The System of Seed | Seed to Harvest | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas
The System of Seed | Seed to Harvest | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas
Transcript
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Hey, everyone. Pastor Sean here, and I wanna thank you for subscribing to our podcast. I'm excited to get into today's message. And remember this, God is a good God. He loves you, and he wants to bless you.
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Turn with me this morning to third John, and we're gonna look at verse two. What chapter? There's only one chapter. Third John verse two.
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Third John verse two. Before I get into this teaching on seeds today, I wanna take a moment as I do at the head of every teaching series that we go into. I always find this to be absolutely important to lay as part of the foundation, and that is this. I always lay honor at the foundation of every teaching. The things that I share over these next several weeks, however long that we minister this series, the things that we teach, the things that we communicate, it would not be with those that came before me. And so first and foremost, I honor my father, Bishop Rick Thomas, who the Lord has given revelation on seed time and harvest.
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And I'm grateful and thankful for the words that he's deposited into this ministry. We wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for the understanding of what we're getting into. And so, I honor my parents. I honor my father for the for that teaching, as we move into this thing. And then, there's been some other men along the way that have been very influential in my life. I honor the late Doctor. Miles Monroe and his understanding on kingdom teaching. And I honor pastor Ron Carpenter of Redemption Church in California who has greatly impacted my life. If it wasn't for certain people in my life, I wouldn't be where I am today. And so I honor obviously first and foremost my father and the Bishop of this house and the other great men who have sown seed into my life. So with that being said, I wanna get into this teaching series that we're simply titling seeds.
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Before I get too far ahead of myself, if you would like a title within the series title, just write this down in your phone, in your notes, however you intend to follow along. That today, I'm just simply calling it this, the system of seed.
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The system of seed.
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The system of seed.
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I say that with this in mind, nothing in life just happens.
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I'm gonna say that again. Nothing in life just happens.
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You didn't just wake up and you were in this chair this morning.
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You didn't just wake up this this morning and and just find yourself in this building. Something had to happen for you to be here.
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Nothing in life just happens. You didn't get a paycheck this past week by just simply showing up to work. You actually had to do something for something to take place.
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Nothing in life tell somebody next to you that nothing in life doesn't just happen. Nothing in life just happens.
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With every happening, there is something that paves the way to get there. A giant didn't fall by itself. It took a young man to hurl a stone to take that giant down.
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Over 5,000 people were not just fed with loaves and fish because there was plenty of loaves and fish. It took a young man who was willing to offer loaves and fish for 5,000 people plus the women and children to be fed.
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Salvation didn't just happen if it wasn't for the fact that what God was willing to release was His Son in order for you to be able now to have salvation.
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Nothing in life just happens.
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So, with every happening, there is always something that leads you to that.
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You hear me? Now, I'm saying this on purpose because there's some of you that have gone through life just waiting for something to happen.
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And I talked and I preached this in our prayed up series, but there is this idea or this understanding that there is two sets of time in life. Some of you all remember this. There is what is called Kronos time and Kairos time.
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A Kairos moment or Kairos time is an opportunity.
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Anybody believing for a new opportunity?
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Anybody just waiting for a breakthrough? My wife was talking about it. If there was just a breakthrough of opportunity, anybody just saying, Lord, I need to if this thing could happen right now, it would change everything in my life.
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But nothing just happens because in order to get a kairos opportunity or a kairos time, it requires a kronos faith.
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The word kronos is sequential time. It's one plus one is two. Follow me now. It's the fact that there's sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, twenty four hours in a day, and it's progression.
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Your faith is now. Tell somebody, my faith My faith. Is now. Your faith means that right now is depending upon what you're doing right now. What am I speaking? What am I doing? What am I thinking? How am I living? It's a right now faith that moves God to respond in a way that that opportunity shows up.
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Nothing just happens. Your promotion didn't just happen. Your family didn't just happen. By the way, when you receive Jesus, it didn't just happen. Somebody either brought you to church or God finally got ahold of your heart through some way of communication that there was a happening and everything changed.
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You hanging with me. Are you at third John? Yep. Alright. I'm excited. I haven't preached in a month, so I got a little energy behind me right now. Alright. Third John. We there?
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Verse two? Yeah. Alright.
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We'll have our team fill this up on the screen. John says this, he's talking to a a brother that's in the church by the name of Gaius, and he says this. Gaius, he says, my beloved, I pray that you prosper in all things. Somebody say all things. All things. He says, I pray that you prosper in all things.
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Be in good health even as your soul prospers.
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He says, I pray that you prosper in some things, a few things, a little bit of things, all things. Somebody say all things.
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Now what all things mean, all things that have to do with your life spiritually?
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It's not a trick question. Yes.
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All things that have to do with your life emotionally?
