The Heart to Understand
Biblical Lessons from Isaiah 1 - 6
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good morning welcome if you're new here among us my name is gene i serve here at c3 church as your lead pastor and i wonder if there's anyone else here who's heard of samuel taylor coleridge you might have to be a really well-read person now the only reason i know about him is because i was a metalhead in the 1980s and so i knew the song rhyme of the ancient mariner nobody else okay i'm all alone on that one he was a british poet so he lived somewhere around i think it's 1772 to 1834 around so we'll see but a lot of people know about him if you're well read you know about him he's a poet but what a lot of people don't know is that he was a theologian too he was a pretty well respected theologian and so there's a story about him and i'll shorten it just for the purpose of today's message where he's having a conversation with someone who doesn't believe that children should be taught about religion not until they're old enough to decide for themselves well of course coleridge disagrees with this position but he's a real smart guy so he doesn't bother engaging in an argument with the guy he simply invites him to his home where he knows there's kind of a patch of land that's just unkept weeds have grown up it's terrible well he invites a guy over and he says you know what come see my garden takes the guy out to see it and the guy says that's not a garden it's just a patch of weeds and so now i'll quote him now you see i did not wish to infringe upon the liberty of the garden in any way i was just giving the garden a chance to express itself and to choose its own production today we will be continuing in our the rest our series the rest of the story where we will be looking at a lot of agrarian parables like farming type of parables seeds vineyards things like this it's in the bible an awful lot so if you're new and if you don't know the idea behind this series is that we're looking at the rest of the bible that's why it's called the rest of the story and it's kind of amazing there are people who have been christians their whole lives some 40 years and they're saying i never knew that was in there like that's a problem but we're here to fix it so that's what we're all about we honor god's word here this is the program guide we use here nothing added nothing taken away so we're going to take our time going through the series and that's a good thing looking at the rest of the story last week we looked at uzia and we saw that there was a lesson there right staying in your lane i talked about driving and being from new york and what that's like and all the new yorkers are like uh-huh that's exactly the way it is so staying in your lane although uzziah was powerful he became proud and then he wanted to be a priest and i told you guys there are a lot of things in the outside world they apply but there are a lot of things that don't and so this is not a career it's a calling today we're going to continue along and there's a little part i left out on purpose we're going to get to it so we're not doing line by line every single line i'm relying on you guys to do some homework some reading at home and we cover a lot at the bible study but here's something i intentionally left out so we were in second kings 15 second chronicles running parallel 26. verse 22 though the rest of the events of zio's reign from beginning to end are recorded by the prophet isaiah son of amos when we did this when uziah died he was buried with his ancestors his grave was in a nearby burial field belonging to the kings for the people said he had leprosy so you're supposed to be outside the camp and his son jotham became the next king isaiah that's interesting so we get the prophets weaving their way through these accounts of the kings the bible is not in chronological order so what i'm attempting ish to do for you guys is kind of put it back in chronological order isaiah is a big long book so this is going to be spread out an awful lot but let's just go there and we'll see the tie-in isaiah 1 1. these are the visions that isaiah son of amaz saw concerning judah and jerusalem he saw these visions during the years when uzziah jotham ahaz and hezekiah were kings of judah very interesting so here we go and there we are 66 chapters isaiah it's a pretty long book again it spans over the reigns of four different kings so his eyes reign's pretty long was that 52 years or so so it's a long time a really really big book so what we're going to do kind of goes in and out of these reigns we're going to do the first six chapters the first five some debate where this happens but i'm not going to make this any more confusing we're just going to go 1 through 5 i'm going to land on 6 and we'll highlight that and you'll see why in a minute so prophetic book chapter 1 says it's to judah in jerusalem not two different places jerusalem is the capital city of the region of judah so it can get really confusing because you'll say to israel to judah to jacob to so you got to know when some things are somewhat synonymous here it is it's mostly to judah jerusalem now what we see here is it's pretty interesting there's some pretty strong language he's likening them to like sodom and gomorrah oftentimes when they go after the idols the prophet on behalf of god will say you're like prostitutes so he'll use really nasty language here but it's interesting because if you're very familiar with the prophets and if you have a good memory memory and you remember like three weeks ago we did amos not a maze chapter five he talks a lot about false worship and so we identified with that we talked about when people come to church and they sing a bunch of things they don't really mean then they go out and they treat their waitress like total garbage so it's kind of like that but worse they're living really unrighteous lives so how does god respond to that take away the noise i don't want to hear it i'm not listening when you're praying when you lift your hands in prayer i'm not looking and so the language is really really