November 7, 2025 • 54 mins
In the latest episode Pastor Tim Smith drops a spiritual bombshell with his lesson, "Church Member or Christ Disciple." He'll challenge you to ask one raw, unfiltered question: Is your faith just a Sunday morning routine, or a radical, world-changing mission?
Discover why Jesus commands you to "die" to truly live, and how to trade solitary safety for a life that bears incredible fruit.This isn't about religion. It's about legacy. Stop being a spectator. It's time to get out of the packet and into the soil!
If this message touched your heart or challenged you in any way, we're asking you to pass it along. Share it with someone in your life who needs to hear it. Your willingness to share doesn't just help us it extends God's Kingdom. It plants seeds. It opens doors. It points people back to Christ. That's the real mission. So don't keep it to yourself. Let it travel. Let it matter in someone else's life. Love & Need Ya!!!
🎧 New episodes drop every Friday | Available on: Spreaker, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio
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Pastor TIm: pastortim@kingdomchicago.org
Brothers In The Word - Facebook
Brothers In The Word - YouTube
Discover why Jesus commands you to "die" to truly live, and how to trade solitary safety for a life that bears incredible fruit.This isn't about religion. It's about legacy. Stop being a spectator. It's time to get out of the packet and into the soil!
If this message touched your heart or challenged you in any way, we're asking you to pass it along. Share it with someone in your life who needs to hear it. Your willingness to share doesn't just help us it extends God's Kingdom. It plants seeds. It opens doors. It points people back to Christ. That's the real mission. So don't keep it to yourself. Let it travel. Let it matter in someone else's life. Love & Need Ya!!!
🎧 New episodes drop every Friday | Available on: Spreaker, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio
👉 Like, Subscribe, and Share
Pastor TIm: pastortim@kingdomchicago.org
Brothers In The Word - Facebook
Brothers In The Word - YouTube
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Brothers and the Word. My name is Tim Smith,
Young's child of Clara Jones. Thank you so much for
watching us on Facebook and YouTube. Thanks for listening wherever
you get your podcasts. Do me a favorite, Please subscribe,
rate us, review us, give us five stars. If you
only give us four stars, I'm inclined to believe you
are a hater.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
The city is back up.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's a must we outside, So please like love and
give this teaching away. Share it please. That's the only
offering that I'm asking you for.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Do me a favorite. Grab your Bible.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Grab something that has the Word of God on it,
I mean for real, because you're going to need it
for this session right here. And also, get something to
write with. Get something where you can take just not notes,
but detailed notes. Shout out to Shannon, and also a
special shout out to my little cousin Kayla for holding.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
It down for the whole family. Love your baby girl.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
All right, family, let's get it every lesson and I
try to come to this lesson. I try to come
to every lesson with a power word. And the reason
for the power word is that the power word anchors
us to the text. But it also unlocks the whole teaching.
So the whole teaching can be unlocked within the power word.
So if you're taking notes, today's power word is yield.
(01:20):
Yield Why I E L D yield. Let me give
your heads up before we get into this. You know
how you go to the doctor sometimes and they're about
to take to give you a shot, and sometimes the
nurse will tell you, you know, it's gonna pinch. There's
gonna be a little pressure, and there's gonna be a
(01:41):
little slight pinch. Okay, that's what this lesson is going
to be. That's what this episode is going to be.
It's going to be a little pressure and it's going
to pinch a little bit, but I promise you it's
going to be worth it.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
So back to our power word. That power word is yield.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Now, when you think of the word yield, it actually
has two many And that's.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
What I appreciate about this word that we're going to
use tonight. Yield. It has two meanings.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yield doesn't just mean to stop or to surrender. Yield
can also mean to produce. A garden yields, a harvest,
a tree yields fruit. So yield is to surrender your
position in order to step into your production. Yield means
(02:28):
giving giving up control to gain your purpose. That's how
we're going to look at it tonight. Yield means giving
up control to gain your purpose. You gotta let that
marinate in your spirit just for a second now before
we jump into the text. Here is your assignment, family,
your missions that you choose to squabble up. Is to
(02:50):
look in the spiritual mirror and act yourself. Just one raw,
transparent and unfiltered question here. It is am I a
church member? Or am I a Christ disciple? You gotta
answer that question before we're done, because after today you
(03:11):
can't be both. You're gonna have to choose the side.
Choose ye this day whom you will serve. That's the
title of our time together, church member or Christ's disciple.
Let's go to the Book of John chapter twelve. We're
gonna park the GNX at verse twenty four through verse
(03:32):
twenty six. And here's what the word of the Lord
says John chapter twelve, starting at verse twenty four, Gonna
come to you out of the ESV translation reads like this, truly, truly,
I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls
into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if
(03:56):
it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life
loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world
will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me,
he must follow me. And where I am there will
(04:19):
my servant be. Also, if anyone serves me, the Father
will honor him.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I had a pack of seeds upstairs.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I don't have them with me right now, but I
had a pack of seeds. And earlier this year I
had went out and I had got some seeds because
I had planned to, you know, plant some flowers out
in the front yard. I didn't get a chance to,
just got busy throughout the year. But nevertheless, I got
about six or seven packs of seeds in my junk drawer,
and they're just simply flower.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Seeds, and they look good. On the packet.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
There's a picture on the front of each one of them,
because there are different types of flowers, but on each
one there's a picture on it, and it shows me
what these seeds can be, shows me the potential of
the seed. It also describes the fragrance of the seed.
It tells you the color, it shows you the beauty
of the seed, and it basically what it is. It
(05:18):
is a packet of seeds that are full of promise,
and inside each of those seeds there's a genetic cod.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
But here's the point I want you to get.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
As long as those seeds stay in that laminated, climate
control safe little packet, they're nothing but unrealized potential.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
They're just a promise, not a product.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
They're safe, they're clean, they're organized, they're not getting dirty.
They're not dealing with the worms or the rocks, or
scorching sun or the bad weather. They're sitting in my
drawer and they're just seeds. They're in a packet and
they're alone, not bothering anybody. But cannot be real with
you for a second because we're family. This is a
(06:09):
picture of the modern church for so many people. We
have buildings packed with Christians seeds in a packet, and
you're sitting in a comfortable pew in a heated or
air conditioned building. You're safe, you're clean, you're around other
seeds that look.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Just like you.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
You hear about your potential every Sunday. The pastor paints
a beautiful, vivid picture of what you could be, but
you never leave the packet.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
You never leave the building.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
You're a professional meeting attender, a religious consumer. You're packed
into a church, but you've never been planted into the
world genetic code of the creator of the universe inside
of you. The Book of Genesis is the book of beginnings.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Get this.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
The Book of Genesis is the seed plot for the
entire Bible.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Everything in your Bible can be traced back to the
Book of Genesis.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And I want to show you this seed because the
first time that God mentions this seed, and I want
you to see the power of the seed. I want
you to see the commandment that God gave to the seed.
It's found in Genesis chapter one, verse eleven. So this
is the third day of creation, and God has something
to say to the seed. And so because from the
(07:44):
very beginning it was God's design for trees to bear
fruit with seed in itself after its kind.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
That's important to see.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Also Genesis chapter one eleven, it reads like this, and
God said that the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding. There's
a word seed and fruit, trees bearing fruit in which
is their seed, each according to its kind.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
On the earth.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
The Bible says, and it was so. The DNA of
God is multiplication, the DNA of God is reproduction, the
DNA of God is legacy.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
But your divine.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
DNA, your spiritual genetic cold, is locked up. It's dormant.
You're just a seed in a building. You're just a
seed in a packet. Why because you haven't been released
into the dirt. You haven't been released into the dark,
into the urgency of the world to be what God
(08:52):
has called you to be. So Jesus in John chapter
twelve is about to draw a line in the sand.
He's about to separate the seeds in the packet from
the seeds and the soil. This isn't a suggestion, This
isn't a good idea. This is spiritual physical. This is
(09:15):
a spiritual physical that we all have to take.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
This is a.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Belt to behind moment right here. Let's break down verse
twenty four, John chapter twelve. Let's break down verse twenty four.
Verse twenty four eight, Jesus says, truly truly, I say
to you, let's pull over four a second. In our culture,
truly truly is the equivalent of Jesus saying, look.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
For real, yo, listen up.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
No cap whenever Jesus doubles down on a word like this,
and the original language is the word amen.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
He's putting amen at the beginning of what he's about
to say.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Say.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
You'll see in the Gospels where Jesus will either say verily,
verily or truly, truly. And he's saying, what I am
about to tell you is not a theory, it's not
a suggestion. It is an unbreakable, non negotiable law of
the kingdom. He's grabbing you and I by the collar.
He's looking you in the eye, and he's saying, pay attention,
(10:25):
because this next part is the whole thing. He's not
talking to the crowd. He's talking to you verse twenty
four B.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Unless a grain of wheat.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Falls into the earth and dies, this is the core
of everything that's about to take place.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
The grain of wheat in verse twenty four is you.
It's your life.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
It's your talent, it's your ambition, it's your dreams, it's
your comfort, it's your reputation. And Jesus says, for that seed,
for you to reach your full potential, two things has
to happen. First, must fall into the earth. You have
(11:15):
to leave the packet. You have to leave the building.
You cannot fall into the earth in the building. You
cannot fall into the earth in the packet. You have
to leave the safety of the silo. You have to
get out of the boat. You have to be willing
to get dirty. The earth is the world in its context.
