Mark 4:21-34 :: “Parables of the Kingdom”

[Music] hey good morning church family so good to be with you i'm pastor roger and i want to say welcome and so glad you're here welcome those are in service and those are in service at home we love you guys glad you're here ah man it's good it's good to see you and you know it's in that good the wind has kind of died down i'm digging that okay so god's given us a great day to worship him so let's prepare our hearts to meet with him let's not just do a checkbox sunday where we come in and go hey i did church now what right we want to say hey i met with god today so let's let's pray and and just join in to worship let's join into the preaching of the word let's give our worship are you with me home you're with me okay all right here we go let's pray heavenly father thank you so much for your great love for us thank you for my church family here lord that loves you so much that that are here to do business with you here to have an encounter with you and lord that's what we want we want to be we want to be changed lord because we're standing in front of you lord we want to hear your whispers we want to apply what you tell us we just don't want to be hearers of the word lord we want to be doers we want to be found doing the work of the ministry we want to be found doing the work of our heavenly father so empower us father by your spirit we give you this time we give you our hearts we give our worship right now lord bless us we pray in jesus name amen okay worship team [Music] [Music] i love you lord for your mercy never fails me [Music] and all my days i've been [Music] from the held that i wake up until i lay in my head [Music] you have been so [Music] surprise [Music] [Applause] [Music] i've known you as a friend [Music] i hope i love you i've been faithful [Music] oh i'm [Music] your goodness is running after running after me your goodness is running after running after me with my life laid down surrendered now give you everything [Music] this is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] with every breath that i am [Music] [Applause] [Music] every breath that i am [Music] of the goodness of god forever you're gonna sing lord right here in this moment your bride is here right here in this moment we lift one voice [Music] and we welcome you with praise so we welcome you with praise mighty god love be welcome here let every heart let every soul awake almighty god love be welcome here lord let our [Music] our praise we are here let your breath come from heaven fill our hearts with your life yes we are we are here to your hearts are open [Music] let us we are here let your word move [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is [Music] yes [Music] welcome you with praise we welcome you with praise be welcome in this place [Music] oh you're welcome here [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] yes scott you are welcome here not here as in this building good but into our collective body you are welcome to have your way with your bride lord you are the king of our lives jesus so we posture ourselves before you you as the rightful king we are on our knees before you god the one who reigns above it all come and do what only you can do lord holy spirit lead us in worship of the one true king [Music] the rain of darkness now has ended in the kingdom of light in the kingdom of light forever unto your dominion you're the king of my life you're the king of my life you reign above it all you reign above it all [Music] jesus [Music] just to give us [Music] the universe [Music] hallelujah [Music] jesus you sent the darkness running out of the empty grave now seated alone in glory enthroned on the highest praise you sent the darkness running out of the empty grave out of the empty grave [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] hallelujah [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you reign above it all he reigns above you [Music] lord we thank you as we sit here with that truth that you are the one who reigns above it all there is no greater truth than that the grave is empty jesus is king found in you god we are forever changed just sit one more moment in that truth he is king found in him we are forever changed got one voice this morning we say thank you thank you god thank you in your name amen all right oh nexus family is so good to be back with you all right well hey give the lord a round of applause huh so take a moment say hi to one another obviously social distance online community do the same hit us up in that chat spot and uh we'll respond and say hi to you and love on one another bless you [Music] of jesus [Music] oh church family those of you who are gathered here inside and those of you who are online we just want to welcome you to calvary nexus where we are a movement of jesus followers devoted to loving god and loving our neighbors amen i haven't had the pleasure of meeting you yet my name is bruce and i'm one of your teaching pastors but today i also have the privilege not only of sharing program announcements with you but introducing you to my friend janice jesse janice is the director of the ventura county pregnancy center a ministry that we have supported now for over 20 years we have been blessed with a legacy of directors including marianne ambrose who directed the bcpc for 25 years who is part of our church community but this coming easter we are going to gather much needed supplies i mean truckloads of supplies to support the vcpc and i've asked janice to tell you about it janice well first of all thank you very much for allowing us to do this this is one of the churches that monthly support us with prayer and financial and every easter is normally when they ask us for items that are much needed and last year we were unable to do that and i'll tell you it kind of took a hit on us we really look forward to a lot of the supplies that