Cultivating the Heart: Removing Blockages So the Kingdom Can Flourish

Morning. Going to take a minute here to see who’s here today. Some familiar faces, some new faces. >> I didn’t say that. Someone in the crowd said old faces, young faces, masked faces. The Lord sees you. Your father in heaven, he sees you. It’s teaching you something right now. It’s teaching me something right now about receiving him. You know what it means to stand in the

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presence of the Lord? Means to look at him face to face. It’s what the word presence means. It means face. It doesn’t mean feelings. It means his face. He’s present to you. He sees you. Do you see him? What happens when we look at someone’s face? We see them. I see you, Christine. I see you, Alan. And it’s not just the outside wrapping. It’s who you actually really truly are as a living soul. I would actually like a show of hands on this. How many people don’t feel seen?

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How many don’t feel seen by their by their heavenly father by God? Hands please don’t be ashamed. How many want to be seen? Okay. So, those are the hands that don’t feel seen. You’ve given yourself away. >> Little trick, huh? I I concocted that last evening. I’m kidding. I have no idea what I’m doing right now. So the Lord said this word to me during worship. I’m asking you to take a bold step right now as when the kingdom of God is demonstrated in power. Generally what is preceded by that is a

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little bit of faith. That’s the receiving part. Doesn’t have to be a lot. It could just be a hand raised. So I’m standing over there and person after person from our beloved church come and pray for me and lay their hands and they praying over the word today. And the Lord said this to me. He said, “Anxiety is the fruit of shame. Shame is the root but what comes out on the surface is anxiety, nervousness. the word uh shame there and also can speak to confusion, uncertainty. And what the Lord said is he wants to

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deliver us from anxiety but he wants to deal with the root which is shame. >> Shame is not just something that’s a feeling. It’s an entity. Let me say it a different way. Shame isn’t just an emotion. It’s actually a being, a wicked being that makes you feel a certain way. That wicked being is called sin. For those that maybe haven’t heard this before, our father in heaven, God Almighty, he made a garden and then he formed a man out of that dirt. Put him in the garden to tend it.

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Gave him some instructions. And when the man didn’t heed the instructions, there was a woman too, but I’m speaking about the man because he was the one who was accountable for the instructions. When the man didn’t listen to those instructions, what happened was shame. He sinned. The Bible actually makes a a very specific uh point there in the book of Genesis where he says that the man and the woman though they were naked felt no shame. So though they were exposed, they felt no shame. Now this is a example for us

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spiritually where in our hearts if we’re feeling shame it’s cuz there’s some aspect of us that is uncovered. There’s there’s something where God was meant to cover it or provided a way to cover it, but somehow we’re kind of coming out from underneath that covering. Or maybe we haven’t known God’s covering. But the word of the Lord today is that he wants to be your covering. He wants to clothe you in righteousness. Righteousness. You know what else? Shame. When you

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define shame, it actually uh is often tied in the Old Testament to this phrase bearing shame, meaning something you wear like a garment like a like a blanket of shame on you and it just weighs you down and you try to get out from under it. You ever seen a uh you have to insert you have to insert the scalpel with a little humor here, right? Okay. So, I’m I’m going to give you a little laughing gas so that we can deal with the we can hopefully, right? You ever seen like an animal or something? They throw a blanket over it

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and it’s trying to get out and you see this little thing like popping up and down. And that’s kind of what our life is like when we’re shrouded in shame. We keep trying to get out and we keep trying to get out and we’re like trying to throw this thing off and we get a little like light comes underneath the blanket for a minute and then it comes back down on top of our life. Does this sound familiar? real. >> Now, I’m going to get to what I was assigned to preach on, but I have to set

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this part up because what I’m going to preach on is going to address the shame. And what I sensed in my heart is that I’m gonna ask you for this. It’s a little bold because you have to come out into the light. And I’m going to ask for those that struggle with shame, anxiety, or the confusion, if you would please stand. Okay. Can you all extend your hands? Are you ready to receive? >> Do you want to receive? You know Jesus often times when he performed miracles and when he healed people, when he

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delivered people, he asked them first, “What would you like me to do?” Because he put the responsibility on the one who was asking. So, Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you that your word is simple and that your kingdom is powerful. Lord, you manifest yourself and you reveal your glory and according to what you’ve revealed today. Lord, I ask that you do it now in the hearts of your people today, oh God. And I ask that you would come as a mighty deliverer, the only one who can

