soil open prayer

old testement

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;* the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic** church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.

so let's take our bibles please and go to matthew chapter 13.

24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

The New King James Version Chapter 13

36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”

37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

The New King James Version. Thomas Nelson, 1982, p. Mt 13:44. 0:52 0:58 and let me pray and then we'll dive right into our study today in matthew chapter 13 1:46 there are seven parables that jesus teaches the last six of which are about the kingdom of 1:53 heaven specifically about the kingdom of heaven because each of those six parables that round 2:01 out the chapter 13 of matthew each of those six parables begins 2:07 with the phrase the kingdom of heaven is like and then jesus makes a comparison 2:12 :31 the first of which are all identical the kingdom of heaven is like the kingdom of heaven is like but then 2:39 within these six parables are six different comparisons 2:46 to help us understand exactly what the kingdom of heaven is like and he uses a teaching tool that 2:52 Parables Defined is common to the ministry of jesus known as a parable now if you've been around church very long you understand what a parable is if you 2:58 haven't been around church very long let's first define what a parable is and let's also define 3:04 what the phrase means kingdom of heaven before we take a look at these six different parables so first thing first 3:10 when we talk about a parable it is from the greek word parabolo the greek is the original language of the 3:17 new testament and parabolo means to go alongside of something 3:23 so it's the idea of something that comes alongside of something else and in this case it's the idea of a 3:29 comparison so a parable is the use of an illustration 3:35 often taken from everyday life thrown alongside a lesson to express 3:40 a moral truth and so jesus uses parables to supplement a point he is trying to make 3:48 the word parabolo in the original language appears 48 times in the gospels 3:56 but only in matthew mark and luke john makes no mention of any parables in 4:03 his gospel so that's the idea of a parable it's just it's an illustration thrown 4:08 alongside a lesson to drive home a moral truth to express a a greater point often parables are kind 4:14 of veiled terminology to get the the listener to think what is actually 4:20 the meaning behind this so it's a great teaching tool that jesus often used in communicating and teaching what does 4:26 he mean by the kingdom of heaven well matthew of the four gospel writers matthew mark luke and john matthew is 4:33 the only one who uses the phrase kingdom of heaven and matthew uses it more than 30 times 4:40 in his gospel the other guys mark luke and john instead of using the phrase kingdom of 4:45 heaven they use the phrase kingdom of god and so when you look at the difference between 4:51 kingdom of heaven and kingdom of god there's not much uh both of them express the idea of 4:57 rulership it's the idea of a kingdom whether it's kingdom of heaven or kingdom of god 5:03 the idea here is that it's about a kingdom a kingdom that is ruled by god 5:09 and when it comes to the idea of the kingdom of heaven this kingdom is both physical in that 5:16 heaven is a real place and it is also spiritual in that 5:23 the kingdom of heaven speaks about god ruling not just in a place heaven but also ruling in a person meaning 5:28 us in other words in a broad sense the kingdom of heaven is about god's rule in the hearts and 5:36 lives of people and thus people who have surrendered their hearts and lives to 5:42 jesus as king make up we make up the kingdom of heaven 5:48 and jesus enthusiastically calls welcomes and invites people to be a part 5:54 of that kingdom to submit our lives to him as king and to enjoy 6:01 all the many benefits as citizens of the kingdom of heaven and it has been said and it is true the 6:06 retirement plan is literally out of this world 6:13 and so that's the idea of the kingdom of heaven you know look we have to admit somebody 6:18 is ruling your life somebody is ruling your life either you 6:24 are king of your life which means that you decide what to do when to do and how to do it you were in 6:29 charge of your life you were the captain of your ship or god is king of your life 6:34 which means that when god is king of your life you surrender to his lead and you don't just live to please 6:40 yourself you live to please god but there cannot be two kings in this kingdom it is impossible for you to be 6:46 both king and god to be king it is one or the other this is not a co-regency it's not like 6:53 god slides over and allows you to run your life some of the time and he'll run your life part of the time 7:00 this is either you belong to him and he is king of your life or you are king of your life and you rule 7:06 your own life and so jesus is going to use six parables here to basically say here's what it looks 7:12 like to be citizens of the kingdom of heaven where god is king of your life so we're 7:20 gonna look through these six pretty quickly and the first one for you notetakers the comparison that he makes here the simile 7:26 Parable Number One that he uses is the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field if you have your 7:33 bibles open there to chapter 13 look at verse 24.

