Kingdom Concepts

praise the Lord everybody awake in here this morning turn around high five somebody say you look better in church at 11 A.M amen so good to see everyone here this morning and my I'm thankful for what Jesus is doing at the Tennessee camp meeting aren't you so grateful for the power and the presence of God that we have felt these last couple of days together and I am just so anticipating what God is going to do before we leave this place tonight and so it's good to see everybody here so honored to be here with you uh I love the United Pentecostal Church I'm thankful for the apostolic movement I'm thankful I'm glad to be a part of it I'm glad to be a a guest member of the Tennessee district this week thank you for having me and I owe so many blessings in my life and Ministry to the United Pentecostal Church I was a uh I was a young man I grew up in church to some degree in the early years of my upbringing but came from a very broken home and my family was not in church for very long and ended up leaving the church before I was even a teenager and a long long story The Lord brought me through much lived on the street for a couple of years from 14 to 16 years old and I thank God for an Apostolic Holy Ghost Field United Pentecostal Church that took me in and was a mother and a father to me when I didn't have one and gave me a place when I didn't have one and taught me and trained me and put some things into me I'm forever indebted to the kingdom of God to the people of God and I salute all of the great people of God here on this Friday morning I love you and I thank God for you so glad to have my family here with me and uh I uh this morning I got dressed in the dark and so if I don't match which I did notice I'd put a brown belt with black shoes so I got dressed in the dark so just forgive me if it doesn't look right my kids my three kids were camped out this morning and we're still sleeping however as I was about to walk out the door my 10 year old little girl comes out of her bed with disheveled hair and when you're getting dressed in the dark and somebody grabs you around the waist it's kind of halting you know wasn't sure if it was an angel or a demon or a daughter but it was a daughter kids usually pray with me or over me before I preach so she grabbed me and her little disheveled hair and voice prayed for me and she said God I rebuked she said I bind fear help him not to be afraid when he preaches your word so in pajamas and disheveled hair she spoke the words I ain't afraid of none of you I just want you to know that I ain't afraid of none of you fear was cast out by the pajama girl this morning so I'm going to read just a couple of verses of scripture in Matthew chapter 6 and then we're going to go later on we're going to walk through Matthew Chapter 13 just a little bit I was praying seeking the Lord on Wednesday what I would share with you for these three services that I'm allotted and as I was in the service Wednesday evening the the worship service I felt the Lord begin to deal with me about the kingdom of God and and this idea of the kingdom and then brother Morgan got up and taught about the kingdom yesterday and what an incredible incredible revelatory word that was about the kingdom of God and so continuing in that same vein today Matthew 6 this commonly called The Lord's Prayer he said after this manner therefore pray ye Our Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom everybody say his kingdom thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven and then skipping down to verse 13 the prayer is concluded in the second part of that verse 13 says for thine is the kingdom would you read this last phrase with me for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen if you're thankful that it's his kingdom and not yours and not mine would you lift your hands and your voice and would you give him praise for that right now Hallelujah Lord I Thank you for the Revelation and the truth of your kingdom speak to us today from your word help us change our mind and our Concepts and help us be what you want us to be in Jesus name and everybody shout amen I want to call this Kingdom Concepts I want to just talk to you about some Kingdom Concepts today and you can be seated in Jesus name it's not often that I get an opportunity to teach in a day session like this and so I am I'm so delighted to be a part of this Friday session when we speak of the kingdom of God we're most typically referring to his present Kingdom in this earth we know there's a future Kingdom we know there's a kingdom of in heaven and we're going to get there by either death or if you're lucky enough translation like Enoch or Moses or Elijah probably not many if any of us will be translated so we're only going to get to that Kingdom by by death and so when we speak of the kingdom of God we are typically speaking of his kingdom being established on this Earth thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is already established in heaven the job of the church it's the job of every believer in the church to help establish the kingdom of God in this Earth as it is in heaven so what is the kingdom of God hopefully there's some note takers here in a day session at least if you're taking notes the kingdom of God very simply is God's work in the earth through the agency of human submission and human activity it's God's work in the earth through the agency of human submission and activity so when we speak of the kingdom of God not just corporately but when we speak of the kingdom of God in our individual lives we're speaking of the visible demonstration of the the comprehensive the total rule of God over every area of our life now I don't know about you but I know of some folks that they allow the Lord to rule over particular areas of their life but they Remain the ruler over other areas of your life can I tell you he's either Lord of all or he's not Lord at all I said he's either Lord of all or he's not Lord at all he doesn't want to part or a piece of you but he wants all of you so the kingdom of God it's the in my life it's the visible rule uh the visible demonstration of the comprehensive total rule of God over every area of our life now we're instructed in this Lord's prayer to pray thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven or somebody say in my life in my life as it is in heaven so we read a little further in the Book of Matthew and in understanding the kingdom Jesus gives us these Kingdom parables in Matthew chapter 13. if you've never taken time to study Matthew Chapter 13 it's an incredible study and I've been diving into it uh the last couple of days since uh since the Lord put this in my heart on Wednesday night for this this service I did share something similar to this back in 2017 in in Vienna Austria but as we talk about the kingdom of God we're we're talking about these these principles that every believer should be applying to their lives and these principles we find in Matthew chapter 13. now again for the note takers there's seven parables in Matthew Chapter 13 that we're going to call Kingdom Parables seven Parables now these Parables they they could have all been spoken in one setting and they could have been spoken in different settings and Matthew grouped them all together uh we know of course the gospels were written after these events had occurred and so uh as we look at these Parables we we see immediately that the first Parable in Matthew Chapter 13 doesn't begin exactly like the other six begin but it certainly follows the same genre and then as we get to the second Parable this pattern opens up as Jesus is trying to help us understand and comprehend the kingdom and the pattern that we see in these Parables is he opens