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take care of our shame, our transgressions, the place where we were wounded by sin. And Lord, as it states in Isaiah 53, that you were wounded for our transgressions. You took it on. So Lord now in the name of Jesus and by the authority of the word of God, Father, I send and command deliverance and healing into every being who has hands extended to receive it today. Father, we ask that you would break break the root of it. Break the root of it, Lord. Even now, God, break the root of it, Lord. in the name of Jesus, Lord. And we ask

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that you would lift the heavy burdens, lift the confusion, lift the torment, lift the anxiety, the fear. Break it now in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Just thank him for a moment in your own words. Thank you Lord for healing us. Thank you for teaching us. Thank you for touching our lives. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Now let’s thank him a little more exuberantly. Thank you father. Yes. YES. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord for freedom. >> Amen. >> Amen. >> Okay. I want one testimony. What just

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happened to somebody? One testimony quickly. Come on. >> I’ve been set free. >> Yeah. >> Hold on one sec. Come here. Let’s get you a mic. or can we run a mic to him real quick? Can you tell us your name real quick and just just >> uh my name is Nicholas? >> Hey Nicholas. >> Um I’m 16 and I’ve been struggling with uh a lot of mental health and um I resorted to smoking weed and nicotine for a long time. >> Mhm. >> And um even right now

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Mhm. >> like this morning. Yeah. even um and when you were talking for I I felt like this chill, >> you know. >> Yeah. >> And then I just had the feeling to just speak for some reason. But I just want to thank you for that. >> Yeah. >> Nicholas. Yeah. Let’s celebrate Nicholas. >> Praise God. young man. Thank you for being so brave >> and showing us what a testimony looks like. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Lord. I just want word of life. Family, I know

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Nicholas is new to us. Is this your first time here? >> Pretty much. Okay. Family, get used to this. >> This is the new norm. Okay. Now, this stay standing, please. This is nothing new because I can look around the room and I see a man right there. I see a man right there. I see women right there who are all delivered completely >> from a life of drugs and running in the streets and whatever else they were caught up in depression and all kinds of other things because they were just, you

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know, overtaken by the world. Yes, >> that is who this house is actually made up of. So, Nicholas, you’re in the family. >> You’re in good company, buddy. Stay standing. So, listen. I want to make this real simple. God loves you and today is your day to meet him and to know who your eternal father is for the rest of your life. He has a destiny and promises for your life. A lot of people have said a lot of things to you and it’s kind of like you didn’t really believe them.

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It’s like you’ve had a hard time believing people because a lot of promises and things fall through. Even hard time believing your own your own self, right? Like you you say you’re going to do this and then you know we don’t do it and by the way join the club. Like we say things and we don’t do it. We say things and we don’t do it. We say things and we gonna do it. We’re going to do it. We’re going to do it. We’re gonna I don’t know if I remember. I don’t think Oh, actually I don’t think

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it’s God’s will for me to do that anymore. like make up ideas about what we’re supposed to do. But here’s the deal. God says today is your day of revealing. He’s revealing himself to you and we’re going to pray for you after the service and you’ll get to meet him as your personal Lord and Savior. And I actually declare over you the deliverance of God over your life, any area of anxiety and fear like the Lord was speaking about. And there will be no need to run to other things.

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Amen. >> All right. Is this okay? >> God is kind of interrupting things. >> Christine. Christine, what did you have to say? When I gave thanks, there was like a lifting of anointing. >> Hey. >> Okay. She said when she gave thanks, there was a lifting and then a flowing. >> Okay. So, guess what just happened? Your ability to receive has gotten healed or restored. We’re all designed to receive. >> We’re designed to. Now, I don’t know why

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it is that we don’t uh feel like we can receive very well, right? How many people think they’re really great receivers? Like someone gives you a compliment and you’re like, “That’s not me.” It’s a little indicator. All right, let’s jump into this. Are you guys ready? >> Title, please. Bam. Today, we’re talking about the heart of the kingdom. Did you know you’re the heart of the kingdom? >> We’re talking about you and me and us and we, the body of Christ,

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here in unity. I had to make that rhyme. Okay. You are the heart of the kingdom. Wow. No amens. Okay. Let me uh let me try over here. Is that what they do? Is that what the preachers do? Maybe I maybe I was too broad. I I needed to be more more specific. >> You are the heart of the kingdom. >> Okay, we can go back to doing more deliverance if you want. You want to No. All right. Uh, by the way, Pastor Bob gave me his um endorsement and he said, “Don’t fall off the stage.”