you guys so graciously donate so i have a list of some things that we need this year we need like click neck strollers pack and plays with bassinets we need diaper bags boy and girl spring summer clothes newborn to 24 years or 24 months 24 years that's really babying those kids we do not need any onesies we do have plenty of onesies so no onesies please um and we need new socks believe it or not bottle brushes teething toys nursing pads infant nail clippers are a big hit at the center nasal aspirators you know those little boogies that are in those little tiny noses diaper rash ointment size and newborn two and three diapers wipes are always something that we need child proof items the things that you know keep your toilets down and you you know you can't open the doors not even adults um and actually baby wash and baby shampoo they're very tangible items that are easy to be able to purchase at target or whatever so we're just so grateful for your giving hearts and very thankful for this church we appreciate it janice thank you yeah i want to encourage you guys if you've gone by the supermarket if you've raised kids or if you're raising kids you appreciate just how expensive items like formula and diaper can be and a lot of families that are clients of the vcpc simply can't afford those items and we are in the privileged opportunity to stand in the gap and help so be thinking about that praying about that as we prepare for april 11th hey if you have your calvary nexus app on your smartphone and i'd encourage you if you haven't downloaded please do wherever uh you download your apps and so if you open the calvary nexus app all the information we're going to talk about is on the app and you'll be able to fill out a prayer request on the app as well in a moment so the first announcement is about the blood drive this afternoon after the second service in this space will actually be having a blood drive it'll start at noon there are a few slots that are still open is my understanding you could sign up at bloodforlife.org you'll see the information there in your program it is so needed right now in the county we've been blessed that we have donated more blood as an organization i've been told than any other in the community and we'd like to continue to do that so if you are available please sign up in regard to international missions we are supporting aaron and amy snyder who have been serving god in segan germany along with their family the snyders came out from calvary nexus they have been serving now close to eight years this is a fantastic opportunity to pray for them to find out about the work that they're doing in germany so the contact information is there for you march 14th next sunday we are going to gather for a night of worship um we are going to gather at six o'clock outdoors in the back lot this is so important i just want to encourage you guys to appreciate with me why we need this to get our relationship with god in a good place our relationship with self in a good place in a right relationship and our relationship with other people we were created for relationship with others and gathering together and worshiping god together and focusing on him especially in a time like this is so important for all of us we're going to arrange for the mr softy ice cream truck to come out towards the end of the night so it can be a really family friendly event so i want to encourage you about that as well then you see an announcement about family ministries and family ministries starts at elementary age goes all the way to young adults and pastor chris who has been overseeing our family ministries is coordinating that along with christina who oversees our children's ministry so that we can have the kiddos getting together on one evening starting at six o'clock and they'll be splitting up the campus you'll see the dates student ministries will be starting on the 18th of march and then the sunday after easter or excuse me the thursday after easter on april 8th the kiddos will be gathering so that's coming and get more information from either pastor chris or christina neighborhood group ambassador we have a part-time position that is opening up to assist pastor jeremy in just helping people to get involved in our small groups that we call neighborhood groups where we learn to love god and love neighbors better and pastor jeremy's contact information is there in the program and then the last announcement that i want to share with you we're highlighting the neighborhood group that is taking place on campus on the second and fourth sundays of each month that's led by pastor roger and his wife lynn and it is a group that is focusing on prayer and so i want to encourage you about that as well we're going to take a moment now to fill out our prayer requests i really want to encourage everybody to do this you can write one out you can type one out on the app but let's take a moment to do it together amazing grace please pray with me father we thank you for an opportunity to make our request known to you we are comforted that you're always listening we thank you for literally hundreds of people who are interceding praying over these requests on our behalf father we thank you for the resources that you have made available to us especially such a time as this we pray lord that you cause us to be generous people to advance your gospel not only here locally but globally help us father to depend on you help us to devote our lives to you and prepare our hearts to receive from you now we praise you and we thank you in jesus name amen well this morning you are in for a special treat if you'll turn to mark chapter 4 you're going to get to hear from the aforementioned pastor crisp chris come on up good morning online church as well as in person church family it is seriously so good to be with you guys last time i got to teach big room was october and i've been chomping