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All things that have to do with your life physically and your health? Anybody believing for a miracle? You need a touch from God today in your body? Maybe you came in sick. Maybe you got a bad report. I'm telling you, the Bible says that God wants you to prosper in all things, be in good health even as your soul prospers. Prospers. Makes no sense for you to have the joy of the Lord in your spirit, in your soul, and you walk out of here sick and broken in your body.
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It makes no sense to have all the money in the world because you've got a great job, but your family is falling apart.
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It makes no sense for you to be able to to to advance in a given area and have other areas of your life that are less than 100.
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How many know that God wants you to be 100 in every area of your life? That's why the Bible tells us that when the seed is sown, it has the potential to go some thirty, sixty, and a 100 fold. I like that latter progression. Some thirty, sixty, and a 100. And God wants you to be 100 in all things. Somebody say all things. All things. I like the way that that sounds when you say all things.
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All things. Because means that now you're declaring there will not be one area of my life that will have a void or an empty space. All things. All things. So the Bible says, my beloved, I pray that you would prosper in all things. Now watch this. Here's the text.
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Be in good health.
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How many know your when we're talking about health, and if I can just be specific, your health physically, even as your soul prospers internally.
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So the Bible say everything from the inside to the outside, I want you to prosper. No missing areas of your life. Everything from the inside to the outside.
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All things to prosper. Now let's define the word prosper real quick.
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Because we can get carried away getting into this teaching, and I'm not an idiot. I know that the word prosper, prosperity, prospering, anything with the word prosper has gotten a weird connotation in the body of Christ.
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Primarily because a lot of people they only look at that word through one lens and they attach dollar signs and money to it. By the way, that is a factor of it, but that is not what the the main focus is.
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And we'll get to that in a little bit. The word prosper, if you're taking notes, write this down. The word prosper, it means to grow.
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It means to increase.
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It means to thrive.
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To grow, to increase, to thrive.
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Now, that language, and we'll find out and we'll explore more of this throughout the series, is really falling under an umbrella that is called agriculture.
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It's the system of growth.
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Okay?
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But I wanna focus real quick on the fact that the word prosper, it means to grow. It means to increase. It means to thrive.
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Now, if we're talking about agriculture for a moment, meaning sowing seed, planting seed, how many of you know that there is a portion in the growth process that you cannot see?
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And it's when that seed is in the ground, and as that seed begins to germinate and begins to grow, what's happening is it's now beginning to push through the soil.
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That pushing is called thriving.
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That pushing is called growth.
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That pushing is called increase.
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Alright. Let's bring it into today. Is there anybody in here that has graduated with a master's degree of any kind? I don't care what it is. Master's degree. Wave at me. Wave at me. Wave at me. Okay. Now, let me ask you. I see the hand right here, young lady. Let me ask you. How long did you go to school for?
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Uh-huh. Two years. And before that? Four years.
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Anything before that? Your life.
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Her whole life to get a master's degree. Did you just wake up and you had a beautiful diploma and plaque and all of the things that represented the fact No, you did not. Right? You didn't It didn't just happen.
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How hard was it as you went through that schooling process of six years?
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Nights. Sleepless nights.
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Were were was there moments where you felt a little uneasy?
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Did you spend a lot of time in the books?
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Copious amount of notes?
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Listening to the professors?
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Lots of tests, lots of writing, lots of things. It didn't come easy, did it? No.
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Because you had to prosper your way into receiving that masters.
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Okay? You you catch me, you say, oh pastor, that's that's real simple. No, I'm I'm trying to paint a picture for you right now.
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Anybody in here been saved more than ten years?
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More than ten years.
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Jamie, because you're standing up. Yep. Don't don't get all startled, girl.
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You're wearing a red shirt. I can see you clear as day from right here.
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When you got saved, and I know it was more than ten years, where you started and where you're at today, does it look different?
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Let the people testify. Let the people know. Absolutely.
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Would it be safe to say that along the way, your time in developing your prayer life, being in the word, Spending time with other brothers and sisters to build you up? Are those some of the things that happen along the way? And did it push you to want to grow in the things of God? Yes. Did it come easy? No.
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It did not come easy. So her spiritual life had to prosper for her to be where she is today as a faithful servant of this house, as someone who's involved in leadership, as someone who is respected and honored as a woman of God. Because over time, she began to let the Lord prosper, increase, grow her did not come easy to the place where she is today.
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Alright. Let's make it so simple. Anybody go to the gym?
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Now, I'm not talking about in January at the start of the year. I'm talking about you went this morning before church because you wanted to look a little extra swollen case if there was a single lady today.
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Did you go to the gym today, Seth? Yeah. You did, didn't you?
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Let me ask you something.
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You sat up front or someone sat you there.
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To stay in shape, to stay fit.
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It cost you something, didn't it? Yeah. Cost you time, didn't it? Yeah. Cost you your energy, didn't it? Yeah. It cost you discipline, didn't it? Yeah. Does it come easy? No. What do you feed those pythons?
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Chicken and beef. Chicken and beef.
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You should just get one that says chicken on this side and a tattoo that says beef on that side.