similar here in isaiah also again agrarian type of things you will be like a great tree with withered leaves like a garden without water now that should be bringing your mind to jesus and the withering of the fig tree right parabolic kind of thing and mark especially turn the page the lord's future judgment you get a refrain in there human pride will be brought down and human arrogance will be humbled only the lord will be exalted on that day of judgment kind of sounds like that those who exalt themselves will be humbled those who humble themselves we'll be exalted we saw that last week if we continue continued warnings of judgment and here we get a courtroom scene and this is going to happen a lot in isaiah he sets up the scene and he says the lord takes his place in court and presents his case against the people the lord comes forward to pronounce judgment on the elders and rulers of his people saying this you have devoured my vineyard again fiery judgment but he'll provide shade in the form of a cloud or a pillar of fire by night what does this remind you of the exodus account so it's like the same thing he's going to lead his people once again so it's the condemnation and the restoration the condemnation and the restoration but the restoration is a future time for them chapter five the vineyard it's a song about a vineyard and this reminds me of mark 12. it starts out the same way so you got to be thinking jesus probably has this in mind right so sets up the vineyard talks about a wine press and a watchtower but this parable that jesus is telling or not this one today but the one jesus is telling much later has a different purpose it's to denounce the religious leaders of the time they're the tenant farmers god the father is the owner of the field he sends people to collect like the rent but they kill them they beat them up so these are like the prophets and we've learned this the prophets they don't have a really good retirement plan so jesus is saying that but then the owner the father will send his one and only son to collect and they kill him too what do you think the owner the father is going to do with the vineyard it will be destroyed so here says the same type of thing he's going to destroy it but in this case god has given them everything they need in the vineyard to produce good grapes but instead they're producing bitter or sour grapes turn the page we land isaiah 6 1. it was in the year king uzziah died that i saw the lord he that's the lord was sitting on a lofty throne and the train of his robe filled the temple attending him were mighty seraphim each having six swings with two they covered their faces and with two they covered their feet and with two they flew they were calling out to each other holy holy holy is the lord of heaven's armies the whole earth is filled with his glory their voices shook the temple to its foundations and the entire building was filled with smoke then i said it's all over i'm doomed from a sinful man i have filthy lips and i live among a people with filthy lips yet i've seen the king the lord of heaven's armies and one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongues he touched my lips with it don't try that at home and said see this cold has touched your lips now your guilt is removed and your sins are forgiven then i heard the lord asking whom should i send as a messenger to this people who will go for us i said this is isaiah here i am send me and he said yes go and say to these people listen carefully but do not understand watch closely but learn nothing harden the hearts of these people plug their ears and shut their eyes that way they will not see with their eyes nor hear with their ears nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing so here isaiah is cleansed so to speak he has filthy lips no he's not from new york but anyway it doesn't work i tried so then he answers the call again it's a calling not a career here i am lord use me but god tells him the people will not listen like isaiah did now if you're familiar with the word those scriptures sounded familiar to you so if we go to the new testament we see that jesus is cleansed and by no way am i saying that he needs to be cleansed of sin that's not his issue he goes up to john the baptist we need to do this john the baptist protests i should you should be baptizing me he said no we need to do this to fill all righteousness so he's just not going through the motions i don't want to belittle it but he doesn't need to be cleansed of sin but he's technically cleansed he goes through that motion and if we keep reading he begins teaching so mark one happens right out the gate and then we get to four and he starts teaching in parables it takes a while longer matthew 3 to 13 to get to this teaching there's a sermon on the mountain there and some other stuff but i want you to notice something it says that he teaches in parables quite intentionally the disciples ask especially in matthew why why are you teaching in parables this is his answer matthew 13 13 that is why i use parables for they look and they don't really see they hear but they don't really listen or understand this fulfills the prophecy of isaiah that says when you hear what i say you will not understand when you see what i do you will not comprehend for the hearts of these people are hardened and their ears cannot hear and they've closed their eyes so they cannot see and their ears cannot hear and their hearts cannot understand and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them now if you're a keen observer you notice that they're a little different because jesus is quoting the greek version of the old testament not the hebrew so you can go back all the way to the beginning of the series and see that that's a thing that's why you might be confused if you see the quotes and they usually almost like never match up perfectly that's why so jesus is quoting it paul is quoting it that's why they don't match up but if you get a greek old testament you go oh if you can read that there are english translations though you can always ask me and i'll point you to them