by saying the Kingdom of Heaven is like the kingdom of God is like and then he begins to tell us the parable or or the story now uh you may wonder why didn't Jesus just tell us one story why didn't Matthew just record one story story to illustrate the the kingdom of God why didn't he just illustrate in in one comprehensive story I would submit to you that the kingdom of God is such a big idea it's so the kingdom of God is so diverse in nature the nature the kingdom of God is absolutely unique in all of the universe and it requires multiple perspectives to really even begin to comprehend what the kingdom of God is is all about now I personally believe that these were not all spoken in one setting but Matthew lumped them together as Kingdom Parables I I believe and and what many scholars also believe is that Jesus told these Parables at different times to have different audiences so uh perhaps when he told the parable of the Dragnet of fish he could have been talking to a group of fishermen or perhaps when he told uh the parable of the wheat and then heirs he could have been attacked talking to a a group of farmers or an agricultural area at that time so we understand that the kingdom of God is such a diverse and unique concept to this world that it we it's multi-dimensional it's complex that we've really got to investigate we've really got to dig a little bit and study to understand what the kingdom is all about so for the note takers the seven Parables listed in Matthew 13 very quickly are the sower and the soil we find this in verse three and and this one of course doesn't follow the same pattern as the others he he just tells this story whereas the others he begins the Kingdom of Heaven is like and it says in verse 3 behold A sower went out to so now this Parable is unique because not only does it give the parable but he gives us the explanation and the precise interpretation of this Parable as we'll look at in just a minute uh he's explains the parable in verse 18. now this is commonly called the parable of the sower but I would submit to you that this is probably more accurately could be called the parable of the soil or the parable of soils because it's really about the different types of soil there's nothing wrong with the sower in the parable and there's nothing wrong with the seed in the parable but the difference is the ground or the soil that the seed falls into the second Parable is the wheat and the tares we read in verse 24 the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in a field and while he slept something transpired the third Parable is the parable of the Mustard Seed we read this in verse 31 and verses 32 the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed we read in verse 33 the parable of the leaven and the bread the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven which a woman took in the hid in the meal the four or the fifth Parable in verse 44 is the parable of the hidden treasure again he said the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field and then the sixth Parable with the pearl of great price in verse 45 the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant of beautiful pearls and the last is the Dragnet full of fish in verse 47-50 again the Kingdom of Heaven is like a Dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind so let's talk about some Kingdom principles let's just Meander through this chapter and and extract some Kingdom principles that we can derive from Jesus's teaching if you're to have the kingdom of God come to pass in your life if you're to have the kingdom of God come to pass in your family if you're to have the kingdom of God come to pass in your church if you're to have the kingdom of God come to pass in your city and in your calling and in your ministry we must understand the first principle of these Kingdom Parables is that Kingdom results are always tied to human initiative watch this human effort human responsibility human initiative God works through the agency of human submission and activity I can prove it to you I know God wanted to move in this place last night but if none of us would have showed up now there were Miracles here last night a couple of you testified to me of them and there were others and I'm sure didn't testify or let us know there were miracles in this place last night but if you wouldn't have showed up would there have been miracles if nobody would have come if the word wouldn't have gone forth it's really simple concept to understand thy kingdom come thy will be done it is really praying God I give you permission to use me to achieve your purpose in this earth I give you permission to utilize me that's why we have these missionaries up here that we have that's why we're offering them support not just with our prayer but with our finances do we believe God wants to save Japan and Spain and Haiti yes we do but we're not just sitting in our living room sipping lemonade saying God save Japan save Spain and save Haiti we believe there's got to be some human initiative involved there's got to be some human responsibility involved so when we pray God kingdom come thy will be done we're saying God I'm willing to get involved in the process Kingdom results are tied to human initiative human submission to God and human effort what you see that in every Parable A sower sows seed he gets seed not an easy task he finds seed how do you even get see I'm not a farmer I know there's probably some here but it's it's not now I'm not talking about going to the store and getting seed because they didn't have a local farm and fleet store that they could go to and and buy seed from so how do they get seed they've got to have something to begin with if you're going to get some apple seeds you've got to have an apple and you gotta get in there and get them out I guess you got to dry them I don't know what you got to do but there's some effort there's some activity that is involved if you're going to have a harvest it goes back to what I said last night you've got to start with what's in your hand the sower goes out and he finds some seed and he sows some seed the man plants a mustard seed I like the contrast between these two Parables because the sower broadcast sows seed the The Mustard Seed it's a particular seed planted in a particular fashion with a particular effort that is achieved and God honors both types of effort a woman she baked some bread and she put some yeast in the bread there's intention there's effort there's activity uh she puts the yeast in the bread and the yeast begins to take over and affect the whole that's really the power of the word in the kingdom of God you can put a little bit of word into a whole messed up life and if you can just get a little bit of word in that life that word that he starts overtaking starts affecting every area of that human existence it's a picture of the Kingdom the man sells all and he buys this this field he sees something worth giving his life for and he forsakes everything and he goes through the process of selling everything now how many have ever had a garage sale before a yard sale before anybody you ever sold anything on Facebook Marketplace we sold a few things there my wife she's here somewhere she's uh sometimes I feel like we're better at buying things off of Facebook Marketplace than selling things feel the Holy Ghost on that but there's some effort there's some intentionality involved this this man sells everything he has he goes through the work and process of of selling everything and then goes to the work and process of buying a field a man uh sells all and buys a pearl a fisherman casts a net so I've got a question for you if you don't believe the the kingdom of God is tied to human submission