Let The Dirt Do Its Work | Savage Jesus | Pastor Steven Furtick

[Applause] mark 426 he also said this is what the kingdom of God is like a man scatters seed on the ground night and day whether he sleeps or gets up the seed sprouts and grows though he does not know how all by itself the soil produces grain first the stalk then the head then the full kernel in the head God knows the order in which things need to happen in our lives and trusting him is in one sense just allowing him to do not only what he wants to do but when he wants to do it touch somebody say there's an order to this that's what we preached about last week from mark 3 and we said that when you get things out of order they stop working so that's why spending your money before you tithe is a bad idea because it's out of order too early too soon that's why sex before marriage is a dangerous proposition too much too soon now he doesn't value you instead he objectifies you and there's an order to things there's an order to things enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise my time with God goes a lot better if I start with thank you for what you've already done I got some things I need I've got some unresolved issues that I want to bring before you but first of all god I just want to thank you because somebody's lying on a ventilator this morning and I'm not and I have breath in my body and you said let everything that has breath praise the Lord and I got breath to praise you with so god right now in spite of how I feel or what I'm going through I just want to give you about 16 seconds of praise [Applause] [Music] there's an order there's an order and then comes the result as soon 29 as the grain is ripe he puts the sickle to it and some of us put the sickle to stuff too soon before it has the chance to take root and we spend money to impress people and because we don't we don't know when to use what God has given us we end up ruining the very provision anyway that's it I'm just reading the Scriptures has nothing to do with my sermon but I'll be honest with you when I walked around the corner Ballantine was singing like they love Jesus and I just got excited and the Holy Spirit just kicked me into gear so as soon as the grain is ripe he puts the sickle to it because the harvest has come but the real focus of this message is going to be verse 27 B and 28 a it says the seed sprouts and grows night and day whether he sleeps or gets up the seed sprouts and grows though he does not know how and that's the key phrase he does not know how and then it says all by itself the soil produces grain and so to me that made me think about grace and that made me think about God's sovereignty and that made me wonder if I'm staying up stressing about stuff that if I would get out of my own way and let God deal with it the way that he knows how to deal with things I would be so much better off you know so what I came to tell you today this is my sermon title is let the dirt do its work you may be seated let's work on the scripture for a moment I did preach from this passage two years ago and at that time I was I was taken by the temporal implications of this text and that the timing of God I believe the title I gave that little message was called the seat is on schedule and I was using it to illustrate how things in our life in in some ways show up like the wise teacher said that when the student is ready the teacher will appear that's what I was trying to say two years ago and in the last two years either this text has gotten better I'm being sarcastic the text didn't change but God has opened my eyes to see it in a little different way and since we've been going through Mark's Gospel very slowly at a leisurely stroll to talk about savage Jesus and all I keep hearing from people as I see you out and about is don't stop preaching savage Jesus this series just keep keep it going until the rapture and I don't know about that but I thought we should at least take one parable and Mark gives us so much about the context of Jesus ministry but we also want to take a moment now and pause and look at some of the content of his ministry and we see that his teaching is creating opposition at the same time that it is making an impact by the way that's always the case everything that makes impact creates opposition you know that right if the devil touch them I say if the devil isn't messing with you he doesn't consider you a threat so we've seen now five different examples of controversy in the ministry of jesus which makes me want to go back in and have a conversation again one pastor I said what's your goal in ministry he said my goal is that on the wikipedia page and he doesn't have a Wikipedia page but he said if I have a Wikipedia page this is already weird a hypothetical Wikipedia page is your goal for ministry he said I hope there's no controversy section he said that was his main goal in ministry by that standard Jesus Christ was the ultimate ministry failure why are you looking shocked what do you think the cross was you think it was jewelry you think you think you think the cross was a celebratory moment the Roman Empire used that tool to torture people who represented a threat and everywhere Jesus went people were threatened the Pharisees the teachers of the law they were threatened by Jesus he was upsetting their entire system were you here last week their entire system was being overturned by the things he was speaking and and the things he was doing not only that but the demons were threatened by Jesus