digression we go back why does he not want them to hear and understand it's a heart issue it's a heart issue so let's go back i've taught on this before in the series but it's important and worth repeating the new testament repeats this story three times so i think we can do it twice right maybe i've done it more than that the parable of the sower so before that jesus just teaches this parable and people get confused there's a farmer scattering seed and some of that seed fell on a rocky path like pavement to us and so the birds came scooped it up people stepped on it then some fell on kind of rocky-ish soil couldn't really get a good root so when it came up gets scorched by the sun then some fell among thistles literally is what it says so just think weeds came up a little bit but it got choked out by the weeds couldn't produce any fruit some falls on fertile soil and so though they grow up and produce a crop 30 60 100 times that's it so the disciples are like why do you teach in parables what's going on here and jesus says these mysteries are revealed to you i'll explain them to you but not them you see the disciples like isaiah have heard and answered the call they left their businesses matthew for example tax collector prize a lot of money he left the tax booth to follow jesus so interesting simon peter leave the fishing business james and john the same thing they've listened to the call and they followed jesus they also have the hearts to understand whole thing so he says so to you i will explain everything you understand to those with the right hearts the word will get in it's a calling but some people might not be hearing anything from the lord why jesus explains so he says well the seed is the word of god it gets scattered on rocks they don't get it and so that bird that satan plucks it up what was intended to be sewn into the heart god takes it away from them the rockyish soil well those are the people that are kind of excited at first but when persecutions come when it gets hard to get scorched by the hot sun clear reference to something those that fall among the thistles or the weeds those are like the ones yeah they're they're excited but then the worries of this world especially wealth overtake them and it chokes them out they can't grow or produce any fruit at all but then the fertile soil the word gets in there nice and deep and then it grows up and produces a crop 30 60 100 times it's a heart issue you see the world the third position so they're your heart positions that's what it represents the soils represent the people and their heart positions but even if it gets in there a little jesus teaches the world can choke it out the world can choke the word out when you are surrounded especially by the noise of the world you can't hear the word of the lord furthermore if someone is worshiping the things of the world their heart belongs to the world they have hearts that can't understand this is what isaiah is talking about because it belongs to the wrong thing that person has rejected the word colossians 3 5 so put to death the sinful earthly things lurking within you have nothing to do with sexual immorality impurity lust and evil desires don't be greedy for a greedy person is an idolater worshiping the things of this world ephesians you can be sure that no immoral impure or greedy person will inherit the kingdom of christ and of god for a greedy person is an idolater worshiping the things of this world said last week say it again when god repeats it it's kind of important now a quick note on this thing we're not talking about wealth rich or poor we're talking about greedy versus generous very important to understand so a lot of people can't see both sides of the coin when they look at the bible and that's the problem there's a time for almost everything so there's some people if i put a quarter down i put it on tails and i said okay that's a quarter right yeah that's a quarter close your eyes close the person's eyes i flip it over i put it on heads open them up is that the same quarter they go nope interesting they can't see both sides of the coin and that's how it is with wealth in the bible it's can you handle it like the young rich ruler can't that's why jesus says give up everything that's your sin then follow me but we see throughout the bible new testament there are wealthy benefactors lydia in philippi acts 16. she's a merchant she makes good money enough to have a house doesn't even talk about her husband takes care of paul come stay at my house phoebe the letter to the romans that she delivered cost around three thousand dollars just to make one copy in today's money one copy it's a wealthy woman paul calls her like a benefactor to him they talk about home churches priscilla and akilah there's a church in their home a whole book of the bible a lot of people don't know philemon you ever read philemon just one chapter but it is two a wealthy guy philemon he has servants or slaves that's not a good thing but slaves in his house he can afford them to the church in your home so he writes it to the wife aphea and his son the whole thing is he's sending onesimus back to him treat him kindly because philemon has the right to kill him for running away he's a powerful guy but he's running a church in his home and historians will say from history we know he was a bishop and the cool thing is onesimus went from slave to bishop to and they're some of the first christians to be killed by nero and the persecution the point we see wealthy benefactors even running churches in the bible you kind of need them to keep the lights on or now but they had needs if you have a home church you gotta have money to make that happen so it's just important to note we have different callings the issue time and time again is generosity is generosity so if you are like my wife and i a decade ago when we came into this church we had money we were successful business people and no one was telling us hey you got to sell everything they were telling us you got to downgrade a little bit so one of those sports cars and then give the money to the church so that's the