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So, so I’m going to be I’m going to be like like right here. I love you, Dad, and I honor you. >> We’re We’re grateful for you. >> Okay, that’s enough clapping. He He He won’t approve of that. I’ll get in trouble. I’ll get in trouble. Um, I wanted to read something here real quick on receiving. That word has been said multiple times. Uh, Pinellle spoke to it in her testimony and there was a prophetic word that came through and I want to recommend something. I definitely know this is

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from the Lord. And I’d like you guys to write this down, make a note of this, come back to the recording and remember this for the rest of this year. Okay? When we receive something from the Lord, you have a responsibility to keep it and guard it and nurture it until it begins to grow. Okay? Too often we’ll hear a good word, a good sermon. We’ll even hear a prophetic word, a very powerful prophetic word, and it comes into our heart or goes into our ear. It holds for a minute in our mind, and when it should

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start to descend and deposit down into our heart, it it kind of doesn’t go down. it just kind of stays here and then we forget about it. So what happens is the word comes, it gets held in the mind. We start to entertain it. Wow, that’s really cool. This is what God said. This is what he said I’m going to do. This is what he said I’m going to be. This is what he called me to do. But we don’t let that word that he just spoke get deposited to start what it’s actually supposed to do.

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Are you hearing me? >> We do that with the written word. We do that with the spoken the Rama word. And so the heart of the father today, he’s so tender towards us. I’m going to say some things that’ll kind of cut. But I want you to understand the heart. Father loves you. He loves you. He loves you. And it’s out of his goodness that he leads us to repentance. He leads us to a turning. Repentance is very simple. It’s just a I was going that way and the Lord illuminated the right path

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and I changed from the path I was stumbling down and I go onto his path. That’s repentance. See, thank you Lord. He is dealing with shame today. If this is the path, sorry, you all are on the fringes of the path of unrighteousness and and this is righteousness, okay? and I’m going this way and I hear the Lord speak to me either through a brother or through the word or through a a message or some goofy guy on a Sunday and and I’m trying to go down this path because this is where I’m determined to go. There’s

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riches and wealth and all kinds of wonderful things at the end of that tunnel. >> The billboards say there are Oh, only 20,000 miles ahead. Okay, I can give my life to that. And then I get a call and a wooing and the Lord’s pulling me and I’m going, why do I? And I go and I start going down the path of righteousness. That little simple shift. I want to give you that visual. You’re going this way. And the Lord says, ohup that way. >> Oh, correction. Guess what I just did?

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I repented. Was there any shame involved in me going from that path to that path? Okay, let me ask another question. How many of you use your cell phone to navigate uh these wild mountain streets that we have up here? Okay, >> or to go anywhere, right? You’re going to go drive somewhere. The the days of memorizing maps and where actually things are is gone, right? We just rely on our devices and Okay, go with me with this metaphor. >> Do you ever get like super hot, flaming,

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shameful about like, oh, that wasn’t where this was directing me. What do I need to do next? Is what we usually ask, right? Oh, I just need to go down one more stop, make a U-turn, go over there. And now, do we get a little frustrated? Hello. Do we get a little frustrated? Sure. Sure. Would we call that shame, though? Do you go into shame? Like, >> okay. So, God wants to deal with this today. Repentance doesn’t need a huge bucket of shame dumped on top of you for you to make a right correction.

