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  • I just want to read this Scripture. Last week I was preaching about the mustard seed and

  • how it looks little, but little is much when God is in it, and how if you can see the tree

  • in the seed, it's a matter of time before the birds of the air are going to be nesting

  • in the branches of the blessing that sometimes you can't even perceive when it's in the beginning

  • stage.

  • I got stuck on that in my own personal life, and the phrase that really was recurring in

  • my heart was, "Yet when planted, it grows." I want to back up a little bit from the branches,

  • where we ended last week in Mark 4… I want to go back to verse 26 of this same chapter

  • of Scripture. Have you been enjoying the Functional Faith series? I had some people who have heard

  • me preach for 10 years now tell me, "This is my favorite one you've ever done." That

  • felt good to know I've still got it.

  • What we want to do today is stay on this theme of faith as analogous to a seed and use this

  • agricultural metaphor that Jesus seems so keen on in Mark 4:26 to illustrate some lessons

  • for our own life and illuminate our understanding of the kingdom.

  • "He also said, 'This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground.

  • Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does

  • not know how. All by itself the soil produces grainfirst the stalk, then the head, then

  • the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because

  • the harvest has come.'"

  • Wow. I want to talk to you today with an encouraging word. I want to tell you that the seed is

  • on schedule. The seed is on schedule. We want to dig into this. Let's pray one more time.

  • God, I ask that you would give me what these people need. You know good and well that I

  • don't have what they need, but I know good and well you do, so make a transfer through

  • my mouth. In Jesus' name, amen.

  • Ground work. Jesus is helping his disciples to have a perspective of patience as they

  • await the kingdom of God to be fully manifested. He knows they want a militaristic rule and

  • reign of the kingdom of God, and yet contrary to their expectations or desires, he's letting

  • them know the kingdom of heaven is going to be revealed in stages. So he gets into probably

  • the most accurate presentation of what it feels like in our own lives as we're waiting

  • on what was planted by faith to produce a harvest. He talks about different stages of

  • faith.

  • I think if you can realize that one thing about the nature of faith, that everything

  • God will reveal in your life is going to be revealed and accomplished in stages, you'll

  • be much better off than expecting some sudden shift in your life that fixes everything.

  • I've preached all over the world now enough to know that you can get a reaction in any

  • room if you announce a shift. "There's a shift. God is shifting something in your life."

  • If you say it's a sudden shift, well, the whole room will go off with that announcement.

  • Jesus said it's a little bit more like what a seed does in the soil. He wants you to know

  • that, and he wants you to know that some things just take time. Warren Buffett said that.

  • He was talking about people who want to get rich quick or build a business quick. He said,

  • "No matter how much talent or effort one possesses, some things just take time."

  • Is anybody pregnant? Congratulations. Pregnant as well? Congratulations. Holly, you'd better

  • not even look like you're about to raise your hand right now. I will come down there. Anybody

  • else? I saw two here at Blakeney. Yeah, that's great. I'm sure at UptownThat's a very

  • young youthful campus. I'm sure they're all doing their part for church growth, repopulating,

  • replenishing the earth.

  • So you're pregnant. That's great. I think it's interesting. Warren Buffett said that

  • if you want to produce a baby, you can't produce a baby in a month by getting nine different

  • women pregnant. I'm going to let that sink in. He was trying to say that some things

  • just take time.

  • Touch your neighbor and say, "I know you want it yesterday." I know you want Jesus to be

  • your Burger King. I know you want it your way right away. I know you thought this was

  • a drive-through, but some things just take time. How many know that destiny is not a

  • drive-through, where you place your order and pick it up three minutes later without

  • pickles? (I don't like pickles.) Some things just take time.

  • We have to get into this flow with Jesus if we're to expect him to work in our lives.

  • So he talks about stages. I would say that in this sermon I see three different stages

  • we should look at, and one is the scattering stage. He said the kingdom of God is like

  • a man who scatters seed on the ground. Then he mentions the sprouting stage, where the

  • seed sprouts and grows. In the scattering stage, you have to plow the ground or the

  • seed is not going to go down.

