Good morning, Illuminate Church. I want you just to imagine with
me for a second that you are an Irish man or an Irish woman and
living in Ireland and the Lord speaks to you and says, I want
you to drop everything and move to Florida.
I'm going to show you a ministry there to be involved with, and
you do it. And you show up to Florida and
you go to the Crossing Church in Tampa, FL, just to make some
connections. And the very day that you show
up, that team of people at the Crossing had been praying.
Lord, send us somebody to lead our Spanish campus.
The problem is you're Irish, but surprise, you grew up as a
missionary kid on the Canary Islands and you are fluent in
Spanish. And that very day that you
arrive to the crossing church, they hire you to be the Spanish
campus pastor. Well, this is not an
imagination. This is a dear friend of mine,
Doctor David Murphy. He's here this morning to lead
us in the second part of our new series called The Kingdom
Unveiled. As we're studying Jesus's
parables, I would love for you to please stand to your feet and
give a huge illuminate church welcome to Doctor David Murphy.
Sit down. I haven't done anything yet.
I'm so, so glad to be here. Thank you.
Thank you for the invite. Thank you for the warm welcome.
What a joy. It was already the first
service. And now you guys, you've had
your breakfast. You slept in, you're ready to
rock'n'roll. Well, my name is David and, and
yes, as Pastor Tim has said, I, I, I served with him at the
crossing Church and, and now I serve further down the the coast
in Bradenton, FL Actually parish Florida, but parish doesn't even
turn up in a weather map. But but what God is doing there
is is is just humbling and I was I came to well, I mean obviously
when Tim and Christine started the church way back then and
they birthed illuminate in the school I was able to teach those
years ago and what a joy to see what God is doing.
Yes, the accent is not from Alabama safety, but I but I grew
up in Spain and Espana I aliena que entiend El espanol que
Levante la mano yo-yo prede car en espanol.
I'm going to speak in Spanish. How are you, honey?
Well, I'll tell you what. For the rest of us, let's learn
the language of heaven in a minute.
OK, Follow me. OK.
Just repeat after me. Ah, men.
Amen. You know you're preaching.
Amen. Here you go.
OK, Mezzanine. You're with me.
OK. Repeat after this.
Ah Le Lu. Yeah.
Hallelujah. I I you told me they were smart.
They're really smart. One more.
Go, California.
Go. La Coca-Cola.
You, you speak Spanish too. Humbled is a word that's used
many times, but I truly am honoured to stand here to see
what God has done. When faithful people follow God,
give it time and see the impact it can have.
That's what we're going to be studying today.
So let me pray and then we'll open goes word.
Lord, thank you. What an honour it is to have
Your word in a language that we can understand.
And we thank you for the faithfulness from generation to
generation so that the inherent word of God in the original form
can now be in a language that we we understand.
But Lord, I pray you'll take the words in a book and Holy Spirit,
I pray you will sow it in our souls that it will bring forth
much fruit for your glory. We love you and we thank you in
Jesus name, Amen. We are in a series talking about
the the parables. If if you're a guest with us, if
you're watching online, you're going to have to come back the
next few weeks to hear the pastor of this church.
He is for sure a better preacher, but not so good
looking. That's me, but you.
So you have to come back. You've got to have come back.
And actually, if you didn't listen to last week's message,
you've got to listen to Pastor Tim.
He sets up a really good foundation of what we're going
to be dealing with. Power bells stories, earthly
stories with a heavenly meaning, spiritual insight through normal
natural story. As we see this, Jesus is
teaching. He's teaching the disciples,
He's teaching the people who are listening.
What does it look like to have the Kingdom of God in life?
He's teaching people. When you live a life of service
to God, what does it look like? And I'm glad he didn't give us a
lecture. He gave a story because story
captures the imagination. This story tells us how what God
is doing in Matthew 13. So open your Bibles, your apps,
your whatever it is that you use.
It's actually a good thing to bring your Bible to church.
Just saying. If you don't have a Bible,
there's a team coming down the hall the the aisles, and they
would love to give you a paper Bible.
How many of you are paper Bible? How many of you like put them
up, Brian and Blair. OK, good.
Well done. And the rest of you need Jesus.
OK? No, I'm joking.
I'm joking. I'm joking.
You get to go to translations.
OK, in Matthew 13 we started to look at it last week, but
Matthew 13 we have 7 different parables, 7 different stories,
insights into the Kingdom of God.
When Jesus prayed, May your Kingdom come, may your will be
done on earth as it is in heaven.
We can have a bit of heaven on earth as we live in the Kingdom
of God. So as Kingdom representatives,
you live in the United States. But as I scan this auditorium,
oh, there's people from nations and tribes and tongues,
wonderful countries. But if you're a follower of
Jesus Christ, we become, we are part of God's Kingdom, the
Kingdom of heaven. So as we set the scene, I know
you've been taught well at this church that context is king.
If you don't have a context of what you're reading, you can
make what you're reading say whatever you want.
