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HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 026 Mark 4:26–29 Matthew 13:24–30 Matthew 13:31–32 / Mark 4:30–32 Matthew 13:33–35 / Mark 4:33–34 HEALTHY GROWTH // INTRO It was William James who wrote, “I am Done with Great Things!” In one of his letters, the philosopher and psychologist shared a conviction regarding his focus not on big, grand things, but with small “almost invisible” decisions: “I am done with great things and big things, great institutions and big success, and I am for those tiny, invisible molecular moral forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets,... yet which if you give them time, will rend the hardest monuments of man's pride.” He rightly points out that mankind is usually obsessed with the big and grandiose, but overlooking the importance of small things We love BIG! God bless ‘MERICA!! Bigger is better! And we're proud! And I could go on and on about Western culture and values, but what I want to say simply is that we tend to focus on all the wrong things in this life, and in the process, we miss many things that God is doing Things in the normal mundane everyday Things He's doing in small places in small ways Things He's doing in and through average, everyday people who aren't in the spotlight, who don't have prestige, fame, or power We've got our lines crossed when it comes to greatness and humility Now it has been said that “He who has never been humbled cannot be great - humility is the true test of greatness!” And I believe that to be absolutely true This is why Jesus is the greatest Man to ever live There is no one more humble, and thus more great, than Jesus We've spent a good deal of time in previous weeks talking about this inverted Kingdom Those seeking applause and accolades will find themselves humbled And those who humble themselves, Jesus said, will be exalted It is a Kingdom of inversion - a 180 degree departure from the default settings of this life In the Kingdom, small things can be incredibly potent and powerful The size of a thing is not necessarily proportional to its potency or importance And this is something we need to keep in mind as born-again Believers in Jesus When we look with our physical eyes, we're often wrong about what we perceive But to be in the Kingdom means that we need to look through spiritual eyes informed by God's Word What we think to be good at first glance, can actually be harmful And that which we overlook due to it's plainness and lack of shimmer can turn out to be priceless in the Kingdom of God So with that paradigm in mind, let's go to the text this morning // TEXT & EXPOSITION SECTION 84 Mark 4:26–29 [26] And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. [27] He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. [28] The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. [29] But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” Right off the bat, Jesus reminds us that these parables are about the nature of God's Kingdom And remember that Jesus has established for His disciples that His teaching in parables is for them, and not for those outside that circle That will be true for the duration of Jesus' earthly life, but will cease to be true once He's been resurrected and then has ascended into Heaven We're simply told that the Kingdom is as if a man scattered seed on the ground That sounds a lot like the parable we unpacked last week But notice the dichotomy in this parable - the man scatters seed but the seed sprouts and grows This tells us something VERY important This tells us that Mankind has responsibility in this AND that God has responsibility in this It's not one or the other - it's both Though certainly not exhaustive, some of those include the responsibility to love, to lead our families, to do and teach what is right And God has taken on some responsibilities, as well He creates, sustains, loves, gives us His Word, creates good things for us to enjoy, leads us when we ask and pray So Man works and God works And this was and is His idea, and how He set it up We see this in the parable where the seed of the Gospel has a life and power of its own This again speaks to the sufficiency of God's Word, as we established last week All the farmer can do is plant the seed in suitable ground He cannot make it grow He doesn't even understand how it grows The Kingdom of God grows because of the mysterious power of the seed (God's Word) to produce a crop Thinking practically about this parable of the seed that grows, one of the outcomes here is the certainty of a harvest And the parable seems to be establishing that there is some element of mystery here for us We don't know or understand all of the ways in which God's Word works - we just believe that it does! So this seed that Jesus has given to us germinates, sprouts, grows and produces fruit in mysterious ways And in our present age, God's Kingdom grows according to His will SECTION 85 Matthew 13:24–30 [24] He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, [25] but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. [26] So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. [27] And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?' [28] He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?' [29] But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. [30] Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”'” An