  • In the sprouting stage, you have to harvest the grain or it's going to go bad in your

  • field. I am not a farmer, nor am I the son of a farmer, nor have I ever planted a garden,

  • nor do I even like to eat vegetables, but I want to follow the analogy as closely as

  • I can today. Bring out my tools. This sermon is a farm-to-table sermon, okay? Hello! This

  • sermon is organic.

  • We want to use these illustrations. Do you see the way he put those tools in front of

  • me? This is a scythe. Have you seen this before? This is a spade. Have you seen this before?

  • Okay. The way he put these tools down, I think, with this one first and this one second, illustrates

  • the way many of us want faith to produce in our lives.

  • Jesus is giving us a parable to illustrate an invisible kingdom, utilizing visible terms

  • so we can relate and understand. The spade always comes before the sickle. Can you help

  • me preach this? I sure would appreciate it if you didn't look so confused. Maybe the

  • reason you look confused is because we live in a world that wants to harvest before we

  • plow.

  • We live in a world that wants to buy it before we can afford it. We live in a world that

  • wants to sleep with it before we put a ring on it. But Jesus said if you want to be in

  • this kingdom, first the spade and then the sickle. Why in the world would you go out

  • to a field with a sickle when you didn't plow up the ground with a spade?

  • Why in the world would you expect a fruitful marriage when you haven't sown seeds of love?

  • Why in the world would you expect a date from a woman at Elevation Church if you're not

  • even on the greeter team looking for one? Oh, that got a response. I just turned this

  • into a single's conference.

  • He said there is the scattering of the seed, and I love that part. Don't you? The scattering

  • of the seed. Don't you love when God just scatters the seed of his Word over your life?

  • Don't you love coming to church, where you can just get some good seed and some thoughts

  • of inspiration and someJust throw it out there, man.

  • Even on social media I try to scatter seed. That's my job. That's what I do. I am a farmer,

  • a spiritual sharecropper. So what I'm trying to do is just hit you with some inspiration

  • in the middle of your day when you're feeling sorry for yourself and give you a little kick

  • sometimes to get you to the next place you have to be to at 3:00 on Tuesday, because

  • sometimes I can't make it off of Sunday's seed. I need some fresh seed scattered on

  • my life. So he scattered the seed. This is the third

  • of three different seed parables Jesus uses that Mark has collected in Mark, chapter 4.

  • It's a compilation that he's using. He talks about the seed in different ways. He has given

  • an illustration of a reality we can all relate to. So he talks about that stage of scattering,

  • where possibility is eminent.

  • That stage of scattering, where you get really excited about something God can do in your

  • life. That scattering stage. The interesting thing about this farmer is he doesn't seem

  • very educated about the process, because Jesus said the man goes out and scatters seed, and

  • whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he doesn't know how. He

  • doesn't even know how it's happening.

  • A reporter asked me a couple of months ago, "Did you ever envision that all of this would

  • happen? This ministry, this church. Did you ever envision all of this?" I said, "Well,

  • kind of. That's kind of why I started it. I hoped anyway. I didn't know for sure, but

  • I hoped." Her next question was, "How did it happen? To what do you attribute it?" It's

  • in those moments where I can tell you something and I can make something up and I can point

  • you to some factors, but really, if you want me to be honest with you, I don't even know.

  • Have you ever had God do something in your life where, if you're honest, you don't even

  • know? Touch somebody next to you and say, "You don't even know." You can act like you

  • were intelligent enough to get that job, but the fact is you know you weren't qualified.

  • You can act like you were smooth enough to get that woman, but the fact of the matter

  • is you don't even know why she said yes. You don't even know why she was attracted to you.

  • Put your hand up. You know I'm preaching to you. You don't even know.

  • Touch somebody and say, "I don't even know." Just some kind of way, God did it. I have

  • to be honest about it. There are some things in my life I don't even know how I made it

  • through. I thought I'd be down on the canvas too. I don't even know how I got up and faced

  • another day. I don't even know how I made it through the death of my mother.

  • I don't even know, but somehow, someway, when it was all said and done, he brought me through,

  • and I'm still standing. I don't even know. I don't even know why he has blessed me like

  • he has blessed me. I don't even know why my kids turned out good. I did enough stuff to

  • screw them up. The truth is they should have been a mess. I don't even know how they turned

  • out on the honor roll. I don't even know how I got to college. I don't even know why I'm

  • in this place.