every time he got in the presence of an impure spirit has started shrieking and convulsing and begging and fallen down at his feet it's a funny thing because the demons knew better who Jesus was than the teachers of the law did in that crazy the demon saw Jesus and they fell down at his feet the teachers of the law saw Jesus and they cross their arms to judge him sometimes we should be more like the demons than we should be like the religious people at least the demons knew this guy's in charge at least the demons knew he has all power at least the demons knew he's not ordinary he's not average he's not common this is the son of God I wonder do we really worship Him today I wonder do we really guard him as the supreme authority in our lives or is he just an accessory this is what we've been studying and it all fits within the context all of the controversy and all of the compassion of Jesus they were they were both growing together both grow together the wheat and the tares that's one parable Jesus used it's not our parable today but he was talking about the wheat grows and right beside it all the weeds grow that want to choke out the weep and what we tend to want to do that is reflected in that parable in Matthew 13 is to separate the weeds from the wheat but Jesus said both grow together they have to it's an eschatological principle that he's using to talk about the harvest at the end of the age but it also has practical implications in our lives that both grow together as God is drawing you into a deeper relationship and a more consistent communion with him there will also be a more consistent sense of conflict to accompany the communion because both grow together don't be confused about it and don't try to separate what you think is the good stuff from what you think is the bad stuff because God uses both in our life the tares he uses for our humility so that we will trust him and the wheat he uses for our sustenance so that he can sustain us and bless us and both grow together now with that context established we have a parable Jesus taught in parables mark shares here several of them remember he's not compiling these in the order that they happen he's giving us a he's giving us a how would I say it a curated account of the Ministry of Jesus and he's building for us what he believes to be an accurate picture of the purpose of the Ministry of Jesus and now Jesus is teaching us about the nature of the kingdom of God and our faith maybe you've heard the parable of the different types of soil that he starts with in mark chapter 4 he's getting into this idea that there is always seed going forth God is always speaking to you stop asking God to speak to you and start listening it's the weirdest thing we pray God speak to me speak to me speak to me speak to me speak to me if you'd shut up you'd hear that I already am so the seats always going forth but while my Bible calls it the parable of the sower it's really the parable of the soils it's really about our hearts the the soil is our soul our mine our will and our emotions and in this passage he shares with us how there are some seats that fall on the path and the birds come and snatch them up how many of you have some seed Snatchers in your life see joy joy thieves people who want to ruin your day and it's not 9:30 yet and and here they come how many you have some seed snatch and apps on your phone you know that that one with the bird what's it called Twitter Jesus said Jesus said the birds of the air will snatch the seed and grab your attention so that you don't act on what you heard but you forget what you heard because a lot of us have a stash of seed that we've never put in the ground we've gotten to be professional seed collectors who know how to highlight our Bibles and fill notebooks with information but without application without soil the seed only represents unused potential and to me that's a sad thing wouldn't be sad for God to show you in heaven how much seed you sat on while you were here on earth do not merely listen to the word instead do it assess you are not blessed by the word you hear but the word that you do all the times if you think we need to know more I found out that I already know enough let me give you a few examples I know not to talk bad about people if I would just do that I think I'd be working 70 hours a week just that that alone I know that I'm supposed to consider others as more important than myself I know that and you know that touch somebody say you know this and if you know how to say man after it you could say man after it but if you don't know how don't try be embarrassing you know this you know this in fact look back at it one more time I need your help because everybody looks a little bit resistant to this point we always want to know more you know I want to grow spiritually look back at them and say if you would do what you knew you would grow spiritual growth it's always been a tricky concept to me because I thought spiritual growth required more knowledge and I don't have many regrets in life but I do have a few one thing I regret I wish I would have written a parenting book before I had my kids it's just something I think about often how awesome my parenting book would have been if I had written it before parenting because the time that I knew the most about parenting you know what I wish the same thing here's another cut I wish I would have written a book about being a pastor before I started this church it would have been so profound it would have had diagrams