The Unstoppable Word of God
The Gospel of Mark • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Housekeeping:
Housekeeping:
Taking all of May off from teaching and worship responsibilities.
Sundays will be covered by my preaching squad.
Steven, Kyle, Lonnie, and Kurt will be teaching our Sunday services.
Wednesday Night will still consist of prayer and teaching.
I have a group of faithful men that will be sharing Wed. nights.
We have worship also being covered for all of may.
Please be patient and supportive of all of the men teaching, they are not me or perhaps as refined as you would like. However without opportunities to teach how will they grow.
The same goes for tour guest worship leaders and those in our congregation stepping up to help us.
We are expecting any day now, and it is my priority to minister to my family well.
We will be here for church we are not going anywhere. I cannot tell you how excited I am to be able to sit with y’all and hear good preaching.
What you can expect in June.
Taking a break from the Gospel of Mark.
Vision Sunday
Q&A
Biblical Worldview
the other two Sundays are still in the works.
A new series or book on Wednesday night.
May 2nd is National Day of Prayer and we have two prayer events:
Prayer at Verde Christian Academy at 8am for the schools in our community.
Prayer at Verde Valley Military Memorial at 4:30. Journey Church is setting this up but we are coming together to pray for our nation, community, and families.
Introduction:
Introduction:
Recap:
Recap:
Being fruitful involves three steps:
Hearing the Word
Receiving the Word
Bringing forth the Word, that is, living out what the Word asks of you.
Quick side note:
“Some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” I confused myself last week and thought that the next set of parables were going to further build upon this principle. The will of God pertaining to the Word is the same for all of us, that is to be fruitful and multiply. However how much we yield will all be different, so don’t be upset if you do not yield as much as Billy Graham or Greg Laurie. Rejoice in the fact that you are bearing fruit for the Lord!
vv. 21-25) Shine the light:
vv. 21-25) Shine the light:
This is a difficult passage to grasp. the light reader and surface thinker will misunderstand what Jesus is saying, this again goes back to the importance of having the right soil of heart to the words of Christ.
Grasping and knowing the truth takes time and effort and energy, and man has a twofold responsibility toward the truth.
Share the truth
Hear the truth
[Share the truth]
[21]Jesus said, share the truth. Light is to be set in the most conspicuous place, where it can best be seen.
Light by its very nature is meant to be revealed. Truth is the same way, and God promises that it will be revealed.
Family, light and truth are to be the character, the very nature and behavior of the believer. As a believer you are to live the truth. You are to set the candle of truth in the most prominent place in your life. Light and truth are also to be the witness of the believer. Christian you are to bear verbal witness to the truth. Sharing the light with others.
A candle is not placed under a bed. The bed would extinguish the light and it would no longer be able to fulfill its purpose. It could not give off its light. Its flame and light would no longer visible and possible extinguished. However, note something: the candle would still be a candle; but it would be a candle with no purpose—hidden.
[Example] It would also be careless to place the candle under a basket. It would set the bed on fire and destroy it. the candle would be serving the wrong purpose; it would tragically be using its flame and light for the wrong reason. It would still be a candle, but it would be a candle using its flame and light in the wrong way.
Application: God gives the light of the truth to believers for a specific purpose: that it might be shared. God wants others to see and know the light, the truth and purpose of life.
You must make sure that you do not hid or misuse the light of the truth. And what is the truth you have been given? The Gospel of Christ:
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
The Gospel isn’t a secret to be kept.
[22]Jesus warned all things shall be revealed; nothing is hidden—except temporarily. Even if a believer hides the candle and keeps it a secret, the day is coming when it will be revealed anyway.
“For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.”
This means two things:
Light and truth cannot be hidden or used for the wrong purpose forever. Both light and truth will break forth one day.
If a person hides or misuses the light and truth given them, then what they have done will be revealed someday. You cannot hide or misuse the light and truth forever.
What this means is that mankind has been given some light, some truth (Romans 1:20-23; 1 Corinthians 2:12; John 8:32; Romans 12:3-8; Ephesians 4:7; 1 Corinthians 12:7). Each man is responsible to use what light and truth he has.
The Jews were called to be the light of God to the rest of the nations. Now that calling has been given to Christians and we all will be held accountable for the light we have been given.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
[Hear the Truth]
Jesus is still talking about the responsibility of the hearer: the hearer is responsible for hearing the truth. They are responsible for what they hear and how they interpret what is being said.
Each person is responsible for making sure that they have the truth, that they possesses and knows that truth. That is why it is so important and why we place such high importance on the Word of God that we have is truly the preserved Word of God.
There is a principle of truth that takes effect in every person’s life, and it is pointedly clear: the measure to which a person gives themselves to know the truth determines their reward. The energy, effort, and degree of commitment, the time and depth of thought—all that a person gives to know the truth—determines that reward:
12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
The amount of kingdom opportunities you receive is proportional to what you do with the ones you already have.
If you seek to know the truth, you will be given more truth; and if you have that truth you will be given more truth.
If you don’y seek truth you will lose all for everything will be taken from you.
Application:
The commitment you and I make, the energy you pour in, the effort you exert, the work, the knowledge, and the degree to which you give yourself to the truth/to God/ and to His Word—all determine how much God is able to entrust and give to you.