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That’s not what God designed it. He doesn’t use shame to manipulate his children into good behavior. >> Yeah. >> Okay. That now don’t get confused. There is something called conviction. >> Conviction. Sometimes we get that confused with shame because we might kind of feel the same, right? But we walk by faith and not by sight. >> So we have to understand when the convicting of the Holy Spirit comes to our life, when you feel the chills, right? He’s touching you and going,

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“Hey, Nicholas, I’m going to I’m going to change something, kiddo.” Like something about your life is radically going to pivot and take a different direction. And then we start to listen to that. What happens? It’s like what Christina just testified about. Something comes off and then something pours in. But with shame, nothing comes off. Something else comes on >> and then something on top of that. And then something on top of that. And pretty soon you’re joining the party

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and you’re throwing stuff on top of yourself. That’s called condemnation. And we’re driving oursel down. It’s not what God called us to. God never, listen to me, the father in heaven never treats us like that. >> Now, God’s so good. The Lord wanted me to stand in proxy today. for human males that have misrepresented what a father’s heart is supposed to look like. Standing in proxy, it means your actual father, like the one who sired you, is probably not in the house today

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standing in front of you. able to say, “Hey, son, daughter, I apologize. I didn’t know what I was doing and I made a mess. So, I am going to do that because that’s the father’s love.” And I specifically want to talk to men today because what’s been modeled for some of us is not father’s heart. It’s man’s anger, frustration, control. So on behalf of whoever did that to you or didn’t do for you, whether they were there or not there, God wants to heal that and restore you

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to an understanding of who he is as a real true good, loving, caring, powerful, gracious father. >> And for us in the house, you know, women can have the father’s heart, too. So, this isn’t like a sex thing. He’s calling us to display father’s heart in a new way this year. in a powerful way this year that will quite literally heal people when they come into contact >> with that type of heart. Okay, last thing the Lord put on my heart this morning. This was a prophetic word

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sent in by Pastor Bob. And so the point I was driving to was when the Lord speaks to us, we have a responsibility to receive it first. The reception, he’ll he’ll help us. Sometimes we are blocking, you know, things are blocked. He’ll deal with that side of things. Most of the time we don’t even know that’s happening. But there’s other intentional things where we’re not bringing our heart to him or we’re hardening oursel to him or we’re dull of hearing or we’re running off and doing

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our own thing or we’re we’re running after cares of this life more than you know the things of of of God. And so we have to learn how to receive and be really really good receivers. Yeah. So the prophetic word was this. The grace and love of God and his fervent love for his church will propel his body into places we have only scratched the surface of when it comes to living in his manifest presence. Remember presence means face. So living with him face to face. Individual yielding to corporate

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That word corporate means you know the greater right it’s not just not just me it’s we it’s all of us together individual yielding to corporate the unity of the faith this yielding is not a striving but a receiving it’s very interesting that word I I really you know You guys need to get the word, write it down. I would put it somewhere familiar and meditate on that because that is going to be something that we are going to learn how to operate in. Um, but we have to receive it to learn how

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to receive. >> Does that make sense? >> We can’t just hold it in our mind and go, “Wow, that was a wonderful prophetic word on that day.” And, “Wow, it was so amazing. He texted it in from the hospital.” and and we’re telling the story about how it came and we’re holding it on our head and it’s awesome and it’s great. Well, is it getting down into your heart? Is it getting deposited? And then are you keeping it? What’s been deposited? What’s precious? That

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treasure and earth and vessels that speaks to a lot of things, but God is constantly sewing into us. All right. So today is about the parable of the sewer. This is out of Matthew 13. I’m going to um read this quickly and then just give you a couple highlights on this for today. Uh many of us are familiar with the story of the sewer and the seed. Um some of us are not. But either way, Jesus is speaking directly to his disciples and to us. There’s a lot going on in this uh parable and things he’s speaking to of

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the the kind of the context there with the Pharisees and the people around him, but we’re going to take we’re going to take a you know kind of a uh we’re going to extract from it today what it it it means for us today. Is that cool? Amen. All right. So, Matthew 13:1 says, “That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat besides the sea and great crowds gathered about him so that he got into a boat and sat down and the whole crowd stood at the beach.” Verse three. And he told them many things in parables,

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saying, “A sewer went out to sew. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 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, um, but when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some 100fold, some 60, some 30.