enemy sowed tares, which means we need to answer the question, “What are tares?” A tare was a darnel weed prevalent in Israel, that is largely indistinguishable from wheat until it matures and bears fruit These people start out incognito, but generally blossom into false converts and false leaders In other words, at some point where there should be maturation and fruit, they begin to show that there is none Some people go their whole lives, playing at being a Christian I know - I was one of those until my senior year of college I claimed to know and have a relationship with Jesus Christ, but there was NO fruit at all in my life And that's how you know Such was the case with Diotrephes in 3 John and the false apostles mentioned in Revelation 2 The enemy who sowed those tares, did it at night and in the darkness: Ephesians 6:12 - For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Jesus speaking to Saul: Acts 26:16-18 16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you,17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' Colossians 1:13-14 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. This is the work and Satan and his demons, to sow tares Pulling up the tares would damage the wheat so he sends enemies of the Gospel into the Church to confuse things A current example would be something like Critical Race Theory That's sowing tares in the Church Churches in western culture are all too ready to grab onto something new or exciting - it's a function of our consumerist mindset instead of having the mind of Christ God's solution? Teach the Word and challenge people to embrace orthodoxy and live it out Love them, disciple them, get the Word in them and get them sharing their faith And when they won't, and flatly refuse to do anything other than sit and soak, invite them to try other churches (we call it out-counseling) Oh, Pastor! That sounds so harsh! It is. And when things have come to that point, it generally has to be Jesus says that what is sown in the heart will eventually show itself for what it really is It will show itself to be good fruit/harvest or tares (looks good on the outside but has no substance) And as an undershepherd of Christ Jesus, I am tasked with being a fruit inspector (and some of y'all are WAY fruity!) But if the worst you've ever known is being disciplined in the Church, that was for your benefit And if you can't embrace it and heed it, it only gets worse Jesus says that the crop is gathered on the Day of Judgment and is separated or judged for what it really is The good wheat (that which produced fruit as a sign of true salvation) was gathered into God's barn/storehouse (heaven) The tares which produced NO fruit, were cast into the fire (of Hell) They looked good on the outside, but inwardly they never surrendered and submitted to Jesus They were not saved Now you tell me, is it loving to pass over the tares and let them go on pretending, ending up in eternal torment OR is it more loving to confront them now, even to say hard words to someone, and risk offending them in order for them to see the truth about themselves? Some of us in the Church need to grow a backbone The Church today has an abundance of Evan-jellyfish (Christians without spines) Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is to confront and rebuke someone And if you know my testimony, then you know that it was 3 young women in the Music Dept at the college I attended, who took me to lunch and called me out on my duplicity Without that confrontation, I don't know if I'd be here today Do the hard thing Say the hard thing Do it in love This age will end when Jesus (the Judge of the world) separates the weeds from the wheat (judgment) The weeds (all who do evil) will be thrown into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth The wheat (the righteous) will be revealed and will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father (the future Kingdom which will appear at the end of the age) God's justice will finally be fulfilled SECTION 86 Matthew 13:31–32 [31] He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. [32] It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” Mark 4:30–32 [30] And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? [31] It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, [32] yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” This is one of my FAVORITE parables because when you actually parse it out, it surprises most people Jesus says that the mustard seed is the smallest of seeds, but when it was planted, it becme this HUGE (like an evergreen) tree A mustard bush, when fully grown, is usually 2-3 feet high at most Some of the cedars in my backyard are 70-90 feet high So this mustard seed growing to the size of a large tree is definitely abnormal It becomes so large, in fact, that the birds of the air come to make their nests in it Now, that doesn't sound like such a big deal at first In fact, it sounds like a good thing - we like birds And don't we want people to come to church? But we have to remember our consistent idioms (word pictures) that Jesus is using The “birds of the air” are the ones that snatched the seed away in the parable