I do it all the time. I read the Bible and I read eat,
drink and be merry. And as an Irishman, I love that
verse. Until someone comes along in a
biblical community and say, hey, you idiot, read the rest of it
for tomorrow we die. See, the contest is important.
So the first 23 verses of chapter 13 talks like we saw
last week about the Sower and the seed.
Now remember, Jesus is teaching his disciples and in those few
verses we're going to see a realistic expectation.
He wants to have a show expectation of what the Kingdom
of God is going to be like. Why do I say that?
Well, because as you saw last week, not everybody will respond
to the gospel of Jesus Christ immediately.
There'll be those who will be hard and resistant.
There'll be those who show immediate enthusiasm, but
there'll be no roots. And when tough times come, they
will walk away from the faith. There'll be those who show signs
of growth and and fruitfulness. But it we're told that the
deceitfulness of wealth will choke the life of God in a
person. And only one falls on good soil.
And that soil is only evident by the fruit it produces.
So Jesus, in the context of his disciples, you want to live a
life in the Kingdom of God. OK, There's an expectation.
Not everybody will respond immediately.
You keep sowing. It's faithfulness that we're
encouraged. Then he moves to the second
section and the second section, from verses 24 to 30, we
actually see a challenge because we're told another parable of an
owner who has a harvest. But in the harvest the enemy
comes along and sows weeds, and the weeds grow at the same time
as the wheat. And the workers want to go and
get pull out the weeds and the harvester, their owner says no,
no, no, no, no, no, no. Let them grow together and in
time it says, I will tell the harvesters to go out and then
they will separate. The wheat and the weeds we're
seeing in the story form that in the world where we are serving
Christ, there will be weeds, they'll be evil that will live
right beside us in our workplaces, in our homes, in our
neighborhoods, maybe in the church.
And we want to live in this utopia.
But Jesus is reminding us to be faithful to Jesus Christ.
You're going to have to blossom where you are in spite of the
circumstances around you. You're going to blossom and bear
fruit in spite of what TikTok says, your friend says school
says mum and dad say Uncle DoD or whatever says you've blossom
where you're sitting. Now listen, if I was a disciple
at that time listening to these Powerballs sitting there, what
on earth is Jesus talking about all of a sudden?
He's told me that only one in four people may respond to the
sowing of the seed. He actually is telling me that
even when I saw the seed and the fruit is produced and in the
middle of it, there's going to be evil as well.
Like, I mean, talk about discouraging.
And then he tells us the 2 parables that we're going to
look at today. There's only three verses.
It's we're actually going to see it in, in, in Matthew 13
version. But Mark mentions it, Mark four
and Luke 13 mentions it again. So hey, blossom soul and
blossom, soul and blossom, don't be discouraged.
And then Jesus brings us this beautiful parable, the story
that gives us an insight into heaven, into the heavenly
Kingdom. Let's read it together.
Matthew 13, verse 31. I'm reading from the New Living
Translation that says this. Here is another illustration
Jesus used parable. The Kingdom of heaven is like a
mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds,
but it becomes the largest of garden plants.
It grows into a tree and birds come and make their nests in
it's branches. Jesus also used this
illustration. The Kingdom of heaven is like
the yeast a woman used in making bread.
Leaven. Maybe in one of the
translations, same same word, yeast leaven.
Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures
of flour, it permeates every part of the dough that Jesus is
teaching. By the way, those two parables
are always together and the three gospels are always
together. Why?
Because even though Jesus is telling them, hey guys, have the
right expectation to live for Christ, it's hey, it's not going
to be easy. People may not respond.
There will be evil around you. But in this, in these parables,
we're we're told, we're reminded, we're taught.
And in Kingdom of God, there's always promise of progress.
There's always promise of growth progress.
The seed, the mustard seed was the smallest seed that was used
in those days and farming it was the smallest of seeds.
In those smallest of seeds when it is planted it we're told
Jesus says it will grow into the largest tree.
Now if you know anything about gardening that I don't, so I
have to go and research it. Actually, mustard seeds grow
into bushes, I'm told, not trees.
But I love the way that in the Kingdom of God, God can do
supernatural things with small beginnings.
So the first thing I want you to realise in this section is never
don't underestimate small beginnings.
Don't ever estimate small beginnings.
The Kingdom of God is that like small seed that was planted?
I, I love studying reading history.
Anybody with me studying history?
OK, the rest of you need Jesus listen to me.
If you do not know where you come from, you do not know why
you're what's going on right now.
If you do not know the past you we will actually repeat the
past. Actually one of my sharing just
my thesis as I was studying, I've had the privilege to study
the last 50 years of church history, modern church history
and now we are where we are today because of that which the
past happened. So I want to encourage you.
You think maybe you were taught history is boring.
No, it's fascinating how people used to live.
Let me tell you a little bit of church history, the 1st 300
years of our church history. You know, the people who heard
this, the people that were there, those first believers,
they were nobodies. They lived on the fringes of
society. They weren't the decision
makers. They were fishermen and
homemakers and bakers and slaves and small business owners.
Nobody cared about them and nobody cared about the person
they said they worshipped. This guy called Jesus.
Actually, in those early days they persecuted those them.