deal be generous to the church if you can help it's an important thing nobody in the church has any money we'd probably be on the beach right now and you'd be complaining about how hot it is out there right so if you like this stuff right so that we need the wealthy people to help us out that's not the issue so it's important that we're generous with what we have it's okay to have nice things but it is not okay to worship them put them up there so how can we tell what it is that we really worship it's what we spend our time and our money on now in pastor school we got put through a test they're like let me see your checkbook that's like you're back to the kids bank app right where you i don't know what it is now you're bitcoin right so check your bank app and check your calendar app and some good mentors will say let me see it it's convicting really convicting what do you spend your time and your money on that's what you worship it's hard hitting try it but for the normal person who doesn't want to be a pastor pastors are called to give up a little extra because we're supposed to be leading by example all right so outside of your work hours your family duties what do you spend the majority of your time and money on what are you doing outside of those responsibilities furthermore this is where it begins what do you think about the most what's on your mind most of the time are you praying are you talking to god are you contemplating his word did you know that's a thing that's a thing check it out deuteronomy 6 4 listen o israel the lord is our god the lord alone that is the shema israel elohim ask a young jewish boy to say that they recite that constantly and you must love the lord your god with all your heart all your soul and all your strength and you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that i'm giving you today repeat them again and again to your children talk about them when you are at home and when you're on the road and we were going to bed and we were getting up tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders write them on the doorpost of your house and your gates get a scripture stencil or something joshua if we continue 1-7 be strong and very courageous that's where people stop be careful to obey all the instructions moses gave you do not deviate from them turning either to the right or to the left then you will be successful in everything you do study this book of instruction continually meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do you hear that strong and courageous part a lot don't you but the rest of it never makes it to the verse of the day think about it then so how many people who subscribe to the prosperity gospel will read the rest right then oh no wait i have to be completely obedient to god then and only then will you prosper interesting now here's the thing some you're already going there and i got there heavy because i practiced this week here's the thing that's the old testament we're not under the law of moses correct but when it's reiterated in the new testament god is saying keep that one keep that principle so right i'm not going to stone anybody to death today right there's a principle i want to show it to you i'm going to get a little nerdy for a second so just hang in there timothy first timothy pastoral epistle basically meaning it's a letter written by paul to timothy to give him instructions on how to be an elder but a pastor in today's terminology that's it simple as that telling the people what to do hear the qualifications for elders this is what you should expect from your people and what you should tell your people to do that's basically it in the midst of that that's the context first timothy 4 6 in pointing these things to the brothers out to the brothers and sisters you will be a good servant of christ jesus constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the good doctrine you have been following if you can read the rest i will buy you a cup of coffee today even though it's free so if we look at that second line i will read that for you christ jesus entrophamonos i probably said that wrong my greek teacher is going to text me today that's fine i'm not greek i can read it but i can't say it great that is a complicated word and i've asked greek people about it and they say like gene you just don't understand like you know you american people you can't constantly nourish is like the closest we get i didn't use an nlt there nasb gets it a little bit better in that particular case but the concept is described like it's something that is constantly and perpetually nourishing you it's just an amazing thing they say that greek people they go to church and they read the scriptures and let's cry it's just beautiful the concept so this is about the best way i can deliver it to you so he's telling timothy and so if you keep reading the words face is in there right so pretty good so the words of the faith the word of god should be constantly nourishing you in like this perpetual thing so if you're doing the deuteronomy thing right and you're just constantly contemplating and meditating on these things what are they doing they're nourishing you they're nourishing you so when the world the news whatever you're looking at on the internet and this noise no i reject that the words of god that is truth that is truth not this other garbage constantly nourished so people can i have problems well how much are you praying how much are you in the word not a lot well of course you have problems of course because you've been listening to the world the world is problematic highly that's why be in the word so if someone isn't listening to god back on that point why should they expect to hear him think about that right you have people just lord am i hearing anything from you not hearing anything he's not answering my prayers you might want to try listening it's crazy you've done this and then asked why you're not hearing anything it's nuts you see if someone isn't in the word how will they have the heart to understand you see many are blind and especially deaf to the voice of god because