“The hearer of the gospel will get measure for measure, and the measure shall be his own measure.”– Spurgeon
And it works out just this way. To the one with no interest in the gospel, the preaching of the gospel seems uninteresting. To the one who wants to find fault with the church or the preacher, they find plenty of faults.
On the other hand—the more blessed hand—those who hunger find food, and those who want the solid truth receive something from any faithful ministry.
When we hear the Word of God, and receive it with gladness, more will be given to us from God.
More will be given: More what? More desire to hear. More understanding of what you hear. More personal possession of the blessings you are hearing about.
More will be given: Jesus is simply reminding us that spiritual growth follows momentum, positive or negative. When we have the godly habits of receiving the Word and living it, more is built on that.
However, when we lose those godly habits, they are extremely difficult to get back.
vv. 26-29) Throw the seed:
vv. 26-29) Throw the seed:
This parable tells what happens to the fruitful seed in the Parable of the Soils. It describes how the seed goes about growing, and the process through which it passes. The seed is the gospel and the ground is the good ground, either the believer individually or the church collectively. There are four things said about the fruitful seed once it has taken root.
Once the gospel has taken root in the heart of a believer, growth will take place. The believer will grow spiritual.
Jesus describes one aspect of the kingdom of God in this parable. The kingdom (the church) and its citizens will and do grow. The kingdom is looked at in its present state here on earth. The kingdom of God is growing: more and more people are being reached for God, and as they are reached they are growing just as God wills.
Before we can experience the growth and the harvest, someone has to first scatter the seed.
When a farmer plants, it grows by night, when they wake up in the morning the seed has sprouted. He has just worked as a partner with God.
The farmer has done what he could do—plant; and God has done what only He can do: grow the seed.
It is humanity that sows the seed. The seed has to be sown by us; there simply is no other way it can be sown. Man is the person, the being, the means, the instrument God has chosen to share the gospel with the world.
What receives the seed? It is the earth. It is the earth that God wants to reach; the earth that God wants to hear His good news. God has sent His followers out into the earth to cast forth the seed of the gospel.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
In last weeks message we saw that the seed is the Word of God. The Bible isn’t just an instruction manual or a list of rules to follow. It lives and works its life into us.
It isn’t a preacher that imparts life to the Word of God; if anything the preacher is given life by the power of God’s Word.
Authentic kingdom growth is not something we can attribute to our personal skills or corporate strategies.
It isn’t man who makes the seed grow. Mankind doesn’t know how the growth takes place. The secret of life and growth is truly beyond us.
Growth is not of man; growth is of God. It is the Spirit of God that takes the gospel and changes a man’s heart and causes him to grow.
[28] The growth is sure and constant, but gradual.
The nature of the Word of God in your life consists of steady growth.
6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
Application:
Growth is of God, and the believer is to trust and wait upon God for growth. But the trust and waiting are to be active. A working trust and waiting. There is no such thing as inactive faith and waiting, not to God. Faith and waiting upon God are active; they both serve and work:
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
There is great abuse of the biblical truth, of sure growth. Of being secure in God’s promises. Man has used the fact:
To say I am secure, no matter what I do, so I can go ahead and live as I wish.
To say God promises His kingdom and growth to me, so there is no need for me to sacrifice to meet the needs of a blind and lost world.
To say believers and the church will grow without me, therefore I do not have to go or serve.
“Because the harvest has come:”
We get to be apart of the glorious work of God. We are assured of results before we even labor. There will be fruit for our labor!
35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
vv. 30-34) Expect the growth:
vv. 30-34) Expect the growth:
Jesus here describes the growth and greatness of His kingdom. He shows how His kingdom begins as the smallest seed and grows into the greatest movement the world has ever seen or will see.
We cannot fathom the contrast between the meager beginning of His kingdom and the mighty culmination of it.
This is so a beautiful picture of the kingdom of God growing so large that it provides refuge for all who could want or need it.
Some commentators have seen “so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade” as a reference to the mixed nature of the church, but I believe this to be an over-exegesis.
In all likelihood it actually is alluding to how big this plant has gotten. In Scripture, especially in the OT, birds have a sinister meaning.
The kingdom of God is not the church. Kingdom means kingship or royal rule. Thus the kingdom of God is a dynamic not static concept that refers to God’s sovereign activity or ruling over His creation. (Mark 1:15).
If anything the bird reference it should provide a picture of the Gentile (non-Jews) would be incorporated into God’s kingdom program.
What God had promised to do in Ezekiel 17 and 31, He began to do in Jesus’ mission on earth.
[34-35] These verses summarize the purpose and approach of Jesus’ parabolic teaching. His practice was to speak the Word to them, the crowds plus the disciples, through parables which He adapted to their levels of understanding.
These verses do not necessarily imply that the multitude understood nothing, but only that Jesus, by further talk, made the disciples understand better.
Benediction:
Benediction:
24 “The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.” ’
The LORD bless thee
[Echo]
And keep thee
[Echo]
[Together] The LORD make his face to shine upon thee
The LORD bless thee
[Echo]
And keep thee
[Echo]
[Together] The LORD make his face to shine upon thee
[Together] And be gracious unto thee x2
The LORD lift up
[Echo]
His countenance
[Echo]
[Together] Upon thee, and give thee peace.