But those early believers believed what Jesus said and
their vertical faith had an horizontal action.
It was just not a vertical thing they did on a Sunday.
It affected their Monday. And in doing so, even in
persecution, it affected their word, their work, and their
walk. I won't say that again because I
can't say that three times in a row.
Their word, their work and their walk, it affected society.
And in those first 300 years, the church saw the biggest, most
rapid explosion in, in, in, in believers anywhere in our church
history in the last 2000 years of those in the middle of
persecution. Why?
Because a small seed. God said do the Kingdom thing,
do the Kingdom work. There's promise of progress.
Many people, thousands of people, you and I are here today
because people behind us, prayed for us, served us, told us about
Jesus. You're living in the days today
that we somebody else prayed for.
So when you look back in history, never underestimate the
power of small beginnings. Never underestimate the season
of life that you're in that in your workplace, you think in
your business, you're like, should I start that branch?
Should I start that business? But I don't know, you know,
like, you know, I wanted to be like Elon Musk, You know, he
started with something small. Something powerful happens in
the Kingdom of God when you do it God's way, parenting.
See when they, they're that size and they're, and you know,
they're little brats and you know what, when I'm becoming a
parent, I realized original sin is a thing.
I used to look at them and musical.
Wow. At least that was from your
family. That's my wife's family.
Did you teach them that? Did you teach them that?
But you know what? Faithfully loving your children
and seeing them as a gift from God.
If you don't fight for them and teach them at 3 year old, you'll
lose them at thirteen years old. If you don't teach them the word
of God and seven-year old when they're 17, they're walking
away. And I see a lot of young people
in this place. I'm so glad you're here
worshiping the Lord, but get the word of God into your soul.
Why? Because your school, your
friends, TikTok, Insta, whatever face, whatever, Facebook,
whatever, we'll all tell you what to do.
They algorithm will disciple you.
Algorithms will disciple you. So depends what you feed will
come out. So church don't ever estimate
parents invest in your children. Spend time with them.
Don't let just the scream lead them.
We're involved in their life. They're a gift from God in your
business, in your workplace, in your travelling, in your
talking, even a small word, a kind word, a text message, a
prayer, a gift, all, all has ricochets in the Kingdom of God.
Never underestimated that day after, just after that, a few
years later, 120 people with 11 disciples who were scared
senseless, the Holy Spirit started a movement that you and
I are here today because of it. Something small grew in God's
Kingdom. Let me tell you about the impact
that it's had. You know, the healthcare and
hospitals in this world can have the roots, the roots in
followers of Jesus Christ, The Red Cross, Salvation Army all
started because of believers. The early hospitals in Europe
were monks and nuns caring for the sick.
Schools and universities were birthed to teach pastors,
clergy, actually what you and I call Ivy schools today.
Yale, Harvard, Oxford were all founded on Christian principles
to teach clergy about God. It was our our humanitarian and
relief organizations, World Vision, Samaritans First
Compassion International all began by Jesus followers that
that our justice system and the social reform Christians led the
way William Wilberforce with slavery, Elizabeth Frye with
Christian reform, Prison Reform Doctor King social reform.
Today it's the Christians that are fighting for the children
inside the womb and outside the womb are the Christians that are
who were the stars of Hospice to care for those who are dying.
I was listening to a church historian and she was talking
about they could nearly track the roots of modern hotels.
Do you guys in Florida and Orlando know what a hotel is?
Do have you, have you got a few around here?
Maybe You know those hotels actually they they were able to
track in the early days, believers would add an extra
room in their home for travelling friends and
travelling missionaries and travelling pastors.
And in doing so, then they start to rent out those rooms.
The modern hotel was birthed because of Christians.
I thought that was fascinating, missions and global impact
missionaries that are going into parts of our world that they
don't even have a written language or they only have a
spoken language. But because of their push to
tell people about Jesus, they have created alphabets and they
have written the language so that the people could have the
word of God in their original language.
It's amazing the impact of Jesus Christ in this world and in the
marketplace, the impact, the inventions, the businesses,
godly values, godly Kingdom financially, practically being
an impact in the world. You know, one of the famous
ones, you know, we can't even have chicken on a sundae because
of one of them. But you know what the impact
they're having in the world. Chick-fil-A is incredible.
Hobby Lobby. I was able to listen to David
Greene and one of the things, what a godly man, he's in his
80s and the passion for the Lord he sees.
He says, I'm just a merchant. Hobby Lobby.
Do you know what Hobby Lobby is? He says, well, the ladies go,
yeah, of course I know. And the guys go, I meander
around doing thing. I don't know, you know, he was
saying I'm just a, I'm just a Stuart, I'm just a merchant.
But for the Kingdom of God, the impact.
If God removed the people of God, this place would be hell.
But he hasn't. And he calls the people of God
like that little mustard seed. He promises you live for the
Kingdom of God and if their progress will happen.
Never underestimate the power of something small.
Small beginnings. The teachers of Jesus didn't
stay in sermons. It built hospitals, it freed
slaves, it educated nations, it changed the world.