out the bit um before we get into the word i promised him i wouldn't do this but today marks the one year sunday anniversary of pastor jeremy our community life pastor so let's just thank him for all that he's done for this caliber nexus family he came in right before a crazy season he's done a great job if you see him today congratulate him thank him for that again we'll be in mark chapter four we're going to be going through verses 21 through 34. so if you have your bible or your phone app turn there tap there and as you're turning there i want you to think if you've ever been in a situation like this you've agreed to do something for someone whether it's a family member or friend or co-worker or boss only when you actually show up to help them what's being asked of you is not what you signed up for you guys have been in that situation and by the laughs i could tell you have i remember one particular instance i was serving at another church and our staff was very young and like when i say very young i mean very young probably 75 of our staff was under 22 and several of the guys on staff had pickup trucks so naturally a good chunk of our job and our ministry was helping people move whether they went to the church or they were friends with people at the church or they just happened to have our phone number and that's what we got to do and for the most part it was a very fun opportunity you know we got to just make a day out of it goof off sweat a little bit and and have fun but i remember one particular day we got a call and it was just a crazy week already but we were promised that this lady lived by herself so she didn't have a lot of stuff that she had already back boxed up everything put it in her garage so all we had to do was back in the moving truck throw the boxes in and then we could go about our day so we said okay sounds like a plan we get there we give her a phone call and she says okay i'm coming out i'll open up the garage for you guys and i remember standing there with my friends and as this garage opened seeing what i to this day still consider the biggest pile of junk i have ever seen in my life like wall to wall floor to ceiling it was just like packed in there and so like okay where's the stuff that we're gonna move she goes this is it like so happy she's like this is it thanks so much and we're like oh no and so we had the pleasure of spending not just a couple hours but a whole day going through all of her stuff hearing the history behind it boxing it up and then we got to finally move all of that stuff and so what we had signed up for is not what was being asked of us and in a similar sense when jesus comes onto the scene in his earthly ministry and he begins to proclaim that he was the messiah that god had promised he did not meet the expectations that many people had for him right so many people were expecting the messiah to come in great force whether it was some great political leader or in awesome military power plans to overthrow the roman government so that the oppression of the israel people might be released and that's not what they got jesus comes in the form of a baby to a nothing town to a carpenter of a father just your average joe parents no pun intended and we see in this moment that he broke every expectation that they had and he arrives on the scene and he begins to speak of his kingdom and the kingdom that he rules is a kingdom like any other his kingdom is an upside down kingdom and so he comes in humility and meekness to love and to serve and for anybody that might want to follow him jesus wanted to make it abundantly clear what they were signing up for he didn't want them to think one thing only to get there and find out it was something completely different he wanted everybody to know what they were signing up for what he looked like as a king what his kingdom stood for and ultimately what his kingdom citizens would live like and so today we're going to be given a deeper insight into god's kingdom and if we just saw it for a moment my guess is that for a majority of us or maybe even all of us if we look at the world today it's not what we would call ideal and so today christ is going to show us that there's a better kingdom that we can live for and there's a better kingdom that we can be a part of and so jesus is going to walk us through three kingdom parables today and as we read through these and learn about them the object that i believe god intends for us this morning is that we would make jesus known and trust him that we would make him known and we would trust him and so read with me just the first three verses in our passage today and then we'll pray and we'll get into it mark chapter 4 beginning at verse 21 and also he said to them is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed is it not to be said on a lamp stand for there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light if anyone has ears to hear let him hear pray with me lord we thank you for this time together we thank you for the chance to worship you in so many different ways god i thank you for this community i thank you that you continue to grow us by your spirit lord we praise you for every opportunity where we get to come before you and rejoice in all that you're doing and lord i pray that you would speak to us as your body as well as individual disciples holy spirit would you move in this place like only you can we thank you we praise you and it's in your name we pray amen so to give us a little bit of context last week pastor bruce did a fantastic job walking us through the first 20 verses of mark chapter four and we see in this account jesus gets into a boat he is with some of his disciples they push out on to sea and he's preparing to project and teach a large crowd of people that are gathering on the shore and he teaches them in this parable of the sower and we learn that a parable was simply an earthly story