EMBRACING THE DIRT

Welcome / LEADERSHIP COLLEGE: You will have seen an email this week: Take a moment to remind everyone about Colonial Leadership College: if you would like to attend, we need your information and registration.

Key dates:

Interest night September 18th.

September 25 application deadline.

Fall semester begins October 2nd.

Open with me to Psalm 92 & Matthew 13

We are going to read a very amazing parable that Jesus told - but its sometimes hard to understand and hard to comprehend but i believe its going to help us all today - SOMETIMES THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS ARE ABRASIVE. But nonetheless we should embrace them because as we do - we inevitably find the GRACE of Jesus all over His words. His heart shines through - but at first it might seem a but difficult but i want to encourage you - have FAITH - and ask God to give you insight and understanding through the power of the Holy Spirit to receive the WORD today - Implanted into the your HEART.

Matthew 13:1–9 ESV

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”

“P&F Part 2: EMBRACING THE DIRT.”

Subtitle: Getting Planted & Staying Planted. How does it happen, How can it happen - some practical insight as well.

This message may be one you never forget - why? because i may say some things that are going to shock you.

Reminder about what Psalm 92 Promises:

Ps 92:12-13 “12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God.”

First There is a SEED: a Seed is ALL GOD NEEDS. Your seed of willingess and obedience is maybe ALL thats NEEDED for the NEXT SEASON.

GOD HAS A PROCESS: SEED & SOIL.

Couple of things to come around as we journey on here to talk about what it looks like to be planted in the house.

1.CHOOSE TO BE PLANTED

Or in other words - Choose to let GOD PLANT YOU IN. get in the ground of Gods choosing. He is ready to PLANT YOU in his garden. His design.

make a choice....

All of this comes down to someones willingness to BE PLANTED. That can become a GOAL. That then can become a reality.

Q --Have you chosen. Have you DECIDED that you will be planted in the house?

DONT JUST COME TO CHURCH. GET PLANTED!

THEOLOGY: But i want you to think about something for a moment: and i actually

But Who does the PLANTING in this Psalm?

I want you to see something incredibly powerful in the Psalm and in the Word maybe you havent seen previous.

The message makes it clear

Psalm 92:11–13 (M:BCL)

11 The sight of my critics going down is still fresh,

the rout of my malicious detractors.

My ears are filled with the sounds of promise:

12 “Good people will prosper like palm trees,

Grow tall like Lebanon cedars;

13 transplanted to God’s courtyard,

They’ll grow tall in the presence of God,

This is a miracle.

YOU DON’T PLANT YOURSELF: YOU OBEY THE CALL TO BE PLANTED, WHERE HE’s CALLED YOU TO BE.

… But understand that the reality of being planted is this - its a supernatural thing that GOD DOES> He initiates the call, and we respond in obedience to him.

BUT ITS SUPERNATURAL. ITS DONE BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT!

This is an example of what God has done for his people.

****story after story of people finding colonial church and other churches literally by what seems like a WHISPER prayer to GOD - And they JUST SHOW UP! (talking to someone this week and they were just driving around hoping in faith God would make it clear… and happened upon our church with the NEON CROSS on the front!*****

think of what he did for them when he LED them out of BONDAGE.

Eventually *(after the stubborn wildnerness) they were BROUGHT into the :PROMISED land and PLANTED.

Psalm 92:12 ESV

12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Psalm 92:13 “13 They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God.”

This is biblical language for the careful GARDENING of GOD.

Psalm 92:6–7 ESV

6 The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this: 7 that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever;

THIS is a

from a commentary: Righteous, those who are ‘right with God’. Palm … cedar, contrast grass (7). The picture is of dignity, strength, durability. 13 Planted, (lit.) ‘transplanted’, brought into a new position by the design and work of the Gardener. House … courts, accepted and given security of standing in his very presence.

J. A. Motyer, “The Psalms,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 547.

GOD IS THE GARDENER, WE ARE THE SEED - THE GOOD SOIL is where He wants to PLANT YOU… but youve got to let him do it!

(so number 1 choose to be planted).....

2.EMBRACE THE DIRT

a few Ways to KEEP THE SOIL GOOD SOIL… ie healthy in your life.... or “Ways to embrace the dirt”

-understand that its not easy, but its worth it.

You have to get in it, to experience it

-understand that you will be uncomfortable (at times)

Dirt isn’t perfect, but its necessary. It holds the seed, it nourishes the seed & it gives it the foundation for future growth.