There's actually a ministry here.
I didn't share this in the first service.
Friends of ours in this area, they live in this community and
they pray, walk the parks and then they open their home to
the, to the, to the people who serve in all the parks and they
share like 4th of July Thanksgiving.
And in doing so, then they share the Christian background on what
Jesus has done. You know, you live in an area of
the world, guys, that literally every nation, tribe and tongue
comes to this area. You're, you're, you're, you're,
you're positioned in an incredible place to be able to
reach nations for Jesus Christ. People that don't look like you
act like you think like you're a cook like you and you think,
well, what can we do? You can pray, you can sow, you
can blossom and then you can share.
And when you do so, leave the consequences to the Lord because
in the Kingdom of God, when you sow seed of the word of God into
people's life, when you live the word of God, that Kingdom is
impactful. Let me tell you about what you
illuminate church. You know, let me tell you what
you did. I asked Pastor Tim to send me
some of the stories of what you guys do.
You know that your church last year you went to this is just
some examples. You went to a mission trip to
Guatemala and when you were in Guatemala, some of you were
there that you you, you shared the gospel with people who would
never had never heard of an evangelical church.
Evangelical means that we teach the word of God.
Salvation is through Christ alone.
And during that trip a man witnessed what was going on,
what was happening. He gave his life to Jesus.
He was moved by God. What God was doing that he
donated a piece of land and on that piece of land, with your
help, they built a church to this day is proclaiming the word
of Jesus Christ in that area. Isn't it amazing what you've
done? A little seat, a little mission
truth. Two years ago you you had a
training on on evangelism. And I'm told that after the
training session, there's a family or a little illuminate
church family that went to Walmart and start to talk to
people about Jesus and in the Walmart parking lot LED another
family to Jesus Christ. Isn't that amazing?
Not across the world, that's in Walmart.
You as a church, as you as a church financially give to
missionaries that are serving in countries that I cannot publicly
even mention the name because they're closed countries where
the gospel of Jesus Christ is not accepted.
But they go in as English teachers and not only do they
sow the seed in the English, but they show it in their lifestyle
and people are coming to Jesus Christ with through their
testimony. Why?
Because you sat in your seat and one day someone said we're going
to do something for Jesus. And you, you may have, you may
even have done it as a tip to Jesus, but in Jesus hands, it's
impacting people. A small prayer, a kind word, a
text message, a phone call, an invite to a church, a small
conversation, the potential for explosion in God's hands.
Never underestimate the power of something small.
I can't wait till the day when I get to see Jesus.
Do you, by the way, do you guys, do you know we live in the land
of the dying going to the land of the living?
We're doing everything we can to make sure we're fine here.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is but just a little part
of eternity. What we do here echoes in
eternity. How we Live Today impacts
eternity. And I can't wait when we get to
heaven. And in my mind, and I'm a bit
like, I love visual, I think there's going to be this nerdy
Angel. He's going to go name David
Murphy. I don't know why he sounds like
the Monsters Inc girl, but. And he said, do you remember?
Do you remember when you were serving in the kids ministry and
a child came up to you and you smiled and you listened and you
prayed and you loved and you were like, Oh yeah, I do
remember that. Here, let me show you what your
little sowing of God's seed impacted in eternity.
Do you remember when you served at VBS and this week and there
was special needs and there was kids coming and remember you
just you just opened the door and closed the door or you just
made the coffee or you were in the park.
And I remember that. And you're like, yeah, I don't
like kids, but I like to serve the Lord.
And I just came here that week to serve because I don't like
kids. I said, yeah, but that little
sign that nerdy, the nerdy Angel will say, well, let let let me
show you what happened in the life of that child because of
your faithfulness. Remember.
Remember when you prayed and you were praying for those
missionaries in closed countries?
And remember when you prayed for the persecuted church and you
said, yes, Lord, I prayed, but I can't remember.
But let me tell you what your prayers did in eternity.
Remember when you led the small group and everybody loved your
small group and you were pontificating about all the
things that theology? You remember that?
Oh yes, Lord, I remember that. Well, you're not getting any
credit for that because you did that in your own strength.
Because was it about your name being known or not about my name
being known? Remember in your, in your
business that the Lord had given you a business and you were in
the marketplace and you're investing in something or
leading something. And you thought that that job
was just a mundane job and you just did your thing.
But hey, because the way you did it, because you were faithful in
your stewardship of your finances and your time and your
words, Let me show you what God did.
Never underestimate the power of the Kingdom of God and the word
of God. Young person, please hear me.
Do not compromise God's values. I have 30 year olds and 40 year
olds looking at me today and they Dave, I wish at 17 I should
never have done that. I wish I would have listened to
my parents when they said, you know, thank God that there's
people in your life that are fighting for your soul.
Parents, if we don't fight for that for their soul, somebody
else will. Every prayer, every word.
Never, ever, ever underestimate the power of small beginnings.
The second thing I want you to notice here is that you had to
give it time. Give it time.
Seeds don't blossom into trees overnight.
I am, I am such a like, I want it.
No, I want my parking spot. No.