24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

The New King James Version Chapter 13

36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”

37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 11:04 and so basically when jesus interprets his parable what he's telling us is it's the it's a story 11:11 that he's using to communicate a spiritual truth a moral truth and he talks about how there are two farmers or two planters two 11:16 sowers and he explains to us in the story he says one of the sowers is me is jesus 11:23 and the other sower is the enemy the devil and he says basically i'm going throughout the world because the field 11:30 represents the whole world jesus is saying i'm going throughout the world i'm sowing good seed which will sprout up to 11:36 be wheat he says but be warned there's the enemy the devil who's also going around 11:42 throughout the world sowing bad seed that's the tares or the weeds 11:48 and there's the difference between the sons and daughters of the kingdom 11:53 that's represented by wheat who belonged to jesus and the sons and daughters the offspring 11:58 of satan represented in the story by the weeds and jesus says at the end of the age he 12:05 says i'm going to dispatch my angels they're going to separate the wheat from the weeds the the 12:11 the weeds are going to be bound up and thrown into the fiery furnace and where there will be weeping and 12:16 gnashing of teeth it's a picture of hell it's a picture of judgment and he says but the wheat however 12:22 the righteous ones who belong to me as part of the kingdom of heaven will enter into their eternal reward he 12:29 said they're in verse 43 he says then the righteous will shine 12:35 forth as the son and the kingdom of their father he who has ears to hear let him hear he says so 12:40 he's talking here about the ultimate reward for the righteous who know christ as lord and savior they're gonna 12:46 enjoy their ultimate reward in heaven whereas the unrighteous those who have rejected 12:52 christ will face judgment it'll be a time of terrible agony for them so he's expressing the whole concept 12:57 here of the kingdom of heaven and he uses this terminology of the wheat and the weeds or the tares 13:04 now in israel and it's common here in the united states there is a weed that springs up among wheat and that 13:11 weed is called darnell grass it looks very similar to wheat in fact you cannot tell the difference 13:20 in the early stages of what wheat is and what darnell grass is until they reach maturity and when they 13:26 reach maturity and they form the ear on the top or the top of the stalk the kernels then you can tell the 13:33 difference that's why in the parable jesus says you're gonna have to let them both grow at the same time 13:39 until they reach maturity until it's time to harvest because only then can you distinguish 13:45 the wheat from the tares and if you try to go about uprooting 13:50 the weeds before you can distinguish the two you will inadvertently uproot the wheat 13:55 and you don't want to do that so he says let them both grow together they look very similar it is only when they form the head or the ears of the grain that you can tell the 14:15 difference but you still have to look carefully but it's the idea they have to reach maturity 14:20 the good seed and the bad seed are allowed to grow up together until they reach maturity 14:26 and at the time of the harvest then you can tell the difference now here's the take away 14:32 the righteous and the unrighteous grow up together in the same world in the same field we all live together 14:39 believers and non-believers we'll live together work together play sports together do 14:47 life together but there's a big difference there's a big difference between the two that will 14:54 be realized at harvest time when we come to full maturity 15:00 so the idea is you're gonna stand before god at some point either when you come to full maturity and you 15:06 die and you have a day of reckoning with god or in the larger picture what 15:12 he's talking about here is the end of the age when god is going to dispatch his angels to separate the righteous from the 15:19 unrighteous the wheat from the tares and the tares the weeds the unrighteous will 15:25 be judged and there will be eternal punishment and the righteous will likewise inherit their eternal 15:31 reward because of their relationship with jesus and and so this is important 15:38 for us to understand just because life presently seems similar now 15:43 where the righteous and the unrighteous grow up together in the same world work together play together do life together 15:52 it seems sometimes like the unrighteous are getting away with stuff but the fact of the matter is don't 15:58 forget that there is a day of reckoning for every single one of us when the wheat will be separated from 16:05 the weeds the righteous will be eternally rewarded and the unrighteous will be eternally 16:10 judged right now we are growing up together in the same field but harvest day is coming

44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Numbers 6:24–26 (NKJV): 24“The Lord bless you and keep you;25The Lord make His face shine upon you,And be gracious to you;26The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,And give you peace.” ’