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He who has ears, let him hear. Okay, now continuing on. Then the disciples came to him, came to Jesus and asked him, why do you speak to them in parables? Right? Like a parable was kind of a a a um we say the word metaphor nowadays. It’s a story that’s trying to tell you something indirectly. Yes. And so it’s an example. He’s laying it out and he’s drawing comparison between uh let’s say the kingdom of God and farming. Okay. So um they say why are you speaking in parables you know or

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like why is this cloaked in this story? Why aren’t you just saying it plainly? And he says now I want you to all hear this. He’s saying this to you today out of his word. To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. But to them it has not been given. For to the one who has more will be given and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables because seeing they do not see and hearing they do not

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hear nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, “You will indeed hear, but never understand. You will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their hearts and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.” Verse 16, but blessed is for everybody in the room that has received Christ. And as

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soon as Nicholas receives Christ, this is for you too, kiddo. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see and did not see, and to hear what you hear and did not hear. We’ll come back to verse 15 in just a second. Then the Lord speaks plainly to his disciples because for them again it’s been given to them. Their eyes have been blessed their ears have been uh or opened right and for

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them it is uh then given to them to know the secrets. It’s been given to us to know the secrets right. It’s our honor to search out a matter, right? The Lord hides things for us to go find them, right? So, what he does is he hides the kingdom. And you know where he puts it? Right inside you. And we’re going, “Where’s the kingdom? Where’s the kingdom? Is it over here? Is it over there? Is it where when’s it coming?” And he’s like, he planted he planted it. >> Amen.

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That’s the treasure in earthn vessels. >> He planted the kingdom inside us. Wow. >> Wow. >> We’ll let it marinate. It’s got to right. It’s got to go from here and slowly go down into where it’s meant to get planted. Okay. Now Jesus explains the parable. Verse 18. Hear then the parable of the swer. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was

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sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while and then tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word. Immediately he falls away. Uh she could fall away. Men and women are both included here. Okay. Right. Women don’t fall away at all. They’re they’re impervious to this. All right. Um careful. Whoa. Was that a Sorry. I thought a stone was coming at me. Anyways, as for what was sown among

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thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields. We’re going to focus on that word yields in one case 100, another 60, and another 30. Okay. So, let me give my uh attempt at a commentary here. When Jesus is explaining this, he’s talking about these four soil types. Now, he was talking about things that

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were going on in their present day, right? Those that were hard of heart, those that were like, “Oh, yeah. Jesus will I want to be your disciple.” And then as soon as he started talking about drinking his flesh and eating his blood, they’re like, “Never mind. I’m out.” Right? Um or they came under like, “Hey, are you one of those Jesus followers?” And they’re like, “Oh no, not me.” The scorn of of society saying, “Are you with that guy? Are you a Christian? Do

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you go to that crazy church up there, the in Miwok and Word of Life? Do you go to that crazy place? >> Heck yeah, I go to that place. I’ve been here all my life. I’m all kinds of crazy. Yeah. Crazy for Jesus. Crazy for Jesus. Let’s let’s let’s let’s get our semantics right. Okay. So, Right. So, there’s no root, right? And then there’s this there’s this other seed that’s sewn among thorns cares. And we’ll get into that in just a second. But but then he’s like really

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digging down like he’s looking for good soil. And what happens is the disciples at the end of the day were good soil. At least the 11. One of them was thought he was good soil. Was probably thorny soil. Receive some of the seed. But then the cares. Didn’t this dude go hang himself? >> Interesting, huh? The cares of riches, the pursuit of riches, they choked the word. what God was trying to sew into him. I mean, even at the table when the Lord’s leaning over and says, “Here, friend,

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I’m extending to you my body and my blood.” And he partook of it. His feet were washed, too, in that same moment. And then he left to go pursue his care of riches, to go get his 30 pieces of silver. There’s another picture of the thorns, how nasty that can be. So, these four different conditions of the heart. Um, I preached this six months ago. Uh, Pastor Shell asked me to to dig into this a little bit more. Now, I’m going to give you like a slight backstory to this. I promise this won’t

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be very long. Um, right before I got this word on these four heart conditions, I wasn’t even preaching on this. I wasn’t anywhere near this parable at I was preaching on like the kingdom of God and some other thing. But the Lord brought me into that after I woke up from a dream. And I don’t normally tell stuff like this to people cuz I don’t want to be a little, you know, mystical weirdo guy. And uh but the Lord gave me a dream and I was flying through a heart, you know, with the blood vessels and the capsules and