I want to go to the restaurant and have it.
No, I want my food. No.
But the microwave. No.
Everything has to be now like now.
So I'm saying no, now some of you are gone.
So you speak in Spanish again. We're so like 7, you know, 7
seconds. That's all our concentration
these days. We're so programmed by these
reels, which are really funny sometimes, but but before I know
it, 3 hours later. Give it time.
You know what? I grew up in Spain.
When I buy a Yeah, buy a yeah. Is it like a dish?
You know, you put the budget 1 arrow bonehel queso, buna El
pollo, buna El chorizo. You put it in there and just do
two or three hours. You're just simmered away.
Just simmers in there and the and the juices.
I tell you what, every neighbor in the area, every dog, cat,
every donkey will come out looking for that thing.
And there's something about and of course, because it's Paella,
Spain's going to win the World Cup.
Be Espana, by the way, just let me know.
I want the US to do well. I'm an American citizen now, OK?
So I want you guys, Brazil, you need a World Cup.
You need a midfield, OK. Oh, you know, Tim, I'm not going
to be invited back after that. I know It was just anyway it is,
you know, but there's there's the let the let let it simmer
takes time. A good meal takes time.
How many of you know that a good meal takes time, You know, you
know, it's just like, oh, father, no, let's, let's, let's
say it, let's say it the same with the word of God.
Let it simmer in your soul. Give it time.
For the last five years, my wife and I in our kids, we have 4
kids and we let we, we, we were living on five acres.
We lived on land. And some of you like, wow, 5
acres. That's exciting.
You don't know how much work it takes for five acres.
You know what? When we arrived at the on the
property, I thought, yeah, I'm going to be green fingers.
I'm going to farm my own thing. I'm going to be all thing.
I'm going to. And if we planted these weed,
what we, I was told we're mango trees, I would be planted them
and I would go over every day and, you know, water, we bet
here and we bet there and I, you know, over time I would come
over them the next day and I was like, nothing's changing.
And week after week I would look at this thing and I'm like, wow,
not a lot of changing. See, I didn't know then.
But God was the plant was working in the invisible, in the
unseen, in the root system. Before it could be seen in the
visible, there was things that are happening in the invisible
before going to affect the visible and overtime, then it
started to grow and overtime there was he's like leaves
started to appear. And four years later there was
this mango. And then we sold the property.
I'm not joking. So the new owner is going to
benefit from my sewing and they will benefit even though I sold.
They will enjoy the fruit because I sold and because I
sold. They will enjoy the mangoes just
like people have done before you got here that they set up and
tear down in the high school for 12 years, faithfully giving,
praying, setting up so that you and I could come into this
beautiful building now and this beautiful.
And don't forget your history. Don't don't forget where you
come from church because the sacrifices of those gone before
us that were not seen, it was in the unseen, but God was in time.
The fruit will come. But now it's our responsibility
not to sit back and have our latte and hope we're OK on a
Sunday morning not to decide to go to Disney before we come to
church to commit to saying I'm part of the Kingdom of God.
I'm going to not ever underestimate small beginnings.
Guys, young people, do your homework, learn your your
classes. Do your classes.
Why? Because someday we're going to
need the doctors, the lawyers, the homemakers, the business
people. And if you don't learn it, then
we're in trouble there, especially if you're going to be
a pilot or a surgeon. OK, if you're one of those two
and I'm in your plane, you better not miss class, but give
it time. Give it time because even though
we don't see it, he's working. Even though that we don't feel
it, he never stops, never stops. Someone should write a song
about that never stops working. I'm glad you know the song.
Give it time. Be consistent.
See that business idea? They got it.
See, raising your godly kids takes time.
You know what if you have a godly man who's seeking godly
the Kingdom of God and doing a God's way, there will be weeds
around you who are saying look at you, why you do this?
Why don't you sleep there? Why don't you try that?
But you keep you be a godly man because a godly man will then
meet a godly girl and a godly girl does a God's way.
Not what TikTok is telling you what God's saying.
Not with that pin, rest pin, Crest pin, Pinterest, Pinterest.
As you, as you can see, I frequent the place very often.
No, no, no, no, no, no, you're doing a God's way because when
you have a godly man and a godly woman who have a Kingdom
mentality and they get together, they become a godly home.
And then in a Kingdom home, when you have a godly man, a godly
woman, usually they have godly children doing a God's way, not
perfect God's way. And when a Kingdom home is
established and you have a lot of those Kingdom families
gathering together, it's called a Kingdom church and we have a
Kingdom church at the foot of Disney.
It doesn't matter how big they are, the Kingdom of God will
prevail. So keep being faithful.
Never underestimate that what God can do with faithful people
who are sowing God's word. Just give it time, give it time,
give it time. And lastly with the second
parable that we see is the parable of the the 11 or the
parable of the sower. Just let it permeate all.
Let it permeate this. The illustration, the story here
that gives us a heavenly insight is when leaven, when yeast is in
a batch of dough, it it actually influences the entire thing.
If there's no yeast in the dough and you put it in the oven, it
usually comes out brittle, fast, flat, hard and dry.