they don't know his word they can't understand him because they aren't familiar with his words they aren't familiar with his words and they've fallen in love with the world i've had people come in here and say oh there's a lot of scriptures i'm like that's a bad thing you know no i like when you talk i'm like that's a problem you're crazy you should want to hear from god i'm gonna explain it but god's a little better than i am just a little you see they've chosen the world over the word so this sounds unfamiliar it sounds weird because that's not what i'm used to hearing and listening to all the time and that's a problem their loyalty is divided so the word can't take root and they themselves can't produce fruit so i want to take you to the book of james jesus's brother james it kind of reads like snapshots of jesus's teaching especially like the sermon on the mount so he's drawing a lot from that james 1 5 if you need wisdom ask our generous god and he will give it to you he will not rebuke you for asking but when you ask him be sure that your faith is in god alone do not waver for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind such people should not expect to receive anything from the lord their loyalty is divided between god and the world then they are unstable in everything they do let that soak in their divine their their loyalty is divided between god and the world they shouldn't expect to receive anything from god just a little note here the devil can bless you too that's what he did to jesus he tempted him so some people are thinking why aren't i a lot of my stuff i'm being blessed if it's leading you down a road of sin it ain't from the lord think about it read the word so james 1 is really interesting too because it actually quotes and it sounds like the part of isaiah we look like to looked at today but he's quoting isaiah 40 in the greek again preferring the greek version of the old testament and he's saying that people he's talking about rich people now he's like they're like grass or a flower when the sun scorches they'll fade same kind of idea here drawing from isaiah be quick to hear slow to speak and get angry man's anger does not accomplish the righteousness of god we can be angry you're not god man's anger does not accomplish the righteousness of god and it says don't just be a hearer of the word but a doer of the word that's important now the end of chapter 1 27 pure and undefiled religion in the sight of god and the father oh sorry god and father is this strange wording sorry to look after orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world chapter two here's where i want to land on our final application so he paints this scenario so there's a lot of condemnation to the rich and again it's not because they're rich it's because they're not being generous and they're showing partiality and this is important so he paints this picture listen if oneya sees a guy come in and he specifically says got a gold ring on his finger and fancy clothes don't say no take take the best seat in the house don't do that and if a poor person comes in with rags don't say they sit over there on the floor that's the point it's about partiality and not letting the world corrupt you and giving preference to one person over another that's the problem so there are two issues if you're rich great give to the church but i shouldn't be looking like okay there's some rich people came out make sure i b-line it for them right afterwards right no but people do this and that's wrong and they did it back in the early church this is what james is talking about no no partiality so being in the word means you know these instructions and that is the key to hearing what he has to say to you particularly towards people who are exhibiting partiality they're powerful according to the world and by doing that it can make you deaf to people who might be carrying the word he's sowing seeds and sometimes he uses unlikely candidates to bring his word to you that happens a lot here in the beginning of my walk i like to ignore a lot of things if i'm being honest but i had trouble like discerning stuff people would come to me and say things and i'd be like why are they saying that but as i grow in the word as i grow in the lord it's kind of like immediate so the person will start talking i'm like uh-huh like i know what he's saying here and sometimes it still takes me a little while to figure out now if you've been watching the messages or you were here you saw a pretty cool testimony last week but there's more so i told this testimony and i'll just review it briefly again if you're new or whatever it is and i sat down after the message and my wife is looking at me like with eyes like pie pleats she doesn't normally look surprised because she's really super smart so not too much surprises her and she's got these eyes like what happened you know i'm like checking everything you know this is not good and she's like there's more and i said okay so there is so just backing up so you got to kind of track along here you might want to write some of this stuff down there's going to buy a lot of moving parts and i'll try to make it easy and not talk so fast so god has been sending a lot of people from new york in here and it's funny because that's where we're from a decade ago we moved here we're still adjusting i'm told they still have a little bit of an accent that's okay not a bad thing it's edgy down here right so so we moved from there we were successful business people so we came down here we were not coming down here as christians god called us into the church i had to drop like a zero from my salary i cried a lot my wife still in the business world she takes care of a lot of the business stuff for the church so we're different callings right so there you go right so she is out there that's good i'm called in here crying good following along so really i don't want to be poor so i'm not poor but anyway kept some nice things that's okay all right so anyway he's been sending people from new york in here and it took me a while to figure out why because it's crazy like crazy