and informational concepts it would have been so I would have been 773 pages of how to be a pastor and then you showed up and screwed up all my theories about how to be a pastor people messed up my ideas about how to be a pastor what's up with that now it would just be a pamphlet it wouldn't even would just be Illustrated it would only have the whole book would be prayer you know the emoji with the prayer hands that would be the whole book how to be a parent how to be a pastor but I knew so much you know this those are the people who give the most advice those with the least experience my window I tell you what I would do if it were me and I know I mean I'm not judging I'm just saying no okay so three things I it's right here in the text I know you think that I'm confused or lost it says that the farmer this is crazy the farmer who puts the seed in the ground not the seed on the shelf but the seed in the soil he let's look at the verse on the screen again he experiences the maturation of that seed though he does not know how what kind of farmer is this if you if you don't know how the seed grows you could at least google it there you would find that the seed needs what light or the correct temperatures and water yeah and then it needs to be planted in the right place I can tell you exactly how the seed grows that's exactly how it grows I can explain that to you and so if the scripture says this parable which is always used to get us beneath the surface to the deeper meaning if the parable is included in Jesus illustration of what the kingdom of God is like he said this is what the kingdom is like and now we're expecting something spectacular because the kingdom of God is a new concept Jesus is the first one to use this term and since they are not familiar with this particular concept Jesus is giving them an earthly illustration yet he does not talk about the kingdom of God being like Wakanda he does not talk about the kingdom of God being like a spaceship he does not talk about the kingdom of God being like a rocket instead he says and this must have been anti-climatic for those who gathered to hear his message on this day the kingdom is like a seed and on this alone we understand that often what God does in our life will feel insignificant and then it will go into the soil where it will be invisible and that a lot of times when God is working in our lives in the greatest ways we won't even know how he's working we will be ignorant that's three eyes it makes an outline write it down three things about the kingdom of God it often seems insignificant it often appears invisible and often you feel ignorant so the greatest proof that you are growing in your relationship with God is sometimes the fact that you don't feel like you're growing in your relationship with God I'm sorry for everyone who always needs a goose bump to feel like God is with you but sometimes the greatest growth in your life is not going to be on the surface of your emotions your feelings or your senses sometimes the deeper work that God will do is much greater than the highest work that God will do for what is the building without the foundation jesus said the kingdom is like this is something so small seemingly so insignificant and it goes through stages that are so invisible and a lot of the times you will feel so ignorant like the farmer who puts the seed in the ground and doesn't know when he'll see it again sure he can water it sure he can plow the ground surely we have a part to play in our relationship with God but there is this other element of faith that I want to talk about today that I don't hear about enough and I'm hungry to hear about it because I see a lot of Christians listening to cute sermons and we're telling you to do things that sound really big to forgive people and to be free of addiction but I hear the response from the people when the pulpit is echoing forth these lofty ideals and the people are sitting in the pew saying how [Applause] you're telling me what but you're not telling me how I don't know how I don't know how to read my Bible I don't know how to pray for over 13 seconds without thinking about my need for cereal at the grocery store I don't somebody try it say I don't know how that's the most spiritual thing you've said all week who did who didn't god pick to be the disciples of Jesus religious professionals with academic no how he picked the people who did who did God pick to carry his son what's the first thing Mary said when the angel said the one born of you is the Holy One of God what exactly how what's the first thing that the disciples said when Jesus said feed these big crowds even though you didn't pack a lunch what's the first thing they say that is the starting place of spiritual growth to admit I sorry I'm screaming but sometimes it screams inside of me when God calls me to do something but I don't know how I don't I don't know how I don't know how to raise these kids I don't know how I did before I had them but now they're here and I don't know how I read the book the baby book it told me that if you swaddle the child but I found out my firstborn child was unsuitable I don't know how I hear you preaching these great sermons keep your eyes on Jesus and don't look at the wind and don't look at the waves but how do I look at something that's invisible I hear what you're saying and I want what you got but I told no how how many don't know how just see I'm preaching to and who I can leave alone I told know how I don't know how to forgive somebody