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Chicken and beef.
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Oh, this series is gonna be fun. I'll tell you what.
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But it didn't come easy. But you're looking forward to the next moment that you can go back into the gym, endure the hardship, go through the prospering, going through the process, the pain that produces the growth because you know on the other side of it you want to be healthy. You want to live a long life. You want to be fit. You want to be in shape. There's goals and desires that you have that's attached to the other side of what you're putting in.
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So, when the Bible talks about prosperity, it's with this intent that God understands and recognizes that there is fruit that's attached to your life. But here's the deal. To get to the fruit, you gotta get to the root. If And you don't have a root system, you can want fruit all you want. You can want to prosper in all things all you want. You can wanna prosper in your health, in your soul, in your marriage, with your children, on your job, spiritually in your walk with the Lord, but what you put in is gonna determine what comes out.
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So, we find out that in third John verse two, that we are to prosper in all things. And by the way, prosperity is a good thing. To prosper is growth and increase. Prosperity is growth and increase in hand. It's the fruit.
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Okay?
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Now, I wanna walk you through some things and I wanna build this clock a little bit.
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The Bible tells us that we're to prosper in all things, but how do we do that?
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Number one, in Genesis chapter one verse 28, the Bible tells us that after God created Adam and Eve in his image and likeness, he uses specific language.
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He says in verse 28 of chapter one, he says, and I blessed them, meaning I blessed Adam and Eve after they were formed, created.
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And then he commanded them to be fruitful, to multiply, and replenish.
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Now, when God said I bless them, the word blessed in the Hebrew is this word called barak.
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And barak means permitted to prosper.
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Permitted to So when God created Adam and Eve, when He formed them, the very first thing that he did when they were formed and they were created is he said, I now give you a permission slip. I permit you to now go and prosper.
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And how you're gonna prosper is by being fruitful, multiplying, and replenishing.
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So, Genesis one twenty eight, God created and permitted, write that down, He created and permitted man to prosper.
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In Deuteronomy eight eighteen, God checks Moses and his people, and he says, listen. He said, these houses that you've built and you lived in.
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He said, this cattle that is full and lively that you have. These trees that are producing fruit, you did not do that on your own. He said in Deuteronomy eight eighteen, he said, do not forget I'm the Lord your God, and I'm the one that gives you the power to prosper.
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I give you the power to get wealth. So everything that you achieve and do was not you of yourself, it was what God put inside of you to be able to do great and mighty things in this earth. He
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gave you the power, the strength to prosper.
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So in Genesis one twenty eight, He gave you permission.
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In Deuteronomy eight eighteen, He gave you the power.
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And in Joshua chapter one verse eight, God comes to Joshua and he says, listen brother.
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He says, Moses my servant is dead and you're up. He says, but I'm gonna tell you something. Don't have fear, be courageous, and as long as you meditate and obey my word.
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I want you to see this Joshua chapter one verse eight. He says, you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success. Tell your neighbor, you make your way prosperous. Now
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why is that important?
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Because prosperity is when you take responsibility for your life.
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Stop waiting and hoping that the lotto number is gonna be punched the day you scratched it off at the gas station.
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However, if that does happen, make sure that you tithe. The wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just.
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What the enemy meant for evil, God turns it for good.
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Sing it again. And he turns it for good.
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Yeah.
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So
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I'm giving you a system here. I'm giving you a blueprint. I'm giving you an outline.
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Genesis chapter one.
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God permitted you to prosper.
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It's not a matter should I, can I, would I?
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It's the fact that God says, hey, I put my approval and my stamp on you. What it is, is it's the title and the deed to the car that God has for you. Your name's on it. It's yours.
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Then what happens is he says in Deuteronomy eight eighteen, he says, I give you the power to prosper.
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You know what that is?
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He filled that car up with gas so you're not running on an empty tank at the start.
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Because he knows there's places you gotta go to.
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And in Joshua one eight, he says, if you meditate and obey my word, you'll make your way prosperous. He put him in position to prosper.
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That's me now handing you the key saying that you've got authority over this car. He permitted you, He empowered you, and He positioned you to do great things in this earth.
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He permitted you, He empowered you, and He put you in position to do great and mighty things in this earth.
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But in order for there to be prosperity in the life of a believer, I go back to what I already said, you have to take responsibility.
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Now, to understand theology proper, you have to look at what the Bible says in Genesis.
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And in Genesis chapter one and in verse 11, the Bible tells us that God put every herb in the earth that would yield seed, and He would put every tree in the earth that would yield fruit.
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The herb in the tree had the potential.
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In order for it to actually get seed and get fruit, the Bible tells us one chapter later in Genesis chapter two that God had to put man in charge of the garden. A lot of us have this picture that when God created and formed man from the dust of the ground that he woke up, and all of a sudden there was apple trees, and avocado trees, and orange trees, and every tree that was there that that he could just go ahead and eat. But if you look at the fine print, my goodness, I saw this and it blew me away. When you look at Genesis chapter two and you read the fine print, the Bible says that before man was formed that the plants that were to come out of the ground did not come out because there was no man to tend it.