(11:40):
The earth is your messy job. The earth is your
broken family. The earth is your dark neighborhood. The earth
is your uncomfortable conversations that you must have. The earth
is where there is no applause, nobody's singing your praise.
Let me make one thing unequivocally clear to you, and
(12:00):
I need you to hear what I'm about to say.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
The discipleship is not clean.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
If you're going to do discipleship, you're gonna get your
hands dirty. Discipleship is gritty, it's grimy, it's gully. It's
planting yourself in the soil of human need.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
That's what discipleship is.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
You plant your life into the soil of somebody else's life.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
But wait, there's more.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Because falling into the soil isn't enough. Falling into the
soil isn't the only goal. Isn't the only goal. The
second part is where it really gets real. Guess what
he says about that seed. He said that seed must die.
And this is the part that we the church, we
(12:56):
like to skip over this part right here. We like
to cover our ears right here. We like to act
like Jesus just didn't say this part. This is the
part we edit out of discernment. You know what he's saying.
He's saying death, not a physical death, but a death
to self, a death to ego side. Have you ever
(13:18):
heard of homicide, Well, this is ego side. It's the
death of your plan. It's the death of your reputation.
It's the death of your need to be comfortable, the
death of your desire to be in control. It's you saying, God,
my life is no longer my own. As Paul said,
you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God
(13:41):
in your body. My schedule, God.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Is not my own.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
I have to put you on my schedule. God, my
money is not my own, my will is not my own.
I yield, I yield. But see, the church member wants
the benefits of the resurrection. They want all of the
glory of the resurrection, but they don't want the pain
(14:05):
of the crucifixion. You want the crown, but not the cross.
You want the fruit without the funeral. So Jesus says,
it doesn't work like that. The path to life is
through death. You see that throughout the scriptures. The path
to life is through death. Question for you, what part
(14:27):
of quote unquote you needs to die today? Think about that?
What part of you? What part of you gets on
your nerve? Because that part of you that gets on
your nerve, God said, give me that, Let me nail
that to the cross.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Is it your pride?
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Is it your fear of what people will think. You're
always looking to please others, and I always say what
people think of you as none of your business. Is
it your addiction to come? Is it your ambition to
build your own little kingdom? You need to answer that
question with the help of the Holy Spirit. That's the
only way you can answer that question. You're going to
(15:09):
have to invite the Holy Spirit into the room with
you to be honest with yourself. It's not about trying
to fool anyone. It's just about you being honest with yourself.
And here's the reason why. Because eternity hangs in the
balance with whether you are a church member.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Or a disciple of Christ.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Look at verse twenty four se listen to what else
Jesus say is about to see.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
He says, it remains.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Alone, but if it dies, it bears much truth. This
is it right here, the choice and the consequence Christ's disciple.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Or church member.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
If you refuse to die, if you decide, you know what,
I'm gonna stay in this packet. I'm gonna stay in
this junk drawer right here. I've been here almost a
whole year. Now you say, if you sound, Jesus says,
you remain alone, and that word alone is devastating.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
It means you will.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
You will be isolated, You will be secluded, you will
be sequestioned, you will be solitary, you will be barren.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
You can be in a megachurch.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Of two to five thousand people and you can be
completely alone. Why because you're not connected to your purpose.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
You're not connected to your purpose.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
You're connected to a bunch of people, but you're not
connected to your purpose. I believe it's in two timenty
one nine where Paul says that God saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our purpose,
but according to his purpose. That was given to us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. You have purpose.
(16:56):
You're producing nothing for the Kingdom of God. Church got
a lot of activity, but you don't have any impact.
You're busy at church, but you're barren in the world.
You're a fan in the stands, not a player on
the field. So guess what you remain alone. You are
(17:16):
a single, useless seed. But if it dies, If that
seed dies, this is where the glory is found at.
If you allow God to break that outer shell of
your ego, if you surrender to the process of being
(17:37):
buried in his will, Bible says, then you're going to
bear much fruit, not some fruit. Listen to the language.
Look at what he says, much fruit. This is the
explosion of purpose. This is the multiplication, this is the legacy.
This is your life suddenly producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
the fruit of the spirit found over in relationship with
(17:59):
Fibrus two through twenty three.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Gentleness, self control.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
You'll begin to demonstrate this kind of fruit in places
that were once barren in your life. This is you
leading your coworker, the Christ. This is you starting the
ministry that changes your entire community.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Here's the thing I want you to get.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Fruit proves the identity of the tree. Fruit proves the
identity of a tree. I was at a building yesterday
up on the second floor, and I looked down and I.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Saw an apple tree.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Apple tree didn't say anything to me. I saw the
fruit that was on the apple tree. So the apple
tree didn't walk around with a name tag on.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
That says, hi, my name is apple tree.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
You know it's an apple tree, why because you see
apples on it. Here's my point. A disciple of Christ
doesn't have to have a big title. They don't have
to have a fancy position. You know their disciple how
by the fruit in their lives. Jesus said, you'll know
the tree by the fruit that it bears. The church member,
(19:08):
on the other hand, has no fruit. They just have
a church tote bag, reserve parking spot, and a coffee mug.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
And a lot of opinions. That's it. This is the choice.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
You can have either solitary safety or you can have
fruitful sacrifice. Can't have both, but you can have one
or the other. Christ's disciple a church member. So Jesus
lays out the law of the kingdom, the law of
the harvest. The reason why I love when Jesus uses
(19:46):
agriculture metaphors. Go back to Genesis, chapter one, verse eleven,
and you will see it. The seed never changes.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
He says, it will produce after its kind. That is
a law. That is a law locked up in up
in that DNA code, in that genetic code. The law
is locked there. It will not change.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
So when he gives us this example, this is the
law of his kingdom. And just like you can guarantee
that that apple tree is going to produce apples, you
can also rest assured that this kingdom is going to
produce disciples.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
So he starts to get personal.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
And as he continues talking, he's going to get all
up in your business.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
And we know you don't like nobody in your business.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
So what he's going to do is he's going to
turn the camera from the principle to the person. All
this time he's been dealing with the principle. Now he's
getting ready to deal with the person. He goes from
the agricultural to the actual. He knows how biggest hang
up is our love for our own life. You know
(21:00):
what he does, He puts his finger right on the wound.
He puts his pressure right there on it, on the
bull's eye. He addresses it head on, peep the floor,
verse twenty five. Here it is whoever loves his life
loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world
will keep it for eternal life. This is the paradox
(21:22):
of the kingdom.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
It's spiritual jiu jitsu.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
It's the opposite of everything the world tells you. The
world says, secure the bag, the world says, protect yourself,
The world says, build your brand, live your best life.
Jesus comes through and he says, uh uh. The one
who is obsessed with protecting his life, the one who
(21:48):
coacoons himself in comfort and self preservation. He says, that's
the one who is actively forfeiting their life. So busy
trying to save your life, losing your soul? What good
is for a man to gain the whole world lose
the soul? And Jesus said, what's your a man given
(22:11):
exchange for a soul? You can find yourself so busy
building your little sand castle on the beach that you
don't even realize that the tide of eternity is coming
in to wash it all the way. So loving your life,
your comfort, your ease, your reputation.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Your money, your filters that you place over your life
for the ground.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
It's a guaranteed way for you and I to lose
everything that actually matters. We can lose eternity with God
because we're so enamored with what we have right here
and right now. And so he flips it, he says,
(22:58):
and whoever hate hates his life now it's going to
a whole another level. Whoever hates his life, this cuts
against our flesh so hard.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Whoever hates his life in this.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
World will keep it for eternal life. Now, when he
says hate, he doesn't mean you walk around depressed and
self loathing. That's not what he's talking about. Let's get
the meaning right. It means to love it less by comparison,
to love it less by comparison. It's like saying, you
(23:33):
live in Chicago and you hate traffic.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
You don't have a.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Deep personal animosity towards cars. You just love being on
time more than you do being in traffic.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
That's what he means. To hate your life in this
world means that.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
You love Jesus so much more that your own life,
your own comfort, your own it becomes secondary to him.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
So what am I saying?
Speaker 1 (24:05):
What am I saying is it is a calculated devaluation
of your life. You look at your life and you say,
compare to Christ, compared to his mission, compared to his eternity.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
To say nothing, I'll give this up.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
It's that moment when you stop living for the weekend
and you start living for the kingdom. When last time
you lived for the kingdom. We love to live for
the weekend, We get hyped for the weekend. But when
is the last time you kept that same energy for
the kingdom. It's the moment that you stop building your
resume and you start building your eulogy. It's the moment
(24:46):
you die to the approval of social life to live
for the approval of God. So I got a question
for you, what do you love more a your life
or be the lord of your life? And your answer
(25:07):
determines whether you are losing or keep me. This is
the heart of the Parable of the Sowred in Matthew
Chapter thirteen. Matthew Chapter thirteen, in my Estimate is one
of the most important chapters in the Bible. For me,
I can't impress that upon anyone else. Well, for me
and the months that I spent years ago reading that chapter.
(25:32):
It's probably the most marked up chapter in my entire Bible.
For me, Matthew Chapter thirteen is one of the most
important chapters in the Bible because we're seeing it play
out right now. They're a prophetic parables that Jesus given
that parable in that particular chapter. And these parables are
unlike any of the parables that he give in scripture.