that was meant to reveal some sort of spiritual truth and so this wasn't just some good farming advice right that is what some people might have taken it as but jesus had a deeper meaning that he wanted people to uncover and so he teaches and rightfully so many are confused at what his true intentions are and even the disciples afterwards jesus we don't really know what you're talking about and so he takes a moment to explain to them the parable but then he goes beyond that and he explains why he uses parables and essentially what we learned is that he's testing the different soils of our hearts and as the gospel goes out as that perfect seed it lands on different kinds of soil and so this is what jesus is doing with parables in this time and so he's going to walk us through three more parables describing his kingdom but the interesting thing about these parables is that we actually aren't given interpretation for them and i say that for a couple reasons one is that we need to be really mindful of the words that jesus is speaking here this is why it's so beautiful that every single one of us has access to the word so that we can actually see the words that jesus is teaching here second it means we need to use other parts of scripture to support what we're learning here and then lastly and probably most importantly it means that we need the spirit to come and discern his word for us amen and so let's jump into our first parable that teaches us that god's kingdom brings light god's kingdom brings light again jesus says is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed is it not to be set on a lamp stand so he uses this imagery of a light he says hey when you turn a light on when you light your lamp you don't put it under your bed you don't put it under a basket you put it on the lamp stand because that's what's going to light the room right you that's why we don't have lights under our beds or under our couches or under our carpets we have them in the ceiling we have them in chandeliers we string our lights out when we go camping we hang a lantern because light is most beneficial for us when it's put out for all to see but again this is a parable this is not just good homekeeping advice right jesus is not saying hey when you have guests over make sure you turn the lights on and you put them in a place where people are going to see them there's something deeper here and essentially what jesus is hinting at is god's truth as he's teaching in parables he wants the disciples to understand hey i'm not teaching them parables to confuse everybody so that god's truth might continue to be hidden and i can have this insider info that none of you get jesus is saying god's truth is like this lamp it's meant to be put on a lampstand so that others might see this is that image of light here and so how does god reveal his truth well this imagery of light helps us a lot because scripturally there's several things that light can represent and we're going to cover three this morning the first is that light represents the word of god light represents the word of god in psalm 119 105 we read your word as a lamp to my feet and a light to my path and so god has explicitly given us his truth through his word we don't have to guess what it is we don't have to fumble through life his word lights our path it shows us his righteousness it shows us his way and his will and i said it earlier and i'll say it again that's why i love that every single one of us has access to the scriptures we don't have to wait for sunday morning to see god's light though if i'm being honest i've had plenty of seasons in my life where that's exactly what i did or it came on a sunday to be filled and yes i'm so excited lord you're doing great things and then monday rolls in and i'm tired and tuesday hits and there's stuff that i wasn't expecting to come up and wednesday it's hump day but man there's still two more days till the weekend right and we just push through our weeks and then we get back on sunday and it's like yay but we don't have to live light that way we have god's word so that whatever darkness we're facing throughout our weeks we have god's truth to speak into it and so for a moment i just want you guys to think about the darkness that you face in your week because for each one of us that's going to look a little bit different but what just seems to try to rob you of your joy between monday and saturday what just seems to continue to be hitting you and hitting you and hitting you and as you think about that i want you to be assured that god's word is filled with wisdom and counsel encouragements promises that will combat that darkness we get to use his word as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path another image of light we see in the scriptures is the son of god jesus in multiple accounts but one is john 8 jesus says i am the light of the world and here he says he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life and so if god's word tells us of his truth in a sense jesus's life models that truth for us he shows us what god's truth looks like in action right and so we can't say well yeah of course the bible speaks of truth but that's like in a perfect world and we live in a fallen creation and jesus says well then i'm going to enter into your fallen creation and i'm going to be that light and i'm gonna show you god's truth on display god has given us this image of the invisible god as paul says in colossians 1 15. and this must have been so encouraging to the disciples to hear because there was a lot of points in jesus's earthly ministry where he was trying to keep his name on the down low or he was trying to keep people silent whether he was leaving very hostile situations or he was disappearing from crowds or he was healing somebody and then saying hey don't tell anybody about me and there was kind of this hush attitude about it but here