  • I don't even know how I live in this house. I don't even know how I drive this car. I

  • don't even know how my dad, who never made it past the eighth grade, opened up his own

  • business and taught me some principles, where now I can stand today and be a pastor. Sometimes

  • you look at the size of the seed and judge it against the size of the harvest, and if

  • you're honest about it, the only reasonable response is to throw up your hands and say,

  • "I don't even know!" For everybody who's living in a ridiculous blessing that you don't even

  • understand, give him some praise!

  • Holly asked me last night, "Where did that sermon come from?" You know what I said? "I

  • don't even know." I don't even know. He didn't even know. He's like a little child who opens

  • up the refrigerator. The refrigerator is full of food. "How'd the food get there?" "I don't

  • know." Like a child who flips on an electricity switch, and here come the lights on. "How

  • do the lights come on every time I flip the switch?" A child doesn't even know.

  • There's a sense in which faith is childlike. Faith like a child. Just to trust God and

  • to know that you don't have to know. Can I prove it to you? If I can prove it to you,

  • say, "Prove it to me, Pastor Steven." Come on, say, "Prove it to me right now, Pastor

  • Steven. I dare you to prove it to me right now, Pastor Steven."

  • All right, watch this. I want to welcome today all of our locations who are joining me across

  • many different cities in 13 locations and on the Internet around the world. Let me tell

  • you something. I don't even know how what I just said is showing up on a screen in Rock

  • Hill. I cannot explain it to you.

  • I can't explain to you about the Internet lines that carry it to somebody's iPhone who's

  • watching it in Topeka, Kansas. Why Topeka? It's the most random thing I could think of

  • to say. I don't even know how this sermon is getting from Charlotte to Kansas. I don't

  • have to know. All I have to do is sow this Word, because somebody is working on a switcher

  • somewhere who knows

  • I wish you would shout about the fact that you don't even have to understand it to walk

  • in it. You don't even have to know how the car works to drive in it. You don't have to

  • have a degree in electricity to have light in your house. You don't have to understand

  • all the ways God is working in your life for him to be working beneath the surface.

  • Somehow the message is getting out. Somehow Verizon or AT&T or Time Warner or somebody

  • is carrying this message on the wings of the Internet angels, and it's going out somehow,

  • someway. That's how God is going to bless you. Somehow, someway. That's what it means

  • to be a person of faith. It's to know that somehow, someway, it's going to work together

  • for the good of those who love him and are the called according to his purpose. I don't

  • even know how.

  • Now that my introduction is out of the way, it said he scattered the seed. In the scattering

  • stage, a spade is required. You have to plow the ground. In the stage where the grain

  • The grain didn't come up all at once, remember. It came uphow? As soon as the gran is ripe

  • Notice the order. First the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel.

  • The disciples were expecting the kingdom of God to come all at once, the reign of God

  • to be revealed all at once, and Jesus said, "It's coming in stages, but don't get nervous.

  • When it seems like it's off schedule…" Because throughout all of the stages of the seed's

  • growth, it stayed on schedule.

  • Our challenge as people of faith is to synchronize our faith with God's schedule. That's the

  • challenge. It would not be a challenge if God would mark harvest season on your schedule.

  • It wouldn't be a challenge, because you could keep yourself occupied until that point. "Don't

  • even worry about it. You'll be married by 27." "Well then I'm good. I'll just enjoy

  • myself till 27, and then my man will show up. Is it October of 2020?" Because, Lord,

  • we could be ready with the sickle if you would let us see the schedule.

  • Talk to me, people of faith. Talk to me, men and women of God of great faith. I could be

  • ready with the sickle if you would synchronizeIn our office, my schedule is synchronized.

  • They synchronize my schedule to Holly's schedule, to my assistant's schedule. It's helpful,

  • because now she can know where I'm going to be and what I have to do.