(25:52):
It's not like the parable of the lost coin or
the parable of the lost son. This isn't that, or
the parable of the lost sheep. Are prophetic parables and
their parables that you and I are seeing play out
right now. On social media. You'll see some stuff that's
happening inst some churches that will leave you confused, but
really it shouldn't because it's spoken about right there in
(26:15):
the Bible. So in Matthew Chapter thirteen, off the heels
of this very confrontational battle that Jesus had in Matthew
Chapter twelve with the religious leaders where they denounced him
and where he denounced them, and where he absolutely severed.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Ties with Israel. And that's why this chapter is so profound.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
But in Matthew chapter thirteen. The first parable that Jesus
talks about is the parable of the sore. Now, in
that parable, the sore is in anybody who souls of
the Word of God. The seed is the word of God.
The sore isn't even important, because the child can sow seed.
The seed is the word of God. Then he's going
to describe before different soils, and each one of these
(27:03):
soils hear me, represents a different heart condition. And he's
going to talk about how when the seed goes out
and when it lands on these four different heart conditions.
He's going to let you know how those seeds, how
those soils reject the word, and how one of those
soils receives the word, receives the seed. So he talks
(27:27):
about the seed falling on four different soils. Again, each
soil represents a different heart condition. Let's go to Matthew
chapter thirteen, because Jesus is going to show us what
happens to different kinds of seeds, and what happens to
different kinds what happens within these different kinds of soils.
Matthew chapter thirteen, verse three, and verse three through eight.
(27:49):
And he told them many things in parables, saying a
sower went out to sow, and as he sowed some seeds.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
That's the word God. That's not money.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
I know the church has co opted seeds and turned
it into money, but that's not what God is talking about.
The seeds are the word. Okay, it's the word of God.
So some seeds fell along the path, and the birds
came and devoured them.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Boom.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Other seeds fell on rocket ground where they did not
have much soil, and immediately they sprang up since they
had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose,
they were scorched, and since they had no root, they
withered away.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Boom.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up
and choked them. But other seeds fell on good soil
and produced grain, some one hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty.
Please hear this public service announcement. Not all soil it's
created equal. Not all believers are created equal in their commitment.
(28:55):
Some seeds fall on hard ground. What is that?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
That's shallow church members. They hear the word, but they
don't really let it in.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
They don't let it in where they become what James said,
doers of the word.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
And so what ends up happening? Is that seed? That word,
It bounces right off of them.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
They're distracted, they can't stay focused, they're defensive.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
They got a hard heart.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Then he said, some seeds fall on rocky ground. That's
the emotional church. I'm not sure if you've ever been
to an emotional church, but I have. That's the emotional
church member. They get excited for a minute. One minute
they're they're they're they're laughing. One minute, they're crying, one minute,
they're running. One minute they're shouting, Oh I feel that sermon.
(29:44):
They go throw all their money up on the stage.
But here's the thing. With all of that running around
that they're doing, there's no death, there's no foundation, there's
no real transformation.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Hear me.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
When life gets hard, when life starts lifing, when the
real work starts, they wilt very quickly. Then he said,
some seeds fall among thorns. Whetheres that represent That represents
the distracted church member.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
They're trying to serve.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
God and the world. They're trying to serve two masters.
Jesus said, you're gonna love one, hurt and hate the other.
They want Jesus and the comfort that he provides. They
want the kingdom, but they also want earthly success.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
They need that bag. And so what.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Happens is the cares of this world chokes the word out.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
No fruit, just noise.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
But then the last soil he talks about, He says,
some seeds fall on good soil.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
That's a disciple.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
That's someone who has allowed themselves to be broken up.
Has the word ever broke you up before? When the
word breaks you up, breaks you down. Someone who lets
the plow of God's purpose go deep. Whenever my grandmother
got ready to go out in her backyard and plant
(31:12):
her garden for the year, she would tell me, we
got to go out here and turn this ground over,
meaning that she wasn't just going to throw the seeds
out there on the dirt. We had to go out
there and turn We had to prepare the dirt.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Is your heart.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Prepared to receive the word of God? Is your heart
prepared to receive the seed of God's word?
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Listen to what happens.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Because the seed that fell on good soil, Jesus says,
it produces. You saw no productivity in the other three soils.
But the last soil produces a harvest. His produces a grain.
He says some one hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirty four.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
What is that multiplication?
Speaker 1 (32:00):
That's abundance, that's real fruit, that's a real harvest. Here
it is question for you, which kind of soil are you?
You know I was setting you up right? Which kind
of soil are you? And again you have to be
honest with yourself. You have to allow the Holy Spirit
and to answer this question, sincerely, look at those soils.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Go back to Matthew chapter thirteen. I believe it is,
verse three through eight.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Read that again, and then ask the Holy Spirit, okay,
which one of these soils am I? Because later on
in that same chapter, Jesus is going to give you
a full breakdown of exactly what happens in each of
those conditions, because where it talked about the birds coming
to steal the seed, he's going to explain to you
(32:48):
later that's actually Satan.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Those are.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
That's the demonic world, the emissaries of Satan. And what
they're going to do is they're gonna come snatch that seed.
Because if you don't really, if you don't realize how
important that seed is, Satan does. And so what he's
going to do is in that particular soil. He's going
to snatch that seed before it can take root.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
So you got to ask.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yourself, Okay, God, which of these four soils am I?
And more importantly, are you willing to have the ground
of your heart turned over so that God can plant
something in you that will actually produce a harvest. So
(33:35):
Jesus has given us the principle. The principle is the
seed must die. That's principal number one. And he's given
us the paradox lose your life to find it. Lose
your life in order for you to find it. Now
he's going to give us the practice. What is the practice?
(33:57):
The practice is simply the how to, and it makes
it so simple that a child could get it. But
it's also so profound that a theologian could study this.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
For a lifetime. If you've been.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Asking, okay, Tim, I hear you, but what do I do?
I'm glad you asked that question, because Jesus answers it
right here in verse twenty six. Here it is, if
anyone serves me, he must follow me.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Oh my god, it's so much.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
It's so many different things that people are following. Jesus
makes it emphatically clear, he must follow me. If you
want to serve me, you gotta follow me. And where
I am there will my servant be. Also, if anyone
serves me, the Father will honor him. Verse twenty six.
Say look at that. If anyone serves me, he must
(34:53):
follow me. That's a micdrop moment right there. Jesus redefined
service because for many of us, serving God means singing
in the choir, it means being on the missionary board,
it means working in the church, serving each and every
time the doors of church open. Those things are good,
but that's not what he's asking you for. In this verse,
(35:15):
that's not what he's talking about. He says, service is following.
A disciple's primary act of service is not activity in
the church, but proximity to Jesus. That's the service that
he's looking for. It's about movement. It's about going where
(35:35):
he goes. It's about doing what he does. It's about
loving who he loves. Can't follow someone by standing still.
You can't follow Jesus from the comfort of your couch
or from your favorite church people. Following implies motion, It
implies sacrifice, It implies leaving something behind past ten where
(36:00):
was Jesus going in John chapter twelve. I'm glad you
asked let's follow him. He was headed to the cross.
That's where he's going. He's telling you to follow him
to the cross. Yep, he was on his way to
that old rugged cross they liked to sing about.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
He was headed to the ultimate act of dying to
bear much fruit.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
So for you and I to follow him, that means
we have to walk a path of sacrifice verse twenty
six B. And where I am, there will my servant
be also. This is a promise and a warning. And
I want you to see this, that where I am,
there will my servant be also.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
See.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
I think sometimes we're so quick to say yes to
God without really reading the fine print. Here's the fine print.
Where was Jesus. He was with the poor, He was
with the sick. He was with the out cast. He
was with the sinners. He was with the adulterer. He
(37:05):
was with the demon possessed. He was with the blind,
He was with the lame. He was with the leopard.
Guess what he was even with the dead. He was
in the dirt, he was in the streets. He was
on the block. He was in the hood, he was
in the mess He was not a seed in a packet,
(37:27):
He was not in a church building. He was in
the soil of humanity. If you remember when I first started,
I said, discipleship is what it is messy. So if
you call yourself his servant, if you call yourself his disciple,
here's the diagnosic diagnostic question that I have for you.
(37:51):
Are you where Jesus is? Are you intentionally placing yourself
in proxy to brokenness? Are you or is your entire
Christian experience a design to keep you away from messy people?
(38:13):
I don't like messy people. Well, I'm glad God like you,
and I'm glad God like me because guess what we
some messy people. So answer that question. You want to
be with him? You want to follow him? Okay, you're
going to have to follow him where he goes. Are
you intentionally placing yourself and proximity to the brokenness in
(38:40):
the lives of others? Because if your faith doesn't lead
you into uncomfortable spaces, you're not following Jesus. No, you're
just a fan. You're admiring him from a distance. You're
a church member. A disciple is with the Master.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Period.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Look at verse twenty sixty. If anyone serves me, it
is the promise the Father.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Will honor him.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
If anyone serves me, Jesus said, you have the backing
of my Father. Here's the payoff. Because this is the
ultimate validation. It's not honor from your pastor. That's not
what you should be seeking. It's not a plaque from
the church. It's not a shout out on the church's
Instagram page. It's honor from the Father. Nothing should eclipse that.