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And when God formed man and He breathed the breath of life inside of him, He put him in charge of the garden.
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And the Bible tells you, look, you put your put your eyes on this. I'm gonna read this.
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And the reason why I'm sharing this is because I don't want anybody thinking that there's freebies.
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Nothing just happens.
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It's gonna cost.
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But I'm telling you, the fruit, the outcome of what God has for your life is beautiful.
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The prosperity that He has for your life and your health emotionally, mentally, in your family, spiritually.
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My goodness. Some of us have been bankrupt spiritually for so long, but it requires a life laid down.
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But look at this.
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The Bible tells us, go to Genesis chapter two verse eight, and the Bible says this.
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He says, then the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put a man whom He had formed.
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And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight, look at this, and good Anybody see what that says? Good for food.
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Does your Bible say good with food?
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It said good for food.
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So, when God created Adam, He put him in the garden, and He said, now the tree's got potential, but it's going to be waiting on you to be able to bring out its potential.
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In other words, what God has for you has been permitted, but it's up to you to pull out its potential.
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God has got great things for your family, but it's up to you for you to pull out its potential.
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God's got great things when it comes to your career professionally, but it's up to you to use what God's placed inside of you to pull out its potential.
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Every tree that the Lord has set before you is good for food, but if you want it to be good with food, then you gotta get out there and you gotta pull out its potential.
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That sounded way better than you're responding right now.
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Either you're just sitting back eating Cheetos watching Netflix hoping for someone to tell you that you're gonna get the job, or you are excited because you know that you've already done everything in faith and that you're just waiting on the call now. I'm getting out and putting on next resume because I'm getting a new job. I'm getting out well, I'm gonna be mindful about the the dating analogies.
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Don't just get out there.
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So Genesis tells us that the trees were good for it. But if it's gonna be with it, then it requires man to serve and protect. Now if you look at the Bible, the Bible gives us clear language.
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And he says this.
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Go to verse 15.
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Verse 15, the bible says, then the Lord God took man, put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and to keep it. To tend means to serve.
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To keep it means protect.
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To serve and protect.
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I believe that's the same language that law enforcement has.
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To serve and to protect.
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And even when you think of it through that example or that lens, Adam had the responsibility to serve and protect the garden that God placed him in.
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Law enforcement they don't just roam around any city flexing their badge.
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They have a responsibility to the city that they're employed by to serve and protect. They have a jurisdiction.
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What that means is this, This teaching is not about you running around
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going anywhere you want doing whatever you want. It's recognizing the assignment that God has set before you.
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I don't know if God's called you to be a school teacher. I don't know if God's called you just to to to own your own business. I don't know what God has has has ordained for your life if you're supposed to go into the ministry and preach or pastor, but your jurisdiction is what God has set before you. And when you take responsibility to serve and protect it, now your treat moves from being good for food to now being a tree good with food, with fruit.
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You hear what I'm saying?
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So God's permitted you. He's given you the power to prosper in it, and He's put you in position. Now here's the beautiful thing. Psalm 35 verse 27. I'd love for our team to put this on the screen.
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The Bible tells us in Psalm 35 and verse 27 that God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.
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God is pleased and fulfilled when those who are serving in their purpose are prospering.
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God is excited.
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He is fulfilled. He is championing every time that you wake up in the morning and you begin to put your hand to the plow of life.
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And as you are advancing, as you are prospering, and as you are growing, and as you are increasing, and as you are thriving, as you are pushing forward, the Bible says that God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.
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Because God did not create man and woman to do nothing, you were created for something.
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And that something is something great that God's woven inside of you because there is greatness, and there is potential, and there is fruit, and God wants to get it on the outside of you.
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And there is no greater pleasure than when God sees that His children are productive. I know this, and I'll speak for for for my parents. I believe that there is no greater pleasure in the fact that I am fulfilling what God's called me to do, who God's called me to be pastorally, in ministry.
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My it brings my parents great delight and pleasure that they are seeing their son minister and walking in what God has ordained for my life. That's my earthly father. Your spiritual father, maybe you never were affirmed by a natural parent. Maybe you never got the encouragement or the love that you deserved that you should have had, but your father in heaven, he loves you. Your father in heaven, he's proud of you. Your father in heaven, even if you haven't put your hand to that good purpose yet, the fact that you're sitting in this service today getting excited about His Word, God takes great pleasure in the prosperity of His servants.
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And so, you've got to know that as you prosper, God gets excited.
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Every time someone gets saved, because the greatest fruit that could ever come forth is the fruit of salvation.
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Every time someone receives the seed of Jesus Christ, the incorruptible seed, now new fruit, good fruit, godly fruit comes forth, all of heaven rejoices.
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The angels rejoice.
