YIELD Part 2: POWER PLANT.

“Power Plant” - Mark 4.

Mark 4:1-9 “1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.””

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PRAY

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mark 4:8 “8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.””

SEEDS THAT FELL..... ON SOIL.... That PRODUCED… THAT GREW.... THAT INCREASED.... that YIELDED.

Produce, growth, increase.

Yield.

Story: I grew up skiing as a kid. as a family every single winter we would go ski and my dad would send me to ski school with my brother and sister. i guess it was for him to get a break so him and mum could go off. but i know also it was because he wanted us to become a good skier. i rember asking my instructor one time what is the point of having poles when you ski - is it because you wanna push in the line? - and he explained to be the point of the poles was to plant your pole so your skis turn around them. In a split second you create a fixed point for what is moving very fast to move around.

and as i was preparing this message this story just kind of came to me - and our lives are kind of like this

There is FIXED things. and Those fixed things are often what the rest of our lives moves around, flows around.

The Fluid, and the FIXED.

Q: I wonder whats FLUID and Whats Immovable i’m your life.

Because i want to propose - This is what affects your YIELD.

YIELD IS OUR SERIES.

Its interesting - Surface level things in your life QUICKLY wash away in a storm. even just a bit of rain.

But when you have something FIRMLY in the GROUND. It Stays right there.

I want you to write down this question, and ask yourself: these are questions i believe are INTRICATELY related to the kind of YIELD the lord can bring about in our lives:

Q1.AM I PLANTED IN THE HOUSE?

or let me ask it a different way.... How planted are you? do the roots go down deep, or is it fairly shallow. Would it be EASY to

Now if you just started coming to our church

or you just recently made a decision to follow Jesus

don’t feel an ounce of guilt - its just a question that matters as you go on in your faith journey. I have never seen a seasoned mature christian flourishing as a believer and not PLANTED in a local church. Im sorry, i’ve just never seen it.

The local Church is MECHANISM that God has chosen to use to be the BIG Yield, the BIG HARVEST. its the way hes chosen to get the message of JESUS OUT.

How often are you IN Church?

Im not gonna meddle. But i am gonna say. Most people in america only go to church 1-2 times per month. Thats not enough. Its just NOT.

There is a REASON we have the Lords Day. and WHY HE Gave it to us.

What if you decided that CHURCH was a FIXTURE that the rest of yoru LIFE moves around. Sometime we MOVE church out of the way and make church come around the events. I even think, am im just gonna say it, if school sport lands on a sunday maybe you have to make a stand. and say - this is my fixture - because i am planted, my roots go deep - I NEED TO BE Planted in the house.

(one of the many blessings i get as a pastor is hearing stories like: going to this church has change my life. When people get saved in our church. Its amazing.

Q2.AM I PLANTED IN COMMUNITY?

so you could come, but do you hang out.

Do you breeze in and breeze out:?

Hows your HANG TIME at church? we actually INTENTIONALLY try to make space in and after alot of our services so that you would get the ministry of the WHOLE church as well. That you would get meet people and people would get to meet you.

Its the desire of every single person ON SOME Level, to be KNOWN.

But if you arent PLANTED in community, you’ll never be known.

Sometimes were fearful, maybe because of a past hurt we’ve grown callous. We don’t want to allow people to get too close. Push through that. on the other side you will have people going in the same direction that are cheering you on.

I see businesses flourishing because of the community of our church.

I see families coming together and friends getting together and growing into great life long friendships

Ive been a witness of young people in community in our church meet their partner AND EVEN HAVE BABIES NOW.

I get it we are all busy. But are you able to say: hey im in community at this church/.

Friend - isolation is a real killer.

Proverbs 18:1 “1 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.”

Write this down: “distance creates distortion”

Its true. The longer you are away from community its amazing how the enemy gets his word in there

“I bet they don;t even care i’m gone” - Untrue

“I really wasn’t making any progress there” - Thats untrue - it was under the surface for a start.

“I dont need it anyway” Untrue - you do need church you need it once a week.

3.AM I PLANTED IN THE WORD?

This was my challenge to our MEN to live as priests in our homes on thursday nite at wildman,.

How much time and how much bible do you consume?

How much of “THIS” gets in you VERSUS “THIS”? (Hold up IPHONE, + MEDIA + SOCIAL MEDIA SITES + SPORTS).

How much BIBLE you get down in the soil has a direct correlation to how GREAT your YIELD is. You cant WING knowing scripture says about my life.

Mark 4:14-15 “14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.”

4 Simple steps to being planted: (shameless plug btw the way iove donet two series called PLANTED and FLOURISHING” and its one of the best series weve done - from Ps 92.

Have a plan. You can have a simple basic plan when it comes to getting planted in the local church. Put a commitment time on that. Tell your family Fathers and Mothers - Hey were trying this Colonial CHurch place, yes the pastors got a strange foreign accent but he PREACHES the bible so were gonna stick it out. Give it at least 1-2 years. But have a PLAN. dont be wishy washy about what CHURCH looks like for your family.

Follow the steps. (there is a process)

Dont Bail out. Stick at it. Give it time for the roots to develop.

Stay encouraged. Dont allow discouragement to set in.

To be planted in the WORD, ultimately is to be up close with Jesus. Because JESUS is the WORd.