't stopped to
look into it for ourselves.
And church needs to do that inthe world because the church is
called to be Jesus in the world.
(18:15):
The church isn't called tobe political in the world.
The church isn't called to be.
Um.
I am just gonna say, the churchis called to be true to what
Jesus said and, how to
(18:36):
live.
And that is
getting to be more andmore and more radical.
And I'm saying that because I'mcalled to more and more and more have
conversations with people that have
been Christians for
and say, can I talk to you aboutsomething and get your opinion on this?
Because I don't feel like
we're going in the Jesus direction
(18:56):
and that's what church
is and that's what all of us have to do.
That's that
disruption.
We can't just say, oh, wellthey're a Christian, so you know
they're good and and let it go.
No,
and even if,
especially if it's coming from up here,
all of you have everyright to say, no, you're
going the wrong
(19:17):
direction.
Can we talk to you about it?
That's the
kind of disruption.
It's because we love
people
enough.
To say, I need to talk to youabout something because what
I'm seeing isn't matching
what I'm reading and what.
I
know from him.
(19:37):
and that's not easy to
do.
I'm a get along kind of girl, can we all
just get along?
I
like it better that way
And here I
am in a job that doesn't allow meto just get along, to get along.
I have had to learn to be
brave and I have learned to
have to say something that doesn't
(20:00):
match
what
maybe a lot
of other
people are holding
fast
to.
I'm getting more comfortablein it, but it's still, it's
not easy,
but that's what we're called to do.
It's what Jesus
did.
He showed up and made somepretty radical RA waves and it's
(20:20):
interesting because whathe brought was love.
And healing,
and people still
didn't want that.
So as Christians,
we need to be disruptors inthe best of ways so people can
know who their creator God is.
(20:42):
Then we get to this really good
stuff.
Before we move to the
end, I'm
gonna go back to that seedthat we put in the ground,
and I'm gonna go back to when I saidI was taught this in a way that's far
different than we're gonna move to next.
(21:02):
Because
when the Bible
talks about faith like amustard seed, it's not saying
just have a tiny little bit of
faith.
He's talking about the
potential.
He's talking
about what this
Yes, we may be a single person in this
world.
And when I consider myself asan individual in this world, I'm
(21:26):
pretty tiny.
It's
not much to me in comparison
to the
world.
God wasn't saying,
just have teeny tiny little bits
of faith.
Just the tiniest little bit.
It's
okay.
Just have just that
tiny bit of faith.
It's
far, far, far more than
(21:47):
that.
Far more than
that.
All my
life, I was raised that it was
like a mustard seed and it's okay if it'sonly just a tiny little bit of faith.
At least you have
that.
And they miss the best part of
it
(22:07):
because it becomes an invasive spread.
Because there's somethinginteresting about
that.
Mustard
seed.
Mustard seed is a very
small thing,
but you know what happenswhen mustard grows?
It spreads and it
spreads and it spreadsMustard seed is invasive.
It takes over, it grows vigorously.
(22:29):
It grows to be 10 to
12 feet tall.
It grows to be a plant thatis sheltering to animals.
Birds are
often found in it, nesting or setting
in
it.
That's
what that one
little seed
became.
So when we read in the
Bible like a mustard seed, don't make
(22:50):
yourself tiny because it'snot talking about that.
like my whole mind all thisweek has been sitting on this.
'cause it's like, once again, I'm
like,
I was taught from this big, I
was taught this
wrong.
I was taught that this was all
about, you know, when you justfeel like you can't do it, just
(23:11):
have a tiny little bit of faith.
Just have a tiny little bit of faith andthey miss the best part of this whole.
Thing.
So I'm gonna read in Luke 13.
(23:33):
Luke 13, 18 and 19.
Then he said, how can Ipicture God's kingdom for you?
What kind of story can I
use?
It's like an acorn thata man plants in his front
yard.
It grows
into a huge
oak tree
with thick branches and eagles
(23:56):
build nests in
it.
And again,
that's not a mustard
seed, but it's talking about a seed.
I think we've all seen the acorns'cause we have a heavy drop this year.
I've read all about
it
'cause I'm like,
what is going on?
My yard is crunchy acorns everywhere.
(24:16):
But does that
acorn, that fall look like what it
fell
from?
It's hard.
Like you look at thisthing you can hold in
your hand, and then I lookat what it fell out of.
And we have some massively mature oak
trees in our
yard.
Huge.
And all that potential is in
there,
(24:39):
and that's what
he means when he talks about this
mustard seed
faith
We can't
stop at that seed that we
hold
because that's nothingin the big scheme of
things.
What good is this
going to do?
Keep it in our pocket.
I got my little itty bitty,teeny tiny faith in my
(25:01):
pocket.
But what has it
done?
it hasn't
transformed.
It hasn't changed.
It hasn't
grown, it hasn't spread.
So I think
about
Abraham.
We talked a little bit
about Abraham and when he was a hundredyears old, he finally, finally, finally
(25:24):
had his, an prayers answered and he and
his wife had this
baby boy.
Like this son was
precious to
him.
And the reason this is so preciousis because God had made a promise to
him, Abraham,
your
children, your familywill be like the stars
in the sky.
(25:45):
Do you think it was easy forAbraham to continue to believe God
when year after year after year
after year, there was no child?
God, you
said.
So
I'm sure in his mind he expected hewas gonna have 12, 13, 14, 15 kids.
Surely that's gotta be the way.
(26:11):
Isaac,
there's your seed, Abraham
there's your seed, This is the
promise.
And then we talked
about how God asked him to go
sacrifice.
And Abraham realized what he was asking.
He goes, you
mean
my
son?
I'm 105, my
(26:31):
'son.
I trust you.
And God provided,
God provided,
he provided
a
ram
instead of his son.
And that was a picture of what
God did for
us.
'cause we should have been
the Isaac.
We should have been the one
(26:52):
sacrificed
for what
we've done.
But God provided again another sheep.
Only this time
it was his
son.
But Abraham,
the Bible is filled with
genealogy.
Of Abraham's
family, of
God, keeping his
promise.
And we now because of Jesus,we're included in those numbers.
(27:16):
God kept that
promise way, way, way, way,
way, back
when he handed Abraham that littleseed and it was called Isaac
And Isaac grew
little seedling, but he
became this huge thing that includes us.
(27:37):
And then moving on to us.
step 12, what is step
12?
Hmm.
Those of us familiar with
AA know that in step 12
we bring to
others
(27:59):
what we
know we have to serve people.
Right.
we have to show them the way
for those of us in recovery.
I can't tell you
enough how important it
(28:19):
is that we do this
regularly.
I can't tell
you what it means to me tohave so many people around me
practicing
step 12, even if they don't know it.
The way we show up
for
people, the way you
encourage people and support them and call
them the way you walk
(28:39):
alongside the way you go to pickup and get back on their feet.
Those that stumbled and fell
and said it's not over,
just get back up and
do it again.
here.
It's what we're called to.
We're not
called to just get well and then be well
just for our ourself.
That's not the point.
(28:59):
the point.
is
there's endless numbers of
us, people just like
us,
that haven't
gotten there
yet,
that are struggling.
If we just kept that little
thing in our pocket, what good does it do?
Anybody?
What good does it do?
Anybody that I'm
recovered if I don't do something with
(29:21):
it,
what if I had reached recoveryand kept my mouth shut
and just went
on with life like it used to
be?
I wouldn't have gone back to school.
I wouldn't have known any of you.
Outreach would not exist.
wouldn't be in No.
You'd
I'd be
(29:42):
which isn't
bad,
but recovery
is where it's at
because that's where the
life
is.
And I believe with all myheart that those of us.
In recovery,
practicing this step 12.
The passing it along, the sharing, the
'helping others.
(30:04):
that's that good
invasiveness.
The best kind.
The kind.
that's always around, that'stelling people it doesn't
always have to be this way.
I know it's
'hard
right
now.
I know that
you can't tell what it'sgonna look like at the end.
I didn't either.
'cause I know that theseed version of me never
(30:27):
in a thousand years dreamed
it would look
like
my life now.
And I'm not even done maturing
yet.
I'm still a seedling and it's wonderful.
But it's been people in recovery that
helped me
get here,
I think for so long.
(30:51):
it, sounds so good to do the step 12and to share and to do the thing, and
some people are really great at it,but I think the majority of people
kind of found sobriety and stopped
there.
And we need to be peoplethat are like, that's
not enough.
I want more.
I want the full healing.
(31:11):
I want the full life.
I want it to be everything that it can be.
And that means leaning into not onlyyour recovery, but in other people's
recoveries.
If you're only
focused on
yourself,
you're not gonna bethis amazing, beautiful,
(31:33):
that is
desired.
People need
you.
A lot of
people need you.
I'm out and
about in this community a lot.
And there are a lot of
really hurting
people struggling horrifically with
(31:53):
their addictions and they feel hopeless.
That's
why we're needed
Because
we've been
there.
Because we know what hopeless feels
like.
We know what wantingto give up feels like,
(32:15):
but now we know what recovery feels
like,
so why aren't we
eager to be out there?
A lot of you
here are,
though.
A lot of you are,
but in that
same way,
(32:35):
it becomes
a lot more important when we move onto the church because as I've said,
the church isn't this building.
It is not
any building.
It is
individuals.
You
are the
church.