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The heavenly shake.
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No one that just says yes to Jesus is just another verbal affirmation or commitment.
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It is all of heaven saying, yes, we are fruitful.
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Yes, there is the harvest that's expanding.
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That should get you excited.
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So, God wants you to prosper in all things.
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To be in good health even as your soul prospers.
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Spiritually, mentally, economically, physically, emotionally, relationally.
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Come on, tell somebody next to you all things. All things. Alright. I I baited you all of that to get to right here.
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You haven't even talked about seeds yet. You're right. I haven't because I needed to get your minds and your hearts turned up to the fact that God wants you to grow and increase in every area of your life.
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Well, I just don't know about that.
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Well, if you don't know about that, then don't feed yourself when you leave from church today.
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Don't feed your children. Oh, no, that's not good. They need to grow. Of course, we all need to grow.
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We all need to if you all are in the same place right now that you were a year ago, you need to get this teaching into your spirit. You should not be saying the same things, thinking the same things, doing the same things unless if it's unless if it creates an inconsistency with God's Word. But I'm talking about in the natural. If you're if you're just doing the same things and nothing's changed,
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We gotta think differently. Yeah.
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We gotta move to a dimension and this series is God moving this church into a dimension that we've never been to before. I'm thankful for these worship services. I'm thankful for time together. I'm thankful for the testimonies. I'm thankful for the amount of people that have said yes to Jesus. But I desire and long and will push for the day that you can't find the same seat that you're cozy in right now because there's a line out the door of people that are hungry, that want to grow, that want to worship.
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I long for the day that we continue to see things expanded so that our community can be transformed, that Margate could be turned upside down. I long for the day that the commissioners, and the mayor, and the people that are in the seat of authority of this city come into this service and they say, I need Jesus.
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I long for the day that your families begin to show up and that you're not just attending church alone.
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I long for the day that you'll just stand up and testify, because God truly is a good God, and God loves you, and God wants to bless you and prosper you beyond measure.
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I don't want to show up and just do the same thing. I don't want to show up and just do church as usual. I don't just show up with the same level of expectation of last week. I showed up today putting a demand on heaven. How
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do you get there? So glad you asked that question.
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The vehicle to prosper that God has given us is simply seed time and harvest.
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Genesis eight twenty two, the Bible says, as long as the earth remains.
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Anybody wake up in the earth today? Okay.
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It's here.
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As long as the earth remains, you're gonna have cold and heat.
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You're gonna have the seasons.
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And the Bible says there'll be seed, time, and harvest. Say seed time Seed time. And harvest. Now seed time and harvest is pretty simple when we break it down like this. Your seed deals with the root.
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Your time deals with the shoot, and your harvest is the fruit.
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You have the root, the shoot, the fruit. Some of y'all have been stuck at the shoot, and you haven't seen any fruit. Some of y'all haven't even touched the root, so you don't even know what it is to shoot.
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But seed time and harvest is the root, the shoot, the fruit. I look like I'm like a diva. The root to shoot the fruit.
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Oh, no. He didn't. Yes. He did.
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Is that a look that?
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He's tone deaf.
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No. I'm not.
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You alright?
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We good? Yeah. You ready to go there? The seed is the root.
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The time is the shoot. The harvest is the fruit.
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The seed is potential concealed, and the fruit is potential revealed.
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So you have potential that is concealed in the root, and you have potential that is revealed in the fruit.
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Here's what I find with most people.
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We have a picture of the seed. If it's an apple seed, I have expectation it should produce an apple tree. So I can see the seed, I can see the harvest, but what's the one thing you cannot see?
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Time.
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And because I can't see time, time discourages me from being able to progress into everything that God has.
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I I hate to ruin theology for you or bad theology, but when you got saved your problems don't go away.
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When you got saved it doesn't mean that you got an easy ticket.
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When you got saved it means that God now brought you back into place that you can have permission, power, and position to be fruitful. In other words, that now God has repositioned you that as you live a life of sowing and reaping through seed time and harvest you can be everything that God's called you to be.
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Here's the issue, because I can't see time and because time discourages and because time feels overwhelming, and I want everything now in my time. See, this is the culture that we're in. As fast as I put it in, I want it to come out. As quickly as I subscribed, I wanna begin to stream. As quickly as I post, I expect the like and the following. And so as we are putting things in, we want it to come out immediately, but time is what builds you up.
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Time is what develops you into who God's called you to be so that you are not a flimsy flaky tree, but you are a tree that is deeply rooted with great fruit for ages and ages to come.
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I don't wanna just be fruitful for my life. I wanna be so fruitful that from generation to generation that I as a good man would leave an inheritance for my children and my children's children.
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Because my grandfather had deep roots today, we are living as the fruit of a dream and obedience and faith of a man back in 1977 who started this church. He didn't see it here today, but as the shoot went forth, here we are today as the fruit that is bearing the goodness of God and the message in Margate in South Florida and around the world. So listen to me.