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like flying through a heart. I went into the valve of the heart and kept going through the heart. And I woke up and I was like, “Lord, what’s that all about?” And he said, “I’m going to heal heart conditions.” Hallelujah. >> Amen. >> That was six months ago. I didn’t know what that meant. And then I said, “Okay.” And then he said, “Boom.” And he started talking to me about the condition of the heart. Okay. Now, I want to parallel this gently, carefully

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with things that we have experienced over the last couple of months. And our dear father, Pastor Bob, >> our friend had a blockage to his heart that caused his heart to stop. And then the Lord revived him and is sustaining him and has reopened those passages so that life could flow again. What the Lord was then showing me is like, and I’ve again I want to express this very delicately. He was sharing that the heart of the church and the heart health is our responsibility. >> We are responsible to supply life one to

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another. >> Every joint is supposed to supply. Every joint is supposed to have something to give and every joy is supposed to. >> It’s the word of the hour. But when something doesn’t receive, generally speaking, it’s not receiving because something is blocking it. So if something is being blocked, >> then we need to we need to ask the Lord, Lord, what’s blocking this? What’s happening here? It could be shame. It it could be various things. Most the time, at least

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for the believer’s life, hardness comes through the deceitfulness of sin. Somewhere in our life, we are we are getting stuck. You know, Pastor Jonathan was talking about strife, conflict last week. He’s talking about being at odds with someone. And you know, we I know we took communion last week. By the way, welcome all of our uh the new members like everybody who who came. That was beautiful. I watched everybody’s prophetic words and and all your your testimonies of who you are. And just welcome to our welcome to the

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family of God. We are we are so extolled to have a growing family. It’s awesome. Um but let me jump back to these four conditions. The the four conditions, they’re fairly serious, right? So we we got a little prophetic picture. Unfortunately, I hope God doesn’t use Pastor Bob that way anymore, but we got a prophetic picture. He’s like, “Yeah, praise.” We got a prophetic picture of what is so crucial in this time in order for the life of God to be revealed and the unity of the body of Christ to

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be revealed and for God’s glory and his power and his demonstration and for the actual kingdom that’s planted within to actually be expressed and powerfully manifesting itself as a reality in our lives and corporately together. We have to deal with blockages. There’s no way around it. We have to deal with it. So, that’s what the Lord showed me in this dream. And so, here’s what I’m just going to give to you. You get to chew on it. And then I’m going to end with one final

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scripture for today. The conditions of the heart as the Lord was speaking to it was hard ground or the wayside. This is like compacted dirt. It’s a path that’s been walked on. There would be two plots where they’re growing and a lot of traffic in between and the sewer would sew seed and they would land on that plot and that plot and kind of on the the wayside the the walkway that people would walk through and that couldn’t receive seed because it was too hard. It was too compacted.

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It was it’s it the the the seed would just sit on the surface, right? It wouldn’t even go into the mind. I’m giving you this example of receiving something. It going into your mind. you’re actually like meditating and mulling it around a little bit and that that wasn’t even doing that. It was like sitting on the top of the head and not going in at all. It’s impossible. It can’t get through that hard ground. The word of God has no effect. That’s crazy. But the word of God is sharp and

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powerful and piercing down to the dividing of you saying that I can be so hard that I can resist that power of God. >> Yeah. Then there’s rocky ground, stony ground it’s called. The ground has some soil and some rocks. There’s a mixture of the two. And there’s just enough soil. There’s just enough soil on the surface for uh the seed to go in and to begin to shoot up like a little tiny. Ever anybody ever planted like you’re a kid and you’re like, you know, put a little

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little mustard seed or a tomato seed and the and it’s just barely barely you can’t see it here. It’s so far away, but it’s barely starting to shoot up through the surface, right? Well, that’s great, but then there’s so many rocks underneath the surface. Nobody sees them, but there’s hard things in here still. Maybe I’m I’m good in one area and I’m rocky in another area. Maybe I’m okay with God, but I am not okay with God’s people. rocky ground blockages

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problems, right? So the rocky ground um you know of course the word says that there’s no root in the person. So it’s surface only. It’s surface. It’s superficial Christianity. It’s I love God. Oh, God’s great. I’m going to church. Do you read your Bible? Nah, not really. Oh, do you pray at all? Nope, I don’t pray. I I just love church. I love what I get out of it. What do you get out of it? I don’t know. Exactly. And it’s not just even all those things. It’s it’s there’s no, you know, I

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started the started the message today with just the quiet and the stop. Just that there’s no stopping. We’re too busy. I’ve got too many hard rocks I’m pushing around in my life. I’ve got too many boulders I’m pushing that way and this way and I’ve got all these things I’m juggling and all of a sudden the ground is not good for growing. Rocks also represent burdens, stubbornness, self-reliance, unforgiveness. That’s rocky ground. Then there’s thorny ground. O this this is this is bad.