But if you lie that yeast to sit in that dough, the leaven, the
yeast will change the nature of the dough.
And when it change the nature of the dough and you put it into an
oven, it comes out like fresh baked bread.
Oh, I don't know about you guys. Even if I'm stuffed, if I smell
fresh baked bread, anybody with me, there's another stomach
develops. It is fluffy, it is appetizing,
it is just delicious. And I know the Bible says man
shall not live by bread alone, but with a little bit of Irish
butter, I'm in. Hallelujah ciento senora
quidentro confito bank. I was speaking Spanish, by the
way. Let it permeate.
Just like when Jesus saved your soul, someone invited you,
someone said something, someone invited you to church someone's
life when you were, then you heard the good news, the seed
that Jesus is God, that he is who he says he was.
He did exactly what he said he did that geographically,
archaeologically, philosophically, all the
ologies, whatever you want, he is who he says he is and he did
exactly what he said he did. And you realize that salvation
is not, I choose Jesus. No, that salvation was that
Jesus opened a way for you and I to get to heaven.
It's not religion. It's not like take a box.
It's not like I have to make sure it's all clean and right.
That's why I love that the you're, you're everybody's
welcome, but everybody's welcome to Jesus because it was religion
tells you what you have to do to get right with God.
The Bible tells us what God did to reach your soul and that
light little seed that was planted in your heart.
And you realize that God Forgives you and God has plans
and purposes. And you realize that that little
seed starts to permeate your dough, your life.
How does it do it? By reading God's word.
How does it do it? By allowing the gift of Holy
Spirit in your life, that God gave you the GPS system, that
God gave you himself to live in you, that you don't have to go
looking for the presence that you carry, the presence that you
don't have to go to like all kumbaya.
I need to raise my hand. No, that, that, that when you're
in Publix shopping, when you're in Disney walking, when you're
in your workplace and when you're playing jiu jitsu,
playing the violin in classes, in the car line, wherever that
is, that you Kingdom people carry the Kingdom of God.
So when that happens, it permeates.
But then you have to do it in godly community.
Why? Because I can make this word of
God say whatever I want so that I need God.
I need godly community. You need godly community.
That's why at the church we talk about life steps and it's a
process of people. I don't matter.
I don't care if you were a pastor and I don't care if you
were your background. If you're part of this church,
your leadership are saying, hey, enter the enter the journey with
us so they can grow. Some of you been coming for a
while. You sit there, you drink your
latte, you go home, you take a box, and then you wonder why God
doesn't permeate your life. Then you blame the God.
You say you do worship, but you've created that God.
That's not the God of the Bible. That's the God that you've
made-up. So with boldness, I need to tell
you, no, no, no, Jesus says, Jesus said.
Jesus said like the yeast that permeates the dough, let him
change your nature. Once you were arguing and once
you responded and man, pride and anger.
No, not anymore. Why?
Because you allow the word of God to permeate your biblical
community. You open the door and you smile
at someone on the way to church. And because your little smile at
changes our day. Don't ever underestimate small
beginnings. Don't ever under me.
Just give it time and let it permeate the Kingdom of heaven
is like a small seed that overtime grows and let it
permeate your life. A text message, a kind word, a
Sunday school lesson, a financial gift, a listening ear,
all of it. My wife prayed for her parents
for 20 years so that come to know Jesus 20 years.
Dennis grew up in a poor area of a city that was divided by
hatred in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
He was the perfect candidate to end up one of the terrorists
until a grandmother prayed for him and took him to church.
And he give us life to Jesus and then he give us life to tell
other people about Jesus. Marie was born in another part
of the city. She was born in a middle class
farming family and at the age of 17, she went to Bible college
because she wanted to learn how to share the good news of Jesus
with people who don't look like her, act like her, think like
Laura Cook, like her. They met, they got married and
they went to a nation, a nation at the time that was under
dictatorship and a nation at the time called Spain in the 70s was
ruled by Franco. They had to go undercover for 40
years. They were fearful to the
children for 25 of those years, Dennis would go to the prisons
to tell people about Jesus. For 25 years.
There was a high rise community being raised and they moved
their small family. They had seven children.
They had seven children and moved the family to this area of
of the Canary Islands. In that area is where
prostitution and gangs and drugs and everything was there.
But they said if someone has to tell them about Jesus, there is
their family there. They were laughed at.
You know, actually in in Marie's story, she said for the first
two years of her time in in in the Canary Islands, nobody spoke
to her in public because she was different and she was a
foreigner until she had her first baby and the first baby
was over 10 lbs. Another woman go.
But because of that baby, people then realized, they realized
they had, they learnt afterwards, they tell us in
their story that in that time, if you had a healthy baby, it
means God is with you. They served the church and after
40 years they returned to Belfast and in their 70s they're
still serving the Lord. But many of the leaders of the
church in the Canary Islands today have their birth
spiritually in camps and kids ministries, in VB, s s and
conferences. And many of the elders and the
teachers in the church today was because of their investment all
those years ago. Let me tell you about their
children. They didn't have everything they
wanted, but we are told in the story that they had everything
they needed. We're told that Janice was seen
praying in the mornings for his family, the church, and the
area. Marie would walk half the night,
praying and preparing the home while the kids slept.