someone was sent in here from new york and they they worked at the same hospital where my daughter was born i'm like how did you get here right so i figured out that god is telling me just just stay with the integrity thing stay in the word to just stay there just keep the course keep doing that it doesn't matter who doesn't like it and you'd be surprised a lot you're like how can someone not like the bible trust me a lot of people don't like the bible they want and you see it's the big idea they want the one or two scriptures on the screen and there's a lot of hyping up and talking they want people want a motivational speech that's what they want they want a show a rock concert and a motivational speech and even other pastors have told me you got to give them a show and a motivational and your gene this is mean what you're saying i'm like it's not even as bad as the bible like if i started reading this to you like just and shutting up and just reading this to you you'd be like wow and i have i've done bible studies where i just read first peter and they're like dude does it really see yup be happy when you suffer be happy when they burn you alive it says that people don't hear that they're like are you crazy what are you talking about and literally hat deputy johnson it's that bad mega former mega church pastor becomes a cop tells you everything you need to know about this job but he'll tell you the same thing it's just a bunch of nonsense it doesn't have anything to do with this so when you do this people complain because strangely we're doing something different isn't that weird we're talking about that this morning one of the board members and i people come in here wait a minute this isn't like other churches that's sad that's sad read your bible it's sad but jesus predicts that so anyway sending in people from new york to tell pastor gene it's okay just keep doing what you're doing stay the course the people that stay they love the word ah the hearts they're like yes that sounds so good that's refreshing i hear that a lot it's not me it's the word so he's sending people in in this particular case sends beth and cj in here and this is like several weeks ago or whatever it is so i'll just go through this really fast sends them in and i notice them they're in the front with lonnie he's the resident fact checker he's there in the bible that's a good thing we encourage that that's actually a good thing when there's new people i'm like close the bible that makes people very nervous but if you know the word no problem right so they're there and i'm like that's not normal nobody sits in the front row the first time so either they're totally crazy or like they get it right i don't know it's either one or the other so i'd be line it for them right and i go up to cj cj's like hi what's up throws the beth under the bus we'll talk about that in counseling anyway i where are you from because nobody's from here we're from new york ah where in new york you wouldn't know yes i would right down the street from where i used to live and i'm like this is normative now at c3 this is getting crazy right so she goes i i feel like i'm home i've tried a bunch of churches out and i feel at home here welcome home give a big hug we're coming to bible study no you're lying nobody tells the truth about that so anyway bible study comes don't expect to see anybody at all i get changed because i don't like dressing like this during the work week shorts sandals i made a valve not gonna wear shoes anymore when i moved to florida they're uncomfortable it's hot so anyway i'm getting ready for bible study i go upstairs there's a room where i get changed not appropriate in my office because there's a camera overlooking me that would be weird so i go upstairs and i go and get a pair of pants because pants are important to wear but on my way up there beth like right in my face like as i leave the office door i'm like oh it was crazy it was crazy so she's like i really need to talk to you which is better before after the bible study neither didn't say that because i'm a pastor so i like lesser of two evils i'm gonna be hungry and tired after bible study before so i gotta get my pants on that's important when you're meeting with a woman then put your pants on before you meet with a woman so we have the meeting and she says you don't know me i know you and so long story short i just basically let her talk when pastors do this they're waiting for you to finish she has no problem with that she's from new york she's going to get through it really fast so anyway it turns out that she worked for one of the martial arts instructors that worked for me in new york one of my very few i think i mean four or five black belts hard martial art school with really great integrity really good school so that's weird but it turns out there's a long story but the instructors wasn't enough when we moved down here to just do their jobs and get paid or live in my house for free they had to rob from me and beth was kind of a part of that and so she answered the call now she didn't know that when she was watching me on that sunday she figured it out later and she was like oh you know now most of us might have just said i think i'm going to find another church but the lord said you go in there and confess she started with if you need to have me arrested that's fine no you're forgiven as jesus forgave me it's all good that's a pretty good testimony those are a lot of dots connecting right there it's pretty crazy but it gets better bear with me let me just rewind to a different time been here 10 years my house 20 years old needs a roof uh-oh now luckily it's not a tile roof house isn't that nice it's a shingle roof so it's a little bit cheaper i've seen people break down in tears over replacing tile roofs so i started thinking about the roof i don't have businessman money coming in again some nice things but all paid for how am i going to get a new roof getting all nervous if we'll be honest pray about it oh yeah there's a guy that comes into church once in a while he works for a roofing company contact him mike