and activity in all seven of these Parables what happens if the person in the parable chooses to do nothing what if the farmer doesn't so see what if the man doesn't sell his goods and buy the field what if the fisherman doesn't cast The Net I'll tell you if they don't do anything they get nothing if they do nothing they get nothing nothing happens if the man doesn't plant The Mustard Seed the tree never grows if the man doesn't scatter the seed then the Harvest never comes if she doesn't bake the bread the the yeast can never be put in the dough nothing happens what are you saying I'm saying that the kingdom is the most powerful Concept in the Earth but it lies under the radar until somebody does something until you and I take action and our action activates the power of the Kingdom it's your action it's my action it's our submission to the word of God and the principles of scripture that activate the kingdom of God the kingdom is there it's available it's accessible to whosoever will but Hollywood's not tapping into it North Korea Government is not tapping into it dear God our government's not tapping into it it's there it's under the radar but it's waiting for somebody it's without men or women rising up and doing the work of God the kingdom does not come to pass brothers and sisters that's why camp meeting is so important that's why your church service is on Sunday and Wednesday or whenever your midweek is is so important that's why your involvement in your Sunday school or your Nursery or your media Ministry or your worship team that's why your involvement is so important that's why what we do and strive for excellence in all we do it's so vital it's so important because God chooses to work through the agency of human activity and if God's Gonna Save Your City he wants to use you in the process if God's Gonna Save your family he wants to use it you in the process if there's going to be a harvest there's got to be a seed sower if there's going to be a catch of fish there's got to be a net thrower I'm I'm teaching this morning that we have the responsibility as the people of God we have the responsibility as the man who sells all and buys the field we have the responsibility to submit Our Lives wholly to the kingdom thank you the kingdom of God works to the agency of human activity and submission now the second principle we find and for the note takers there's seven but do not be dismayed because I may take a little longer on some than others okay so if you're counting the clock if you're watching my time now Bishop ellingsworth told me I had as much time as I wanted but if you're watching the time don't think my goodness he took 25 minutes on one principle and if there's seven and a closing and some rabbit trails that every preacher gets on dear God we're in trouble don't worry don't worry okay I'm watching the time the second principle that I understand from these Kingdom Parables the second concept that we get from these is that the kingdom operates by laws of cause and effect and these laws are orchestrated by God himself you and I don't get to determine these laws what that means is you don't just get to do whatever you want and have the kingdom of God come to pass in your life you don't just get to live any way you want and have the kingdom of God come to pass in your life you don't get to just do Church any way you want and have the kingdom of God visit Revival upon your city well I might hit some speed bumps here there's laws that govern Harvest there's laws that govern how the yeast works in the dough there's there's process there's a there's God orchestrated systems there's laws of nature that he created now it's his kingdom there's some Kingdom protocols that go with his kingdom if you don't like it go start your own kingdom you go be the king of your own castle and let me know how that works out for you there's a lot that have tried I'm not interested in the Levine Kingdom I'm in the Quad Cities trying to establish his kingdom his kingdom in the Quad Cities as it is in heaven let it be in the Quad Cities Illinois and Iowa as it is in heaven let it be in my family my neighborhood my city not interested in My Kingdom but I have to understand that there's some laws of cause and effect that if I'm going to get Kingdom results I've got to live by Kingdom Concepts well let me say it like this that's why somebody can go to church for a really long time but never really experience the Kingdom blessings of growth and harvest in their life well because there's some guidelines there's some principles there's some Concepts that you've got to follow if you're going to have the kingdom of God established in your life that's what that's why some people can be in church for 40 years but still be a first-year believer well that's why some people can be in church for a while but have the maturity of a first month believer well let's get a little more feisty that's why we can have good church for a long time but never grow because there's laws of cause and effect that govern the kingdom and and God himself establishes these laws in other words you do this and then his Spirit responds I I behave in this manner I operate there's laws that govern everything we do now we can apply these principles in various ways I don't care if you have southern gospel music in your church black gospel music in your church a contemporary Christian music in your church but what I care is that we're worshiping the King of Kings and the Lord of lords and if you're not um I'm talking about Kingdom Concepts that that govern Kingdom Harvest and so if you want God to move in your worship service I thank God we've got I thank God back in the Quad Cities we're blessed better than we deserve we've got incredible worship team and band and singers and all that kind of stuff but that's all great that's all good uh they practice and they they study and they hone their craft and there's nothing wrong with that God honors all of those efforts but if all we do is get up and try to entertain people if all we do is try to move people with key changes and voice inflections and the speed and the tempo of the song or the beat of a drum or a bass guitar we are trying to manipulate a Heavenly Kingdom with Earthly manipulation that doesn't work brothers and sisters but if we'll enter into his gates with Thanksgiving into his courts with praise if we'll walk in thankful unto him and bless his name if we obey the our worship set in as much prayer as we do practice then God says that's a concept that I can honor and he'll pour out his spirit I thank God for our our teams and our practice and I'm not taking any shots I I we got a great worship team at home but I tell them we better be praying like we're practicing I thank God you're practicing but we better be praying like we're programming and practicing if we want God because it's not our practice alone that's going to loose the meth head that walks in on Sunday morning it's not our practice alone that's going to heal the broken marriage that walks in on Sunday morning but if there's my my mind if there's some singers and there's some band and some worship leaders and some Sunday school teachers it's not just reading through your lesson that you got from headquarters that's going to change that Sunday school kid's life you know what changed my life you know what changed my life at seven years old when all hell was breaking loose in my family I remember walking into the church early on a Sunday morning and hearing my sweet old Sunday school teacher Barbara Harrington pacing the floor talking in tongues at nine a.m an hour before church and she was calling my name in between the tongues she was praying over my name in between the tongues that's what changes a heart