but then make sure that I keep an appropriate distance so they don't continue to violate me I don't know how oh and here's a farmer who doesn't know how to make a seed grow and Jesus says is like that growth is like that there's a part that you will play and you will know what to do you sow you water you plow but you don't have to know how this is the dirty little secret of the kingdom that they don't want me to tell you they want you to think that God chooses and uses and blesses people who are experts and who are the epitome of perfection but I want to tell you who God's looking for fishermen like Peter prostitutes like Rahab people who don't know how that's what God is looking for humble people blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness not those who are so full of their own wisdom that they cannot receive the wisdom of God so if you came here today with a I don't know how hard God can fill what you will empty before him I don't have to know how I don't have to know how it works if I did I'd still be at the house because I drove my Maxima here and I have no idea how that that button told my tires to spin I have a little bit of a concept but not much I found out something about my car then I found out about God I found out I don't have to understand it see it got me from here to there and from there to here and Here I am preaching but honestly I don't know how I have an iPad I put my notes on my iPad I turn on my iPad the notes appear on my iPad I preach to you I understand what button to push I push it I know what letters to type I typed them but as to how the words appeared on the iPad I don't know how it didn't stop me from preaching it didn't stop it from working there may be somebody here today who is in a situation where you don't know how God I'm not smart enough god I wasn't trained for this god I've never been this way before God this is new to me god I feel like a rookie god I've never got sent from heaven you don't have to know how when you know who at 20 come on 5 5 seconds 4 seconds 3 seconds 2 seconds now let's trace him like we know who he is he's the Lord of the harvest the seed is mine but the harvest is his and I don't have to know I just gotta show don't let what you don't know keep you from sowing the farmer didn't know how it was gonna happen but he knew what to do I gotta keep sowing I gotta keep praying I gotta keep believing I gotta stay in this house I gotta be present I gotta show up all I gotta do is so find 12 disciples and tell them you don't have to know how you don't have to know how you don't have to know how I will make you fishers of men all I need is your boat all I need is your will all I need is your want to all I need is your surrender all I need is your obedience but you stop sewing because you didn't know how you have to know how let's get it in our spirit say I don't have to know how I could be like Abraham who set out from ur without knowing where he was going he didn't have to know how cuz he knows he knows are you getting the lesson it's not just one text it's the principle of this parable that is illustrated the kingdom of God is like a man who sowed he did so notice there there there is a part that you play but once you do what you know there there is a point that you reach where you can't make it rain and you can't control the rate of growth of the seed and there are so many people who will hear this message online and in our campuses who are waiting to know before you so and it's out of order as much as I want to preach theologically right now I just want to minister to you personally let the dirt do its work because the greatest growth happened not when the farmer was doing his part but when the dirt was doing its part there's a cooperation that happens in each of our lives it's between the things we can control I can plow like and water and I can so I can speak words of encouragement I can speak words of life I can invest my resources into the kingdom of God I can do all of that but the part that produces the fruit is not attributed to the farmer in the passage and I think we fall into an extreme where we either think it's all about what we know or it's all about what God does in the passage the farmer scatters but the soil produces and the dirty little secret if I can use that phrase of the kingdom of God that Jesus is comparing to a seed is that your destiny will be revealed in the dirt what do I mean the disappointment the insecurity the rejection and the trouble check it out as spells dirt the disappointment the insecurity the rejection and the trouble now this would be an excellent lesson on its own because it illustrates principles that will apply to any area of our life and right here we can tell you to make lemonade out of lemons and right here we can tell you it doesn't matter how many times you fall down you know get getting knocked down and I get up ten we could we could say anything we want right here and the principle would be powerful but this is not a principle this is a parable and a parable is a picture that appears simple on the surface but carries a deeper meaning when I read the passage two years ago I thought that the farmer was Jesus and the seed was the Word of God the problem with this interpretation of the parable upon further reflection and study is that Jesus can't be the farmer because the farmer doesn't know how Jesus is the wisdom of God so to compare Jesus to the farmer who scatters the seed is to is to miss the parable that is beneath the principle the principle