is his name he comes over he says you know what there were some wind storms or tornado things or whatever you got some chips i'm going to get an insurance adjuster sorts the whole thing out great that would have been a good little testimony right there but no i get a message from my friend cosmo i'm going somewhere with this hold on just try to remember everything now cosmo is like he used to be my best friend he's one of the best fighters in the world i'm not exaggerating just because i know him it's actually a real thing he's amazing really good muay thai guy he teaches here in naples at the gym that we started but not the same location or name they changed it good for them and so there's a guy keith he's from newburgh you know where that is new york we moved him down here to run that gym and then god again kicking and screaming crying called me out of it not supposed to do that anymore gene stop heather okay keep going fine so a little jealous from time to time but anyway so cosmo he texts me and he's like do you need solar panels i'm like where's the joke bro like you know he's a fighter a muay thai instructor what are you talking to me about so i don't get it right so i'm not understanding any of this i'm like you're stupid and he's like no i'm selling solar panels i'm like are you that old like the fights aren't paying out anymore you don't get private lessons like what's going on this is a weird thing and so after all the jokes and the different things like that he wants to do like a zoom meeting because he wants to sell me solar power i'm like listen i am a pastor we don't have solar panels call heather and she'll say no too right so that's it that's what if you need things in the church and she says no unless it's absolutely necessary so anyway that's why they don't give me a checkbook anyway so finally i'm in this zoom meeting with cosmo it's ridiculous i'm looking at somebody who's like my best friend in a zoom meeting selling me solar panels with his like trainer guy right there's boss i don't know and so they're going through the spiel and it's a waste of my life like i'm just i don't want to do this but i'm just trying to be nice to him and so they're they're saying like it has guarantees they're showing pictures about how look you know the ones that had solar panels these roofs they survived irma and they're showing all these different pictures and all this stuff and i'm like so i'm just trying to like entertain myself that's what i do if you know me that's what i'm doing right now anyway i go oh well does it protect your roof against meteors because that's a thing you know like cosmo's laughing the whole thing's ridiculous but i start paying attention finally and i'm like look at the logo on the guy's shirt hold on a second so i go to my drunk junk drawer and that's where you keep like the business cards and things that people give you so i get mike's card out and i go back to the screen and i'm like because i don't see too good so i go back to the see i'm like that's the same logo i was like do you know mike and they're like yeah at the same company roofing solar panels so that's kind of a cool thing right so next day or so cosmo calls me up he's like i'm at the gym he has a brazilian accent i'm not going to try to do that right now so you know i'm at the gym and here's the owner of the roofing company his name is lee talk to him and so lee assures me that everything's going to be fine it's great okay that's kind of a cool little thing right how could the martial arts instructor be connected god's like doing that right well whatever it was a couple days couple days after i gave the first testimony cj his handy guy gets offered a job with a roofing company from a guy named lee the same guy sit on that one for like a day or so how many connections and what is the statistical probability of that happening i don't know that is the rest of that story and this is what happens in an obedient church we can hear them we can hear him and so he keeps talking to us that's what happens that's what happens when you have the heart to understand him he speaks we need to stay in a state of humility we need to stay in the word more than the world now remember as i close today the word of god is described as a seat by jesus and indeed it comes to us like that sometimes something small or seemingly insignificant maybe it's the person who comes in with the rags and not the person with the gold ring you guys look great you're fine but if we have the right heart you know look people complain about a lot of things that i say so i try to cover all my bases less emails monday if we have the right heart it'll take root and grow check this out back to isaiah the people don't so it won't isaiah 6 11 then i said lord how long will this go on and he replied until their towns are empty their houses are deserted and the whole country is a wasteland and so the lord has sent everyone away and the entire land of israel lies deserted if even a tenth the remnant survive it will be invaded again and burned but as a terabyte or oak tree leaves a stump when it's cut down so israel's some stump will be a holy seed we learn that we shouldn't overlook the potential of something seemingly small or perhaps insignificant a stump perhaps after a pruning that seems painful this is how god builds his kingdom if we go back to matthew 13 and we continue reading you see the parable of the tares that's the wheat and the weeds if we keep reading we see this here is another illustration jesus used the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field it is the smallest of all seeds but it becomes the largest of garden plants it grows into a tree and birds come and make nests and it branches god will use the smallest of all seeds to produce the greatest growth if our hearts are fertile for the word let me pray lord i thank you for this church that is your body the body of christ their willingness to come and have ears that hear to have eyes that see and hearts that understand bless us this week as we are a blessing to everyone we encounter i ask these things in jesus name amen you