One of their kids today is a seminary professor impacting
thousands. He's a pastor.
Actually, he's a pastor here in the in the United States.
One of the daughters is a medical doctor, so she's in the
marketplace sharing Jesus as a doctor.
Another one is a pastor of a church in Belfast.
Actually he's one of one of the biggest churches in Belfast, and
that means one of the biggest churches in Ireland.
The other daughter is an optician in the marketplace.
The other one is a youth director.
The other one takes missionary teenagers on mission trips.
And the eldest son, actually the eldest son is me.
My parents, my brothers and I, we speak to more people in any
given Sunday than my parents ever did in their entire
ministry life. But they were faithful.
And because they were faithful, she's my mom used to say she
just prayed for us and didn't know.
What on earth are these three rascals going to do one day?
And she fought for our soul and then God did the rest.
Grandparents, parents. Never underestimate the power of
something small businessman and woman.
Even a small business dude. God's way king read it.
It's a manual for life. How to do your finances, how to
steer your business. It's unbelievable.
No, nobody can do what this is actually the world is taking the
principles from the word of God. They don't even know what I want
to show you guys. I want to show you a quick
video. And in this quick video, it was
is by a guy called Josh Howerton.
He's a pastor in Texas. And I wanted, I wanted to say
this, that the illustration and I wanted to share it.
And then I thought I'm not going to steal from him.
We pastor steal illustrations all the time.
Not your pastor, obviously not him.
No, no way. So I want you to listen about
the the well, just listen. I'm getting ready to tell you
the story of the most spiritually significant man in
our nation's history. You have never heard of this
guy. His name was Mordecai Ham, not a
famous guy. He was a he was a an American
tent revival preacher in the late 1800s, early 1900s.
In 1934 he was preaching a tent revival in Charlotte, NC and 214
year old boys saw the tent and they saw the commotion of people
and they heard this bold love of the father preaching.
They just happen to be walking by and they're like huh?
But as they walk up they see there are no seats available.
But as they walk away, an usher whose name no one knows to this
day, an usher, ran after these two 14 year old boys and grabbed
one of them and he said, hey, we can find 2 seats for you boys
together. And he walked them back, asked a
couple people to scoot over and found those 214 year old boys
seats that day. They ended up giving their lives
to Christ and consecrating themselves for the purposes of
God in their generation. One of those boys was a man we
now know as Billy Graham. Billy Graham ended up preaching
the gospel to more people than anyone else has ever preached to
in the history of the world. 10s of millions of people were
caught up into the Kingdom of God under the preaching of Billy
Graham. The other boy's name was Grady
Wilson, and he was the man that ended up helping Billy Graham
organize all of his evangelistic crusades.
He changed the world. Not Billy Graham, not Grady
Wilson, not Mordecai Ham the usher, that one man that saw 214
year old boys walking away from the faith and said not on my
watch, you get back to your voice.
Not on our watch. Let me talk to you about the
marketplace. You're in the marketplace.
Do it in the Kingdom way, whatever that is.
Plumber, do God's way. Electrician do God's way.
You clean hotel rooms, do God's way.
Just sow the seed in prayer, sow the seed with your life and it
will impact but a church, the usher, the unnamed person that
just opened the door and found two seats for two boys.
But because of those two seats and those two boys and thousands
were issued into the Kingdom of God.
You're a pastor in this place. Don't give up.
Do not compare yourself with other places.
Be fearful to the people that God has put in front of you
because small beginnings. God says progress is a promise
is a promise of progress. Some of you are like, well, I
don't I don't know what do I do? Let me talk about the church.
You know, you're growing in such a way, which is wonderful to
see, but that comes with part be part of the team.
Some of you need to be challenged to be part of what
God is doing here about being consumers.
The church is not a place of consumption.
Be participators in the Kingdom of God.
Aren't you glad there's people in the parking lot welcome you
in and helping you out? Apart rail rain.
Well, not hail because there's no hail in Florida, but hot
storm lightning. They're out there so that you
can have a seat here. You know, there's people down
that hallway right now that are telling your kids about Jesus
that are literally looking after your brats so that you can be in
here and listen to Jesus Christ. Why?
Because they love Jesus and some of you.
It's time to step into what God's doing in his Kingdom here.
Do the life steps. I know my time is gone, but I
want to challenge the church and in light of eternity, do you
like technology? There's a space for you.
You don't need to have a pH D in hospitality.
Open a door and smile at someone.
But if you don't like the smile, let's not put you on the door.
Middle schoolers? Who puts up a middle schoolers,
but there's people who love middle schoolers and tell them
about Jesus. Praise the Lord for you.
But you know what you don't have to be in the kids.
You cannot walk. See if these you know you can do
the background administrative. There's you see in the Kingdom
of God, God gives talents and gifts to people so that his body
grows so that his Kingdom grows and like a little mustard seed,
you know, I don't know, but what if the next pastor Tim is
walking through our doors and you take them to their seat?