(39:37):
The creator of the cosmos looks at your life of
yielded sacrificial fruit bearing, and he says, that's my child,
well done.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Without good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of
your rest. Because here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
The world offers you fame, the Father offers you honor.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Which do you want.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Fame is loud, but honor is heavy. Fame is fleeting,
but honor is eternal. So the church member chases likes
and comments and shares. They want attention, they want notoriety.
But you know what the disciple chases. The disciple chases
the honor that comes from the Father. So I have
(40:24):
a question for you, what are you chasing? What are
you chasing?
Speaker 2 (40:32):
Right now?
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Because we're all chasing something. We're all chasing something, We're
all in pursuit of something. Again, this is a diagnostic test.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
For your spirit and for your soul.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
So let's bring this all together because we've seen the
whole process.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
The law a seed.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
Must die to produce fruit. That is a Kingdom law.
Seed must die to produce fruit. You have to get
out of the packet and into the soil. You do
no good staying in the packet. I got about six
packets in that drawer, and I am not worried about
those siegs growing inside my junk drawer. You know why,
(41:19):
because they're not in the soil. Now, if I had
a whole, if I.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Had that whole packed with soil, then I might have
a problem on my hands.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
So until you get out of that packet, you will
not produce anything for God. Staying in the packet is safe.
Getting in the dirt, getting in the soil is messy.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
So that was the law.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
We looked at the logic, you have to lose your
life to find your life. Hating your comfort in this
world is the key to securing your soul for the
next world. We looked at the lifestyle true service is
following Jesus into the messy places of this world. And
(42:07):
the reward is the honor that comes from God the
Father himself. So what does this all boil down to.
It all boils down to this title, this whole teaching
Christ's disciple or church member.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
A church member is a.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
Seed in a packet, safe, clean, comfortable and alone. A
disciple is a seed in the ground. That's the difference.
That seed in the ground has to die dead, to
self buried in God's will and producing an explosion of fruit.
(42:51):
Church member loves their life. They protected, they guarded, they insulated,
and guess what they ultimately will lose. A disciple hates
their life in this world. So what do they do?
They surrender it, they sacrifice it, and guess what they
keep their life for eternity. Church members busy at church.
(43:15):
I used to be a church member. I was very
busy at church. I served in every capacity, every capacity
you could think to serve in the church. Every time
I go down to Champagne, I drive by the old
church that I used to go to. There are bushes
all around that church. I planted those bushes. I want
to get out my car sometimes and cut those bushes down.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
These are my bushes. So yeah, you can be busy.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
And what happens a lot of times, Pastor Sam, is
when we get busy in church, we'll want to take
ownership of that. That's what we want to take ownership.
We'll want to take ownership of our position. We'll want
to take ownership of our seat. We'll want to take
ownership of our parking space. We'll want to take ownership
(44:02):
of the way people view us and the way people
look at us.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
That's what it is to be busy at church.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
But a disciple, oh bro, a disciple is following Jesus
into the world. A church member six the approval of people.
A disciple received the honor of the Father. So family,
what Jesus gave us in Genesis chapter twelve, I'm sorry,
in John chapter twelve, verse twenty four through twenty six,
(44:32):
what he's giving us, there's no middle ground. You are
one or the other. There's no wiggle room in what
he's saying to us. The choice is yours choice is.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
Mine right now, in this moment.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
You can't click off this video or pause this podcast
and stay the same. Nope, not after this, Because the
word of God is demanding a response from you.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
You must answer God.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
Jesus has drawn the line, this is not about your salvation.
It's not what we're talking about. We're talking about whether
or not you have fully leaned into what it means
to be a disciple. And for a lot of Christians,
they've never been challenged to this. They didn't even know
(45:26):
this was a thing, because the only thing they go
to church to do is to be told what they're
going to get. I saw a video where a pastor
told the church, if y'all give me everyone it, stand up,
give me ten thousand dollars. You got to do it within
ninety seconds. If you give me ten thousand dollars within
(45:46):
ninety seconds, God is going to give y'all millions of dollars.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
See a disciple would God up and walked out the church?
Remember going to try to go broke doing that foolishness.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
That's the difference between the two. Jesus said, my sheep
know my voice. They can hear my voice, and the
strangest voice they won't follow. That was a stranger's voice
speaking from that pool pit. I don't care how, I
don't care who they are. You have to make your
calling an election, sure, because there are a lot of false,
(46:23):
erroneous doctrines out here right now. As the Bible says,
doctrines of demons. It's a lot of that out here
in Christian them today. So now you have to ask
yourself this, Are you content being a spectator? Are you
happy with your potential locked up in a pretty packet?
(46:46):
Are you okay with remaining alone, barren, with a life
that has no eternal echo?
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Are you okay with that? Or are you ready to die?
Speaker 1 (46:56):
Are you ready to feel the soil, the pressure, the
darkness of surrender, knowing that on the other side of
this thing, it's a harvest that you can't even imagine.
Your eyes, having seen your ears, having heard it, has
an entid into your heart the things.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
That God has prepared for you.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
The call of Christ is not a call to join
a church club. It's a call to come and die.
That's the call of Christ. If you strip it down,
it's a call for you and I to follow him
and die. He was on his way to death when
he dropped this off. There were people coming from all over.
(47:37):
They wanted to have an audience with Jesus. There were
some Greeks, they pulled up. They wanted to talk to him,
but this is what he shared. So to follow Jesus
is a call for you and I to come and die.
We have to pick up our cross daily and follow him.
That's what it means to come and die. You have
to pick up your death daily and follow him death
(48:01):
to your agenda. That means every day you have to
be a pallbearer for your own coughing. And it's in
that death that you finally truly live. Let me give
these three calls to action. Number one the inventory, that's
what I'm calling it, the inventory, And here it is tonight,
(48:23):
before you go to sleep, I want you to take
out a piece of paper. I want you to draw
a line down the middle. On one side you're going
to write church member, church member activities, and then on
the other side you're going to write disciple actions, church
member activities, disciple actions. And I need you to be
(48:45):
brutally honest, list everything you do that falls under each category.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
Where's your time, where's your.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
Energy, where's it really going, where's your effort? Because here's
the thing, the list won't lie. And then I want
you to allow God to use that list to convict
you and redirect you.
Speaker 2 (49:09):
Number two, the first step of death.
Speaker 1 (49:13):
Identify one thing that you're holding on to, just one,
one comfort, one ambition, one fear. What is it that's
keeping you in the seed packet? Because I need you
to come out of that seed packet. Maybe it's the
fear of sharing your faith with a coworker. Maybe it's
the comfort of your Friday nights.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Maybe it's the ambition to get that promotion at all costs.
But I want you to name it, and then I
want you to take one tangible step this week to
kill it. Volunteer for that outreach. Invite a coworker to coffee.
Don't invite them to church, Invite them to a conversation.
Ask them what can I do to pray for you?
(49:57):
What can I pray for you about? Plant yourself in
somebody's life, Plant yourself in a young person's life. Take
one step out of the packet, Take one step out
of the church building and into the soil. Number three,
Find your where, Find your where.
Speaker 2 (50:21):
I need you to just.
Speaker 1 (50:22):
Pray the simple fit this simple prayer. Jesus show me
where you are. That's what I mean. Find your where,
Jesus show me where you are, and then open your eyes.
He's in the homeless shelter down the street. He's in
a single parent home in your apartment complex. He's with
(50:44):
the lonely student at your university. Find a place of need.
The harvest is great, Jesus said, but the laborers a few.
Find a place of need, find a place of messiness,
find place of brokenness, and go and God will go
with you. Commit to serving there once a month. Is
(51:07):
there a shelter around that you can go serve at?
Stop serving a church building and start following the builder.
Speaker 2 (51:15):
He is the master architect. Hey man. So that's the challenge.
I knew. I've told you all this.
Speaker 1 (51:22):
Was gonna be a little pressure applied, because again, just
as I've stated, you have to make.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
A choice for who you are. You can't be both.
Speaker 1 (51:32):
You can't go back to what you once were, because
now you've been challenged.
Speaker 2 (51:39):
Your spirit has been challenged, Paul once said.
Speaker 1 (51:42):
He said, at the times of ignorance, God wants winked
at it, he said, but now he's calling all men
unto repentance. To whom much is given, much is required.
So I need you to get a chance go back
and listen to this again. Go back and really sit under,
sit with the Holy Spirit, and allow this to penetrate
(52:05):
your heart and your mind and your spirit. One of
the things I've always learned, and I learned this very
quickly on in my Christian walk.
Speaker 2 (52:13):
Agree with God quickly, agree with them quickly. Don't put
it off.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
Don't make excuses, don't point the finger at somebody else,
don't get that adamant nature. God is the woman you
gave me. Nah, own it wherever you are, whatever you're
going through, whatever mistakes you've made, own it, because when
you own it, then you allow God to come in
and do the work. God to come in and clean
up the mess. But you have to first own it. Okay,
(52:42):
So listen. Before we get out of here, I just
want to thank everyone for watching us on Facebook and YouTube,
to the podcast platforms Spreaker, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio. Thank
you so much for listening wherever you are. Get your podcasts.
Subscribe like rate us, review us give us five stars.
If you only give us four stars, I'm inclined to
believe you, our hater. New podcasts will drop every Friday.
(53:04):
Let me pray for you. Before we get out of
here God, I thank you and to honor you and
to bless you.
Speaker 2 (53:07):
God.