  • She can keep a surveillance system on my schedule to kind of know what she needs to pray about

  • me with and when I'm going to be in a bad mood because I had to meet with Chunks. (I'm

  • just kidding. Chunks is amazing.) She has all that on her schedule, and it helps us

  • to be in the same flow when we're on the same schedule. So let me ask you a question. How

  • do you relate to a God in patience who won't show you the schedule he's working off of?

  • The Scripture says the man scatters the seed on the ground, and the seed sprouts and grows,

  • but the real test of the seedThis is my message. All the other stuff wasn't my message.

  • This is my message. The real test of the seed isCan it survive the soil? He says the

  • seed is scattered, and you can see that. You can see the beginning of a thing.

  • It might not be easy. I have a long way to go, and my muscles might be sore at the end

  • of the day from the sowing process, but at least I can see that the ground is being broken

  • up. I can see it. The harvest season is a season of joy, because I'm going to be eating

  • from the field I'm working in real soon.

  • He says the seed sprouts and grows because of the work of the soil. I think that's where

  • most dreams die: in the soil. I think that's where most marriages fail: in the soil. I

  • think that's where most good intentions give way to apathy: in the soil. I think it's somewhere

  • between changing diapers and sending them off to college that most parents wonder, "Did

  • anything I taught you take root in your heart?" Hello!

  • I mean, it's one thing to be the farmer in this passage. He had to sow the seed, and

  • he had to reap the seed. But what about the times where you're not the farmer but you're

  • the seed? Can I preach this like God gave it to me? I hope you'll understand that sometimes

  • you're going to feel like that seed that goes down into the soil. The soil is a very strange

  • place to be, because when the seed is in the soil, it cannot see the intention of the one

  • who sowed it.

  • When the seed is in the soil, there are times where it feels like it's not going to get

  • enough oxygen or water to make it. I know I'm personifying an inanimate object, but

  • your life is a seed. Your dream is a seed. Your vision is a seed. Your purpose is a seed.

  • We talked about it last week. It seems insignificant, and it takes a lot of faith to see the purpose

  • in what seems insignificant. Do you know what takes even more faith? To

  • believe that the purpose is still working when the process is invisible. In the soil

  • stage. Yes, it takes faith to sow. Yes, it takes faith to reap, but what takes the most

  • faith is to be buried in the soil of uncertainty and keep growing, but that's exactly what

  • you have to do. The kingdom of heaven is like a seed.

  • The man scattered it, and it went in the soil, and it stayed in the soil, and it stayed in

  • the soil, and it stayed in the soil. Every stage of faith I find myself to be pretty

  • proficient in at this point in walking with God. I don't mind sowing. I don't mind working.

  • I don't mind writing a song. I don't mind writing a sermon. I don't mind ministering

  • to somebody. I don't mind sowing. I certainly don't mind reaping. I don't mind reaping a

  • bit.

  • The problem is I don't know what tool to use in the soil stage. When I'm sowing, I need

  • belief that it can become something. When I'm reaping, I need the strength to go out

  • and act on what I've initiated. There are some stages of faith where there's not a thing

  • you can do. It just takes time. I'm believing for something I can't see anymore. Sowing

  • a seed means releasing it. That means you have to let it go for a while. You have to

  • just step back.

  • The seed is in the soil to die. The farmer is telling you, "Yeah, man. I scattered the

  • seed, and I woke up, and I saw the ear, and I saw the head, and I took my sickle, and

  • I had a sandwich. It was the most amazing thing." The seed is going, "Can I speak? I

  • went down in that soil, and I was down in that soil so long I thought I was about to

  • die in the soil. I was gasping for breath in the soil. I didn't know if I had been forgotten.

  • I felt like the farmer didn't love me anymore. I didn't even know what I was going through.

  • Then all of a sudden I started to change shapes, and everything was unfamiliar, but I was still

  • down in the soil. I didn't even know if anybody remembered they had put me there." Can I hear

  • somebody shout because you know what it feels like to be a seed? Who am I preaching to?

  • I know this message is personal for somebody.

  • The seed is in the ground, but the Scripture says, "Don't get it twisted. The seed is still

  • on schedule." This is where I want to encourage you. If you feel like a seed that is in the

  • ground of uncertainty, the ground of disappointment, the ground of doubt… I know God is going

  • to fill in the blank for what you need, because you know what your seed is.