of the 4 soils Jesus called them the messengers of the evil one So take that explanation back into this parable Jesus is saying that the Church got so BIG that messengers of the Evil One could come in and be at home and not be seen for what they are You know what we call that? We call that a MEGA-CHURCH, and it's not a good thing, in my estimation When it comes the Church, bigger is not always better Yes, more resources allow us to do more ministry, but there's a limit And I think in America especially, we've assumed a different interpretation of this parable because what Jesus is actually saying goes against our consumer mentality SECTION 87 Matthew 13:33–35 [33] He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” The usual interpretation is that the leaven is the gospel and the woman is the church, but given the consistency of Jesus' use of idioms, I don't believe this is the case at all Because of that interpretation, many have thought at various times that the church was going to introduce the millennium to the world, and that it would usher in the Kingdom In the 1800's (the age of progress), it was widely held that the gospel would so permeate the world that Christianity would be universally accepted all over the planet But that doesn't line up with the parables we already have deciphered In fact, leaven is used consistently in the parables as a bad thing, because matza, or unleavened bread was the staple of the day As we've already seen, Jesus used leaven consistently as an idiom for false doctrine To unravel this, we have to go back to Genesis 18 and the first mention of “three measures of meal” in the Biblical text During their conversation, it suddenly dawned on Abram that God Himself was visiting him, accompanied by two angels That was the beginning of the use of the three measures of meal as a symbol for fellowship Going back to the Exodus in Egypt, before the Jews ate the first Passover, God sent them all through their houses with candles and lamps looking for leaven They were to clear every bit of it out of the house lest any of it get into the three measures of meal, or the Passover feast, and destroy the beauty of the symbolism free from sin Never once is leaven ever used as a symbol of anything good in Jesus' parables Everyone in this crowd knew that this woman had no business putting leaven into these three measures of meal That was to destroy the very meaning of this significant offering, for Scripture had taught them that the three measures of meal were to be unleavened In the New Testament you find five distinct usages of leaven and they all mean something bad Never, ever in the Scriptures does leaven symbolize something good So when it comes to the meaning of this parable, we see that false doctrine and teachings will infiltrate all aspects of the Church until Jesus sets up His Millennial Kingdom on earth at the end of the Tribulation (aka: Daniel's 70th Week, the Time of Jacob's Trouble) [34] All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. [35] This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.” Mark 4:33–34 [33] With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. [34] He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. And we covered this last week, explaining that Jesus was obscuring His teachings to the crowds and making them known only to His disciples so that He would eventually be crucified Had He made them plain with explanation, they would not have crucified Him, and we would not have a sufficient atoning sacrifice to grant us salvation // APPLICATION So I'd like to give you a few handholds from these parables this morning that will help you apply some of these truths Healthy growth is slow and steady Maybe that comes as a surprise to you, but it shouldn't Imagine your 3 year old toddler having grown to 6 feet tall and having the strength to pick you up You could say that there was growth, but you'd be hard pressed to convince anyone that it was good or healthy So why do we clap like North Koreans at a missile parade when a church plant goes from 30-500 in year 1 or 2? Part of the answer is that church growth is a lucrative business But I can look back in the 2000 year history of the Church, and what I see there is faithful men and women rightly handling the Word of Truth, sacrificing their time and effort to make investments in people with the Gospel message and God's Word And those early churches didn't grow to 500 and purchase the Temple of Artemis to meet in They planted more churches as they evangelized the known world and made disciples who made disciples That has been what has changed the world And I believe that is what's missing right now in the American Church model Everytime I go to a regional or national conference or gathering, I am bombarded with speakers and leaders challenging myself and others to GO BIG! Make a HUGE impact for Jesus and the Kingdom! Do GREAT things for the Church! But that's not what I see in the Gospels and the New Testament I see a call to faithfulness and shepherding the flock of God A good church planter or pastor knows that he just has to accept and embrace that much of the work before him is tilling soil and breaking up fallow ground It's HARD work but it MUST be done Healthy growth, whether in a person or in a Church, should be slow