Speaker 1 (53:09):
God, thank you so much for your word, for this episode, God,
for her just meeting us. God right, well we are Father,
and so God we come before you.
Speaker 2 (53:18):
Lord.
Speaker 1 (53:18):
We are humble, God, were challenge by your word. We
pray God for courage to die to ourselves. Help us
God to lay down our comforts. Help us God to
lay down our agendas so that your life might truly
flow through us. God, give us strength to follow you,
not just in word, but indeed, help us to follow
(53:39):
you Lord every single day. And Lord, make us fruitful
for your kingdom. God, make us true disciples, not just
church members. It's time for us, God to graduate from
being a church member. God, let our lives be a
testament to your transforming power.
Speaker 2 (53:54):
And we ask all this in the mighty name of Jesus.
Speaker 1 (53:57):
Let every heart say Amen and Amen, remember saying as
always bringing up Brother Dana. Get into the word of God,
and the Word of God will get into you and
I will see
Speaker 2 (54:06):
You all next week.
Welcome to Brothers and the Word. My name is Tim Smith,
Young's child of Clara Jones. Thank you so much for
watching us on Facebook and YouTube. Thanks for listening wherever
you get your podcasts. Do me a favorite, Please subscribe,
rate us, review us, give us five stars. If you
only give us four stars, I'm inclined to believe you
are a hater.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
The city is back up.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's a must we outside, So please like love and
give this teaching away. Share it please. That's the only
offering that I'm asking you for.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Do me a favorite. Grab your Bible.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Grab something that has the Word of God on it,
I mean for real, because you're going to need it
for this session right here. And also, get something to
write with. Get something where you can take just not notes,
but detailed notes. Shout out to Shannon, and also a
special shout out to my little cousin Kayla for holding.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
It down for the whole family. Love your baby girl.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
All right, family, let's get it every lesson and I
try to come to this lesson. I try to come
to every lesson with a power word. And the reason
for the power word is that the power word anchors
us to the text. But it also unlocks the whole teaching.
So the whole teaching can be unlocked within the power word.
So if you're taking notes, today's power word is yield.
(01:20):
Yield Why I E L D yield. Let me give
your heads up before we get into this. You know
how you go to the doctor sometimes and they're about
to take to give you a shot, and sometimes the
nurse will tell you, you know, it's gonna pinch. There's
gonna be a little pressure, and there's gonna be a
(01:41):
little slight pinch. Okay, that's what this lesson is going
to be. That's what this episode is going to be.
It's going to be a little pressure and it's going
to pinch a little bit, but I promise you it's
going to be worth it.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
So back to our power word. That power word is yield.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Now, when you think of the word yield, it actually
has two many And that's.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
What I appreciate about this word that we're going to
use tonight. Yield. It has two meanings.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yield doesn't just mean to stop or to surrender. Yield
can also mean to produce. A garden yields, a harvest,
a tree yields fruit. So yield is to surrender your
position in order to step into your production. Yield means
(02:28):
giving giving up control to gain your purpose. That's how
we're going to look at it tonight. Yield means giving
up control to gain your purpose. You gotta let that
marinate in your spirit just for a second now before
we jump into the text. Here is your assignment, family,
your missions that you choose to squabble up. Is to
(02:50):
look in the spiritual mirror and act yourself. Just one raw,
transparent and unfiltered question here. It is am I a
church member? Or am I a Christ disciple? You gotta
answer that question before we're done, because after today you
(03:11):
can't be both. You're gonna have to choose the side.
Choose ye this day whom you will serve. That's the
title of our time together, church member or Christ's disciple.
Let's go to the Book of John chapter twelve. We're
gonna park the GNX at verse twenty four through verse
(03:32):
twenty six. And here's what the word of the Lord
says John chapter twelve, starting at verse twenty four, Gonna
come to you out of the ESV translation reads like this, truly, truly,
I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls
into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if
(03:56):
it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life
loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world
will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me,
he must follow me. And where I am there will
(04:19):
my servant be. Also, if anyone serves me, the Father
will honor him.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I had a pack of seeds upstairs.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I don't have them with me right now, but I
had a pack of seeds. And earlier this year I
had went out and I had got some seeds because
I had planned to, you know, plant some flowers out
in the front yard. I didn't get a chance to,
just got busy throughout the year. But nevertheless, I got
about six or seven packs of seeds in my junk drawer,
and they're just simply flower.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Seeds, and they look good. On the packet.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
There's a picture on the front of each one of them,
because there are different types of flowers, but on each
one there's a picture on it, and it shows me
what these seeds can be, shows me the potential of
the seed. It also describes the fragrance of the seed.
It tells you the color, it shows you the beauty
of the seed, and it basically what it is. It
(05:18):
is a packet of seeds that are full of promise,
and inside each of those seeds there's a genetic cod.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
But here's the point I want you to get.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
As long as those seeds stay in that laminated, climate
control safe little packet, they're nothing but unrealized potential.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
They're just a promise, not a product.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
They're safe, they're clean, they're organized, they're not getting dirty.
They're not dealing with the worms or the rocks, or
scorching sun or the bad weather. They're sitting in my
drawer and they're just seeds. They're in a packet and
they're alone, not bothering anybody. But cannot be real with
you for a second because we're family. This is a
(06:09):
picture of the modern church for so many people. We
have buildings packed with Christians seeds in a packet, and
you're sitting in a comfortable pew in a heated or
air conditioned building. You're safe, you're clean, you're around other
seeds that look.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Just like you.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
You hear about your potential every Sunday. The pastor paints
a beautiful, vivid picture of what you could be, but
you never leave the packet.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
You never leave the building.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
You're a professional meeting attender, a religious consumer. You're packed
into a church, but you've never been planted into the
world genetic code of the creator of the universe inside
of you. The Book of Genesis is the book of beginnings.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Get this.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
The Book of Genesis is the seed plot for the
entire Bible.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Everything in your Bible can be traced back to the
Book of Genesis.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And I want to show you this seed because the
first time that God mentions this seed, and I want
you to see the power of the seed. I want
you to see the commandment that God gave to the seed.
It's found in Genesis chapter one, verse eleven. So this
is the third day of creation, and God has something
to say to the seed. And so because from the
(07:44):
very beginning it was God's design for trees to bear
fruit with seed in itself after its kind.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
That's important to see.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Also Genesis chapter one eleven, it reads like this, and
God said that the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding. There's
a word seed and fruit, trees bearing fruit in which
is their seed, each according to its kind.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
On the earth.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
The Bible says, and it was so. The DNA of
God is multiplication, the DNA of God is reproduction, the
DNA of God is legacy.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
But your divine.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
DNA, your spiritual genetic cold, is locked up. It's dormant.
You're just a seed in a building. You're just a
seed in a packet. Why because you haven't been released
into the dirt. You haven't been released into the dark,
into the urgency of the world to be what God
(08:52):
has called you to be. So Jesus in John chapter
twelve is about to draw a line in the sand.
He's about to separate the seeds in the packet from
the seeds and the soil. This isn't a suggestion, This
isn't a good idea. This is spiritual physical. This is
(09:15):
a spiritual physical that we all have to take.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
This is a.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Belt to behind moment right here. Let's break down verse
twenty four, John chapter twelve. Let's break down verse twenty four.
Verse twenty four eight, Jesus says, truly truly, I say
to you, let's pull over four a second. In our culture,
truly truly is the equivalent of Jesus saying, look.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
For real, yo, listen up.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
No cap whenever Jesus doubles down on a word like this,
and the original language is the word amen.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
He's putting amen at the beginning of what he's about
to say.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Say.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
You'll see in the Gospels where Jesus will either say verily,
verily or truly, truly. And he's saying, what I am
about to tell you is not a theory, it's not
a suggestion. It is an unbreakable, non negotiable law of
the kingdom. He's grabbing you and I by the collar.
He's looking you in the eye, and he's saying, pay attention,
(10:25):
because this next part is the whole thing. He's not
talking to the crowd. He's talking to you verse twenty
four B.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Unless a grain of wheat.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Falls into the earth and dies, this is the core
of everything that's about to take place.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
The grain of wheat in verse twenty four is you.
It's your life.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
It's your talent, it's your ambition, it's your dreams, it's
your comfort, it's your reputation. And Jesus says, for that seed,
for you to reach your full potential, two things has
to happen. First, must fall into the earth. You have
(11:15):
to leave the packet. You have to leave the building.
You cannot fall into the earth in the building. You
cannot fall into the earth in the packet. You have
to leave the safety of the silo. You have to
get out of the boat. You have to be willing
to get dirty. The earth is the world in its context.
(11:40):
The earth is your messy job. The earth is your
broken family. The earth is your dark neighborhood. The earth
is your uncomfortable conversations that you must have. The earth
is where there is no applause, nobody's singing your praise.
Let me make one thing unequivocally clear to you, and
(12:00):
I need you to hear what I'm about to say.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
The discipleship is not clean.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
If you're going to do discipleship, you're gonna get your
hands dirty. Discipleship is gritty, it's grimy, it's gully. It's
planting yourself in the soil of human need.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
That's what discipleship is.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
You plant your life into the soil of somebody else's life.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
But wait, there's more.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Because falling into the soil isn't enough. Falling into the
soil isn't the only goal. Isn't the only goal. The
second part is where it really gets real. Guess what
he says about that seed. He said that seed must die.