(33:01):
God has
called
you in your
faith and you can say, butit's just me and I'm new.
And it's, it's this tiny seed.
And God saying,
plant it.
You gotta hold
that faith in your hand, inthat little seed form and
(33:21):
number know what it can become,
or are you gonna stepout in faith and trust
him
because it has
to be planted
and then it has to undergo the
changes,
and then it becomes that seedling.
(33:41):
and then it
becomes that invasive
species.
But it all
comes down to
this.
It all
comes down to what is called the Great
Commission.
(34:05):
This is emotional
for me, having been taught thisso wrong because it made it
so
small
and
it didn't
challenge Christians where they need
to
be
challenged
because sometimes we have to do things
afraid and sometimes we have to
do things when we're not sure,and we've never done this before.
And God, really, this iswhat you want me to do.
(34:27):
Yes,
plant That
seed,
Give God
your faith, and then go dowhat he sends you to do.
because
truly
as much
as
step 12 in addiction, and that is lifeand death, this is a different kind
of life and death, and this is the
one that matters.
(34:51):
I've said before, people are always like,oh, you're just a lovey, lovey, lovey.
Yeah.
I, I am because God is love and
he's lead with love,
but
there is right, and there is
wrong,
there is sin and then there is
Jesus.
That is absolute
truth.
But I'm not
(35:11):
talking about being judgers and
condemners ever.
That is not Our
job.
our job.
is to share our
testimony.
Do you know what your
testimony is?
It's your story.
It's your life.
(35:32):
It's how you got from
there.
To hear, and I know, and I knowa lot of, you know the power
that is
shared when people on aFriday night might share their
testimony.
I am so
deeply moved
(35:53):
by people's journey to sobriety and
recovery.
It's a powerful
thing.
but we don't
hear as often people gettingup saying, can I tell you
how I got to
here in my faith?
And I'm not sure why we don't
do
that.
(36:14):
I don't
know
why
And when
talking about our excitement
of
what God has done for us.
why that keeps
us from talking about
that with people, and I'm nottalking about with cardboard
signs and
yelling at
people and
picking a verse to condemn somebody.
(36:34):
That is never what I'm talking about.
But what I'm
talking about is like,how could I not wanna talk
about the one who saved me?
From what he saved
me
from?
why
If I know what I've
received from him, Why don't Iwant others to receive the same?
(36:56):
Why do I keep
that?
Why am I
not giving them the opportunityto plant and grow too?
We talk about everything
else, weather, a trip, funevents coming up, a rough day.
(37:18):
Jobs, sicknesses,
the humdrum every
day stuff.
And there's
nothing wrong with
that.
but it becomes so obvious sometime what
isn't talked about
(37:38):
And
it's the most important
thing.
It's what God created us for.
That's why the
Leica mustard seed, it's reallyimportant that you understand
that.
He's talking about the
potential of what that becomes.
The getting there isn't always
fun.
(37:59):
you
know, you think of it as the seed aspect.
That's
That's
life.
Think back at the junk in life.
Well, that was you underground.
You
know that that outer shell has tosoften and break away all those
experiences.
That's you underground.
And then
(38:21):
you hear about this
Jesus.
Well, the ground now is warm.
The rain
falls, the sunlight
is on it, and something in thisseed is like, I need to get
to
that.
You may not even know
why.
It's just
this feeling or
it's natural.
(38:45):
And then when you meet Jesus,
that sunshine is
on you.
Those first little, couple,little tender leaves
pop out.
The little shell pieces still hanging off
the
end,
but you're like,
want more.
I want more.
(39:08):
And you shed the bits of that
seed.
'cause it's
gotta
go.
I've seen
before the leaves that got trapped up in
the
plant seeds and it doesn'tfall off, it's gonna
die.
Think of that as those oldbits of life that you're like,
but I'm taking this with me
And I've tried to
take a lot
of things with me.
(39:30):
You know, it's just the things thatmake me more comfortable in life.
You know, like thebricks to build my walls.
Yeah, no, those
have to go
so we can be fully exposed
to the light into who God
is,
But more so
so, people can see
us
(39:51):
and by seeing us,
seeing him,
but how are they gonna see him?
just simply because
we say, well, I'm a Christian.
I believe in Jesus.
So how you doing?
What
you gonna do this
week?
No, that's that.
(40:11):
You know, just being a
noun Christian, you just put the label on
that,
the mustard seed
that's calling you
to be a verb.
That's
calling you to action.
And what does that look
like?
We'll go all
the way back
to how this church started with the first
(40:32):
series.
Love,
joy,
peace, patience, kindness,goodness, gentleness, self-control.
The fruit of the spirit
that grows
on a what?
A
plant.
Right?
(40:52):
That's what
we have to show the world.
That's what
has to be invasive.
That's
what I'm talking
about.
If you
truly belong to God,
then
like a
mustard seed
under pressure, you don't die and fold up.
(41:13):
You become everything that you're meant
to be because you
understand that it's all from
Because you understand that in thatlight and in that washing away of sin.
Think of that as the rain.
We become
everything
he created us to be, but part of that
means
you tell
(41:33):
people about me.
So do
you, do I?
Yeah, I do on Sunday,
but
it's my job on Sundaymorning, quote unquote.
Do I do it
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday, Friday, Saturday?
(41:54):
Do I
at home,
I in the community with my kids,
do
we talk about Jesus
in a way
that makes him as real as he actually
is?
Or do we just haul him out on
(42:15):
Sunday?
Or when life is
hard?
Oh, we're struggling because he can fix
it.
Because the people in this world,
they need him every
day.
We keep to ourselves the greatest
gift we've ever been giventhat was meant to share.
(42:38):
And so often
we just keep it for ourself.
I'm just gonna keepit, gonna hang onto it.
I love my life.
I love being a Jesus girl,and I love studying the Bible.
And do I love serving people?
Whoever they are, whatever they look
like.
Do I love
people?
(43:00):
Am I hateful?
Am I judging?
Am I staying
silent when I should
speak?
I'm seeing that as one of
the biggest crisis as we have in church
today.
We stay
silent.
(43:23):
the church I
was raised in
stayed silent.
They didn't
speak up in the face of injustice
and wrong.
And I'm not talking in a way that
becomes political.
I'm talking in a way thatstands firm on what Jesus says.
(43:43):
There's a lot going on around this world.
The news is filled with awfulness,
divisiveness,
hate.
How many people died in wars this
year?
How many?
(44:05):
How many?
kids?
How many kids?
are dead in a war?
because I'm sitting here saying Jesuswouldn't have watched it and said
just the way it is,
and it's hard for me having a kidthat's in the military over there
(44:27):
right now.
We have so many
people in our country alone,and we're considered a first
world country and wealthy.
How many homeless people do we have?
(44:49):
How many hungry people do we
have?
How many people do we have?
Struggling in mental illness and addictionout there on the streets or in jails and
prisons.
How many single moms,
how many orphan
kids?
(45:18):
I look at Southwest Michigan.
People often call it churchcapital of the United States,
and I drive down
Grand Rapids and the homeless
are everywhere.
People lined up outside ofsoup kitchens around the block
and
(45:38):
coming.
Do you know how many
churches I see on that same
walk?
Every
corner,
Every neighborhood, every community.
Where is the church?
Where is
it
(46:00):
inside a building on
Sunday?
Because I
sit here and say, what could does that do
What good does it do if allyou do is you sit in this
space on
Sunday?
(46:20):
It doesn't.
If the church would return to being church
the way
Jesus called us to
be,
it wouldn't look the way it does outside
our doors.
(46:42):
And we scream at the government
to fix
things to do better.
We need more of this.
We need more of that, morebenefits, more of this.
No, we don't need more government.
what We need is Christiansstanding up and being
Christians
That's what we needbecause there's plenty of
wealth in this
country.
(47:03):
There's plenty.
There's plenty.
of Christians living in their mansions.
And again,
that in and of
itself isn't wrongunless that's all you're
doing, going to church andliving in your mansion.
'cause I know you'redriving past people in need.
God didn't give us wealth to keep
(47:24):
it
because guess what, it's his.
We don't have anything that's ours.
It's all
his.
I sit with this a lot now wondering God.
what does this look
like in my life?
What do you want me to do?
(47:44):
Because I've outright
like had to have my husband
say,
we don't have to sell our house, Heidi.
Like we, it's okay for usto have a place to live
But I've caught
myself having those thoughts.
What right do
I have to my
comfortable house when people don't
have one?
What can I
do?
(48:05):
so I'm on a
mission to try and figure that out.
God help me figure out how to build aneighborhood that has homes so people
that don't have 'em can live there
safely.
cause I know he knows how to make it
happen.
So like a
mustard seed, each one of us, I'm surehas things from God that sits heavy on
(48:26):
us.
This passion that we
have to help
people.
God can work his
plan through every single one of you.
If you just plant
the seed and let it grow.
(48:49):
I am glad my husband
reins me and otherwise I'd be oneof those people saying, I kind
of need a house and some food.
But in the same aspect, there'ssomething beautiful about that.
Also
though,
because that early
church, my heart
longs
(49:12):
for a taste of what that must have been
like.
Nobody went
without,
nobody was homeless, nobody was
hungry.
Everybody had clothes.
Why?
Because everybody made sure everybody
did.
They
shared freely with everything they
had.
(49:35):
That's not
the American way.