and steady And if you plant or pastor, make sure you have a consistent method for connecting with new people and moving them through the membership process All of us need to sort out our responsibility from God's responsibility God has clearly given Mankind some responsibilities, and embedded in that word is the definition - the ability to respond When it comes to the parables we have read today and last week, Redeemed Mankind (saved people) clearly have the responsibility to sow the seed of the Gospel We are to “tend the fields” which means befriending our neighbors, encouraging them, and praying for them as they wrestle with the Gospel and submitting to Jesus We participate in the harvest when we present the Gospel for the first time or the 50th time, and someone responds to that well-meant offer of salvation We are told to guard the good deposit that God and others have made in us We are commanded to scatter seed as we go And that list goes on But God's has responsibilities, as well He has already provided the seed for us He works and labors with us and in us while we labor in His fields He sorts it all out in the end, separating the wheat from the chaff Therefore, God's Word reminds us… [12] Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, [13] for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13) Generally speaking, God seems to work primarily through small, local bodies of Christ-followers rather than big, sexy rock shows You can whip up a crowd in a large church or arena and play on that emotion to get people to raise their hand or come forward And some of those conversations will be genuine, but it's mostly because others have been laying the groundwork for months or years It might sound like I'm beating a dead horse, but bigger really is NOT always better, especially when it comes to planting churches OR making disciples If you go back to Matthew 13, the mustard seed became a great tree, like the cedars around here, that's not good or healthy growth The local church was never intended to be an organization that is so large that those who actually serve the enemy can infiltrate it undetected I tell church planters in our network and in our region that launching a church of 200, 300, or even 500 is not something we ought to celebrate by default Many of those are disgruntled, angry church goers taking their issues with them into the next church Again, as Americans, we're so prone to look at the size of what is happening and congratulate people on it being a “work of God” But what if it's not? The unintended consequence of celebrating big with the assumption that it's always of God is that the small plants and churches that are steady on and faithful and growing slowly inevitably receive the message that Jesus hasn't blessed them as much or God's not in it…. There are unintended consequences of making a big deal out of BIG Just a couple of weeks ago, the day after we returned from Atlanta, I had the opportunity to teach a breakout session at Converge Northwest's annual regional conference I told that room of about 15-20 people that if you're committed to building disciples and developing leaders, you WILL multiply - it might just take longer than you want it to I've had to repent several times in this process that I was diminishing in my heart the work of God in the lives of people in THIS church because I had embraced frustration due to the slow pace of our growth as a church And God reminded me of a lesson my dad taught me when we lived in Athens, GA SLEEP - CREEP - LEAP with Leyland cypress trees in GA Again - If you're committed to building disciples and developing leaders, you WILL multiply - it might just take longer than you want it to Save yourself the heartache of buying into ALL the quick-growth methodologies There is no substitute for faithfully reading and studying God's Word and making the local church a priority in your life and the life of you family And I'll leave you Paul's advice on the matter Galatians 6:6–10 [6] Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. [7] Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. [8] For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. [9] And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. [10] So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Let's go to the Lord in prayer! // PRAY // SING // GO In our flesh, we tend to obsess over BIG things in the Church world, and we miss many things that God is doing Things in the normal, mundane everyday of life His working in small places in small ways Things He's doing in and through average, everyday people who aren't in the spotlight, who don't have prestige, fame, or power We've got our lines crossed when it comes to greatness and humility Jesus is the greatest Man to ever live There is no one more humble, and thus more great, than Jesus So let's follow His example as we make disciples who make disciples, and may we all be found faithful in His Presence when we stand before Him! Emmaus Road Church, YOU ARE SENT!!

Remember when Sonic the Hedgehog looked like a monster from the depths of Hell? They fixed him! Gavin and Stephanie discuss the latest video game movie that doesn't suck! They share Sega memories and wonder why Dr. Robotnik was so slim and fit! GOTTA GO FAST (AND DOWNLOAD THE PODCAST!