And this is the part that we the church, we
(12:56):
like to skip over this part right here. We like
to cover our ears right here. We like to act
like Jesus just didn't say this part. This is the
part we edit out of discernment. You know what he's saying.
He's saying death, not a physical death, but a death
to self, a death to ego side. Have you ever
(13:18):
heard of homicide, Well, this is ego side. It's the
death of your plan. It's the death of your reputation.
It's the death of your need to be comfortable, the
death of your desire to be in control. It's you saying, God,
my life is no longer my own. As Paul said,
you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God
(13:41):
in your body. My schedule, God.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Is not my own.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
I have to put you on my schedule. God, my
money is not my own, my will is not my own.
I yield, I yield. But see, the church member wants
the benefits of the resurrection. They want all of the
glory of the resurrection, but they don't want the pain
(14:05):
of the crucifixion. You want the crown, but not the cross.
You want the fruit without the funeral. So Jesus says,
it doesn't work like that. The path to life is
through death. You see that throughout the scriptures. The path
to life is through death. Question for you, what part
(14:27):
of quote unquote you needs to die today? Think about that?
What part of you? What part of you gets on
your nerve? Because that part of you that gets on
your nerve, God said, give me that, Let me nail
that to the cross.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Is it your pride?
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Is it your fear of what people will think. You're
always looking to please others, and I always say what
people think of you as none of your business. Is
it your addiction to come? Is it your ambition to
build your own little kingdom? You need to answer that
question with the help of the Holy Spirit. That's the
only way you can answer that question. You're going to
(15:09):
have to invite the Holy Spirit into the room with
you to be honest with yourself. It's not about trying
to fool anyone. It's just about you being honest with yourself.
And here's the reason why. Because eternity hangs in the
balance with whether you are a church member.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Or a disciple of Christ.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Look at verse twenty four se listen to what else
Jesus say is about to see.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
He says, it remains.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Alone, but if it dies, it bears much truth. This
is it right here, the choice and the consequence Christ's disciple.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Or church member.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
If you refuse to die, if you decide, you know what,
I'm gonna stay in this packet. I'm gonna stay in
this junk drawer right here. I've been here almost a
whole year. Now you say, if you sound, Jesus says,
you remain alone, and that word alone is devastating.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
It means you will.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
You will be isolated, You will be secluded, you will
be sequestioned, you will be solitary, you will be barren.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
You can be in a megachurch.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Of two to five thousand people and you can be
completely alone. Why because you're not connected to your purpose.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
You're not connected to your purpose.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
You're connected to a bunch of people, but you're not
connected to your purpose. I believe it's in two timenty
one nine where Paul says that God saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our purpose,
but according to his purpose. That was given to us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. You have purpose.
(16:56):
You're producing nothing for the Kingdom of God. Church got
a lot of activity, but you don't have any impact.
You're busy at church, but you're barren in the world.
You're a fan in the stands, not a player on
the field. So guess what you remain alone. You are
(17:16):
a single, useless seed. But if it dies, If that
seed dies, this is where the glory is found at.
If you allow God to break that outer shell of
your ego, if you surrender to the process of being
(17:37):
buried in his will, Bible says, then you're going to
bear much fruit, not some fruit. Listen to the language.
Look at what he says, much fruit. This is the
explosion of purpose. This is the multiplication, this is the legacy.
This is your life suddenly producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
the fruit of the spirit found over in relationship with
(17:59):
Fibrus two through twenty three.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Gentleness, self control.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
You'll begin to demonstrate this kind of fruit in places
that were once barren in your life. This is you
leading your coworker, the Christ. This is you starting the
ministry that changes your entire community.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Here's the thing I want you to get.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Fruit proves the identity of the tree. Fruit proves the
identity of a tree. I was at a building yesterday
up on the second floor, and I looked down and I.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Saw an apple tree.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Apple tree didn't say anything to me. I saw the
fruit that was on the apple tree. So the apple
tree didn't walk around with a name tag on.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
That says, hi, my name is apple tree.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
You know it's an apple tree, why because you see
apples on it. Here's my point. A disciple of Christ
doesn't have to have a big title. They don't have
to have a fancy position. You know their disciple how
by the fruit in their lives. Jesus said, you'll know
the tree by the fruit that it bears. The church member,
(19:08):
on the other hand, has no fruit. They just have
a church tote bag, reserve parking spot, and a coffee mug.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
And a lot of opinions. That's it. This is the choice.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
You can have either solitary safety or you can have
fruitful sacrifice. Can't have both, but you can have one
or the other. Christ's disciple a church member. So Jesus
lays out the law of the kingdom, the law of
the harvest. The reason why I love when Jesus uses
(19:46):
agriculture metaphors. Go back to Genesis, chapter one, verse eleven,
and you will see it. The seed never changes.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
He says, it will produce after its kind. That is
a law. That is a law locked up in up
in that DNA code, in that genetic code. The law
is locked there. It will not change.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
So when he gives us this example, this is the
law of his kingdom. And just like you can guarantee
that that apple tree is going to produce apples, you
can also rest assured that this kingdom is going to
produce disciples.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
So he starts to get personal.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
And as he continues talking, he's going to get all
up in your business.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
And we know you don't like nobody in your business.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
So what he's going to do is he's going to
turn the camera from the principle to the person. All
this time he's been dealing with the principle. Now he's
getting ready to deal with the person. He goes from
the agricultural to the actual. He knows how biggest hang
up is our love for our own life. You know
(21:00):
what he does, He puts his finger right on the wound.
He puts his pressure right there on it, on the
bull's eye. He addresses it head on, peep the floor,
verse twenty five. Here it is whoever loves his life
loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world
will keep it for eternal life. This is the paradox
(21:22):
of the kingdom.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
It's spiritual jiu jitsu.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
It's the opposite of everything the world tells you. The
world says, secure the bag, the world says, protect yourself,
The world says, build your brand, live your best life.
Jesus comes through and he says, uh uh. The one
who is obsessed with protecting his life, the one who
(21:48):
coacoons himself in comfort and self preservation. He says, that's
the one who is actively forfeiting their life. So busy
trying to save your life, losing your soul? What good
is for a man to gain the whole world lose
the soul? And Jesus said, what's your a man given
(22:11):
exchange for a soul? You can find yourself so busy
building your little sand castle on the beach that you
don't even realize that the tide of eternity is coming
in to wash it all the way. So loving your life,
your comfort, your ease, your reputation.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Your money, your filters that you place over your life
for the ground.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
It's a guaranteed way for you and I to lose
everything that actually matters. We can lose eternity with God
because we're so enamored with what we have right here
and right now. And so he flips it, he says,
(22:58):
and whoever hate hates his life now it's going to
a whole another level. Whoever hates his life, this cuts
against our flesh so hard.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Whoever hates his life in this.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
World will keep it for eternal life. Now, when he
says hate, he doesn't mean you walk around depressed and
self loathing. That's not what he's talking about. Let's get
the meaning right. It means to love it less by comparison,
to love it less by comparison. It's like saying, you
(23:33):
live in Chicago and you hate traffic.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
You don't have a.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Deep personal animosity towards cars. You just love being on
time more than you do being in traffic.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
That's what he means. To hate your life in this
world means that.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
You love Jesus so much more that your own life,
your own comfort, your own it becomes secondary to him.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
So what am I saying?
Speaker 1 (24:05):
What am I saying is it is a calculated devaluation
of your life. You look at your life and you say,
compare to Christ, compared to his mission, compared to his eternity.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
To say nothing, I'll give this up.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
It's that moment when you stop living for the weekend
and you start living for the kingdom. When last time
you lived for the kingdom. We love to live for
the weekend, We get hyped for the weekend. But when
is the last time you kept that same energy for
the kingdom. It's the moment that you stop building your
resume and you start building your eulogy. It's the moment
(24:46):
you die to the approval of social life to live
for the approval of God. So I got a question
for you, what do you love more a your life
or be the lord of your life? And your answer
(25:07):
determines whether you are losing or keep me. This is
the heart of the Parable of the Sowred in Matthew
Chapter thirteen. Matthew Chapter thirteen, in my Estimate is one
of the most important chapters in the Bible. For me,
I can't impress that upon anyone else. Well, for me
and the months that I spent years ago reading that chapter.
(25:32):
It's probably the most marked up chapter in my entire Bible.
For me, Matthew Chapter thirteen is one of the most
important chapters in the Bible because we're seeing it play
out right now. They're a prophetic parables that Jesus given
that parable in that particular chapter. And these parables are
unlike any of the parables that he give in scripture.
(25:52):
It's not like the parable of the lost coin or
the parable of the lost son. This isn't that, or
the parable of the lost sheep. Are prophetic parables and
their parables that you and I are seeing play out
right now. On social media. You'll see some stuff that's
happening inst some churches that will leave you confused, but
really it shouldn't because it's spoken about right there in
(26:15):
the Bible. So in Matthew Chapter thirteen, off the heels
of this very confrontational battle that Jesus had in Matthew
Chapter twelve with the religious leaders where they denounced him
and where he denounced them, and where he absolutely severed.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Ties with Israel. And that's why this chapter is so profound.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
But in Matthew chapter thirteen. The first parable that Jesus
talks about is the parable of the sore. Now, in
that parable, the sore is in anybody who souls of
the Word of God. The seed is the word of God.
The sore isn't even important, because the child can sow seed.