he's letting the disciples know hey there is going to be a day where my name will be lifted high across all of my people or my kingdom's light will shine and the name of jesus will go forth throughout all the world and that's a wonderful wonderful promise and it leads us into our third idea of light which is the children of god us you and me as jesus was teaching the sermon on the mount he says that you are the light of the world i want you to hear that jesus identifies his light and then he teaches the sermon on the mount and he's looking at his followers and he says you are the light of the world a city that is sent on a hill cannot be hidden nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket but again on a lamp stand and it gives light to all who are in the house let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven and so jesus is essentially saying hey if you've received my light through my word and through my name now you are being called to go and shine that light before others so that they too might see the good works that you do and not glorify you but glorify your father in heaven so that they can take their darkness and they can say jesus shine your light into all of these spaces lord i want you because the reality is that the grace of receiving the gospel is unbreakably linked from a call to preach the gospel and to stand for truth if you've received that good grace if you've received that seed and it finds good soil and it grows strong you are now being called into this kingdom of light where you get to share that with others and this is something that the early church would have like desperately desperately needed to cling to because in the early church they were oftentimes operating under roman rule and the roman empire was fast expanding it was bringing in different nations different cultures people who worship different gods and so they needed a way to unify people and the easiest way to do that was to simply have them surround one figure and so they chose the emperor and so they began to instill emperor worship in the roman empire and they actually created appointed days like i want you to think about this they created appointed days where you could come and make a sacrifice or an offering to the godhead of the emperor and then you would receive a certificate saying that you had done so so that now you were free to go and do as you pleased whether you wanted to worship another god or you wanted to worship no gods as long as the emperor came first and jesus is telling us as his light that that was not how his kingdom was going to operate that if we were going to follow him that light would have to shine on that lampstand we would be that city upon a hill there was no hiding anymore those who choose to follow jesus would live and stand for his truth and that's what we're being called into us here today to live for this kingdom of truth and i want you guys to honestly think about how radically this community would be changed if every single jesus follower not just here but every single jesus follower stepped out in faith to shine that light to actually go out and be about their father's business to really grow in love for god and then grow in love for neighbor for the people around us like let's start there to actually get to know your neighbor like i'm not just talking about like first name hi carl it's good to see you but to actually know what they're going through so that you know their needs so that you could be praying for them specifically so that you could help to support them in difficult times i mean if we all simply prayed for those opportunities and then took them when they actually arose and i'm not preaching at you guys like i'm preaching to myself because i know the days where you come home where i come home and i'm just dead tired and so i pull into the garage sitting in my car and then i close the garage before getting out of the car it's like batman and his batmobile on the bat caves closing behind me and sometimes i don't even think about it but sometimes i do because i'm just so tired and i don't want the possibility of being caught by somebody and being drawn into a long conversation when i just want to get in the house and take my shoes off and relax for a bit but as lights we don't have the privilege to hide in our garages anymore we're called to go out and shine his truth and that is a greater privilege than being able to hide to live truly on mission for jesus and i understand that that is a terrifying thought for many to go out and get to know people and to explicitly preach his gospel because for some of us that means we're going to have to break our introversion it means we're gonna have to be a little uncomfortable at times we're gonna have to be vulnerable we're gonna have to be sacrificial with our time and with our resources but some of us and i would probably fall into this category we're so extroverted we're always talking to our neighbors we're always hanging out with them we're always having a good time and so there's this little bit of fear that we're going to ruin that if we bring jesus into the picture like i don't want i don't want to be too open about my van i want to scare them away i don't want to say anything offensive and then they'll never talk to me again but wouldn't we rather risk the comforts of friendship for the chance to see our neighbors and call them brothers and sisters in christ like doesn't that sound like a beautiful picture to not just know our neighbors but to know that our neighbors know god and if we want to see that happen it's us who god is calling to shine his light and to stand for truth but god knows this fear and so immediately after this exhortation he follows it up with another idea with another parable and he teaches us that god alone can change hearts god alone can change hearts we read that jesus says the kingdom of god