of a little life that's what changes somebody's Destiny I thank God for the study and the lesson plans and all of that but if we want King his kingdom to come his will to be done we've got to activate some Kingdom laws in our life we want to see Kingdom Harvest we got to preach the word of the Kingdom if we want to see Kingdom Harvest we've got to declare the kingdom word without fear or favor and I'm not talking about being ignorant or rude or using a bully pulpit to get something off of our chest I'm not talking about that and I don't believe that is of god but we better without fear be able to stand and declare the divinely inspired word of God no matter what culture is trying to scare us with I talked two years ago I taught a an 11 week or it might have been a 13-week series I don't remember unholiness and a comprehensive series on on Holiness and biblical Holiness and practical Holiness and as I dealt with one service I was dealing with uh gender distinction and of all services it's a Wednesday night nobody knew but our our media our production team because I had sent them uh my notes and scriptures and uh my Administrative Assistant who had created the hand the handout the lesson handout but other than that nobody knew it wasn't advertised nobody knew what I was teaching on that night but as I get up to teach on gender distinction and address all this lgbtq ABCDEFG stuff that's going on in our world uh on the front row this straggly looking gal walks in uh kind of a I wasn't sure at first if it was a gal I'll just say that but it was she walks in sits on the front row and just defiant in her spirit hands folded as I start teaching and I thought oh well I know what's going on here I know what's going on here it's not by chance that she's here and I start teaching and I'd love to tell you a testimony that man the Holy Ghost got all over her and she repented God filled let me tell you when I got really into the meat of what I was teaching you know what she did she grabbed her cell phone and she starts videoing from from me to brother ellingsworth right there just starts videoing now I know what's happening I know that's fixing to be all over social media in the Quad Cities and it was it was she recorded what I said she spliced Clips together and she put it all over in fact turns out she was one of the leading LGBT activists in the in the Quad City area and she just happened to show up that night and and spliced together what I said now thankfully it didn't really go anywhere but I was prepared I prayed and made some State and wrote some statements if uh if the media called whatever we were prepared for that and thankfully that never happened but brothers and sisters we better be ready to give an answer uh and we can't operate in fear we can't declare the word of God in fear we we can't be ugly about it we can't be hateful about it but we better know what we believe and we better preach what we need to preach we better teach what we need to teach and declare what we need to declare the enemy cannot stop us he can only try to discourage and intimidate us but if we want the kingdom laws of harvest to come into effect we've got to be willing to stand up and declare what the saith the Lord I am persuaded that neither height nor death I am persuaded I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation there's laws of cause and effect that's why you can't you can't demand that God bless your life if you're not a giver you can't expect God to bless you financially if you're not a giver well I I you can't expect God to bless your finances and I'm not talking about just the minimum giving your tithe tithe is an act of faith and obedience that's just that's the bare minimum that's tithing is I wasn't planning to say this but I just feel it now I'm going to help some Saint here today tithing is the training wheels of giving if you've lived for God longer than uh than 12 months you need to get off the training wheels and start riding the bike tithing is the training wheels of giving tithing is an act of faith and obedience but offering is an act of faith and love because the truest expression of Love is giving for God so loved the world that he gave if you want God to bless your finances uh you need to pray God gives you a spirit of generous giving that God makes you a generous lavish Giver well there's a few ways to shut down a Friday morning service that's one of them start talking about tithing and giving you got to be a giver God's Not Just Gonna he's not bound to bless you just because you dress right and show up in church he's not bound to bless you there's laws of harvest there's laws of cause and effect there's laws of stewardship you can't just use your time talent and treasure any old way you want and expect God to bless them and multiply them and grow them but let me challenge you if you're a faithful tither if you're a faithful offering Giver if you're Faithfully sacrificing for Missions above and beyond all of those things let me tell you God can't help but bless you he says just try me and see if I won't open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that you don't even have the room to receive and I won't stop there but I'll rebuke that Old Slew Foot Devourer so that he cannot take what I have given you Kingdom Concepts cause and effect I gotta hurry there's the third concept we see from these parables is it the kingdom has enemies imagine that well he yet slept someone sowed tears among the wheat they didn't find out later until the seeds of the weeds begin to germinate now that's how it is in church life sometimes unfortunately sometimes the pastor doesn't find out about it until it's a full-blown weed well and I know they're legalizing it but we don't want weeds in the church we don't want weed or weeds in the church I better stop I'm going to get in trouble now I will say I do enjoy walking around on Sunday morning shaking hands and this one smells like Budweiser and this one smells like weed and this one smells like cigarettes because I know if they stay in there long enough there's about to be a harvest there's about to be an increase but but these tears were these weed seeds were were sown and and they didn't find out let me just let me just say this let me help if you're if you're a church member if you're a lay leader a Sunday school teacher a Ministry leader in a church let me help I I tell our leaders I teach our leaders every leader in the church not just the pastor every leader in the church you're carrying around two invisible buckets at any given time you got two invisible buckets when you're walking around the church ones filled with gasoline and the other ones filled with water and I tell our leaders you're going to come up on some little brush fires before I do people are going to talk to you before they talk to me they're going to complain to you before they complain to me they're going to bring it to you before they bring it to the pastor or the pastor's wife and as a leader you you are not allowed to hear it and not use one of your buckets so you choose which one you're going to use God forbid that we have any leaders using the gasoline when they come up on a little smoldering sister that says I didn't really like how they did that yeah I know that was kind of different wasn't it no no no no no no no no no you better watch yourself the Lord sees the bastard may not see but the Lord keeps good notes but you better use that bucket of water when you see that weed seed begin to germinate when you see that little smolder let me just help some Churches and some church members right now I tell our leaders use the water when you see a little smolder in something you put it out stop it that's how the enemy wants to work division