Yes, I like that.
I used to
believe the whole, theAmerican dream thing.
Hmm.
I really did.
You know, you buy into it'cause it looks real good.
(49:57):
It isn't.
it.
isn't.
the American way.
What?
Get everything you can getand live in a great house,
in a great neighborhoodand great vacations.
And then get a second house.
Those are the things I think about
what you just said.
(50:21):
Two
houses and there's peopleliving on the street.
Children I, I,
the older I'm getting, the more
uncomfortable I am with it.
It just bothers me greatly,
the wrongness
of
it.
(50:41):
This nation doesn't looklike a Christian nation.
All you have to
do is
look at how Jesus did it.
Our nation is not looking like
a
Christian nation right now.
Everybody
(51:02):
out for
themself.
It's all
in the getting
bigger
and
bigger and more and more.
Biggest bank account wins, right?
cause what good is that moneygonna do when you're dead?
But what could a million dollars do whileyou're alive for people who have nothing?
(51:25):
We live in a world where there'sactually people that have billions,
How many people could be housed with that?
How many needs could
be
filled?
But
But
we don't even have to go to thoseextremes because God didn't say only those
(51:48):
super
wealthy people have an
obligation
in this great commission.
And in going
out
there, I believe it's farmore than just telling
people about Jesus.
We have to
show people Jesus.
And you remember the
separating of the sheep and the
goats, but Lord, whendid we see you hungry
(52:12):
and cold.
and without
shelter
and in prison?
When did we see you
that way?
Every time you see somebody
cold
and
hungry
and in prison.
You've seen Jesus, he'sexpecting you to serve.
(52:38):
I did a really
lousy
job at that for a very long time.
So what does that
mean
for you?
And
I, I can't answer for you what that
means.
You know what God has
given you,
but we know what he's also called
us to.
(53:01):
so do we just keep in keeping,keeping, keeping hoard and hoard and
hoard and think, isn't this great?
I'm just, things are justgetting better and better
and then those blinders areon so we don't have to look
at
those
left in our
dust.
You know,
(53:23):
this isn't
a,
this heap guilt on you.
I'm
guilty.
I haven't done.
the best
at this all the
but the more I sat withit and broke it down,
I can't get away fromwhat he's called us to do
(53:45):
and to be in this world.
If he's given you a lot,
he's
expecting a lot from you.
If he's given a
little,
he expects you to use what he's
given
no matter what.
(54:05):
It
doesn't mean, oh, I got this amazingraise I make twice as much, and
now we're gonna get a bigger house.
And now it's like we never hada raise at all because all our
money goes into this bigger
house and property taxes and utilities and
more
furniture.
But what if the
house he had originally givenyou was perfectly adequate?
(54:26):
There was nothing wrong
with it.
And then that bigger
raise allows you to bless other peopletoo, along with yourself and your family.
Those are the things I think
about.
I look
forward to the
day
when God restores an income to me
so I can and
(54:48):
use it like that because I want to
now,
I didn't before.
I used to really like my paychecksa lot in my pocket and in my bank
account for my
stuff.
I start to get excited now thinking
(55:09):
of what I
could maybe do to help because there'sso many needs and I wanna help in all
of
and I
can't.
but the church
collective
can.
So I'm left with a question,and I'm not saying you,
(55:29):
because
this
group is marvelously
beautiful at community, but why
is the church failing
this way?
Why is the church not outin the world like this
invasive mustard plant growing everywhere
(55:50):
throughout their communities,throughout the state, throughout
this country, throughout this world?
Can you
imagine
what
would be done if
church actually
churched like Jesus did?
I think we'd be a lot lessworried about what we wore,
(56:13):
how our hair looked,
what kind of car we drive,
or we don't own.
A house we
have or don't have.
Those things, I thinkget a lot less important
when we get back
to,
I'm gonna love like Jesus.
'cause man, let me tellyou what he's given to me.
(56:35):
cause without him, there's no point
having
Just stuff to have until you die.
Then
what's the
point?
I don't think
God looks at our country is like,
this is wonderful.
(56:57):
We've got
people in
these monstrous homes.
Things are
really expensive.
All kinds of people
are homeless.
They're doing so
good.
Some people are getting wealthy
and other people,
oh well maybe if
they worked harder,like those other people.
(57:22):
That's not
how he works.
What we
have and what we
don't have
are both
equally from
God.
God
didn't
bless me with a lot ofmoney because I really
suck
with
money.
money.
If
it's here
and I
have it, I spend
(57:42):
it.
I'm not good at the budgets and allthis stuff, I'd be a lot better.
Now I'm very mindful and I know now,
and I sat and thought about that.
It's like, oh, why did that change?
And I'm like, oh, becauseI want to do very different
things
with money
now,
(58:03):
because I quite
frankly don't care what I wear or
hair and all this kind of
stuff.
Goodwill dresses me forthe most part, and I love
it.
You just took
Thank you.
Goodwill and whoever decided tothrow stuff out, I'll take it.
(58:25):
We are called to be about people,
not about
possessions and
obtaining
Our main desire and goal in life should be
that everybody knows Jesus.
Why?
Because without him, itdoesn't matter what they have.
or don't have.
that should be what drives us.
(58:46):
That should matter a lot morethan it does, but when we
live in a wealthy country,
it gets a little easierto forget about God
because God is thrivingin China, and guess what's
happening to them
there?
They're going to
prison like crazy.
The last I read, a group of
20 ministers were taken
(59:07):
out of their homes and they are in prison.
Why?
Because they're talking about
Jesus
People there.
I said that I am taking a Sabbathfrom making myself memorize portions
of the Bible just because I wanna beintentional and in the moment, and not
just reciting,
they
are frantically memorizing it because
(59:28):
they can't
get caught with the Bible.
So they like they have it all here.
They can
recite every bit of it.
Why?
Because Jesus matters thatmuch and they want people to
know
they are traveling
hours
to meet and to talk and to learn why.
So they can teach others.
in China
(59:51):
happening in
Africa,
Christians are being slaughtered.
And it doesn't meanpeople aren't believing.
They're believing like crazy.
They're willing to die forwhat they believe in because
that's how real Jesus is.
And here we
are.
(01:00:12):
I
just need more stuff.
Not gonna talk about Jesus.
'cause people might laugh at me,
Laugh.
Last I knew people laughing at
you doesn't mean you're dead or in
prison.
so did we
put our seed
on the surface or did we putit in the ground so we can
(01:00:33):
grow?
Because that surface seedthat's gonna wash away with
the first little hint of storm.
And they're like, yeah.
Oh, nope, nope.
Mm-hmm.
Not gonna
talk about it.
Now they're gonna think I'm weird.
I think we need to startlooking at the church.
Those people, our brothers and sisters.
(01:00:55):
In China, in Africa, around theworld and what they're willing to do
for Jesus and for people to know, because
shame on us here in
America.
We stand on
street corners screaming at each other andhating each other and using God to do it.
They're hiding in
a house,
packed
out
(01:01:15):
with people, learning about Jesus, sothey can go out and tell more people
about Jesus, who will tell more peopleabout Jesus, knowing if they get caught,
they're going to prison or they'll die.
I know,
(01:01:37):
we need to come
back to Jesus, but in the waythat matters, in that real
way, we're gettingclose to wrapping up but
I talked about, you know, thegreat revival they're talking
about in the United States.
(01:01:57):
What I'm seeing thoughisn't a revival for Jesus.
It's a revival for church militant.
Jesus showed up and he was radical,but he wasn't radical because
he was militant in his hate
and in the way he treated people.
He was
radical because he
(01:02:17):
didn't
do that
He was radical becausehe loved the people.
The
church wasn't, and I'mtalking about church
corporate.
He was loving the peoplethat the Pharisees wouldn't
have approached and sat with.
So he didn't
stand talking about
them in hatred.
He was
found
(01:02:37):
with them.
so I would love a great
revival in this country.
I really would.
But I wanna revival the way
China's doing
it in the way
Africa's doing.
I want it to be a revival thatso real people are like, I
don't care if you kill me, 'causethen I'm just going to heaven
(01:02:57):
anyways.
But can I tell you about Jesus?
It's amazing what he's done for my life.
Because if he's
not that real, you need to meet him.
So he is that
real.
so that like a
mustard
seed.
(01:03:20):
It's not about saying, oh, it's okay,as long as you have a tiny little bit of
faith,
you miss the whole point of what it was.
No,
it's like a mustard seedbecause it may look little, but
watch what
happens when I
take
control.
Watch what happens when it becomeseverything that I created it to be.
(01:03:45):
That's what that is talking about.
that seed was
never meant to stay safe in your pocket.
In its little seed package
on the counter,
that seed, it's gotta be buriedand it has to break and it
has
(01:04:05):
to have water and
light.
So if we think about it as ourlife, we too, we need to be
broken
in order to become everythingthat we are created to be,
but to get there after it's broken
open, we
have
to have water and we have to have light.
(01:04:27):
And I'm talking about
God,
the one who both washes us clean,
but gives us living water and is
the
light.
cause without him,
that seed wouldn't do
anything
underground.
You can put that
seed underground, but ifthere's no water in no light,
you just have a seed
(01:04:48):
underground.
And what good does it do?