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Okay. So good soil surrounded by a thorny bushes. Thorny means troublesome. So something is harassing like see a beautiful like growth of of uh flowers like tulips or something really beautiful like that but it’s then surrounded by like a huge thorny bush and the bush is just slowly coming in and siphoning off all the resources. That’s the idea of thorny ground. And he compares thorny ground that is a heart that is surrounded by and getting choked out by enticement of riches, earthly ambitions, or lust for

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any other kind of treasure other than the treasure that’s already in your earth and vessel. Does this make sense? God planted the kingdom inside you. Treasure and earth and vessel. And we’re looking for other treasure to put in the vessel. We’re digging around and going, “This this treasure isn’t I don’t know. I don’t even know if it’s doing anything. So, I want that treasure and I want that treasure and I want and we’re we’re we’re sewing all kinds of seeds.” But

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little do we know they’re they’re not going to grow into something fruitful and godly. They’re actually going to turn into a weed and the weed is going to start to choke and it’s going to start to siphon off what God has actually planted in you. Soil doesn’t grow the seed. How many people think the soil grows the seed? Cultivated soil, it just provides the right environment. All the life is in the seed. All the potential is in the seed. All the promise is in the seed. Everything

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that pertains to life and godliness is in the seed. >> Our job is to give it an environment to flourish and to grow. >> Amen. So, see, we do have something to do. I know it’s a little hard. We hear these like, “Oh, we don’t have to strive. Oh, we just have to surrender.” And it’s we get a little We’re like, “Well, do I have to do something or not do something? Do I do something? Do I not do something? Do I It’s It’s a bothand, right? It’s a pastor Pat. Do I

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do something or not do something? >> I’ve always wanted to do that. I haven’t I haven’t I haven’t flung that out there before. All right. So So I’m I’m coming in for a landing here. Here’s the point. Here’s the point. When we receive, first we have to be conscientious of what it is we’re receiving, right? We don’t want to just receive any old seed. We want to receive that which will nurture what has already been planted. Are you with me? >> If the kingdom of God has been planted

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in you, when you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, when you confessed with your mouth and believed in your heart that he is Lord, and you get a new spirit born of God of incorruptible seed by the word of God which lives and abides forever and that is deposited into your earth and vessel. >> The job now is to allow the environment to be like a greenhouse. And this is why we have a church. I wish this was all glass and then we’d have a greenhouse effect because we’d see what we actually are. It’d be hot. It’d be

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really hot in here. We’d be sweating. It’d be a problem. But we would be hopefully growing. The church is the environment. The church is the greenhouse. The Lord was showing me this for men, for for husbands and stuff. There’s this word husbandry which actually means to like tend to a garden. Jobs of husband. Quick little extra takeaway for you right at noon today. I’m I promise I’ll be done in one one or two minutes. Husbands, your job is to create an environment where your family can grow and thrive.

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That’s the job. That’s the provision. There’s there’s more to that, but that’s the the idea of covering. But the Lord does that over the church. When he lords or is the husband and does husbandry to the church, he cares for every single precious tree that he has planted. Every seed is important because what God sws, he expects a return, right? He doesn’t put anything out there and comes back to him void. But what he sends forth, when he sends his word, because his word is his

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seed. When his seed gets to pile, are you with me? Are you receiving? Like when his word gets deposited into your heart, sometimes it’s a watering of what’s already planted. >> Sometimes it’s encouragement, sunlight for what’s already planted. So what God has deposited in you, we have to let it grow. All right, final scripture and I’ll let you out maybe if you’re good. I’m kidding. Galatians chapter 6. This is 9-10. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the