The seed is the word of God. Then he's going
to describe before different soils, and each one of these
(27:03):
soils hear me, represents a different heart condition. And he's
going to talk about how when the seed goes out
and when it lands on these four different heart conditions.
He's going to let you know how those seeds, how
those soils reject the word, and how one of those
soils receives the word, receives the seed. So he talks
(27:27):
about the seed falling on four different soils. Again, each
soil represents a different heart condition. Let's go to Matthew
chapter thirteen, because Jesus is going to show us what
happens to different kinds of seeds, and what happens to
different kinds what happens within these different kinds of soils.
Matthew chapter thirteen, verse three, and verse three through eight.
(27:49):
And he told them many things in parables, saying a
sower went out to sow, and as he sowed some seeds.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
That's the word God. That's not money.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
I know the church has co opted seeds and turned
it into money, but that's not what God is talking about.
The seeds are the word. Okay, it's the word of God.
So some seeds fell along the path, and the birds
came and devoured them.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Boom.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Other seeds fell on rocket ground where they did not
have much soil, and immediately they sprang up since they
had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose,
they were scorched, and since they had no root, they
withered away.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Boom.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up
and choked them. But other seeds fell on good soil
and produced grain, some one hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty.
Please hear this public service announcement. Not all soil it's
created equal. Not all believers are created equal in their commitment.
(28:55):
Some seeds fall on hard ground. What is that?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
That's shallow church members. They hear the word, but they
don't really let it in.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
They don't let it in where they become what James said,
doers of the word.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
And so what ends up happening? Is that seed? That word,
It bounces right off of them.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
They're distracted, they can't stay focused, they're defensive.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
They got a hard heart.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Then he said, some seeds fall on rocky ground. That's
the emotional church. I'm not sure if you've ever been
to an emotional church, but I have. That's the emotional
church member. They get excited for a minute. One minute
they're they're they're they're laughing. One minute, they're crying, one minute,
they're running. One minute they're shouting, Oh I feel that sermon.
(29:44):
They go throw all their money up on the stage.
But here's the thing. With all of that running around
that they're doing, there's no death, there's no foundation, there's
no real transformation.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Hear me.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
When life gets hard, when life starts lifing, when the
real work starts, they wilt very quickly. Then he said,
some seeds fall among thorns. Whetheres that represent That represents
the distracted church member.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
They're trying to serve.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
God and the world. They're trying to serve two masters.
Jesus said, you're gonna love one, hurt and hate the other.
They want Jesus and the comfort that he provides. They
want the kingdom, but they also want earthly success.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
They need that bag. And so what.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Happens is the cares of this world chokes the word out.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
No fruit, just noise.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
But then the last soil he talks about, He says,
some seeds fall on good soil.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
That's a disciple.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
That's someone who has allowed themselves to be broken up.
Has the word ever broke you up before? When the
word breaks you up, breaks you down. Someone who lets
the plow of God's purpose go deep. Whenever my grandmother
got ready to go out in her backyard and plant
(31:12):
her garden for the year, she would tell me, we
got to go out here and turn this ground over,
meaning that she wasn't just going to throw the seeds
out there on the dirt. We had to go out
there and turn We had to prepare the dirt.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Is your heart.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Prepared to receive the word of God? Is your heart
prepared to receive the seed of God's word?
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Listen to what happens.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Because the seed that fell on good soil, Jesus says,
it produces. You saw no productivity in the other three soils.
But the last soil produces a harvest. His produces a grain.
He says some one hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirty four.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
What is that multiplication?
Speaker 1 (32:00):
That's abundance, that's real fruit, that's a real harvest. Here
it is question for you, which kind of soil are you?
You know I was setting you up right? Which kind
of soil are you? And again you have to be
honest with yourself. You have to allow the Holy Spirit
and to answer this question, sincerely, look at those soils.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Go back to Matthew chapter thirteen. I believe it is,
verse three through eight.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Read that again, and then ask the Holy Spirit, okay,
which one of these soils am I? Because later on
in that same chapter, Jesus is going to give you
a full breakdown of exactly what happens in each of
those conditions, because where it talked about the birds coming
to steal the seed, he's going to explain to you
(32:48):
later that's actually Satan.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Those are.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
That's the demonic world, the emissaries of Satan. And what
they're going to do is they're gonna come snatch that seed.
Because if you don't really, if you don't realize how
important that seed is, Satan does. And so what he's
going to do is in that particular soil. He's going
to snatch that seed before it can take root.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
So you got to ask.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yourself, Okay, God, which of these four soils am I?
And more importantly, are you willing to have the ground
of your heart turned over so that God can plant
something in you that will actually produce a harvest. So
(33:35):
Jesus has given us the principle. The principle is the
seed must die. That's principal number one. And he's given
us the paradox lose your life to find it. Lose
your life in order for you to find it. Now
he's going to give us the practice. What is the practice?
(33:57):
The practice is simply the how to, and it makes
it so simple that a child could get it. But
it's also so profound that a theologian could study this.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
For a lifetime. If you've been.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Asking, okay, Tim, I hear you, but what do I do?
I'm glad you asked that question, because Jesus answers it
right here in verse twenty six. Here it is, if
anyone serves me, he must follow me.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Oh my god, it's so much.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
It's so many different things that people are following. Jesus
makes it emphatically clear, he must follow me. If you
want to serve me, you gotta follow me. And where
I am there will my servant be. Also, if anyone
serves me, the Father will honor him. Verse twenty six.
Say look at that. If anyone serves me, he must
(34:53):
follow me. That's a micdrop moment right there. Jesus redefined
service because for many of us, serving God means singing
in the choir, it means being on the missionary board,
it means working in the church, serving each and every
time the doors of church open. Those things are good,
but that's not what he's asking you for. In this verse,
(35:15):
that's not what he's talking about. He says, service is following.
A disciple's primary act of service is not activity in
the church, but proximity to Jesus. That's the service that
he's looking for. It's about movement. It's about going where
(35:35):
he goes. It's about doing what he does. It's about
loving who he loves. Can't follow someone by standing still.
You can't follow Jesus from the comfort of your couch
or from your favorite church people. Following implies motion, It
implies sacrifice, It implies leaving something behind past ten where
(36:00):
was Jesus going in John chapter twelve. I'm glad you
asked let's follow him. He was headed to the cross.
That's where he's going. He's telling you to follow him
to the cross. Yep, he was on his way to
that old rugged cross they liked to sing about.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
He was headed to the ultimate act of dying to
bear much fruit.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
So for you and I to follow him, that means
we have to walk a path of sacrifice verse twenty
six B. And where I am, there will my servant
be also. This is a promise and a warning. And
I want you to see this, that where I am,
there will my servant be also.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
See.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
I think sometimes we're so quick to say yes to
God without really reading the fine print. Here's the fine print.
Where was Jesus. He was with the poor, He was
with the sick. He was with the out cast. He
was with the sinners. He was with the adulterer. He
(37:05):
was with the demon possessed. He was with the blind,
He was with the lame. He was with the leopard.
Guess what he was even with the dead. He was
in the dirt, he was in the streets. He was
on the block. He was in the hood, he was
in the mess He was not a seed in a packet,
(37:27):
He was not in a church building. He was in
the soil of humanity. If you remember when I first started,
I said, discipleship is what it is messy. So if
you call yourself his servant, if you call yourself his disciple,
here's the diagnosic diagnostic question that I have for you.
(37:51):
Are you where Jesus is? Are you intentionally placing yourself
in proxy to brokenness? Are you or is your entire
Christian experience a design to keep you away from messy people?
(38:13):
I don't like messy people. Well, I'm glad God like you,
and I'm glad God like me because guess what we
some messy people. So answer that question. You want to
be with him? You want to follow him? Okay, you're
going to have to follow him where he goes. Are
you intentionally placing yourself and proximity to the brokenness in
(38:40):
the lives of others? Because if your faith doesn't lead
you into uncomfortable spaces, you're not following Jesus. No, you're
just a fan. You're admiring him from a distance. You're
a church member. A disciple is with the Master.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Period.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Look at verse twenty sixty. If anyone serves me, it
is the promise the Father.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Will honor him.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
If anyone serves me, Jesus said, you have the backing
of my Father. Here's the payoff. Because this is the
ultimate validation. It's not honor from your pastor. That's not
what you should be seeking. It's not a plaque from
the church. It's not a shout out on the church's
Instagram page. It's honor from the Father. Nothing should eclipse that.
(39:37):
The creator of the cosmos looks at your life of
yielded sacrificial fruit bearing, and he says, that's my child,
well done.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Without good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of
your rest. Because here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
The world offers you fame, the Father offers you honor.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Which do you want.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Fame is loud, but honor is heavy. Fame is fleeting,
but honor is eternal. So the church member chases likes
and comments and shares. They want attention, they want notoriety.
But you know what the disciple chases. The disciple chases
the honor that comes from the Father. So I have
(40:24):
a question for you, what are you chasing? What are
you chasing?
Speaker 2 (40:32):
Right now?
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Because we're all chasing something. We're all chasing something, We're
all in pursuit of something. Again, this is a diagnostic test.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
For your spirit and for your soul.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
So let's bring this all together because we've seen the
whole process.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
The law a seed.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
Must die to produce fruit. That is a Kingdom law.
