People and Planting Matthew 13: 24-30

And notice, every bit of this matches the character of the devil. In John chapter eight, Jesus describes the devil to us, calls him a murderer from the beginning. He doesn't stand for the truth because there's no truth in him. It tells a lie. He speaks from his own nature because he is a liar and the father of lies. He's known as the deceiver. And everything he does from coming in the night to planting the fake seed to leaving when nobody sees him is deceptive. Every bit of this is deceptive. [00:52:32] (40 seconds)  #DeceiverExposed

And what I'm telling you today is that Jesus Christ is the good sower, and he is sowing good seed, and he is placing you exactly where he wants you. He is placing you exactly where he wants you. Now, I always gotta feel like there's a caveat. Right? Like, I I don't want you to think because you're in abusive situation that that's right where god wants you. Right? Like like like, what what I am saying to you is is that, man, if you are finding yourself in this weird season of your life or maybe you're finding yourself in a season of your life and you don't know what God is doing or where God is leading, I need you to know God is placing you right where he wants you. And you can take joy in that. [00:47:46] (59 seconds)  #GodPlacesYou

I'm telling you whether you know it or not, God is orchestrating the steps of your life. I'm telling you whether you know it or not, God has given you giftings, affections, knowledge, education, skill sets, passions. He's given you burdens, and he's given all of that to you, experiences that's prepared you for your life. God did all of that without you even knowing it. [00:46:54] (29 seconds)  #GodPreparedYou

And I I need you to understand, the devil does not work explicitly all the time, most of the time. He works in secret. Most of the time, he works in secret. Secret. He plants ideas into your head, he plants desires into your heart, he corrupts your soul, and you have good days and bad days, and sometimes the bad days get more or greater than the good days, and all of a sudden, man, like, you're believing stuff that's just nonsensical because what he's done is he's planted some fake seed. [00:55:02] (51 seconds)  #EnemyWorksInSecret

And the farmer does something that does not make any sense to us. He said, no. Because if you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot uproot the wheat within them. Notice the text in verse 30. Let both grow together until the harvest. And then pay attention to the text. The harvest came, and the wheat was healthy. The the good seed thrived. It grew. It developed. It was still good. It was as if the the weeds, the imitation wheat had no effect on them whatsoever. [00:57:46] (43 seconds)  #WheatThrives

So so an old school preacher would be like, well, you just need to get happy about it and bloom where you're planted. And that's that's careless and callous. Because the hope of Christ is the fact that he's planted me here, and that out of this season, despite what the devil's children and they some ugly kids too, man. Despite what the I'm sorry. Listen. But they are. They are. They they are. But listen, despite how they're growing around me, man, I trust that Jesus and his good work that's happening in me and through me is taking root, taking form, and despite their influence, despite their threats, despite their intertwined, despite their grips, despite whatever there is doing, I'm trusting that Jesus will bring this good seed to fruition, and I will grow and thrive in it. That's the hope of the gospel when you're in this season, and you don't understand why you're there, but God's put you there. [00:59:13] (70 seconds)  #TrustJesusInSeason

And as a wheat who's planted among them, our response before we open our mouth is to literally say, god, this one appears to be a weed, and you don't want them to remain that way. And just like you have planted your seed in me, and it's changing me, and it's making me good, God, begin to change the weed and make them into a wheat. I know it doesn't biologically make sense, but I know that you're the one over biology, and you can do whatever you want. And if you're wondering how to thrive in the midst of the weeds, that's your starting point. [01:08:39] (45 seconds)  #PrayForWeedChange

And we, as followers of Jesus, who are the good seed that God has planted in this world among the weeds should never desire for anyone to go through that. And we should exhaust every penny, every resource, every ounce of energy, every prayer, everything we got to make sure that starting in our homes, and in our communities and around the world that no one lives in hell. We should go broke trying, and I am not being figurative. Every effort, it takes all of us. [01:05:38] (56 seconds)  #AllInForRescue