  • If I asked you, you wouldn't say the real thing that's working in your life. You would

  • say the "churchily" acceptable thing, the spiritually acceptable thing. You wouldn't

  • talk about the real dirt your life is in. You wouldn't talk about the real process you're

  • trapped in. You wouldn't talk about the real thought patterns. So you just substitute whatever

  • you need for seed. God knows what it is, and you know what it is, and I want to preach

  • about that seed.

  • One thing I found out about the seed is that the seed is protected. I need you to know

  • when you're in a soil season in your life, in a season where you can't see anything happening

  • See, God knew the seed would need to survive a period of vulnerability, so every seed is

  • wrapped in a hard protective coating. Until it produces what it's meant to produce, nothing

  • is going to be able to get what's inside of the seed.

  • I see Moses in a basket. They were trying to kill off all the Hebrew children, but until

  • the seed was ready to be released, the seed was in a basket floating down a river to protect

  • it. Touch three people and say, "I'm protected." I need you to know that I'm protected. I need

  • you to know that God has covered me. I need you to know that God has wrapped me up. I

  • need you to know that God didn't just put purpose inside of me; he put protection all

  • around me, and until it comes to pass, I need you to know I'm protected. The Devil can try

  • to snatch me up, but I'm protected.

  • The rain can fall really hard or I can go through a dry season, but I'm protected. I'm

  • coated. I have something on the outside protecting what's on the inside. God has me covered,

  • and it shall come forth, because I'm protected. I'm protected. God said to tell somebody your

  • child is protected. You're praying about him. While you're praying about him, you need to

  • know that God already wrapped him. There are some things in life you can't do

  • for your child, but how many are grateful that when the seed leaves your hands it never

  • leaves God's eye? His eye is on the sparrow, and he has your babies. It's protected. The

  • seed is in a stage right now where it doesn't have the roots to be able to get the nutrients

  • from the soil, and it doesn't have the ability through photosynthesisYou would think

  • I was an agricultural, horticultural expert preaching this sermon.

  • I got excited about the seed, and I discovered that the seed has its own food supply until

  • the time that it is able to derive the nutrients from another source. What am I trying to say?

  • The seed has not only protection, but the seed has provision. Everything I need for

  • life and godliness is inside of me. What I can't get from others in the soil stage, God

  • will give to me from the inside.

  • I'll date myself, love myself, help myself, bless myself, encourage myself. The stuff

  • that the seed needs is already in the seed, so don't even worry about it, because it's

  • protected. Protection and provision. If you're looking at somebody who's shouting right now

  • and you don't understand their enthusiasm, the reason they're shouting is they have some

  • stuff in the ground. They have some dreams in the ground. They

  • have some potential in the ground. When it rains, farmers don't get annoyed. When it

  • rains, everybody who has something in the ground reaches up to receive. I hear a sound

  • of an abundance of rain in the house today. Come on, you'd better stretch and catch this

  • rain. You'd better catch this. So the protection is on the seed, the provision is in the seed,

  • and it's just a matter of time before the potential is released from the seed.

  • I'm preaching this message to somebody who is in the soil stage. We will all sow and

  • we will all reap, and sometimes we'll sow in tears and reap in joy, but can the seed

  • of your faith survive the soil? When the seed goes down to dieJesus said in John 12

  • if a grain of wheat doesn't fall to the ground and die it just remains a single seed, but

  • if it dies it becomes many seeds. He was saying this to signify the kind of death he would

  • die. You do understand that Jesus wasn't preaching about okra. He was prophesying about his own

  • death.

  • He needed his guys to know, "I'm going to be in the ground for a little while, but when

  • it looks like I've lost, don't worry. We're still on schedule." The word of the Lord for

  • somebody today. You're still on schedule. Grace accounts for the years you've wasted

  • and the time you lost and even the opportunities you didn't know how to seize. You're still

  • on schedule. How else could Jesus have been interrupted in Mark, chapter 5, on the way

  • to Jairus' daughter's healing…?