in the church empty that bucket of water pour it out stop it let your neighbor say stop it all right that wasn't in my notes but just a bonus for somebody Matthew 13 this enemies of the Kingdom he said an enemy has done this in verse 28 do you want us to go and gather them up meaning the weeds or the tares but he said no lest you gather them the tares and you uproot the wheat with the tares and then verse 30 let both grow together until Harvest now I'm just going to be honest I don't like that I want to deal with the weeds sometimes I want to get rid of the weeds sometimes but the Lord said let them both grow together until Harvest now there's some powerful stuff in here first thing to note is the enemy didn't come in and try to burn the whole field down the enemy in your city is way too subversive and smart for that he doesn't come and burn the whole field down he just sneaks in looking like everybody else and starts sowing some different seeds in your church well he sneaks in under the guise of entertainment in your home and start sowing some different seeds in the lives and the minds of your children well we better be careful parents what we allow in our home I said we better be careful what we allow in front of our kids eyes and in front of our kids ears and in the name of media or entertainment you better be careful the seeds that are being sown in your children's mind and so the farmer says the farm hand says should we rip out the tears should we rip out the weeds and the answer is no because you're going to damage the wheat what that tells me is that the kingdom of God is powerful enough to grow up and grow strong right in the middle of the kingdoms of this world the kingdom of God is Not intimidated we heard it yesterday morning because that stone is one day going to roll down and fill the Earth and Crush all of the kingdoms of this world the kingdom of God is Not intimidated by the weeds and the tares that are growing in this world it's going to be dealt with at Harvest Time brothers and sisters there's a trumpet that's going to sound there's a harvest Day that's coming there's a judgment day there's a reckoning Day that's coming it's all going to be sorted out let me tell you one reason why I can't let my flesh cause me to deal with the weeds and the tares prematurely because if that weed stays in the house long enough and keeps hearing the word and keeps under the failing a feeling the spirit of God that weed something miraculous can transform this cannot happen in your natural garden this is where the analogy breaks down because you because your hands on me and I guess God could but I've never seen it happen you can't I think I think it would be a feudal prayer to go dandelions in your front yard and say become grass in Jesus name but let me tell you we got some tears and some weeds in the church that if we'll just keep praying and keep loving and keep preaching and keep worshiping uh that's the power of redemption that God can take something that is broken and bring healing now God as we heard can bring new life can bring regeneration can give New Beginnings to some weed that's sitting in your church service on Sunday morning it's not our job and let me tell you it's not our job to weed them all out let me tell you true grass isn't intimidated by the weeds Bring It On Church anyway let's go we have the we are the CEO of the largest bank in our area happens to be the bank that our church banks with and uh pop in and and man and we've had other dignitaries as ever church here has had pop in here and there let me tell you what we're not going to do we're not going to water down our worship that Sunday I'm not going to preach some little vanilla latte sermon that Sunday no no no the the grass isn't intimidated by the weeds we're not carrying down to the weeds our job isn't our job is just to preach the word just keep going and keep growing I had a weed problem in my lawn and I I called somebody to help me I said look at my grass tell me what I'm doing wrong and a couple of things he told me stuck with me he said first off he said you're cutting your grass Too Short you're not giving your grass time to grow and get get healthy you're you're mowing it down uh too short so he said set your mower a little higher and here's what and I was treating the weeds I was spraying my grass for weeds he said stop using that that that that stuff's really it it it says it doesn't kill your grass but it's really not ultimately healthy for your grass here's what he said he said the best thing you can do to deal with the weeds is not focus on the weeds focus on the grass the best thing you can do to weed out the weeds is just get the grass as healthy and as growing and as Lush as you can and he said the grass will choke out the weeds I thought I might preach about that just a little bit come on it's easy to walk in sometimes and focus on the weeds it's easy to walk into your Sunday's new class or church on Sunday and focus on the knot head over here and the dingbat over there don't worry about the weeds God give us healthy grass God give us some growth give us some Harvest give us some hungry worshipers that believe and increase focus on the grass the grass will deal with my my dear friend and and one of the voices in my life brother Daryl Johns he teaches a lesson about the lost sheep syndrome and he said if we're not careful as church leaders we'll there's always going to be one lost sheep and we'll get so focused on the one lost sheep that we neglect the 99 that God has blessed us with that are still in the folder I'm not telling you not to reach for the Lost Sheba I'm just telling you we can't dial in dead focus on the Lost Sheba because you'll get discouraged you'll get down you'll start feeling like nobody's living holy you'll start feeling like everybody's gossiping you'll start feeling like nobody's forgiven you'll start feeling like nobody's supporting you but if you'll just say God I'm focusing on the grass I'm gonna I'm gonna believe I'm gonna pray I'm gonna fast I'm gonna lead to be where in your life because in in your life the enemy would love to dilute the kingdom of God with some tears in our church I'm not talking about tares t-e-r-r-o I'm not talking about little kids running around which let me just say this I I believe in respect in the house of God absolutely but our church is not to be some sanitary Sanctified Place With No hiccups and bumps and we got kids in our church and we want our kids to be kids and anytime some Mama comes and apologizes I know there's the occasional case where there really is a Hellion in the family and mama don't have the guts or the brains to deal with it I'm not talking about that have a side conversation but it doesn't bother me if a kid hollers out in church or a kid takes off running we had a kid almost make it to the platform one day while I was preaching he was not coming to the altar call he's just sick and tired of sitting still and started running and he got away from his grandma and you know what I'm not going to chastise those kids or those parents I want these kids to be comfortable coming into church I so I'm not talking about that kind of Tears I'm I'm talking about wheat seeds that the enemy so you got to be careful about seeds a false doctrine that the enemy would try to sow in our church we got to be careful what we give our faith to we got to be careful taking just everything we read and everything we listen to why because the enemy would love to pollute our family's fields and our Church's Fields with weeds of a powerless form of religion of a lifeless form of religion of a doctrineless form of religion but the devil is a liar hero Israel the Lord our God is one Lord neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved you must be born again anybody still believe that with me in the Tennessee district today you must be born again we're not going to give in to the weed seeds of the enemy we're going to keep preaching Doctrine Doctrine matters there's enemies of the Kingdom there I I got to move on the fourth Kingdom concept that we see is that not everyone receives the kingdom I wish I could tell you if you just do it right pray fast worship then everybody's going to receive the kingdom but if you've been around longer in five minutes you know that's not true the sower sows seeds in four types of soil the Wayside the Stony places the thorny places and the good ground there is a clear succession here in this Parable in scripture of levels of productivity depending on the ground that the soil is put into can I just say again the seed is good seed there is nothing wrong with the seed the seed is good seed the seed is powerful well let me say it like this if the church isn't working out well for you the church probably isn't the problem well if you didn't get anything out of your pastor's message on Sunday his message was probably not the problem I understand I know I'm going to make enemies in Tennessee bound to do it the seed works if it finds the right soil well so if the church isn't working for you if you didn't get out of it much out of last Sunday or last Wednesday you got to examine the soil of your heart before you go into this Sunday service you got to examine if you didn't get anything out of the last two camp meeting nights then before you come back tonight spend some time this afternoon examining the soil of your heart the the Wayside is where it gets pushed to the side trampled it's it's compacted ground on the Wayside and it can't get root it gets devoured it it gets snatched away the Stony ground that that's the ground that has no depth that where heat destroys the seed and heat kills the seed we walk through some some seasons in life where we feel some heat we walk through some trials in life where we feel some heat there's the thorny ground and the thorny ground is is where it's it's in a it's in a place where it's in competition for the nutrients of the soil there were competing interests for the dirt if the seed isn't producing what it needs to in your life make sure you're not providing competition for the seed make sure you're not providing a worldly competition for the seed of God's Kingdom in your life my you know there's lots of things to compete for the soil of your life that's what we are Bishop Morgan said it we're all just dirt we're all just sanctified piles of dirt look at your neighbor say you dirty thing we're all just dirt I mean I know you clean up good but you're just dirt and there are things in life that compete for your dirt there are things in life that compete for your time talent and treasure I thank God for hobbies I we try to work hard and play hard we you know rest when we can't all that stuff but you got to make sure there's not things competing for the dirt parents hear me you better make sure you don't put competitors in the life of your children well now um well can I just preach what I feel right now I mean it's Friday you only have one more go at this tonight so if you don't like it I mean it's okay I you know my boys love sports and they're athletic they're good at what they put their hand to but I remember when I asked one of my boys when they were doing good and younger in sports and they were ate up with it and I asked him what do you love Do You Love Church Jesus more than football and the minute there was a pause I knew and I'm not talking you know I know everybody has different feelings on this stuff I'm not preaching for or against Sports you leave that to your pastor okay he's very young at the time just get involved in some little stuff here and there in the community but when there was a long pause I knew that I had created a problem and suddenly you don't like that and I don't even care he didn't do that I did that I realized that I had put a competitor in his life that I had allowed something to come in competition with the kingdom you better be careful my friend Aaron Soto said it a couple of weeks ago he said you can have many passions but only one Obsession you better make sure parents that you're not allowing competitors into the life of your well and when you got families in your church we got them in our church you got them in your church and they're missing weeks of worship for ball practice and ball games and competitions and things like that Houston we have a problem there's an issue there's a problem we better re-examine our priorities because the word there's nothing wrong with the word but you're creating thorny soil in the hearts of your children where the word that's preached to them is going to have to compete for everything else that we have put in their life I want there to be good ground I want the seed to fall on good ground I will proceed to fall on good soil that's cultivated and prepared and there's no competition it's tender it's soft soil where the seed can find root hear me to every teacher every preacher every Sunday school teacher ever disciple maker don't be discouraged when the seed doesn't germinate don't be discouraged when the seed doesn't come to pass it doesn't grow right away your job is not to produce the harvest my job your job is just to keep a sowing seeds keep sowing see I know we got some Farmers here today the farmer cannot control the Harvest all the farmer can do is do everything in his power to create the right environment and put the right seed in the right environment and pray that there's a harvest and I promise you the lord of the Harvest will give the increase now I started this by saying that God works through the agency of human effort and activity so I'm not teaching but I'm not teaching a lack of personal responsibility we ought to work hard we ought to pray hard we ought to we ought to refine our efforts Farmers go to Great Lengths to make sure they go through great expense and training and testing and education and new fertilizers and new methods and new techniques all because he wants the highest germination rate possible from the seed he sows but watch this according to Penn State University extension program performing studies the federal standard for minimum seed germination rate by it varies by seeds types some are higher than others collard greens have a seed germination rate of about 80 percent I read cucumbers Peas I like those a germination rate of about 80 percent carrots have a germination rate of about 55 percent carrot seeds now I'm okay with that because I don't really like carrots I like colored so I'm glad they're higher what does that mean it means that even with highly modified refined farming efforts and seeds a farmer doesn't expect every seed to produce a harvest so let me encourage somebody's heart today not every message not every lesson not every Bible study you teach not every handout that you give or invite to church is going to produce a harvest but don't be discouraged just keep sowing seed just keep sowing seed just keep worshiping keep praying keep inviting keep teaching Bible study keep disciple making keep giving keep evaluating our our efforts there's nothing big we do in our church that we don't sit back and evaluate and and say how can we do it better next time keep evaluating your efforts keep evaluating what you're doing now but just keep sowing a seed keep sowing indiscriminately whether you're broadcast sewing or you're like sowing like the The Mustard Seed keep sowing oh and Seed keep sowing seed the kingdom Parables and I'm hurrying teach us fifth that some efforts are more productive than others there's