is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground and should sleep by night and rise by day and the seed should sprout and grow he himself does not know how for the earth yields crop by itself first the blade then the head and after that the full grain in the head but when the grain ripens immediately he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come and so in this second parable jesus again has his disciples imagine a farmer scattering seeds but this time jesus goes a little bit deeper he says as the farmer scatters the seed he works by the day he sleeps at night and one day he wakes up and his seed sprouted and then his seed grows and it ripens and it brings about a harvest but the farmer himself doesn't actually know how it grew like i don't know how they grow like maybe you guys have a better understanding i don't even understand like how seeds work but the farmer he knows what to do he knows how to care for it he knows how to rotate his crop so that the soil has the proper nutrients in it he knows when to sow the seeds he knows when to water he knows how much to water if they're getting too much sun too little sun how to keep the pests away but he doesn't know how the seed sprouts and grows but again jesus isn't just giving some good farming advice there's a deeper meaning to this harvest and we are given an idea of that in matthew chapter 9. in matthew 9 we read that then jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people but when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd then he said to his disciples the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few therefore pray the lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest and so now the picture broadens as jesus is with his disciples they're looking out at the crowds of people and with a compassionate heart jesus says to his disciples the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few i will be sending you out and so we learn that this harvest is a harvest for people people that would hear the gospel that would receive that good and perfect seed people that need would need to be cared for and nourished people that would need to be ministered to people that would need to find healing people that would need to grow in faith that they might grow and be harvested as souls one for jesus and so jesus sends the disciples out to sow the seeds to water to care but in that work he wants to make it abundantly clear to them only i'm going to change hearts only i can transform only i can bring about the harvest you scatter the seeds but trust me it will grow that's what jesus is saying to his disciples here and paul kind of talks about this idea in comparison with his ministry with apollos in 1st corinthians 3 we learned that as paul and apollos were doing various ministries together there were actually people in the church who were identifying with one over the other oh i'm i'm a disciple of paul i'm a disciple of apollos he baptized me he taught me this he taught me that and paul wants none of that he's like it ain't about me and it ain't about apollos and so he writes to the church in corinth first corinthians 3 5. he says who then is paul and who is apollos but ministers through whom you believed as the lord gave to each one i planted apollos watered but god gave the increase so then neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters but god who gives the increase now he who plants and he who waters are one and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor for we are god's fellow workers you are god's fields and you are god's building we have been called into this beautifully unique space where our free will meets perfectly with the sovereignty of god where god is giving this choice to us that if we want to be kingdoms of light and if we do he's calling us to step out and to scatter that seed to preach that good news to stand for truth in a kingdom of light but to fully understand and know and trust that anything of eternal importance that comes about through that is because he is faithful it's because his spirit is moving because his plan will come to fruition because he is working and i was remembered of this reality on a very personal level a couple weeks ago i've been doing student ministries for about 10 years now between vocational ministry and volunteer ministry and i started out in junior high and no offense to my high schoolers but like i really love junior highers i love you guys too but there's just something about junior hires where they're just so unpredictable right like some days they're going to be the quietest thing that you've ever seen in the world and they're like hi i'm i'm johnny and then there's some days where it's like all of a sudden you got like ketchup in your ear and you're like whoa what happened right that's just such a fun ministry to be a part of and you have no idea how these kids are going to end up like some of like the wildest kids go on and i'm like you're working at a church they let you like for real and i'm probably one of those kids too and so we when i first took over we had a small group of kids and it was such a precious time together and there was one kid in particular that amanda my wife and i grew just in a really good relationship with and with her family they were always so supportive always so caring and even when god called us out of that church that family continued to just be a major blessing like her dad still texts me probably every couple of months just to say hey you're doing a great job like i'm so blessed by all that you've done for my family and i'm like bro you're doing more for me than i could ever imagine doing for you and so a couple weeks ago their daughter sent me a text and she said i have some great news and i was like what is it she goes i got baptized today i was like yes and she's like i'm sorry and i was like why are you sorry just because i wanted you to be the