  • When he got there, the people were making a loud commotion because the little girl had

  • died while Jesus was interrupted by the woman with the issue of blood who had been subject

  • to bleeding for 12 years. Jesus just keeps going to Jairus' house, and they say, "Don't

  • even bother to come now, because she's dead." Jesus says, "She's not dead. I'm still on

  • schedule. I might look late to you, but for what I want to do, I'm still on schedule."

  • When he got to the house, he said, "Everybody shut up, because she's not dead; she's sleeping."

  • Jesus shows up at the house, and he dismisses all the doubters who were in the room, because

  • what you see as dead God sees as sleeping. He healed the little girl and made her a sandwich, because he was

  • still on schedule.

  • "Jesus, you should have gotten to Lazarus' house early. It's a little late to show up

  • after his body has been in the tomb for four days." Jesus said, "Don't even worry. If I

  • had gotten there according to your timetable, you would have called me a healer. You already

  • knew I was a healer. I need to reveal a different dimension of my ability in your life."

  • "For your sake, I'm going to be late, but when I look late in your life, don't worry

  • about it. Roll the stone away, and I'll speak a word, because we're still on schedule."

  • "God, I'm 100 years old. I don't see how I can have a child at this age." God said, "Abraham,

  • go in to Sarah and do your thing, because you might feel old and it might seem too late,

  • but I am the God of the impossible, and you're still on schedule."

  • One thing that the seed, whatever state it was in, could sayOne thing you can know

  • about your life is no matter if you're plowing, no matter if you're reaping, or no matter

  • if you're waiting, you're still on schedule. I'm still on schedule. God has a way of making

  • sure that if one thing got bumped, if one thing got missed, if one thing got left out

  • The Bible is so great. The Bible says there is coming a time where the reapers will overtake

  • the sowers. Do you know what that means in your life? It means grace has the ability

  • to bring it in where life didn't even throw it out. God is saying in this season of your

  • life… I'm in something now. I don't even know who I'm preaching to.

  • The problem is you're so close to quitting in the soil stage you're about to walk away

  • from your hope and miss your harvest, because you can't see it in the ground. That's where

  • faith comes in. I can plow in the season of sowing, and I can reap in the season of reaping,

  • but what do I do while the seed is in the soil?

  • I have a suggestion, and I took it from the text. Here's my suggestion. When you've done

  • all you can do, prayed all you can pray, sowed all you can sow, prepared all you can prepare,

  • get some sleep. He said that whether the man was awake or sleeping, the soil was producing.

  • So when you've done all you can do, prayed all you can pray, altered all you can alter,

  • fixed what you know how to fix, get some sleep, and trust the soil. I read this Scripture

  • one time that said the Holy One of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. It means God

  • is a night owl, and it means he's also an early bird. I read that Scripture one day,

  • and I realized, "Well, if God never slumbers or sleeps, I might as well take a nap."

  • "If you're already going to be up all night looking out for me and watching over me, there's

  • no use in both of us being up all night. You've got this? Good. Because I need some sleep."

  • I need you to touch your neighbor, because they're stressed out, and tell them, "You

  • need some sleep." Tell them, "You look kind of tired. I see some circles over your eyes,

  • and you need some sleep."

  • You've already sowed all the ways you know to sow, and you can't reap yet because the

  • seed isn't done doing what it's going to do, so you might as well get some rest. You know

  • what? You reap better when you're rested. I said you reap better when you're rested.

  • What you need to do in this season after you've sowed all the seedsWho am I preaching

  • to? I need to know. I'm going to find it. I'm scattering seed. I want to see where it's

  • hitting. I want to see where the plowed ground is. You're going to need your strength to

  • reap, so rest while you can. Sleep while you can. Get some Z's while you can, because when

  • the harvest comes, you're going to need all that energy and all that strength and all

  • that mental capacity to bring it in. So why don't you get some sleep?

  • When Jesus was on a ministry assignment one time, he left one place, and he was going

  • to another. He was ministering on one side of the lake, and he was going to minister

  • on the other. You know what he did on the boat? He went to sleep. Why did he go to sleep?

  • Because there's nothing I can do about what's on that side while I'm on this boat. There's

  • nothing I can do about it right now.