various types of ground that come into play we already talked about that there's a mixed Dragnet of fish we read that in the parable there's some good fish and some bad fish what do you do you don't quit fishing because some bad fish come in you just keep fishing you just keep fishing you just keep casting then that try this effort it doesn't work so you try another effort we tried a mass mailings uh we we tried social media promotion two Easters ago we did Mass mailings this last Easter we did personal invitations and and you just keep sowing seed and I show up to the 9 A.M or 9 A.M Easter Service and I'm uh you're wondering Pastor you know we've we've prayed we've worked we've done all this we put all this money and effort and time into it how many is going to show up and and and man thank God the Lord honored our efforts and the house was packed and then we show up to the 11 o'clock service and I'm thinking man okay did everybody come to the first service and it's going to be 40 of us in the second service but the second service was packed two God honors your efforts but there's other things we've done that haven't produced that same Harvest just keep trying some efforts are more productive than others don't get stuck in a rut teach Bible studies I teach Bible studies do Mass mailers invite somebody individually talk to people witness to people do whatever you can but just keep sowing seed I gotta hurry the sixth Kingdom concept I want to share with you this is so powerful is that when our human efforts and our human submission find fertile ground our efforts are multiplied by the great farmer by the King of Kings and the king of the Kingdom you don't plant a seed expect them to get a seed in return no you don't if if that's what you expect you might as well just eat the seed and die a farmer doesn't plant a seed expect them to get a seed he plants a seed expecting that it's going to produce hundreds more like it that a productive seed is going to yield 100 more or 60 more or or 30 more what does that teach me that when my kingdom efforts I find the right soil and my kingdom efforts are submitted to the king of the Kingdom that God knows how to multiply your efforts God knows how to pour it back into you press down shaken together and running over when your efforts find his kingdom God knows how to multiply your efforts in your city I'm teaching this morning that little really is much when God is in it you look at your city I look at our our city the Quad Cities the greater Quad City region there's over 400 000 people in that region and there's only two Apostolic churches currently in that region a third one that's just planting and I think my God even though we've got a good church I think how in the world are we going to reach this region we cannot do it in human effort alone I said the kingdom Works through human effort and submission but it's not established only by human effort and submission because when my effort and my submission is blessed by the king of the Kingdom our efforts are multiplied our efforts are multiplied in our cities in our families in our churches and in our communities would you lift your hands to the Lord right now I'm not quite done yet but I feel the Holy Ghost here would you just lift up your hands and your voice all across this room and somebody say God will multiply my efforts God let there be a miracle of multiplication in every city in every Church in every family that's represented in this place Hallelujah God multiply the efforts of the good Believers in the Tennessee district God multiply our efforts you look at their mustard seed The Mustard Seed it starts out as the smallest common seed in the farmer's sack and I've heard people say that well that represents small Faith No I don't believe it does because repeatedly Jesus rebuked small faith so the parable of the mustard seed is not glorifying small faith I'm sorry to ruin that Parable for somebody Jesus repeatedly rebuked small Faith five times in the gospels he said O ye of little faith he's not he's not glorifying little faith the principle of the mustard seed is get this that in the kingdom of God what starts off small and insignificant if placed in the right Church in the right environment in the right conditions it can begin to flourish and grow and that little Mustard Seed doesn't say little very long pretty soon it becomes a picture of ministry it's a tree where the birds are finding refuge and safety and the birds are nesting that's what can happen in the Kingdom God can take a little old insignificant me or a little old insignificant you my my God can take little old insignificant me my mother wasn't in church when she had me I don't have time to tell even much of a part of my testimony but my mother wasn't in church when she had me she was homeless I was the product of a rape I was almost aborted she hitchhiked halfway across the country with a two-week-old baby I never knew who my biological dad was until I was a few years ago when I turned 40 years old I never had known even my biological dad's name found him out by accident found them out in a DNA test by accident that I had a living biological father had a stepdad family was a mess family was chaotic divorce in the home ended up getting kicked out of the house at 14 years old for going to church was not voted most likely to preach Tennessee camp meeting Woodward I know Graham I know Morgan I know but who are you I was not voted most likely to succeed you're you're not looking at somebody who just came into this on a path of ease and if that's your testimony I bless God and I Rejoice for you and I and I pray my children will not have to have the fight that I had but but I didn't come into this with a silver spoon in my mouth in fact I had a preacher one time one touch or look at me when I was 15 years old and tell me my family had all backslid they were all messed up I mean real messed up at the time and I love my family dearly but those years they were they were messed up I mean my family put the the funk in dysfunction foreign I had a preacher look at me and tell me a preacher did I say it was a preacher you got he looked at me and told me at 15 years old I you're a mess he said I give you six months and you're going to be backslidden like your family appreciate that positive word of encouragement brother Hallelujah you can speak words of life or death now he must have been battling something going through and something maybe I understand now just took it out on a 15 year old ignorant little boy that didn't have two nickels to rub together but but hear me when I tell you the principle of the kingdom is that when it's put that little insignificant seed when it's put in the right place can grow and flourish and I've got news decades later I'm still here and I ain't planning to go anywhere because the seed when put in the right soil can become a picture of a Ministry and that's what God can do in your life and that's what God can do in your ministry and that's what God can do in your city you say I don't have what that church has I don't have what that city has I don't have what that preacher has I don't have what that Ministry has I quit looking about what you don't have and look at what you do have what's in your hand Moses I know it may not be much but if you'll put it into the kingdom of God God will bless it God will multiply it God will bring a harvest out of the little Mustard Seed of insignificance in your life somebody lift your hand to the Lord right now come on across this room and lift your hands to the Lord in the name of Jesus right now holy ghost yeah Hallelujah your life doesn't have to be perfect thank God your church doesn't have to be perfect thank God your family doesn't have to be perfect but