one to baptize me i really wanted like you to like get to be a part of that moment but i just didn't know like when that would happen if that could happen and i felt like the lord was calling me into baptism today and i'm being honest from like a moment there was like this little bit of jealousy in me and it wasn't jealousy that somebody else had done it but it was just this jealousy that i didn't that i couldn't be a part of it that i had spent so many years investing into this family and i couldn't be there for that moment and in his faithfulness god reminded me of this passage who's chris but a minister god has given he has brought about a harvest and a transformation and it was such an encouragement to remember that anything great that happens is because of him amen and so this parable is an encouragement for all of us to continue joyfully shining god's light because we can trust that he's going to use us we can trust that those seeds are going to find good soil and bring about transformation and i want us to hear that because i understand that sometimes the day-to-day interactions that we have with our neighbors can seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things at least for me like driveway conversions are the minority story right it's not like we're like hey how you doing hey by the way do you know jesus oh yes lord no it's like day to day just getting to know a little bit more day to day sharing a little bit more about my faith and it can seem insignificant in the big picture but this imagery of the harvest is a reminder of the patience that we need in kingdom work that the farmer is going to sell and then it's going to be some time before the plant takes root and we're not even going to see that and then even more time before a sprout comes up and then even more time before that thing grows into anything substantial and then even more time before that harvest is ready but when it comes we can glorify god through it and so we trust that god alone can change hearts and it's with that in mind that jesus shares with us this last idea and a reassuring promise that god will finish his kingdom work god will finish his kingdom work verse 30 it says then jesus said to what shall we like in the kingdom of god or with what parable shall we picture it it is like a mustard seed which when it is sewn on the ground is smaller than all the seeds on earth but when it is sown it grows up and becomes a greater it becomes greater than all the herbs and shoots out large branches so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade and so in this last parable jesus likens the kingdom of god to a mustard seed and i would imagine that most of us have seen a mustard seed whether it was in nature or through a church illustration i don't have one on me and it probably doesn't matter because you wouldn't be able to see it but they're about one to two millimeters in diameter and really small guys you could confuse it for like a little pebble and jesus is saying this is like the kingdom of god it's small but when it grows like mustard seeds grow into some of the hardiest herbs out there i remember at my parents house growing up there was this little hill or mountain behind the house i don't know how we define them in california what we think is a hill others like that's a mountain and so there was a mountain or a hill behind our house and there was a trail that went up it and um that was a very common place for my family and i to go if we were bored we'd go for a hike if the kids were just being too wild my parents would be like get up the hill and we just run up that thing and for most of the year that thing was pretty dead it was either brown or slightly green grass that was all it had but i remember at certain points in the year like overnight it would be like pop of yellow pop of yellow pop of yellow before like this whole hill was scattered in the most beautiful yellow mustard plants you could imagine and when you tried to hike on that trail after this happened it was like walking through a forest those things were dense six seven eight feet tall and this is the picture that jesus wants to give us of his kingdom that though the seed can seem so simple its power when fully grown is unimaginable jesus wants us to understand that his kingdom will grow and it will grow mighty that there is nothing that is going to stop his good plan and i get it on this side of eternity kingdom work can seem very daunting but if we're truly to hear jesus's words here we should understand the power of the gospel that he sends it out with a good and perfect plan and we read in isaiah 55 so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth it shall not return to me void but it shall accomplish what i please and i shall prosper in the thing for which i sent it god's saying i don't start something without intending to finish it i'm going to send out my word and it will not return void though the planting of the seed may seem so tiny when god is finished with his kingdom work it is going to be beautiful it is going to be unstoppable it is going to be magnificent and so we plant we have patience we trust and we hope when that kingdom work is finished when every tear is wiped away and every pain is no longer a thing where we get to be in the perfect presence of god rejoicing his name forever and maybe some of us just need to hear that on a personal level today but this idea of the kingdom coming seems so far off so distant but i want you to be assured that god has the big picture in mind as well as every single individual within it in the book of philippians chapter 1 paul says he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of jesus christ and this is a promise that we can lean into that god will finish his kingdom work in you and in me and throughout all of creation and so we stand for truth in this kingdom of light we trust that god will change hearts