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The vehicle is seed time and harvest.
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Write this down.
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The definition of seed simply means this, carrier of life.
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The definition of seed is carrier of life.
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Next time the person calls just tell them get your butt to church. Pastor's gonna be about two more hours.
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He's gotta unload like four weeks worth of messages in one day. No, I'm kidding. We're getting there. I'm almost there. Alright.
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So the vehicle is seed time and harvest. Seed means carrier of life. It's a carrier of life.
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Nothing happens, opening statement in life, on its own.
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Nothing happens without what we would say the sowing of a seed.
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My father would make this statement, and I'll quote him and he can say it better than me when he gets to preach in a couple of weeks. You are the sum total of the seeds that you have sown and the seeds that have been sown into you.
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What you have today, who you are today is predicated upon the seeds that carry life that you have sown, because seeds produce life. Every seed reproduces after its own kind. I can't sow an apple seed and then get avocados.
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That would be weird.
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Just like my children that are of me are only gonna be blonde haired, blue eyed, and fair white skin almost translucent.
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That's how white they are.
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Be weird if there was anything else.
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Every seed reproduces after its own kind.
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So, the kind that you have, if you don't like it, if you're not happy with where you are in life, you have to ask what have I been sowing, and what have I allowed to be sown into me?
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Because you are the sum total of what you've sown and what you've allowed to be sown into you.
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So if you don't like the fruit, go back and examine the root.
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Hear me?
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I'm teaching you right now.
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We'll get preach happy in the weeks to come.
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If you don't like the fruit, you've got to go back and examine the root.
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Hear me?
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I wanna bring you to this. Every seed that is sown in life first begins in the spirit.
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Before you release anything from your natural hand, whether you are in farming or the seed that you sow of your time and your energy on the job, or your parenting and and and and who you are as as a parent in your household. Before you sow anything that comes from your hand, every seed verse starts in the spirit.
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Now, we'll move quickly through this. Okay?
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The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 11 verse two.
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By faith, the world was framed by the word of God.
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And the things that we see were made by things that we can't see. Doesn't that sound weird? The things that you see, the very chair that your butt is sitting on right now is the result of what you can't see. How is that even possible? The things that we see were made from the things that we can't see. What can't you see?
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I will help you out.
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You can't see the thoughts of God.
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Now listen, this is really where this whole entire series got birthed out of pun intended when I tell you it.
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First Peter one thirteen says this, and this was a caution for the church. They said, gird up the loins of your mind.
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Meaning, have your mind guarded and protected.
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Now, let me take you on a short little little little trip here.
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Loins, yes it's talking about legs. The word loins is legs, but it's talking about the sensitive part of your loins. I don't mean to be explicit.
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I don't mean to be whatever.
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Minimize your fifth grade humor. It's talking about your private parts.
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Okay? Hang with me.
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When we're talking about giving birth or or the or establishing and creating a family, a seed has to be sown from a loin in order for a child to be conceived and to be born.
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So, when Peter is saying gird up the loins of your mind, what he is saying is that your thoughts are seeds that fire off and produce life.
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And so, your thoughts is the first part of when we're talking about sowing seeds.
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And the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 55 is he says that your thoughts are not my thoughts and your ways are not my ways says the Lord. And he says as the as the rain comes down, so are my thoughts and my ways. He says as my thoughts are higher than yours. As the heaven is higher than the earth, so are my thoughts greater than yours. So how are things that are seen made from things that are unseen?
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It started off because God had a thought and his thought was, I would like to establish the earth and within the earth I would like to establish everything that was good for food. But in order to tend everything that is good for food, I'd like to establish man and woman who was made in my image and my likeness.
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Before Before God ever formed you from the dust of the ground, you were in the mind of God. That is good news for you. In fact, when Jesus was on the cross, the very last thing that went through his mind, his thought was you. For he said, father forgive them for they know not what they do. You are in the thought, in the mind of God all the time. I don't care if you had a great day or a bad day. I don't care if you had a mess up or a mistake. God only thinks good things towards you. He's not a God who is condemning. He's not a God who is ready to dismiss you or cut you off. He is a God that has you in his mind right now.
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And the Bible tells us that Jeremiah chapter one verse five says that before you are ever even in your mother's womb, God knew you. You are in the mind of God. And so God fired off that seed as a thought and said, I'd actually like to make this thing a reality.
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And so, thought now became a word because he said when he was talking about establishing the earth, he said this as he said, now that that that in the beginning was the heavens and the earth and the earth was out form and void, and God said let there be light. So, now He spoke.
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In Mark four fourteen, the Bible says the sower sows the Word.
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So, from your thought, from your spirit to your mind to your mouth, your seeds begin to flow.
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You catching what we're saying here? Yeah.
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I'm gonna say this and today I'm not I'm not even talking about offering, but I'm gonna talk about it right now.
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I don't care what comes from your hand in this box.