And if you don't put it underground, what
good is it gonna do?
it might sprout and grow some
roots,
but it's way too tenderand fragile to survive
laying on
top of the surface and it will just
die.
and that's kind
(01:05:08):
of what America is looking like in its
faith.
Yeah.
We
have seeds and look at our
roots as we're laying here on the
surface
ready to be washed away.
At the first sign is somebody
saying something to usor laughing at us or hard
times
(01:05:29):
has to be buried
so it can grow
strong
for in Christ.
Neither our most conscientious religion
nor at home profession of faith matters.
Only the faith activated and
(01:05:51):
expressed love.
So
you can have
all the faith in the
world,
and if you don't love, it's
meaningless.
This whole
book
comes down to that message.
(01:06:13):
Without love, it's meaningless.
It doesn't mean anything to getbaptized and say you're a Christian if
you're not living life the Jesus Way.
Because it wasn't just about beingbaptized and saying you believe it's about
(01:06:36):
going out and sharing
it.
And if you're not, becauseyou just keep it for yourself.
I don't know you.
That's
what
we'll
hear.
But I don't know.
You
all because
of love,
(01:06:57):
it all comes down to
love.
So we need to be
mustard, seeds of faith,
not because we have so
little of it,
but because this faith thatwe have is this amazing thing
that grows and spreads and takes over.
(01:07:18):
And that's a whole differentthing than just being tiny.
My gentle loving challenge to all of you.
(01:07:39):
What state is your seed in?
Have you planted it yet?
Has it started to grow?
And if it has,
is it still this tiny little seedling or
is it
multiplying?
(01:08:00):
Because we're called
to be multipliers.
We're called to
be out in this world
spreading and sharing Jesus
everywhere we
go.
And that's not just in words, it's in our
actions
Led with
love.
(01:08:26):
I was
once again, so challenged this week.
Like I always feel like I
just
fall so
short.
I'm very grateful for my communityand the model that it is.
I would so
love to somehow it's like
(01:08:48):
hi, this is our
church.
would love to show you
because I believe this is what Jesus
meant
when he said, love each other
and carry their burdens.
(01:09:09):
So my challenge is to have faith
like that,
plant it,
water it, and grow
it.
Be everything
that you can be,
be everything God created you
to be,
Because like I had said.
We talk about addictionbeing life and death.
(01:09:29):
This is a
whole different kind of life and
death and it's real.
Even if you don't believe that it's
real,
There will be
an end Someday.
there will be an absolute
gun
and it's gonna be too late
at
that point to say, but I wanna do it right
now.
(01:09:50):
I wanna do it right.
It just sounded like, yeah, it justsounded like stuff that couldn't be true.
Well, it is
true.
It is
real, and he's very clear.
I have given
you everything and all I ask you to do.
Love
people like I loved you
(01:10:10):
and tell people
about me,
and that is what I wanted to shareabout the mustard seed faith.
You're not tiny.
You have the potential to be mighty,
mighty, mighty individuals for God.
(01:10:35):
And you have no idea
how many people
may be so excited to see you upthere and tell you, thank you so
much for telling me about Jesus,
because life
does depend on it.
The eternal one, the one that matters.
(01:11:02):
with that, I'm done.
Father God, I thank you once again
(00:02):
for another beautiful day, for muchneeded rain, for those beautiful
colors on the trees that I'm seeing.
We get to pull out our sweatshirtsand sweaters and I'm kind of
excited about that, but prepareme for the winter that's coming.
I'm so thankful, father, foreverybody that is here today,
I pray a
(00:23):
special blessing on each one of them.
I pray Father, that you will meetthem exactly where they're at.
You know more than anyone, youknow, even more than us, what
it is that we need and you alone
can provide.
we
bring to you, father, those
that we have carried in today, and we ask
(00:44):
that you continue to be withCindy and Mike as a face.
This cancer journey, it's so difficult,father for a family when cancer
is a diagnosis, but then
when it's
more than one at a time, it's
just we pray, father,
that you are
all over this and we pray for healingin your name, if it's your will.
(01:07):
We celebrate with John that he ishome and that prayers were answered,
we pray.
Thank you, father, for unexpectedblessings that you have showered on.
Robin.
We are so.
Thankful to you and you area father who answers prayer.
We pray for safe travels for Dan whois doing some training for this new
(01:30):
job, and we pray also that Fred justcontinues to improve as he anticipates
being released and coming back home.
We pray father, that as a communitywe can be the support that he needs.
We pray for Christina also as shetransitions and makes some adjustments in
life also, and we are here for her too.
(01:51):
Father
God, we bring to you Maria, Ipray, increase stability and
ease of walking, that eventually
this walker and even a cane can be
things that are not needed.
Father, we pray this for her.
her.
we pray for Becca, who is in the
hospital with complications froma spinal tap, and we just pray
(02:15):
that this has resolved quickly and
she is home soon.
We pray for Marble Ann and her sonSteven as they walk this journey.
Father, we pray thatanswers come this week.
That help is accepted and given in a way
that helps Steven reach
(02:36):
healing and
restoration and recovery.
I pray for Marvel and as she walks thisjourney, we know those of us at her
parents,
We know the
weight and burdens of watching ourchildren struggling in life, and we
pray that she feels that your lovein a special way and that she feels
(02:56):
too, that there's a community herethat loves her right where she's at.
We are excited for Phoenix as he hashad some successes at work and some
promotions and changing shifts, and
Father, I just pray that that goessmoothly, that there is good transitions
with coworkers and into these new jobsand I'm grateful that he has a place
(03:19):
and a job that he is doing so well at.
I pray, blessings overthose kids downstairs today.
I'm so grateful to have them here.
It's beautiful.
Father, to hear the sound of kids inthis space, I love to see families
here and I know that you do.
Also,
I pray your blessingson this message today.
(03:39):
Father
as always, please get me rightout of the way and let it
be your words that are here.
Bring to us that which we need to know
And what you want
to share and
teach us.
I thank you, father for your son, Jesus.
I thank you
for all that he was willing to do.
(04:01):
It is only in him that wehave our hope for this future.
It, he is the reason for us to be able to
have the faith that we're gonna
be talking about today.
So bless us, father, and we pray all these
things in your son's name.
Amen.
Okay.
(04:22):
I was sitting
making that
big decision of which directionare we gonna go this week?
And I stumbled across something thathad me sitting back and thinking,
and it became very easy that wewere gonna be talking about this and
been sitting with this all week.
And
I'm as excited about ittoday as I was when it
(04:44):
first came.
So
I found.
That I was, those of us have,we, we've all heard about the
mustard seed in relation to faith.
I, those of us that were raised in
church.
And I realized
suddenly that I was taught very wrong.
What this actually is saying in the Bible
(05:07):
has nothing to do with a tiny faith,
has nothing to do with being small, hasnothing to do with hanging on by your
fingertips and saying, God, I'm going to
trust you with this faith thatI have that's this big right
now, and I'm reallyexcited to talk about it
So we're gonna start here.
We're gonna be talking about
(05:29):
that mustard
seed.
So first of all.
We are gonna read Mark 4 26 through 29.
Again, I do read from themessage version Bible.
So if you're using one from thepews or your own, it could very well
sound different, but I promise you
it's just a paraphrase.
(05:50):
So this says, then Jesus said,God's kingdom is like seed thrown
on a field by a man who thengoes to bed and forgets about it,
the seed sprouts and grows.
He has no idea how it
happens.
The Earth does it all without his help.
First, a green stem of grass, then a bud.
(06:12):
Then the ripened grain.
When the grain is fully formed,
he reaps and it's harvest
time.
So as we talk about faith and we use asay, a seed to demonstrate and describe
this.
we have to
start
way back at the beginning.
(06:33):
You can hold this seed in your hand andit doesn't look anything at all like
the finished product is going to be.
But there is a process that a seedhas to go through in order for
it to become all that it can be.
And the same is
true
for us
in the process.
That seed has to be put
underground and covered up.
(06:54):
It's
in darkness,
it gets water,
it gets nutrients, and
over time that outer shell will breakdown and it has to break in order to
grow.
So I want to take this aspect first.
The planting
of that seed and thinking
of.
it
representing
our
faith.
(07:16):
So we're gonna start withthat biblical example of
David.
David had a seed, a
mustard seed planted in hislife when he was anointed
to be king.
And for a lot of us here
we can
imagine, well, you're anointed asa king when you're ready to be king
and walk up and take the throne, and
it's part of that whole thing.
But it didn't go that way for
(07:36):
David.
David was anointed when aprophet came to the family home
and said, God
has sent me here because the King
of
Israel is one of your
sons.
Of course, he's so excited.
I've got
a bunch
of
sons, it's gotta be the oldest.
Brings the oldest.
He's like, yeah,
not
this one And the
(07:57):
next, and the next and the next.
And, and, no, no.
All the
sons
are
through the line.
And he is like,
it's not them.
Do you have.
Any other sons?
Yeah, my youngest, he is out in the field.
He is a shepherd.
He is just, you know,out with a sheep and that
get him over here.
So
here comes young little David
(08:20):
running from
the field,
baby of the family.
and this is the
one,
this is the
one he was anointed that day.
But did he go to
the
throne that
day?
No.
There was a process he
had to go through.
And for David, it was
some pressure that he got put
under.
So think of it, when he was
(08:42):
anointed,
that
seed was planted and thenhe is sent back out into the
fields.