Seed must die to produce fruit. You have to get
out of the packet and into the soil. You do
no good staying in the packet. I got about six
packets in that drawer, and I am not worried about
those siegs growing inside my junk drawer. You know why,
(41:19):
because they're not in the soil. Now, if I had
a whole, if I.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Had that whole packed with soil, then I might have
a problem on my hands.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
So until you get out of that packet, you will
not produce anything for God. Staying in the packet is safe.
Getting in the dirt, getting in the soil is messy.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
So that was the law.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
We looked at the logic, you have to lose your
life to find your life. Hating your comfort in this
world is the key to securing your soul for the
next world. We looked at the lifestyle true service is
following Jesus into the messy places of this world. And
(42:07):
the reward is the honor that comes from God the
Father himself. So what does this all boil down to.
It all boils down to this title, this whole teaching
Christ's disciple or church member.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
A church member is a.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
Seed in a packet, safe, clean, comfortable and alone. A
disciple is a seed in the ground. That's the difference.
That seed in the ground has to die dead, to
self buried in God's will and producing an explosion of fruit.
(42:51):
Church member loves their life. They protected, they guarded, they insulated,
and guess what they ultimately will lose. A disciple hates
their life in this world. So what do they do?
They surrender it, they sacrifice it, and guess what they
keep their life for eternity. Church members busy at church.
(43:15):
I used to be a church member. I was very
busy at church. I served in every capacity, every capacity
you could think to serve in the church. Every time
I go down to Champagne, I drive by the old
church that I used to go to. There are bushes
all around that church. I planted those bushes. I want
to get out my car sometimes and cut those bushes down.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
These are my bushes. So yeah, you can be busy.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
And what happens a lot of times, Pastor Sam, is
when we get busy in church, we'll want to take
ownership of that. That's what we want to take ownership.
We'll want to take ownership of our position. We'll want
to take ownership of our seat. We'll want to take
ownership of our parking space. We'll want to take ownership
(44:02):
of the way people view us and the way people
look at us.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
That's what it is to be busy at church.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
But a disciple, oh bro, a disciple is following Jesus
into the world. A church member six the approval of people.
A disciple received the honor of the Father. So family,
what Jesus gave us in Genesis chapter twelve, I'm sorry,
in John chapter twelve, verse twenty four through twenty six,
(44:32):
what he's giving us, there's no middle ground. You are
one or the other. There's no wiggle room in what
he's saying to us. The choice is yours choice is.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
Mine right now, in this moment.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
You can't click off this video or pause this podcast
and stay the same. Nope, not after this, Because the
word of God is demanding a response from you.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
You must answer God.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
Jesus has drawn the line, this is not about your salvation.
It's not what we're talking about. We're talking about whether
or not you have fully leaned into what it means
to be a disciple. And for a lot of Christians,
they've never been challenged to this. They didn't even know
(45:26):
this was a thing, because the only thing they go
to church to do is to be told what they're
going to get. I saw a video where a pastor
told the church, if y'all give me everyone it, stand up,
give me ten thousand dollars. You got to do it within
ninety seconds. If you give me ten thousand dollars within
(45:46):
ninety seconds, God is going to give y'all millions of dollars.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
See a disciple would God up and walked out the church?
Remember going to try to go broke doing that foolishness.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
That's the difference between the two. Jesus said, my sheep
know my voice. They can hear my voice, and the
strangest voice they won't follow. That was a stranger's voice
speaking from that pool pit. I don't care how, I
don't care who they are. You have to make your
calling an election, sure, because there are a lot of false,
(46:23):
erroneous doctrines out here right now. As the Bible says,
doctrines of demons. It's a lot of that out here
in Christian them today. So now you have to ask
yourself this, Are you content being a spectator? Are you
happy with your potential locked up in a pretty packet?
(46:46):
Are you okay with remaining alone, barren, with a life
that has no eternal echo?
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Are you okay with that? Or are you ready to die?
Speaker 1 (46:56):
Are you ready to feel the soil, the pressure, the
darkness of surrender, knowing that on the other side of
this thing, it's a harvest that you can't even imagine.
Your eyes, having seen your ears, having heard it, has
an entid into your heart the things.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
That God has prepared for you.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
The call of Christ is not a call to join
a church club. It's a call to come and die.
That's the call of Christ. If you strip it down,
it's a call for you and I to follow him
and die. He was on his way to death when
he dropped this off. There were people coming from all over.
(47:37):
They wanted to have an audience with Jesus. There were
some Greeks, they pulled up. They wanted to talk to him,
but this is what he shared. So to follow Jesus
is a call for you and I to come and die.
We have to pick up our cross daily and follow him.
That's what it means to come and die. You have
to pick up your death daily and follow him death
(48:01):
to your agenda. That means every day you have to
be a pallbearer for your own coughing. And it's in
that death that you finally truly live. Let me give
these three calls to action. Number one the inventory, that's
what I'm calling it, the inventory, And here it is tonight,
(48:23):
before you go to sleep, I want you to take
out a piece of paper. I want you to draw
a line down the middle. On one side you're going
to write church member, church member activities, and then on
the other side you're going to write disciple actions, church
member activities, disciple actions. And I need you to be
(48:45):
brutally honest, list everything you do that falls under each category.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
Where's your time, where's your.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
Energy, where's it really going, where's your effort? Because here's
the thing, the list won't lie. And then I want
you to allow God to use that list to convict
you and redirect you.
Speaker 2 (49:09):
Number two, the first step of death.
Speaker 1 (49:13):
Identify one thing that you're holding on to, just one,
one comfort, one ambition, one fear. What is it that's
keeping you in the seed packet? Because I need you
to come out of that seed packet. Maybe it's the
fear of sharing your faith with a coworker. Maybe it's
the comfort of your Friday nights.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Maybe it's the ambition to get that promotion at all costs.
But I want you to name it, and then I
want you to take one tangible step this week to
kill it. Volunteer for that outreach. Invite a coworker to coffee.
Don't invite them to church, Invite them to a conversation.
Ask them what can I do to pray for you?
(49:57):
What can I pray for you about? Plant yourself in
somebody's life, Plant yourself in a young person's life. Take
one step out of the packet, Take one step out
of the church building and into the soil. Number three,
Find your where, Find your where.
Speaker 2 (50:21):
I need you to just.
Speaker 1 (50:22):
Pray the simple fit this simple prayer. Jesus show me
where you are. That's what I mean. Find your where,
Jesus show me where you are, and then open your eyes.
He's in the homeless shelter down the street. He's in
a single parent home in your apartment complex. He's with
(50:44):
the lonely student at your university. Find a place of need.
The harvest is great, Jesus said, but the laborers a few.
Find a place of need, find a place of messiness,
find place of brokenness, and go and God will go
with you. Commit to serving there once a month. Is
(51:07):
there a shelter around that you can go serve at?
Stop serving a church building and start following the builder.
Speaker 2 (51:15):
He is the master architect. Hey man. So that's the challenge.
I knew. I've told you all this.
Speaker 1 (51:22):
Was gonna be a little pressure applied, because again, just
as I've stated, you have to make.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
A choice for who you are. You can't be both.
Speaker 1 (51:32):
You can't go back to what you once were, because
now you've been challenged.
Speaker 2 (51:39):
Your spirit has been challenged, Paul once said.
Speaker 1 (51:42):
He said, at the times of ignorance, God wants winked
at it, he said, but now he's calling all men
unto repentance. To whom much is given, much is required.
So I need you to get a chance go back
and listen to this again. Go back and really sit under,
sit with the Holy Spirit, and allow this to penetrate
(52:05):
your heart and your mind and your spirit. One of
the things I've always learned, and I learned this very
quickly on in my Christian walk.
Speaker 2 (52:13):
Agree with God quickly, agree with them quickly. Don't put
it off.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
Don't make excuses, don't point the finger at somebody else,
don't get that adamant nature. God is the woman you
gave me. Nah, own it wherever you are, whatever you're
going through, whatever mistakes you've made, own it, because when
you own it, then you allow God to come in
and do the work. God to come in and clean
up the mess. But you have to first own it. Okay,
(52:42):
So listen. Before we get out of here, I just
want to thank everyone for watching us on Facebook and YouTube,
to the podcast platforms Spreaker, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio. Thank
you so much for listening wherever you are. Get your podcasts.
Subscribe like rate us, review us give us five stars.
If you only give us four stars, I'm inclined to
believe you, our hater. New podcasts will drop every Friday.
(53:04):
Let me pray for you. Before we get out of
here God, I thank you and to honor you and
to bless you.
Speaker 2 (53:07):
God.
Speaker 1 (53:09):
God, thank you so much for your word, for this episode, God,
for her just meeting us. God right, well we are Father,
and so God we come before you.
Speaker 2 (53:18):
Lord.
Speaker 1 (53:18):
We are humble, God, were challenge by your word. We
pray God for courage to die to ourselves. Help us
God to lay down our comforts. Help us God to
lay down our agendas so that your life might truly
flow through us. God, give us strength to follow you,
not just in word, but indeed, help us to follow
(53:39):
you Lord every single day. And Lord, make us fruitful
for your kingdom. God, make us true disciples, not just
church members. It's time for us, God to graduate from
being a church member. God, let our lives be a
testament to your transforming power.
Speaker 2 (53:54):
And we ask all this in the mighty name of Jesus.
Speaker 1 (53:57):
Let every heart say Amen and Amen, remember saying as
always bringing up Brother Dana. Get into the word of God,
and the Word of God will get into you and
I will see
Speaker 2 (54:06):
You all next week.
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