if you can just get a little bit of the yeast of the Kingdom into the lump of dough if I could just get a little bit pinch of yeast of the Kingdom into my city into our church into my family pretty soon that yeast begins to affect everything that it touches God let us live Kingdom lives like that where we begin to impact everything and everybody that we come in contact with and a little bit of yeast infects an entire lump of dough you know what my prayer is today you know what I feel in the Holy Ghost I pray that the kingdom of God established in your life and in your church has a viral impact in your city in the last five months of 2023 I pray that the kingdom of God and I speak it in Jesus name May the kingdom of God have a viral impact in your city and in your community in this year oh holy ghost right now come on lift up your hands if you want it it's in this place lift up your hands if that's what you want I'm talking about a viral impact yeah yeah yeah I'm talking about something that catches on and spreads something that goes like wildfire something that begins to take over my my my my Holy Ghost help us I I I'm closing I'm going to share the story tonight but a man came to our church Sunday he showed up sits in the back found us on Instagram started looking at us on Instagram around he didn't scratch that he didn't find us on Instagram he started going through our Instagram feed and watching clips and videos he said I wanted to make sure you were the church that I remembered you see he had come a few years ago when he was going to a Bible College that's in our community it's called a Bible missionary Bible College I'm not sure if any of you if they have any of those in Tennessee Bible missionaries and and they're a unique group kind of keep to themselves and very some unique doctrines they do believe in in standards of separation and Holiness but they have some very unique belief systems he said I was hungry for more and so I snuck over to your church on a Sunday a few years ago when I was in Bible College he said I would have got kicked out of school if they would have found out that I was there but I left before the altar I left before I could pray but I've never forgot he said and so I left the Bible College and I've been studying studying not knowing where to go he said I've been studying so much and he's and he's kind of an awkward fella you know I'm not trying to be ugly but he's kind of awkward fellow and you know he's talking to me and he says honestly the Catholic Church probably fits more with my personality but he said I don't find infant baptism in scripture or sprinkling and I'm not sure about the whole Trinity thing either so I couldn't really go to the Catholic Church and that's you know Catholics are us he said and I've been watching this guy named David on YouTube you know a guy named David Bernard I said yeah I mean I I don't call him David but no one who he is he said I've been he said man he said he pretty much destroys the Trinity yeah he kind of does that yes I got a 12 year old boy that loves watching David Bernard videos he said yeah he said I love it he said uh and so he starts interrogating me about how we baptize he said would you baptize me in the name of the father Son and Holy Ghost if I requested you to I said well I can give you a longer answer but the short answer is no he said okay you passed that test he said he starts asking about this and that and everything else and he's just standing there oh it's not even opening Morgan thing but not there yet there we go he's just yes yes okay would you do baptist he's just real calm real he says so what does an individual have to do to be baptized in this church I said well just repent of your sins and you know be you know believe in God and understand what you're doing I walked him through a couple scriptures he's okay he says well well when could a person be baptized in this church I said bro what baptize any time I mean I prefer you not call me at three in the morning but we'll baptize it anytime he said what about right now I said well let's go we took him up to the water baptized him one of our ministers baptized him he came out of the water just beaming just glowing and and I mean he's just glowing and and they asked me said well how do you feel and in that water he says for the first time in my life I feel truth foreign nobody taught him a Bible study nobody gave him an invite card that I know of but the kingdom started going viral in our city and he's coming my my my last week we had like 26 guests from the same two families that showed up at our church they hadn't talked to anybody nobody had given them an invite card they weren't on our mailing list they're just hungry for more this little girl named Ruby started getting hungry and she remembered a girl who invited her to our church 10 years ago when they were in middle school and she got her family and said let's go check out this church what are you doing I didn't do anything to create that we don't have a program that produced that but I'm telling you that in the kingdom of God our efforts are multiplied and when you sow the seed when you cast The Net when you preach the message when you just be faithful God gives the increase goes viral stand together with me this thing I got to tell you we're going to pray here before we go to lunch last thing I got to tell you is to fully understand the kingdom of God the concept you have to understand that may be the most important is the kingdom of God must be a priority the farmer farming was a way of life the man sells everything to buy the Pearl that means he already had something he was a merchant of pearls he had some means already but he sells everything he sells everything buys the man buys a field the man buys a field ain't got a house to build on the field no possessions to put on the field but just buys a field because the principle of the kingdom is that the kingdom must be a priority if the kingdom is to come to pass in your city in your life in your family hear me it cannot just be one of the things you do it has to be the thing you do it can't just be something we do on Sundays and weekends but it must be the thing we do it's not optional it's not an add-on it's not an addition but the kingdom of God let it be established as the obsession of Our Lives let it be established as the Pinnacle of priorities in our lives the Kingdom of Heaven I I can't get away from it I can't get away from it I'm not going to live my Kingdom Life on Sunday and some other life Tuesday through Thursday but God let your kingdom be established on Monday and on Tuesday and on Wednesday and on Thursday and on Friday on Saturday and let me walk in on Sunday and let your kingdom be even further established in me oh is that your desire this morning lift up your hands in your voice to the Lord all across this room and would you pray that prayer thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven would you pray right now thy kingdom come thy will be done in my family as it is in heaven come on thy kingdom come thy will be done in my city as it is in heaven if you're here this morning and you want the kingdom of God to be established in your life in your ministry in your church in your family in your city I want you to take the hand of somebody near you because we're in this together I want you to step into an aisle or step into an altar if you're physically able and I want you to lift those Hands to Heaven before we go to lunch and I want you to pray your kingdom come your will be done in our lives in our cities in the Tennessee district let your kingdom be established let your kingdom be the stone that crushes every other Kingdom let your kingdom be the snow now that rolls over every other