You know, I
had
talked
about it
before in
my imagination, all David practicinghow a king walks and walking
up to the throne and ruling the
thing.
But as time goes on, he's like.
When is this
gonna
happen?
(09:03):
Bad things
are happening.
Saul who is the king, hears he'sgonna be king, wants nothing of it.
So now David finds himselfrunning for his life.
He's hiding in caves,just trying to stay alive.
He's
like
how am I supposed to be king if I'm dead?
He had to have
faith that even in these situations,
(09:26):
it's like his seed underground
was softening
and breaking and growth washappening, but he wasn't there yet.
then we think of
us and because most of us inhere are people in recovery
or know people that are,
(09:47):
that seed
planted can often be our surrender.
You know, we reached that rock
bottom.
We haven't
gotten sober.
We're not in
recovery, but.
We're rock bottom.
It's dark.
We're breaking,
but
we know we want
something else.
It's
time.
(10:07):
It's time.
I want something different,
and
it's not easy
for us to surrender to the unknown.
It's not easy for us to
be this tiny little seed
saying, okay, I'm
gonna break And grow
into this new way of
living.
It's not easy.
(10:27):
There's a lot of things that we have
to
face.
There's a lot of thingsthat we have to do,
but that surrender, thatwillingness to look at ourselves
And say, something has to
change.
This can't continue this way.
I can't stay this tiny little seed.
I
have to become everythingthat I'm meant to be.
(10:49):
And then I think, what is
that planted seed for the church
itself?
And I went back to allthe unseen things that
happen in
church in who takes care ofbuilding or who ministers or
who's caring for each other.
And this is all of
us.
I'm not talking
about
(11:09):
me.
This is the
unseen things that we do.
We're not doing it to get
noticed.
We're just simply doing.
So even the church itself
has even
that seed phase, seed phase beforewe move into some of the growth
(11:33):
The growth is where you start to seethe evidence of what has been planted.
So in second Corinthians, let
me find this.
Two Corinthians five, verse 17 says,
now we look inside and what wesee is that anyone united with
(11:57):
the Messiah gets a fresh start
is created new.
The old life is gone and a new life
emerges.
This new life thoughdoesn't emerge without
something
dying first.
(12:17):
You can
see even on these what used to be
the
seed,
and it's kind of
remarkable to see what iscontained inside of a seed.
We can see it.
I see it all the time on my littleseedlings that come up, that little
tiny seed parts are just hanging offfrom it, but that's what contained
it and like
that seed, everyone
(12:37):
here is potential like that
for Paul.
sprouts and his growth was on his Damascusroad when he came face to face with
Jesus.
Paul at that time was on hisway to persecute, imprison,
and kill people who followed
Jesus.
(12:58):
He was a religious leader.
He was a Pharisee, highly educated.
He had all kinds of
respect,
but He wasn't
who he was meant to
be.
That seed was planted
when he heard about Jesus.
He heard the teaching seeds get planted in
(13:18):
that time.
He wasn't ready to believe, obviously,'cause he was chasing him down.
But that water and that
pressure forced from him,growth that came in the
form of Jesus, meeting
him on Damascus Road,
why are you persecuting
me?
And he knew and recognizedimmediately who he's
(13:40):
talking
to.
He was
blinded
and was sent to a townwhere somebody would receive
him.
They weren't excited
to
receive
him.
This was Paul, the
one
who kills people that believe in Jesus.
And you want me to take him into my house?
Yeah, I do.
And his life was
never
(14:00):
the
same.
He sprouted
like that
on Damascus Road
and didn't stop
growing.
the same
happens to
us.
I think of
that seed underground, thebreaking down of the shell.
We can imagine it growing up towards
that
surface.
(14:20):
That's us when we're in sobriety,like we've stopped using the
substances or what it is that is our
addiction.
But then we
meet
recovery.
We start facing those things
that we don't wanna look
at.
We manage the things in ourlives that we need to manage.
We look at our character defectsthat we all love to sit and look
(14:43):
at, but we don't do it with shame.
We do it because we know it's
not gonna help us reach
our full
potential.
So we're shedding
those things that hold us.
Think of that, like
that seed, that outside of that seed,we need to shed that so we can grow.
We can't do that if
we just stay undergroundor worse, never in the
(15:04):
ground.
I'm gonna keep it safe right here
where nothing can harm it.
But then
it's never more
than a tiny
seed.
Recovery is
where the
growth happens, and Ican see it in people.
It's all over.
People when they findit, your look changes.
You don't look
like that seed anymore.
(15:25):
You may not look like the
finished
plant,
but you don't
look like the seed
anymore.
It's obvious that the growth is
happening.
And then we talk about
church.
So what is
the church's role in this aspect of
the seed analogy?
(15:47):
And you're like, why in the world
do you have up there?
It
disrupts.
And I'm saying that because A,
as that seed grows and becomes visible,it's disrupting the ground that it's
in.
Right?
Well, the church
needs to disrupt
where it is also.
And I don't mean that in a negative way.
(16:07):
I mean that in the
best of ways.
We need to bring things that areof God to a world that isn't of God
that's disruptive.
We bring love when hate is there.
We bring healing
when there is
sickness
there.
(16:28):
That's the
disruption that I'm talking about.
It's looking different.
Then
the world around
us, we have to be willing to disrupt.
We have to be willing to
speak truth and light and love
to a world that needs it.
They may not
(16:48):
always want to hear it,
but we need to do it anyways.
That is a
church's
role.
The church has to be
willing to
do that.
the
church can't just go with the
current trends and cultures andpolitics and all of this stuff.
It can, It has to.
stand on
Jesus.
It has
to.
So that means
you have to be willing
(17:10):
to say,
but
that's not exactly the right
thing.
That's not what Jesus taught.
I can't go along
with this.
And oftentimes you're gonnafind you have to stand up even
against other people that may wear
the label Christian.
because it gets real easy forChristians to not wanna rock the boat.
(17:33):
Oh, it's just their opinion.
But sometimes their opinion is
absolutely contrary to what
Jesus said, how to live.
Sometimes entire denominations continuegoing down a road they shouldn't
because nobody ever dared say anything.
Just because everybody's doingit doesn't mean it's okay.
(17:55):
You know the dumb
analogy, if everybody's jumpingoff a cliff, are you two?
And so often we do.
We get caught in it because you know,
the mob rule, mob mentality,and we haven't stopped to
look into it for ourselves.
And church needs to do that inthe world because the church is
called to be Jesus in the world.
(18:15):
The church isn't called tobe political in the world.
The church isn't called to be.
Um.
I am just gonna say, the churchis called to be true to what
Jesus said and, how to
(18:36):
live.
And that is
getting to be more andmore and more radical.
And I'm saying that because I'mcalled to more and more and more have
conversations with people that have
been Christians for
and say, can I talk to you aboutsomething and get your opinion on this?
Because I don't feel like
we're going in the Jesus direction
(18:56):
and that's what church
is and that's what all of us have to do.
That's that
disruption.
We can't just say, oh, wellthey're a Christian, so you know
they're good and and let it go.
No,
and even if,
especially if it's coming from up here,
all of you have everyright to say, no, you're
going the wrong
(19:17):
direction.
Can we talk to you about it?
That's the
kind of disruption.
It's because we love
people
enough.
To say, I need to talk to youabout something because what
I'm seeing isn't matching
what I'm reading and what.
I
know from him.
(19:37):
and that's not easy to
do.
I'm a get along kind of girl, can we all
just get along?
I
like it better that way
And here I
am in a job that doesn't allow meto just get along, to get along.
I have had to learn to be
brave and I have learned to
have to say something that doesn't
(20:00):
match
what
maybe a lot
of other
people are holding
fast
to.
I'm getting more comfortablein it, but it's still, it's
not easy,
but that's what we're called to do.
It's what Jesus
did.
He showed up and made somepretty radical RA waves and it's
(20:20):
interesting because whathe brought was love.
And healing,
and people still
didn't want that.
So as Christians,
we need to be disruptors inthe best of ways so people can
know who their creator God is.
(20:42):
Then we get to this really good
stuff.
Before we move to the
end, I'm
gonna go back to that seedthat we put in the ground,
and I'm gonna go back to when I saidI was taught this in a way that's far
different than we're gonna move to next.
(21:02):
Because
when the Bible
talks about faith like amustard seed, it's not saying
just have a tiny little bit of
faith.
He's talking about the
potential.
He's talking
about what this
Yes, we may be a single person in this
world.
And when I consider myself asan individual in this world, I'm
(21:26):
pretty tiny.
It's
not much to me in comparison
to the
world.
God wasn't saying,
just have teeny tiny little bits
of faith.
Just the tiniest little bit.
It's
okay.
Just have just that
tiny bit of faith.
It's
far, far, far more than
(21:47):
that.
Far more than
that.
All my
life, I was raised that it was
like a mustard seed and it's okay if it'sonly just a tiny little bit of faith.
At least you have
that.
And they miss the best part of
it
(22:07):
because it becomes an invasive spread.
Because there's somethinginteresting about
that.
Mustard
seed.
Mustard seed is a very
small thing,
but you know what happenswhen mustard grows?
It spreads and it
spreads and it spreadsMustard seed is invasive.
It takes over, it grows vigorously.
(22:29):
It grows to be 10 to
12 feet tall.
It grows to be a plant thatis sheltering to animals.