is this don't let what you don't know stopped you from selling but the parable the parable the picture that Jesus is painting is of something that hasn't happened yet everyone around him in his inner circle which he has just selected in mark chapter 3 everyone around him is trying their best to keep him from going to the cross for him to go to the cross means the death of the movement that he came to initiate in their eyes and so when he stood before the judges both the Jewish Sanhedrin and the Roman government prelates he was silent as a sheep before the shearers everything in those disciples wanted to see Jesus come down from the cross to avoid being buried in the grave but Jesus stood before Pilate and he allowed those accusations to be heaped on him although he was innocent because he knew that the dirt had a purpose to fulfill and so as he stood before those who accused him condemned him and sentenced him to die he could have stopped it and he could have called for legions of angels to come and rescue him from the rejection but this is what he came for so he said with his silence something that is illustrated in the parable he said let the dirt do its work because if if they accused me then my father in heaven doesn't have to accuse you so I'm going to take your accusations and your shame I the innocent I'm going to absorb your punishment so that you the guilty can go free so when they heaped their accusations on him he took it when he died on the cross and they took him down and buried him in the grave he did not resist the burial instead he stayed dead three days to let the dirt do its work now we thought we were attending a funeral but really what it was was an agricultural lesson Jesus was not buried on Friday he was planted now because he was planted on Friday there is the expectation of harvest he is the firstborn among many brethren so when he lay in the grave it wasn't over it was just beginning and I came to declare today to everybody who's been going through a season of failure or depression or uncertainty or rejection or disappointment let the dirt do its work don't fight it don't run from it and don't pluck up the seed because you don't like the season let the dirt do its work this is the gospel of Jesus Christ this is what the kingdom of God is like there's nothing man can do to you that God cannot use for his good and I believe that I believe that all things work together for the good of them that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose but I I don't always know how I don't have to know how because I know who the emphasis on Romans 8:28 isn't on things all things work together for the good the emphasis is not on good cuz it might not feel good and I might not know how it's good while I'm in it the emphasis of Romans 8:28 is that I'm called then I love God and I'm called according to his purpose so his purpose is the promise that lets me know that it seems insignificant that to me it's invisible and I don't know how but I know everybody who wants to praise God for and I'm gonna give you 30 seconds to do what you need to do maybe your neighbor doesn't want this word maybe they want to let a bird snatch it or a forward soca but there are some people here who have been in the ground for a little while and I prophesy resurrection to every person who spin in a depression you've been in a funk you been in a failure the devil said it was it [Music] [Applause] where you at Matthews where you at Valentine where you have you see you know what's crazy I'm calling out all these campuses and somehow they see me on their screens and I don't know how but I don't have to know how and you know what somehow I'm preaching this word and it's getting in your heart and God's gonna use it and it won't return void but it will accomplish what God sent it to do but his ways are higher than my ways and his thoughts in my thoughts I don't have to [Applause] I don't know how I'm gonna make it but I don't have to know how I don't know who God's gonna use to get me through this but I don't have to know how it might be manna that falls from the sky it might be a widow at Zarephath that God uses to feed me it might be a little boy's lunch that I didn't even count in the official total because I thought he was insignificant but the seed always looks small God might use a little boy a little thing the littlest thing I'll have to know how and some of you are stuck because you need to know too much [Applause] you you need to be perceived as someone who knows and so you remain in darkness you want to be perceived as someone who understands things that this the soil represents uncertainty and I think is good every once in a while for us to hear a sermon where the farmer admits I don't even know how come on because if you had to call somebody who just lost their child in a car wreck like I have to do off it and you were telling them that God is gonna get you through this you wouldn't be so quick to tell him how I don't know how but I pray right now in the name of Jesus that the God of all comfort that's whom would surround you with his angels that's who I don't know how but I know whom I have believed so I pray uh so I scatter some seed gets snatched some seed gets scorched some seed gets strangled I'd make a good sermon wouldn't it they all start with the letter S and the temptation is when the seed is scattered but it does not produce you never want to sow again so then you prayed and the cancer still ate their body what's to make you ever want to pray again so