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I don't care what comes from your hand on your phone.
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If your heart and your mind is not in it, don't do it.
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Because your seed does not start from what comes out of your hand. It starts from what comes out of your heart.
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And if there is no heart, if there's no purpose, if there's no intent, if there's no expectation behind it because a farmer does not sow a seed expecting there to be crop failure, why should you come in here and give to God expecting crop failure? Expecting nothing or doing it out of obligation or a religious duty. That is not the heart of God.
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The heart of God is that you do things cheerfully, willingly, with His heart and His mind with expectation that you are to prosper. I'm gonna leave that there, because that's not what I'm trying to park it on right now. What I'm trying to take you into is that every seat, it starts in the spirit,
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moves to your mind, to your mouth.
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You wake up and you say, man, I'm feeling like a And I'll just use me as an example.
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In the last couple of weeks or it was longer than that couple months ago, I was like, man, I'm wondering if this prayed up series should be a book. It's in my spirit.
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Then I got to thinking about it.
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And then I probably had, I could point out a couple of people. I had several conversations. Do you think we should do this thing as a book? Oh yeah, believe we should do this. I began to put my words around it. I'm gonna say, God, I thank you for giving me wisdom and clarity. I'm so I'm speaking this thing. Then I put my hand to it. I'm gonna sit down and format it and put it together from your heart to your mind to your mouth to your hand. Your seed starts in the spirit, and then it finalizes itself in your hand in strength.
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You hear what I'm saying? Alright. I'm getting ready to park this thing.
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Are we good so far? Yeah. Alright. I got so much more pages of notes.
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The seeds that you sow is the root that you establish.
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Your root has a process. You go from root to shoot to fruit. I'm gonna unpack this over the next several weeks.
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Okay?
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But I want to go back to this.
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Every seed is a carrier of life.
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So what you have and where you are today is based upon the seeds that you sow.
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Can I talk to you about the different seeds that God's given you to sow? There are five seed bags. I want you to write these down.
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Five seed bags that God's given you to draw from.
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Number one, write this down.
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Hours.
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Number two, head.
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Number three, heart.
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They'll throw it on the screen. Number four, hands.
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Number five, holdings.
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Hours, head, heart, hand, holdings.
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Hours, head, heart, hand, holdings. These are seed bags.
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Hours is the bag that's responsible for the seed of your time.
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What of your time do you need to give to your family that has not had any time of you around the table, mom and dad?
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It's not just about what you put on the table, it's what you're providing around the table. I'm happy that you're putting a meal on the table, but do they have the provision around the table?
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Time.
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So, hours is your time.
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Your head, it's the place of your talent. Your talent is not what you do.
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Your talents and gifts is what God's placed in you. If your talent and gifts first starts off in your mind, your the wisdom that God's given you, the capacity to be able to dream and to think, that all starts in your head. I wonder how many creatives are in the room that if they gave a little bit of their head of their mind to somebody else, that seed could help be the very thing that that person needs to go to their next level.
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Hours is your time.
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Head is your talent.
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Heart is your truth and your trust.
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It's my truth.
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Man, we're really going through some challenging times right now, but out of my heart I know what the word of God says and I am not gonna turn against this truth. I'm gonna stay steadfast in the truth of God's Word. My heart is not getting out of position.
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My trust, man, I know it feels like everything is collapsing right now, but I'm sowing the seed of my trust of my faith because I believe and I declare and I know what God has said over my life.
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It's your heart.
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Your trade, your trade is now what you are skilled in and what you can give to.
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It's me serving.
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It's me giving of what I'm good at because I see a need.
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Whether that is serving in a ministry in in in the church, whether that is serving a need of somebody that you see out on the job or at home or a neighbor, It's you now sowing the seed of your trade what you're good at.
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I will tell you this.
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If my car breaks down, I don't want the seed of your trade if you don't know how to work on cars.
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But when you know that you've got the seed of something that can produce life, and if you see the need, sow the seed. Okay. Now listen.
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Your holdings is your treasure.
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This is dealing with your finances.
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This is dealing with your resources.
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This is dealing with honoring the Lord with my first and the best, my possession as the Bible says.
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But not just in that alone.
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When I see that someone might be in financial trouble, how can I help them?
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I I think this is beautiful and I share a lot of stories of of of my grandfather, but my grandfather, he would wait in Publix when he was still alive. He would wait in Publix to find somebody that would go into the checkout line and as they were ringing up their groceries if they could not afford to pay for their groceries, he would slip behind to the person that was at the cash register and he would give them money so that single mom would not be in a place of need.
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I'm talking about your treasure is a seed that can bring about change. You know what the greatest way to present the gospel? Sow a financial seed into someone's life.
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Ain't no one gonna turn away Jesus when you present a financial seed.
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What are you talking about? When you go to lunch today, tip the waiter or the waitress double. I bet you you'll get their ear to hear the gospel.
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Okay. I'm just giving you some some one off fun things.