Birds are
often found in it, nesting or setting
in
it.
That's
what that one
little seed
became.
So when we read in the
Bible like a mustard seed, don't make
(22:50):
yourself tiny because it'snot talking about that.
like my whole mind all thisweek has been sitting on this.
'cause it's like, once again, I'm
like,
I was taught from this big, I
was taught this
wrong.
I was taught that this was all
about, you know, when you justfeel like you can't do it, just
(23:11):
have a tiny little bit of faith.
Just have a tiny little bit of faith andthey miss the best part of this whole.
Thing.
So I'm gonna read in Luke 13.
(23:33):
Luke 13, 18 and 19.
Then he said, how can Ipicture God's kingdom for you?
What kind of story can I
use?
It's like an acorn thata man plants in his front
yard.
It grows
into a huge
oak tree
with thick branches and eagles
(23:56):
build nests in
it.
And again,
that's not a mustard
seed, but it's talking about a seed.
I think we've all seen the acorns'cause we have a heavy drop this year.
I've read all about
it
'cause I'm like,
what is going on?
My yard is crunchy acorns everywhere.
(24:16):
But does that
acorn, that fall look like what it
fell
from?
It's hard.
Like you look at thisthing you can hold in
your hand, and then I lookat what it fell out of.
And we have some massively mature oak
trees in our
yard.
Huge.
And all that potential is in
there,
(24:39):
and that's what
he means when he talks about this
mustard seed
faith
We can't
stop at that seed that we
hold
because that's nothingin the big scheme of
things.
What good is this
going to do?
Keep it in our pocket.
I got my little itty bitty,teeny tiny faith in my
(25:01):
pocket.
But what has it
done?
it hasn't
transformed.
It hasn't changed.
It hasn't
grown, it hasn't spread.
So I think
about
Abraham.
We talked a little bit
about Abraham and when he was a hundredyears old, he finally, finally, finally
(25:24):
had his, an prayers answered and he and
his wife had this
baby boy.
Like this son was
precious to
him.
And the reason this is so preciousis because God had made a promise to
him, Abraham,
your
children, your familywill be like the stars
in the sky.
(25:45):
Do you think it was easy forAbraham to continue to believe God
when year after year after year
after year, there was no child?
God, you
said.
So
I'm sure in his mind he expected hewas gonna have 12, 13, 14, 15 kids.
Surely that's gotta be the way.
(26:11):
Isaac,
there's your seed, Abraham
there's your seed, This is the
promise.
And then we talked
about how God asked him to go
sacrifice.
And Abraham realized what he was asking.
He goes, you
mean
my
son?
I'm 105, my
(26:31):
'son.
I trust you.
And God provided,
God provided,
he provided
a
ram
instead of his son.
And that was a picture of what
God did for
us.
'cause we should have been
the Isaac.
We should have been the one
(26:52):
sacrificed
for what
we've done.
But God provided again another sheep.
Only this time
it was his
son.
But Abraham,
the Bible is filled with
genealogy.
Of Abraham's
family, of
God, keeping his
promise.
And we now because of Jesus,we're included in those numbers.
(27:16):
God kept that
promise way, way, way, way,
way, back
when he handed Abraham that littleseed and it was called Isaac
And Isaac grew
little seedling, but he
became this huge thing that includes us.
(27:37):
And then moving on to us.
step 12, what is step
12?
Hmm.
Those of us familiar with
AA know that in step 12
we bring to
others
(27:59):
what we
know we have to serve people.
Right.
we have to show them the way
for those of us in recovery.
I can't tell you
enough how important it
(28:19):
is that we do this
regularly.
I can't tell
you what it means to me tohave so many people around me
practicing
step 12, even if they don't know it.
The way we show up
for
people, the way you
encourage people and support them and call
them the way you walk
(28:39):
alongside the way you go to pickup and get back on their feet.
Those that stumbled and fell
and said it's not over,
just get back up and
do it again.
here.
It's what we're called to.
We're not
called to just get well and then be well
just for our ourself.
That's not the point.
(28:59):
the point.
is
there's endless numbers of
us, people just like
us,
that haven't
gotten there
yet,
that are struggling.
If we just kept that little
thing in our pocket, what good does it do?
Anybody?
What good does it do?
Anybody that I'm
recovered if I don't do something with
(29:21):
it,
what if I had reached recoveryand kept my mouth shut
and just went
on with life like it used to
be?
I wouldn't have gone back to school.
I wouldn't have known any of you.
Outreach would not exist.
wouldn't be in No.
You'd
I'd be
(29:42):
which isn't
bad,
but recovery
is where it's at
because that's where the
life
is.
And I believe with all myheart that those of us.
In recovery,
practicing this step 12.
The passing it along, the sharing, the
'helping others.
(30:04):
that's that good
invasiveness.
The best kind.
The kind.
that's always around, that'stelling people it doesn't
always have to be this way.
I know it's
'hard
right
now.
I know that
you can't tell what it'sgonna look like at the end.
I didn't either.
'cause I know that theseed version of me never
(30:27):
in a thousand years dreamed
it would look
like
my life now.
And I'm not even done maturing
yet.
I'm still a seedling and it's wonderful.
But it's been people in recovery that
helped me
get here,
I think for so long.
(30:51):
it, sounds so good to do the step 12and to share and to do the thing, and
some people are really great at it,but I think the majority of people
kind of found sobriety and stopped
there.
And we need to be peoplethat are like, that's
not enough.
I want more.
I want the full healing.
(31:11):
I want the full life.
I want it to be everything that it can be.
And that means leaning into not onlyyour recovery, but in other people's
recoveries.
If you're only
focused on
yourself,
you're not gonna bethis amazing, beautiful,
(31:33):
that is
desired.
People need
you.
A lot of
people need you.
I'm out and
about in this community a lot.
And there are a lot of
really hurting
people struggling horrifically with
(31:53):
their addictions and they feel hopeless.
That's
why we're needed
Because
we've been
there.
Because we know what hopeless feels
like.
We know what wantingto give up feels like,
(32:15):
but now we know what recovery feels
like,
so why aren't we
eager to be out there?
A lot of you
here are,
though.
A lot of you are,
but in that
same way,
(32:35):
it becomes
a lot more important when we move onto the church because as I've said,
the church isn't this building.
It is not
any building.
It is
individuals.
You
are the
church.
(33:01):
God has
called
you in your
faith and you can say, butit's just me and I'm new.
And it's, it's this tiny seed.
And God saying,
plant it.
You gotta hold
that faith in your hand, inthat little seed form and
(33:21):
number know what it can become,
or are you gonna stepout in faith and trust
him
because it has
to be planted
and then it has to undergo the
changes,
and then it becomes that seedling.
(33:41):
and then it
becomes that invasive
species.
But it all
comes down to
this.
It all
comes down to what is called the Great
Commission.
(34:05):
This is emotional
for me, having been taught thisso wrong because it made it
so
small
and
it didn't
challenge Christians where they need
to
be
challenged
because sometimes we have to do things
afraid and sometimes we have to
do things when we're not sure,and we've never done this before.
And God, really, this iswhat you want me to do.
(34:27):
Yes,
plant That
seed,
Give God
your faith, and then go dowhat he sends you to do.
because
truly
as much
as
step 12 in addiction, and that is lifeand death, this is a different kind
of life and death, and this is the
one that matters.
(34:51):
I've said before, people are always like,oh, you're just a lovey, lovey, lovey.
Yeah.
I, I am because God is love and
he's lead with love,
but
there is right, and there is
wrong,
there is sin and then there is
Jesus.
That is absolute
truth.
But I'm not
(35:11):
talking about being judgers and
condemners ever.
That is not Our
job.
our job.
is to share our
testimony.
Do you know what your
testimony is?
It's your story.
It's your life.
(35:32):
It's how you got from
there.
To hear, and I know, and I knowa lot of, you know the power
that is
shared when people on aFriday night might share their
testimony.
I am so
deeply moved
(35:53):
by people's journey to sobriety and
recovery.
It's a powerful
thing.
but we don't
hear as often people gettingup saying, can I tell you
how I got to
here in my faith?
And I'm not sure why we don't
do
that.
(36:14):
I don't
know
why
And when
talking about our excitement
of
what God has done for us.
why that keeps
us from talking about
that with people, and I'm nottalking about with cardboard
signs and
yelling at
people and
picking a verse to condemn somebody.
(36:34):
That is never what I'm talking about.
But what I'm
talking about is like,how could I not wanna talk
about the one who saved me?
From what he saved
me
from?
why
If I know what I've
received from him, Why don't Iwant others to receive the same?
(36:56):
Why do I keep
that?
Why am I
not giving them the opportunityto plant and grow too?
We talk about everything
else, weather, a trip, funevents coming up, a rough day.
(37:18):
Jobs, sicknesses,
the humdrum every
day stuff.
And there's
nothing wrong with
that.
but it becomes so obvious sometime what
isn't talked about
(37:38):
And
it's the most important
thing.
It's what God created us for.
That's why the
Leica mustard seed, it's reallyimportant that you understand
that.
He's talking about the
potential of what that becomes.
The getting there isn't always
fun.
(37:59):
you
know, you think of it as the seed aspect.
That's
That's
life.
Think back at the junk in life.
Well, that was you underground.
You
know that that outer shell has tosoften and break away all those
experiences.
That's you underground.