you stopped sowing you stopped expecting you had a funeral and stopped expecting a harvest the business failed that one child is on drugs and you got very confused about the difference between God's job and your job obedience is the job of the farmer [Applause] Jesus is not the farmer in this parable he's the seed he's to see he is the seed of God and he was planted in the soil of the earth for three days and his resurrection gives us an expectation that we don't have to understand the events of our life to walk in a posture I think it's better sometimes that we don't know I think it's better sometimes that we stay in a state of uncertainty so that we don't get confused and think that we're the seed that we're the source I pray that this message has been practical today and you'll be able to take something from it for your life but really I think it's supposed to be prophetic that doesn't mean a crystal ball or a 900 number to me that means that you receive this seed personally it's all about the soil and if this seed gets snatched or scorched by the trials of life or choked out by the deceitfulness of riches the cares of this life or the desire for other things it will be as if it was never sewn and it'll be just another seed just another pep talk just another Bible lesson if you receive this seed though I'm trying to tell you that God has set you free of the expectation to understand obedience is your job outcome is God's let him ha let him do his job let the dirt do its work let the sufferings of this present time producing you a glory that is not worthy to be compared in comparison is so much bigger than that dirt something some of you are in a dirt stage right now of your dream the first thing that happened to Joseph when God gave him a dream do you remember they held a parade in his honor huh he printed up his business cards to start handing him out huh he got 4 million followers on Instagram huh they threw him in a pit every promise needs a pit every dream needs dirt your faith needs fertilizer all by itself the ground produces great water it plow it get your heart right and let the dirt the rejection the insecurities the confusion God is not the author of confusion God did not reject you but he would use Genesis 50:20 what you meant for evil God intended it for good and the saving of many lives let the dirt do its work praying for people right now in this moment everyone's standing who needed this word today because you've got something in the ground in your life if it's you and you're not ashamed to respond to the Word of God and you don't need to appear to have it all together if you are in a situation in your life where you don't know how you don't know how it's gonna come together you don't know how to do what you've been positioned to do your responsibility exceeds your experience if that's you today at every location lift your hands to your father Lord whoever's lived in their hands right now they're saying to you without words I don't know how and I believe this is a posture that you can honor father you said if we would humble ourselves in your sight you would lift us out but that when were proud and that we're haughty that you have to oppose us and God we want to line up on the right side today and understand that there's there's a part of this process of our growth in our faith and our families and our psychology and our life experiences and our goals our visions our ideas that we just don't know now some of us are standing at the crossroads of multi-million dollar business deals and we don't know how some of us are trying to buy a next meal and we don't know how some of us are trying to figure out how to get married and we don't know how some of us are trying to figure out how to stay married and we don't know how pray the prayer say I don't know how God but I know who I believe that you are with me and I declare that by your spirit I will rise like a seed planted in the earth I will rise I believe in resurrection I don't know how but I know who now let me tell you something about Resurrection with your hands still lifted resurrection is not an event resurrection is a person jesus said I am the resurrection and the life so if you got a situation in your life that needs to be resurrected you don't have to know how I don't have to understand it I know who is with me I got the scene of the Word of God I got the seed of faith if I got faith the size of a mustard seed I can say to this mountain be removed and be cast into the scene and it shall be done here great praise today hey thanks for watching two things I want you to do first click our logo to subscribe to this channel so you don't miss a single video second you can click the give Now button to support the ministry and we'll be able to continue reaching people all over the world thanks again for watching

Channel: Elevation Church

Views: 1,013,117

Rating: 4.8795824 out of 5

Keywords: Elevation Church, Savage Jesus, Pastor Steven Furtick, Steven Furtick, Preacher, Steven furtick savage jesus, spiritual growth, savage jesus, steven furtick 2018, steven furtick 2018 sermons, dirt, work, god, Holy Bible, The Bible, Faith, Order, Result, Harvest, Impact, Opposition, Opposed, Supreme, Authority, Relationship, Communications, Insignificant, Invisible, Ignorant, Disappointment, Insecurity, Rejection, Trouble, Meaning, Obedience, Outcome, steven furtick inspiration, steven furtick motivation

Id: eCssHeUTq68

Length: 47min 9sec (2829 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 23 2018