  • They said, "Jesus, wake up. There's a storm." He got up to the storm and said, "Shh! I'm

  • sleeping. Leave me alone. I'm sleeping right now, because when I get up, I have work to

  • do." You know that's what the seed is saying in your life right now.

  • You're getting frustrated, but the seed is saying, "Shh! Let me sleep. I'm working down

  • here. I have to get a little bit of breakthrough from this hard coating. I have to get some

  • roots in this soil. I have to bring forth what I'm meant to bring forth. I have to get

  • ready to burst forth, because I'm about to become something spectacular." Let it sleep.

  • Don't rip it up out of the ground. Don't walk away from the field. Don't get frustrated.

  • Don't even be annoyed. Don't get irritable. Just let it sleep. Just let it sleep.

  • But when you go to sleep, make sure you sleep next to your sickle, because you want to be

  • ready when morning comes to say, "Here it is. I'm ready for you. I'm rested. I'm ready.

  • I trusted in sowing, and I'm ready for reaping, because I rested in the middle, and my life

  • is still on schedule." Shout, somebody, shout!

  • I'm in this stage right now where I'm in the ground. I have a dream in the ground. I have

  • a vision in the ground. Holly said to me the other day, "You know, your problem is you

  • want to rip up your seed while it's still working beneath the surface."

  • She said, "Your impatience is your greatest enemy, and it's your greatest strength." The

  • fact that I'm proactive is my greatest strength, but when I get so discouraged waiting on the

  • seed to show me what it is, I start ripping at stuff. Anybody like me just start ripping

  • at stuff? If you're like me, let it sleep. That seed wasn't dead; it was sleeping. That

  • girl wasn't dead; she was sleeping. Lazarus wasn't dead; he was sleeping. God told me

  • to tell you, "Your seed is just sleeping."

  • If you receive this message, would you stand? I have a spade for the sowing, I have a sickle

  • for the reaping, and I have rest for the time between. I have faith to just sleep on it.

  • Whether I'm sleeping or rising, that soil has a job to do. Would you trust God enough

  • to let the soil do what it's supposed to do? That takes faith. It takes faith to trust

  • that something is happening beneath the surface to the seed I've sown and that God knows the

  • right time for it to come.

  • Did you notice the parable said, "When the harvest comes, he reaps"? God knows when that

  • day is supposed to be. In the meantime, you sleep, and you let him do it. You let him

  • work it out. Sometimes the biggest problem with your harvest is your involvement. It's

  • the biggest delay. If you would leave that seed alone, it would become what it's supposed

  • to be, but you keep ripping it up out of the ground, thinking you need to put it in a different

  • field. This is a call for somebody to stay with it, to stay with the schedule of the

  • seed. It's sown in one season. It's reaped in another.

  • While it's in the soil, I'm praying God would wrap you up, protect you to survive the soil,

  • that you would be able to access the provision you have in you in this season while you're

  • in this soil. I declare over your lifeLift your hands. The Spirit of the Lord is

  • here. I declare over your life that he's going to send the rain in the time of rain.

  • I declare over your life that every seed in your life shall germinate. If it's in the

  • ground right now, there are some things that are happening to that seed that are only going

  • to serve to sustain it when it comes forth. Everybody say out loud, "I have faith to wait."

  • God, in this season, I lift my hands to you, and I'm receiving the rain of your Spirit

  • and the rain of your promise. I receive the light now, the illumination of your Word on

  • my situation. God, I thank you for what's happening in dark places in my life. I thank

  • you for what's happening beneath the surface in the motivational core. I thank you for

  • what's happening to the infrastructure of me.

  • God, I believe my seed is growing. I believe it's growing just like your kingdom is growing.

  • I believe as it's done in heaven, it'll be done on the earth.

  • I declare today over your life it shall come to pass. Can we declare it? It shall come

  • to pass. Over every dream, it shall come to pass. Over every initiative born of faith,

  • it shall come to pass. We believe it. We receive it. We establish it.

  • So we clap our hands and we ask you to send the rain, God. Send the rain on the soils

  • and the rain to the seed. Bring your Word forth. Accomplish it. Do it, God! Do it, God!

I just want to read this Scripture. Last week I was preaching about the mustard seed and

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