* Hadith about Mi'raaj * Gabriel took the Prophet at night from the Ka'bah to the mosque in Jerusalem on a buraq.* On reaching Jerusalem the Prophet along with other Prophets offered Prayers. (Al-Nasa'i, Sunan, K. al-Salah, 'Bab Fard al-Salah wa Dhikr Ikhtilaf al-Naqilin...' -Ed.) Gabriel then took him to the heavens and the Prophet met several great Prophets in different heavenly spheres. (See al-Nasa'i, Sunan, K. al-Salah, 'Bab Fard al-Salah' - Ed.) Finally, he reached the highest point in the heavens and was graced with an experience of the Divine Presence. On that occasion the Prophet received a number of directives including that Prayers were obligatory five times a day. (Al-Bukhari, K. Manaqib al -Ansar, 'Bab al-Mi'raj ; K. al-Tawhid, 'Bab Kallama Musa Taklima' - Ed.) Thereafter, the Prophet returned from the heavens to Jerusalem, and from there to the Holy Mosque in Makka. * other commands came much later* The believers are always described as those who pray.* Prayer is an integral pillar of Islam* The first things to be asked about on DOJ* A reason to enter hell * “‘What has caused you to enter Hell?’ * They will say: ‘We were not of those who used to offer the salah (prayers).’”[al-Muddaththir 74:42-43]* Differentiating factor between us and disbelievers is Salah.* ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ood (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: “Whoever does not pray has no religion.” * What to do when you dont feel like your heart is into praying?* The Munafiqeen used to not miss any prayers in the masjid otherwise people would know. * Given up Salah and have followed lusts” [Maryam 19:59]

Ashley Montero (Actress/Cool Person) joins Patrick Serrano to discuss Lifetime's My Stepfather's Secret. (Starring: Vanessa Marcil, Eddie McClintock, Kevin Sizemore and Paris Smith ) Things start off with a bang, quite literally, and it is all downhill from there. With a plot that leaves Drew saying: "What the Hell?" They also discuss: Being the third wheel, weird sound mixing, and the dangers of protein shakes. Will they pour it up or Put a Cork in It? Read Patrick's reviews on our website: https://lifetimeuncorked.com/Check out other Universehead Podcasts: https://www.universehead.com/Rate and Review us! (With emojis, please!) Follow the Podcast @LifetimeUncorkedFollow the Host @PatrickMiguelFollow the Producer @DrewButWithPants Theme Music provided by @jwheeler_music of the band @ChelusierCandace Cameron Bure Theme provided by: @BradKempMusic --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lifetime-uncorked/message

Two giants bearing broken swords Stood by a river’s bend Whose water fell straight down to Hell: They battled at World’s End. Welcome to the Penumbra, dear Traveler. We hope you enjoy your journey. (Trigger warnings can be found at the bottom of this episode description.) Want Penumbra shirts, posters, and pins? We have a merch store! https://store.dftba.com/collections/the-penumbra-podcast We're an independent team that needs your help to keep making these stories. Support us on Patreon and you can get episodes early, actor scripts, commentary tracks, behind-the-scenes goodies, and more! https://www.patreon.com/thepenumbrapodcast We'd like to thank our Patreon supporters, without whom The Penumbra Podcast would not be possible. Thank you so, so much. A list of those heroes can be found at the bottom of this page: http://www.thepenumbrapodcast.com/about/ On staff at the Penumbra: Kat Buckingham -- Head of Merchandise and Outreach Alice Chuang -- Head of Design Sophie Kaner -- Co-creator, Head of Episode Development, Director, Sound designer Noah Simes -- Production manager Kevin Vibert -- Co-creator, Head of Operations, Lead writer Ryan Vibert -- Composer and performer of original music Attribution: Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode "Kind of Girl" by Jeris, featuring spinningmerkaba: http://ccmixter.org/files/VJ_Memes/35657 “Magic” by RICHERlandTV https://freesound.org/people/RICHERlandTV/sounds/216089/ “Workers’ tools clanging” by xtrgamr https://freesound.org/people/xtrgamr/sounds/257789/ “viking battle.wav” by Kyster https://freesound.org/people/Kyster/sounds/103130/ “Alien Planet Howling Wind” by Tomlija https://freesound.org/people/Tomlija/sounds/172178/ Trigger Warnings: Sudden loud noises Pursuit Forced incarceration Violence and threats of violence Implied killing of people and animals Deception, gaslighting Paranoia and fear of being watched

Chapter 8 Who Among You is Human? In the late 1880s, several explorers followed Henry Morton Stanley up the Congo River to rescue Emin Pasha. When they returned to Europe, they found red carpet receptions in Brussels and London, including audiences with royalty. High society. They likely danced to Strauss waltzes in these receptions. Yet these explorers were returning from a disastrous journey. Two thirds of their 1000 African porters deserted or died, with most of the deaths from starvation. I wonder if any of the fêted survivors were bold enough to request the Strauss Waltz, the Cries of Mephistopheles from Hell? They had experienced hell, a hell of their own making, in the Congo. And yet, in this imperial heart of darkness, it was a pygmy who reminded us all of what it means to be human. Send me your reactions at raymondvdowning@gmail.com. Visit my website at https://globalhealth757.wordpress.com/