and we believe and hope that he will finish this good kingdom work and so we're going to close with our last couple verses here i'm going to invite the worship team up and i'm going to invite the ushers to pass out communion because we get to partake together this morning and after jesus teaches these three parables to the disciples we read in verses 33 and 34 and with many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it but without a parable he did not speak to them and when they were alone he explained all things to his disciples and for many of us after reading these beautiful parables these might be easy verses to pass over but as i read through them they were just a simple but powerful reminder of the example that jesus set forth to continue faithfully in kingdom work to spread his truth to place his faith in the father's plan and to gladly await a harvest that was coming he models this idea perfectly and so my prayer is that together each one of us would grow in this desire to make jesus known to let our little lights shine we can listen to that bible song if we need to be reminded of it but to let our light shine for god's glory and for the good of his creation as we trust in him and his kingdom of truth and light let's pray lord we thank you so much for this time together lord i thank you that you are moving in our midst god we praise you for your word that has gone forth and will not return void lord help us through go in love for you and for our neighbors to make you known and trust in you fully and completely help us to surrender our lives to you in your beautiful name and pray all this in that name amen and so now we're going to partake in communion together and for those of you at home if you have communion elements bread juice grab those just partake with us and communion is nothing magical or mystical if you take it you're not like magically saved regardless of where you are that is something that only the grace of god provides for us communion is a simple reminder for us of what god has done in our lives that is jesus is sitting with his disciples before he was to be betrayed he passes around bread at passover feast saying take and eat this is my body broken for you and it was a symbol of his body that would be broken at the crucifixion and then after that he passes around a cup and he says take and drink this is my blood shed for you a symbol of his blood that was bespilled to cover our sins to wash as wide as snow and so let's together partake of the bread and remembrance of his body that was broken and let's partake of the juice in remembrance of his blood that was shed lord again we praise you we thank you for all that you have done all that you are doing and all that you've promised to do lord we eagerly await the new heaven and the new earth but lord i'm so excited that we get to see your kingdom built now you have promised to build your church and you will not fall short in that promise lord we give you our lives we worship you we praise you and it is in your name we pray amen amen guys let's worship together [Music] now [Music] [Music] is is [Music] be [Music] cleanse me from [Music] with is apart for you lord apart [Music] [Music] so [Music] there are people available on both sides of the stage if you need prayer for any seek the father's face [Music] he is faithful and true [Music] you are faithful and true there is none like you you are faithful and true [Music] what a beautiful name it is what a beautiful name it is the name of jesus christ our king what a beautiful name it is nothing compares to this a beautiful name it is the name of jesus [Music] all sickness in the room you be gone in jesus name that every lack that's here you be fulfilled in jesus name there is nothing impossible for you god cancer can go to hell where you belong he is risen and he reigns come on lord jesus take your rightful seat here god cause death could not hold [Music] [Music] heavens are roaring [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] [Music] is what a beautiful name yeah come on give him praise come on don't stop give him praise he's what a worthy name it is the name of jesus christ our king what a beautiful name it is nothing compares to this beautiful name it is the name of jesus yes god forever and ever and ever that name will never fall from his throne come on yes lord god we thank you and we pray lord that the word that you spoke today that you declared today god through your people through your son that it falls on this tender pure soil and as your will provides it grows to beautiful maturity proclaiming your name no matter what comes no matter the things that surround we are seated at your table lord having a feast of you so we fix our gaze on you psalm 23 we keep our eyes on you jesus even while the other things circumstances enemies deception lies while they surround while they may remain you are the thing that reigns yes god thank you jesus beauty beauty honor power and glory to you amen all right come on yes lord uh all right well hey uh janice actually does have a booth back online community sorry you can't go there but you can find the information online website probably and the app as well but family in-house go give her a visit let's pursue him and pursue love with one another as we become one just as him and the father are one amen all right bless you have a great week believers take up we are foreign [Music] oh carry it on [Music] here we stand our hearts are [Music] yours our hearts are yours [Music] oh is oh carry it on [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] the almighty [Music] salvation join me raining [Music] is [Music] you

Channel: Calvary Nexus

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Keywords: calvary nexus, camarillo, online church, mark, gospel, bible

Id: olsuZ4TSzzw

Length: 83min 45sec (5025 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 07 2021