And then
(38:21):
you hear about this
Jesus.
Well, the ground now is warm.
The rain
falls, the sunlight
is on it, and something in thisseed is like, I need to get
to
that.
You may not even know
why.
It's just
this feeling or
it's natural.
(38:45):
And then when you meet Jesus,
that sunshine is
on you.
Those first little, couple,little tender leaves
pop out.
The little shell pieces still hanging off
the
end,
but you're like,
want more.
I want more.
(39:08):
And you shed the bits of that
seed.
'cause it's
gotta
go.
I've seen
before the leaves that got trapped up in
the
plant seeds and it doesn'tfall off, it's gonna
die.
Think of that as those oldbits of life that you're like,
but I'm taking this with me
And I've tried to
take a lot
of things with me.
(39:30):
You know, it's just the things thatmake me more comfortable in life.
You know, like thebricks to build my walls.
Yeah, no, those
have to go
so we can be fully exposed
to the light into who God
is,
But more so
so, people can see
us
(39:51):
and by seeing us,
seeing him,
but how are they gonna see him?
just simply because
we say, well, I'm a Christian.
I believe in Jesus.
So how you doing?
What
you gonna do this
week?
No, that's that.
(40:11):
You know, just being a
noun Christian, you just put the label on
that,
the mustard seed
that's calling you
to be a verb.
That's
calling you to action.
And what does that look
like?
We'll go all
the way back
to how this church started with the first
(40:32):
series.
Love,
joy,
peace, patience, kindness,goodness, gentleness, self-control.
The fruit of the spirit
that grows
on a what?
A
plant.
Right?
(40:52):
That's what
we have to show the world.
That's what
has to be invasive.
That's
what I'm talking
about.
If you
truly belong to God,
then
like a
mustard seed
under pressure, you don't die and fold up.
(41:13):
You become everything that you're meant
to be because you
understand that it's all from
Because you understand that in thatlight and in that washing away of sin.
Think of that as the rain.
We become
everything
he created us to be, but part of that
means
you tell
(41:33):
people about me.
So do
you, do I?
Yeah, I do on Sunday,
but
it's my job on Sundaymorning, quote unquote.
Do I do it
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday, Friday, Saturday?
(41:54):
Do I
at home,
I in the community with my kids,
do
we talk about Jesus
in a way
that makes him as real as he actually
is?
Or do we just haul him out on
(42:15):
Sunday?
Or when life is
hard?
Oh, we're struggling because he can fix
it.
Because the people in this world,
they need him every
day.
We keep to ourselves the greatest
gift we've ever been giventhat was meant to share.
(42:38):
And so often
we just keep it for ourself.
I'm just gonna keepit, gonna hang onto it.
I love my life.
I love being a Jesus girl,and I love studying the Bible.
And do I love serving people?
Whoever they are, whatever they look
like.
Do I love
people?
(43:00):
Am I hateful?
Am I judging?
Am I staying
silent when I should
speak?
I'm seeing that as one of
the biggest crisis as we have in church
today.
We stay
silent.
(43:23):
the church I
was raised in
stayed silent.
They didn't
speak up in the face of injustice
and wrong.
And I'm not talking in a way that
becomes political.
I'm talking in a way thatstands firm on what Jesus says.
(43:43):
There's a lot going on around this world.
The news is filled with awfulness,
divisiveness,
hate.
How many people died in wars this
year?
How many?
(44:05):
How many?
kids?
How many kids?
are dead in a war?
because I'm sitting here saying Jesuswouldn't have watched it and said
just the way it is,
and it's hard for me having a kidthat's in the military over there
(44:27):
right now.
We have so many
people in our country alone,and we're considered a first
world country and wealthy.
How many homeless people do we have?
(44:49):
How many hungry people do we
have?
How many people do we have?
Struggling in mental illness and addictionout there on the streets or in jails and
prisons.
How many single moms,
how many orphan
kids?
(45:18):
I look at Southwest Michigan.
People often call it churchcapital of the United States,
and I drive down
Grand Rapids and the homeless
are everywhere.
People lined up outside ofsoup kitchens around the block
and
(45:38):
coming.
Do you know how many
churches I see on that same
walk?
Every
corner,
Every neighborhood, every community.
Where is the church?
Where is
it
(46:00):
inside a building on
Sunday?
Because I
sit here and say, what could does that do
What good does it do if allyou do is you sit in this
space on
Sunday?
(46:20):
It doesn't.
If the church would return to being church
the way
Jesus called us to
be,
it wouldn't look the way it does outside
our doors.
(46:42):
And we scream at the government
to fix
things to do better.
We need more of this.
We need more of that, morebenefits, more of this.
No, we don't need more government.
what We need is Christiansstanding up and being
Christians
That's what we needbecause there's plenty of
wealth in this
country.
(47:03):
There's plenty.
There's plenty.
of Christians living in their mansions.
And again,
that in and of
itself isn't wrongunless that's all you're
doing, going to church andliving in your mansion.
'cause I know you'redriving past people in need.
God didn't give us wealth to keep
(47:24):
it
because guess what, it's his.
We don't have anything that's ours.
It's all
his.
I sit with this a lot now wondering God.
what does this look
like in my life?
What do you want me to do?
(47:44):
Because I've outright
like had to have my husband
say,
we don't have to sell our house, Heidi.
Like we, it's okay for usto have a place to live
But I've caught
myself having those thoughts.
What right do
I have to my
comfortable house when people don't
have one?
What can I
do?
(48:05):
so I'm on a
mission to try and figure that out.
God help me figure out how to build aneighborhood that has homes so people
that don't have 'em can live there
safely.
cause I know he knows how to make it
happen.
So like a
mustard seed, each one of us, I'm surehas things from God that sits heavy on
(48:26):
us.
This passion that we
have to help
people.
God can work his
plan through every single one of you.
If you just plant
the seed and let it grow.
(48:49):
I am glad my husband
reins me and otherwise I'd be oneof those people saying, I kind
of need a house and some food.
But in the same aspect, there'ssomething beautiful about that.
Also
though,
because that early
church, my heart
longs
(49:12):
for a taste of what that must have been
like.
Nobody went
without,
nobody was homeless, nobody was
hungry.
Everybody had clothes.
Why?
Because everybody made sure everybody
did.
They
shared freely with everything they
had.
(49:35):
That's not
the American way.
Yes, I like that.
I used to
believe the whole, theAmerican dream thing.
Hmm.
I really did.
You know, you buy into it'cause it looks real good.
(49:57):
It isn't.
it.
isn't.
the American way.
What?
Get everything you can getand live in a great house,
in a great neighborhoodand great vacations.
And then get a second house.
Those are the things I think about
what you just said.
(50:21):
Two
houses and there's peopleliving on the street.
Children I, I,
the older I'm getting, the more
uncomfortable I am with it.
It just bothers me greatly,
the wrongness
of
it.
(50:41):
This nation doesn't looklike a Christian nation.
All you have to
do is
look at how Jesus did it.
Our nation is not looking like
a
Christian nation right now.
Everybody
(51:02):
out for
themself.
It's all
in the getting
bigger
and
bigger and more and more.
Biggest bank account wins, right?
cause what good is that moneygonna do when you're dead?
But what could a million dollars do whileyou're alive for people who have nothing?
(51:25):
We live in a world where there'sactually people that have billions,
How many people could be housed with that?
How many needs could
be
filled?
But
But
we don't even have to go to thoseextremes because God didn't say only those
(51:48):
super
wealthy people have an
obligation
in this great commission.
And in going
out
there, I believe it's farmore than just telling
people about Jesus.
We have to
show people Jesus.
And you remember the
separating of the sheep and the
goats, but Lord, whendid we see you hungry
(52:12):
and cold.
and without
shelter
and in prison?
When did we see you
that way?
Every time you see somebody
cold
and
hungry
and in prison.
You've seen Jesus, he'sexpecting you to serve.
(52:38):
I did a really
lousy
job at that for a very long time.
So what does that
mean
for you?
And
I, I can't answer for you what that
means.
You know what God has
given you,
but we know what he's also called
us to.
(53:01):
so do we just keep in keeping,keeping, keeping hoard and hoard and
hoard and think, isn't this great?
I'm just, things are justgetting better and better
and then those blinders areon so we don't have to look
at
those
left in our
dust.
You know,
(53:23):
this isn't
a,
this heap guilt on you.
I'm
guilty.
I haven't done.
the best
at this all the
but the more I sat withit and broke it down,
I can't get away fromwhat he's called us to do
(53:45):
and to be in this world.
If he's given you a lot,
he's
expecting a lot from you.
If he's given a
little,
he expects you to use what he's
given
no matter what.
(54:05):
It
doesn't mean, oh, I got this amazingraise I make twice as much, and
now we're gonna get a bigger house.
And now it's like we never hada raise at all because all our
money goes into this bigger
house and property taxes and utilities and
more
furniture.
But what if the
house he had originally givenyou was perfectly adequate?
(54:26):
There was nothing wrong
with it.
And then that bigger
raise allows you to bless other peopletoo, along with yourself and your family.
Those are the things I think
about.
I look
forward to the
day
when God restores an income to me
so I can and
(54:48):
use it like that because I want to
now,
I didn't before.
I used to really like my paychecksa lot in my pocket and in my bank
account for my
stuff.