-trust God with the timing, but give it time

THATS WHAT EMBRACING THE DIRT LOOKS LIKE. IT means many THINGS. But being willing to get into the stuff that makes up a body big enough for a something PLANTED To ACTUALLY GRO

**** YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PLANTED SO YOU CAN GROW*******

If you are growing, its just a matter of time — You will flourish!

But here comes the shocking part - There are TIMES when its NOT GOING TO FEEL GOOD - BUt Feelings are a HORRIBLE LEADER

3.DEAL WITH THE WEEDS

The parable of the sower is followed by another parable! a warning -----

Matthew 13:24–30 ESV

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.” ’ ”

The opposing forces to being planted: The GOAL is to GET YOU ISOLATED… THEN DECIEVED… THEN SEPERATED FOR GOOD. UPROOTED.

-isolation is a sign of bad soil: There is a lack of WATER. you get watered being Here and when your not in the house, you arent consistently being planted and theres no water and things dry out - Thats being ISOLATED: You know what happens when you ge ISOLATED?

Write this down: “distance creates DISTORTION”. The longer you stay away the more the enemy has a field day with you coming back. Distance creates a distorted perspective, thinking:

We start saying things like: and they are all lies - like weeds

“they never loved me anyway” / Totally untrue - We love you here, you are safe here & loved. Thats a lie, thats a weed.

“they are judging me” /Totally untrue - we are all just a bunch of sinners saved by grace trying to live for HIM. the church is full of imperfect peiple so you will fit right in. No one is judging you. Thats a lie, thats a weed

“I dont get fed there anyway” if you are called to be here, God will feed you here, you may just need to open your mouth!!!! ie be humble enough to take notes during the message, or be courageous enough to open up your scriptures during the week & mediatte on the WORD that was shared on sunday. But that is a lie....... thats a weed.

“Maybe i should just go check some other churches out” - Why would you want to uproot yourself and your family from the very place tyou are being fed. they enemy would love for you to have a casual approach to being planted. He loves that. Because you become ineffective as a believer, less Hot more like luke warm.

***a warning for this age: The internet is great for many things but its a robber when it comes to true, authentic connection. Its a bogus deal. You may meet online but eentually thats not enough… why? because we desire deep connection, not shallow grass! ---you may think that watching that message or podcast online or occasionallty “tuning in” to some worship is going deep - ITS NOT. Thats just grass ----being PLANTED is deep. it comes with the week in week out, watering of the word and immersion in the spirit and gathering of the waints. DONT ALLOW THE WEED of ENVY and COMPARISON get you!

-envy is a weed~

-comparison is a weed~

BUT PROBABLY THE BIGGEST WEEDS - THE MOST CANCEROUS OF ALL - A CERTAIN KILLER TO STAYING PLANTED IS.... OFFENSE & UNFORGIVENESS

Offense is a weed: its the single biggest reason people stop going to church

Which often leads to sustained unforgiveness

Ive met people - and 20 years ago sister jean did this or brother bob treated us like that - and you know what the sad part of it is. Sister Jean and Brother Bob have moved on. Theyre not living in the prison of offense or unforgiveness - you ARE!

SO EMBRACING THE DIRT IN CHURCH LIFE IS A BIT LIKE THIS:

“as much as that hurt, im going to CHOOSE to not stop growing and stop flourishing and i am not going to let the ememy lie to me and stop me from being planted in GOOD SOIL”.

Sometyhing my pastor would say to us: “No Christian, seasoned in the word, Planted in the HOUSE has ANY REASON to live their life offended”

YOUVE BEEN FREE’D… TO LIVE FREE

LIVE FREE STAY PLANTED

1.CHOOSE TO LET GOD PLANTED YOU

2.EMBRACE THE DIRT,

3.DEAL WITH THE WEEDS

......

SO how do you we do it - We pray and ask God to plant us… but then we OBEY. & We

4.STAY FOCUSED ON THE LIGHT (JESUS).

** stay looking at the sun. the source of life - where the enegy and the vitality comes from. where the promised holy spirit is brought in.

Plants grow towards the SOURCE OF LIGHT

We are called to keep our attention

Our focus

on the ONE THE GIVES THE ENERGY, the VITALITY, THE VIBRANCE - Keep our eyes on JESUS

thats how we GROW.

Thats how we overcome

Thats who we stay the course, Stay planteed

… and EVENTUALLY FLOURISH - IN JESUS NAME.

Hebrews 10:23 (ESV)

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

What did he promise?

to plant those - they are PLANTED & they Flourish!