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one who teaches. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sws, one will also reap. For the one who sws to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sws to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. Hallelujah. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially to those who are of the household of faith. >> So especially to this family, family has to have a

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completely different completely different look. And we do that here. We are all about that. We are a a a place where you can absorb and have the greenhouse effect because we are all about your growth in God. We’re we’re about your personal growth, but also the corporate growth. We are growing together, being fitly joined together, supplying life to one another, allowing the life of God to flow. But each of us has a job, as it says in Proverbs 4, to keep our heart with all diligence, all

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vigilance is the word. It’s like be sober and be vigilant. Be sharp. Be aware. Be awake. Pay attention. What is God saying right now? What is his word saying on a daily basis? Am I watering my life or am I withering away? Am I abiding or am I toiling? Am I receiving or am I striving? Can we all stand real quick? Let’s just pray. We’ll thank the Lord. Did you have anything to add? Yeah. Good. I thought you did. Okay, let’s do this. I’m going to give you an exhortation and I’m going to turn it

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over to Pastor Jonathan. Cool. >> All right. If you’re ready to receive, why don’t you lift your hands? You know, we were taught in junior church that when we lift our hands, we’re making oursel like a cup. We’re making oursel like a vessel that is ready to be poured into. You know, Jesus said that you must receive the kingdom as a little child. The things of God are not complicated. We have to receive them and we have to move the rocks and the roots out of the way so that the seed

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can be received and it can go deep. So, Father, we thank you for your word, Lord. And we right now, everybody just out of your own mouth, we receive, Lord. We receive, God. >> We receive your word. We receive your water. >> We receive encouragement. >> Father, we receive correction. >> We know that you are a good father. You would never lead us astray. And Father, I pray right now, oh God, that you would impart to us a heart to hear, a heart to receive. Lord, that this year

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would be a totally different year, oh God. that you would heal conditions of the heart, oh God. That every hard place, oh God, would be softened, God. Every rock would be uh excavated, every root, oh God, would be surgically cut out and removed, oh God. Lord, we pray that you would produce within us good soil, oh God, that we would be the right environment because you have made us this way. We can’t even do that on our own. You do everything. You plant and you create within us a clean heart. You create an

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environment that’s rich with encouragement and watering and all the life that comes from your word. God, you said your word are spirit and life. And man shall not live just by bread alone, but every word that re proceeds out of the mouth of God. Lord, we receive your word today. Lord, grow it within us. God, cause us to be faithful and diligent to steward, to keep our hearts with all diligence, to tend to the garden of our soul, God. And we ask that it would bring forth a crop, a yield, Lord, that as we yield,

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we would yield. As we yield, as we surrender, that we would yield and produce. Surrender brings production. We thank you for this, Lord. Cause us to be all that you have destined and designed us to be in the precious name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Everybody in the house said, >> “Amen.” >> Let’s welcome Pastor John, please. All right, man. We’ve never had a message like that before. Thank you, Jerei. The Lord knows how to reach our hearts. Mrs. Shabala, would you come

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forward real quick? Um, Shalaba. All right, that’s how it goes. Yeah, shalaba. All right, you guys, we’re gonna go from here to fellowship and uh over there we have food. We get to hang out and we’re going to uh you know, just get to know each other. So, if this is your first time here and you want to join us, it’s a bold step, I know, but we have food uh prepared for you and we would love to uh spend some time with you. So, Christina, would you uh just fill everybody in? She runs our CR program and we’re really

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excited about what she’s been doing. Yeah. Okay. In Celebrate Recovery Tradition, I am a grateful believer in Jesus who has victory over drugs, alcohol, and pornography, and currently am working on full surrender. and my name is Christina. >> Um, so I know a lot of people think that Celebrate Recovery is just about substances and it’s not. And I really love what Jere said today about the rocks and the thorns because that’s what we are dealing with in Celebrate Recovery. It’s our hurts, our habits,

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our hang-ups. It’s whatever’s getting in the way of our relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So, I want to put an invite out there for anybody that wants to come and join us because it’s Tuesday nights at 6:30 and it is a disciplehip program. It is a leadership program and it is where we get closer to each other and closer to the Lord. So, >> yeah. >> Amen. Thank you. >> All right, you guys. Let’s go to fellowship. Thank you everyone. It’s been a great day.