I start to get excited now thinking
(55:09):
of what I
could maybe do to help because there'sso many needs and I wanna help in all
of
and I
can't.
but the church
collective
can.
So I'm left with a question,and I'm not saying you,
(55:29):
because
this
group is marvelously
beautiful at community, but why
is the church failing
this way?
Why is the church not outin the world like this
invasive mustard plant growing everywhere
(55:50):
throughout their communities,throughout the state, throughout
this country, throughout this world?
Can you
imagine
what
would be done if
church actually
churched like Jesus did?
I think we'd be a lot lessworried about what we wore,
(56:13):
how our hair looked,
what kind of car we drive,
or we don't own.
A house we
have or don't have.
Those things, I thinkget a lot less important
when we get back
to,
I'm gonna love like Jesus.
'cause man, let me tellyou what he's given to me.
(56:35):
cause without him, there's no point
having
Just stuff to have until you die.
Then
what's the
point?
I don't think
God looks at our country is like,
this is wonderful.
(56:57):
We've got
people in
these monstrous homes.
Things are
really expensive.
All kinds of people
are homeless.
They're doing so
good.
Some people are getting wealthy
and other people,
oh well maybe if
they worked harder,like those other people.
(57:22):
That's not
how he works.
What we
have and what we
don't have
are both
equally from
God.
God
didn't
bless me with a lot ofmoney because I really
suck
with
money.
money.
If
it's here
and I
have it, I spend
(57:42):
it.
I'm not good at the budgets and allthis stuff, I'd be a lot better.
Now I'm very mindful and I know now,
and I sat and thought about that.
It's like, oh, why did that change?
And I'm like, oh, becauseI want to do very different
things
with money
now,
(58:03):
because I quite
frankly don't care what I wear or
hair and all this kind of
stuff.
Goodwill dresses me forthe most part, and I love
it.
You just took
Thank you.
Goodwill and whoever decided tothrow stuff out, I'll take it.
(58:25):
We are called to be about people,
not about
possessions and
obtaining
Our main desire and goal in life should be
that everybody knows Jesus.
Why?
Because without him, itdoesn't matter what they have.
or don't have.
that should be what drives us.
(58:46):
That should matter a lot morethan it does, but when we
live in a wealthy country,
it gets a little easierto forget about God
because God is thrivingin China, and guess what's
happening to them
there?
They're going to
prison like crazy.
The last I read, a group of
20 ministers were taken
(59:07):
out of their homes and they are in prison.
Why?
Because they're talking about
Jesus
People there.
I said that I am taking a Sabbathfrom making myself memorize portions
of the Bible just because I wanna beintentional and in the moment, and not
just reciting,
they
are frantically memorizing it because
(59:28):
they can't
get caught with the Bible.
So they like they have it all here.
They can
recite every bit of it.
Why?
Because Jesus matters thatmuch and they want people to
know
they are traveling
hours
to meet and to talk and to learn why.
So they can teach others.
in China
(59:51):
happening in
Africa,
Christians are being slaughtered.
And it doesn't meanpeople aren't believing.
They're believing like crazy.
They're willing to die forwhat they believe in because
that's how real Jesus is.
And here we
are.
(01:00:12):
I
just need more stuff.
Not gonna talk about Jesus.
'cause people might laugh at me,
Laugh.
Last I knew people laughing at
you doesn't mean you're dead or in
prison.
so did we
put our seed
on the surface or did we putit in the ground so we can
(01:00:33):
grow?
Because that surface seedthat's gonna wash away with
the first little hint of storm.
And they're like, yeah.
Oh, nope, nope.
Mm-hmm.
Not gonna
talk about it.
Now they're gonna think I'm weird.
I think we need to startlooking at the church.
Those people, our brothers and sisters.
(01:00:55):
In China, in Africa, around theworld and what they're willing to do
for Jesus and for people to know, because
shame on us here in
America.
We stand on
street corners screaming at each other andhating each other and using God to do it.
They're hiding in
a house,
packed
out
(01:01:15):
with people, learning about Jesus, sothey can go out and tell more people
about Jesus, who will tell more peopleabout Jesus, knowing if they get caught,
they're going to prison or they'll die.
I know,
(01:01:37):
we need to come
back to Jesus, but in the waythat matters, in that real
way, we're gettingclose to wrapping up but
I talked about, you know, thegreat revival they're talking
about in the United States.
(01:01:57):
What I'm seeing thoughisn't a revival for Jesus.
It's a revival for church militant.
Jesus showed up and he was radical,but he wasn't radical because
he was militant in his hate
and in the way he treated people.
He was
radical because he
(01:02:17):
didn't
do that
He was radical becausehe loved the people.
The
church wasn't, and I'mtalking about church
corporate.
He was loving the peoplethat the Pharisees wouldn't
have approached and sat with.
So he didn't
stand talking about
them in hatred.
He was
found
(01:02:37):
with them.
so I would love a great
revival in this country.
I really would.
But I wanna revival the way
China's doing
it in the way
Africa's doing.
I want it to be a revival thatso real people are like, I
don't care if you kill me, 'causethen I'm just going to heaven
(01:02:57):
anyways.
But can I tell you about Jesus?
It's amazing what he's done for my life.
Because if he's
not that real, you need to meet him.
So he is that
real.
so that like a
mustard
seed.
(01:03:20):
It's not about saying, oh, it's okay,as long as you have a tiny little bit of
faith,
you miss the whole point of what it was.
No,
it's like a mustard seedbecause it may look little, but
watch what
happens when I
take
control.
Watch what happens when it becomeseverything that I created it to be.
(01:03:45):
That's what that is talking about.
that seed was
never meant to stay safe in your pocket.
In its little seed package
on the counter,
that seed, it's gotta be buriedand it has to break and it
has
(01:04:05):
to have water and
light.
So if we think about it as ourlife, we too, we need to be
broken
in order to become everythingthat we are created to be,
but to get there after it's broken
open, we
have
to have water and we have to have light.
(01:04:27):
And I'm talking about
God,
the one who both washes us clean,
but gives us living water and is
the
light.
cause without him,
that seed wouldn't do
anything
underground.
You can put that
seed underground, but ifthere's no water in no light,
you just have a seed
(01:04:48):
underground.
And what good does it do?
And if you don't put it underground, what
good is it gonna do?
it might sprout and grow some
roots,
but it's way too tenderand fragile to survive
laying on
top of the surface and it will just
die.
and that's kind
(01:05:08):
of what America is looking like in its
faith.
Yeah.
We
have seeds and look at our
roots as we're laying here on the
surface
ready to be washed away.
At the first sign is somebody
saying something to usor laughing at us or hard
times
(01:05:29):
has to be buried
so it can grow
strong
for in Christ.
Neither our most conscientious religion
nor at home profession of faith matters.
Only the faith activated and
(01:05:51):
expressed love.
So
you can have
all the faith in the
world,
and if you don't love, it's
meaningless.
This whole
book
comes down to that message.
(01:06:13):
Without love, it's meaningless.
It doesn't mean anything to getbaptized and say you're a Christian if
you're not living life the Jesus Way.
Because it wasn't just about beingbaptized and saying you believe it's about
(01:06:36):
going out and sharing
it.
And if you're not, becauseyou just keep it for yourself.
I don't know you.
That's
what
we'll
hear.
But I don't know.
You
all because
of love,
(01:06:57):
it all comes down to
love.
So we need to be
mustard, seeds of faith,
not because we have so
little of it,
but because this faith thatwe have is this amazing thing
that grows and spreads and takes over.
(01:07:18):
And that's a whole differentthing than just being tiny.
My gentle loving challenge to all of you.
(01:07:39):
What state is your seed in?
Have you planted it yet?
Has it started to grow?
And if it has,
is it still this tiny little seedling or
is it
multiplying?
(01:08:00):
Because we're called
to be multipliers.
We're called to
be out in this world
spreading and sharing Jesus
everywhere we
go.
And that's not just in words, it's in our
actions
Led with
love.
(01:08:26):
I was
once again, so challenged this week.
Like I always feel like I
just
fall so
short.
I'm very grateful for my communityand the model that it is.
I would so
love to somehow it's like
(01:08:48):
hi, this is our
church.
would love to show you
because I believe this is what Jesus
meant
when he said, love each other
and carry their burdens.
(01:09:09):
So my challenge is to have faith
like that,
plant it,
water it, and grow
it.
Be everything
that you can be,
be everything God created you
to be,
Because like I had said.
We talk about addictionbeing life and death.
(01:09:29):
This is a
whole different kind of life and
death and it's real.
Even if you don't believe that it's
real,
There will be
an end Someday.
there will be an absolute
gun
and it's gonna be too late
at
that point to say, but I wanna do it right
now.
(01:09:50):
I wanna do it right.
It just sounded like, yeah, it justsounded like stuff that couldn't be true.
Well, it is
true.
It is
real, and he's very clear.
I have given
you everything and all I ask you to do.
Love
people like I loved you
(01:10:10):
and tell people
about me,
and that is what I wanted to shareabout the mustard seed faith.
You're not tiny.
You have the potential to be mighty,
mighty, mighty individuals for God.
(01:10:35):
And you have no idea
how many people
may be so excited to see you upthere and tell you, thank you so
much for telling me about Jesus,
because life
does depend on it.
The eternal one, the one that matters.
(01:11:02):
with that, I'm done.
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