What if the next Billy Graham or whatever got you?
What are Elon Musk who would walk in through the door?
But because of your faithfulness.
So don't give up. Give it time.
I, I, I challenge you is the Kingdom of God is like not the
Kingdom of David. Building your Kingdom will not
have God's hand. Building God's Kingdom will have
his hand. And for some reason when God
builds his Kingdom through you and I, you can rest your head at
bed at night and sleep. Things happen unexpected.
A little Irish family from nowhere meets this church and I,
you know what? And then that someday I'll have
to come back and tell you this, tell everybody the story.
I was just talking to the girl, a Colombian girl because she,
they weren't even talking to me. I was talking to her, I hope.
Just be faithful. Would you close your eyes and
bow your heads for a second? And this is not just to be a
religious thing. This is not to be a religious.
This is just so you can concentrate.
Holy Spirit, what do you want us to learn from the message from
Your Word today? Don't get distracted.
Lean into what the Holy Spirit's telling you.
Is there a small thing that you have to do?
A phone call? A text?
Is there a visit? Is there going to see someone?
Is there something you need to invest in?
Is an is it a generous gift you need to do?
What is that small thing that the Holy Spirit's been asking
you to do, but you've been ignoring it?
Lord, thank you for your word. Give us an opportunity this day,
this week to tell someone about Jesus.
But give us an opportunity this week also, Lord, to show the
love of Jesus in our life. May your Kingdom come, may your
will be done. It's not about our name, it's
about your name. And in a world of self
promotion, Lord, I pray that we promote you.
Amen. There's so many things rich and
wonderful teaching stirring around in our heart today.
But there is one thing that we don't want you to wait on.
And that is the decision or the answer.
That if the gospel were presented to you today in a way
that you understood for the very first time that coming to church
is not what makes you a Jesus follower, being good, giving
extravagantly, none of that makes us a Jesus follower.
The Bible is explicitly clear, and we want to make it really
clear and invite as we sow the seed today in all of these rich
contexts. If you haven't first chosen to
follow Jesus, you have nothing to give away.
And so today the gospel is clearly this.
The wages of sin is death. What we earn when we do it our
way is death. But the good news is that Christ
died for us while I was sinning actively in the middle of my
sin. Christ gave his life for me, not
as a anything that I earned or anything that you earned.
So if you're sitting here today and you're saying I'm having a
revelation for the first time ever that I've relied upon
myself or something I've understood about religion or
Christianity, but I've never known that what I was earning
was death and Jesus took my place.
And so clearly today we're offering you something.
Do not wait on, because this is what Romans 10 tells us.
It says the Word of Faith. It's in your mouth and it's in
your heart, and it's right there ready to birth.
And what you do is you give your agreement to the truth that
Jesus is Lord, that Christ raised him from the dead and you
believe in your heart. Confess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and listen to this promise.
You will be saved. This is good news.
And so the invitation for you today is to say don't wait on
this one. If God is stirring in your
heart. I believe there are people here
today that the Holy Spirit is saying this is you.
Make it undeniable. The commitment of the decision
to follow Jesus, to give your life over to him.
We're going to pray a prayer together.
We're going to partner with you by saying it out loud with you
to help you have the courage and the faith to speak it boldly.
If everyone take a posture, a prayer, close your eyes so we
can focus and we're going to say this together.
If you are making this decision and commitment today for the
first time, you just declare it boldly out loud and we will join
you. Jesus, I believe that you are
Lord, that you were crucified for me, that you are dead and
buried and raised again so I could have new life.
I put my faith, my trust, am I hope in you, and I declare you
are my Lord. Yes.
And for anyone making that decision here today, we would
love to walk with you and to stand with you as you take these
steps of faith. We're not going to ask you to do
anything weird, just to raise your hand so our ushers can
bring you a card and put it in your hand.
So if you're taking that step today for the first time, would
you raise your hand on the count of three?
And we're going to go crazy for you. 12 three God, we rejoice
with those who are being saved. Raise your hand nice and high.
Let our ushers bring this to you.
Father, we thank you for those that are being saved.
And we rejoice if you would stand to your feet as we close
our service. If you received one of those
cards today, your best next step is to bring it to one of our
prayer encouragers that are about to appear right here.
Anybody can come forward for prayer.
They're ready to receive you, to pray with you, encourage you,
especially if you made that decision of faith today.
As you go about this week, would you remember and join us in
continuing to pray for Vacation Bible School?
If you would commit to that, would you say I will?
And then if you would open your hands and receive a blessing,
that just says, I want everything God has for me.
And so by the word and by the life giving spirit, I say over
you according to the word, you have everything that you need,
that God finishes everything that he starts, that he is the
author and perfector of your faith.
And that as you give him the smallest seed and step of faith,
he will do what only he can do to produce a hundredfold harvest
in your life. And if you're willing to receive
that, would you say Amen, Amen. If you have children in kids
ministry, go out these doors, turn left, left and left.
You'll find them. God bless you.
We'll see you this week.