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You got these? Hours, time.
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Head, talent.
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Heart, trust in truth.
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Hands, trade.
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Holdings, treasure.
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These are your five seed bags that you sow from.
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I'm a close with this right now.
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Look at that.
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We're still somewhat decent on time.
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While we were away, and we shared this in the beginning of the service,
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we had just a wonderful opportunity to find this just beautiful little spirit filled church while we were in Colorado.
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And we got to the church the first day.
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There was a man that was standing at the door.
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His name was Warren.
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In fact, I'd sent our team a photo. If you guys have that and you can throw that on the screen, it'd be wonderful.
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So there's my wife, my children.
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Don't dismiss us because of the attire. We're going fishing immediately after church. So we were changing.
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The gentleman in the center, that's the pastor. His name's pastor Lee, yours truly, followed by this gentleman here on the right.
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This gentleman on the right, his name's Warren.
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We pulled up to the church. Warren was at the door.
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Warren was smiling.
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We walked onto that church. He never even met me from nothing and just embraced me with a big hug and said, brother, I'm glad you're here at church today.
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And so, we were at service that week and then we came back the following week and Warren and I had an opportunity to talk a little bit.
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And Warren had an interesting story. Warren Warren was a while while he looks like a saved Clint Eastwood.
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Warren was born in Tokyo, Japan and his father served in the military.
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He was exposed to a lot of things as a as a young boy because of the environment that he was in.
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And his family relocated to Southern California.
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And while he began to grow up in Southern California, he just had this thing that I gotta I I gotta get away. And so, when he was 20 years old, he took a vacation to the city that we were visiting on our vacation and ended up living there for the next forty five years.
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Never left.
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I said, that's cool, Warren.
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He said, but while I was there, he said, I didn't know what I was gonna do, but I realized that the area that we were in in Colorado was really great for mining.
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And so, he said, I'm not a fool. So, I went ahead and started getting all my certifications and putting together all the stuff. And he said, I started an excavation business.
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So, I've been doing it for forty years.
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Over forty years, he became one of the number one businesses for excavation in that area.
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And you look at that photo and you'd never think, one of the wealthiest man in the city.
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While he was doing excavation, one of the things in the area that we stayed in was the at the time was that they were digging wells because they needed more sources of water.
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And so, he began to become He developed a company now to begin to dig for wells as well. So, he's got excavation.
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He's digging wells. He's doing great.
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And he's standing at the front door of this church smiling, waving, and receiving people.
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This man could do he could do anything that he wants.
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But he's standing at the door.
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This one particular day Warren tells me is he says, I was standing at the door just as I greeted you guys. And he said, there was this lady that came to the church that was a regular. She'd be coming every single week.
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And she had just relocated to this area in Colorado and purchased a tiny home.
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And she said in order to live in this tiny home, she had to dig a well herself.
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So she dug this well and the well was was bringing water over time. But then what happened was the well began to just dry up and it was now only producing mud.
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And she was in just complete distraught.
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She was just just so overwhelmed that the very thing, this tiny home, this new city, her life savings put into this thing, and now she's gonna have to give it all up because if she doesn't have a source of water, she can't stay on this property.
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And so she comes to church just as we did seeing Warren at the door. And as I walk or as she walks up to the door, she's in tears and she says, brother Warren,
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I have this tiny home.
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This well's been dug, but it's not producing water.
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I've tried everything.
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I've got no more money. And I'm gonna lose it all and I'm going to have to move. And she's in tears.
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And she says, brother Warren, can you just pray that God can do a miracle in my life?
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Warren looked at her and he said, honey, prayer's been answered.
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He said, sister, you better put those tears back in your eyes. I dig wells for a living.
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The very next day, he was out there with his crew and his machinery and all of the the resources that he had, and he dug her a proper well that yielded fresh water for a lifetime. She never has to move again.
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I'm I I this is last Sunday, about this time right now.
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And I'm and I begin to cry.
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I begin to in front of I'm crying. He's telling he's telling me this story about this lady that he's telling to say stop crying and that's not the kind of guy you wanna cry in front of.
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And I and I begin to cry and I hugged him and I said,
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you are willing to take what you had
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and make a difference in this lady's life? He said, yeah.
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He said, quote you. He said, I sowed what I had so that she can continue to drink for a lifetime.
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My question is, what seed do you have in your seed bag that you can sow so that someone can drink for a lifetime?
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God was willing to go into his seed bag and take the incorruptible seed of Jesus and sow it.
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So that now all of heaven could drink for a lifetime.
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That for all of eternity we could be back with our heavenly Father.
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I charge you as we go into this series, what seeds do you have to sow? What harvest are you believing for?
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From the root to the fruit.
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How will God use you so that you can prosper in all things?
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But the greatest prosperity church, listen to the greatest prosperity is relationship with Jesus Christ. Thanks
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again for listening to today's podcast. We trust that it has touched your heart and blessed your life. Listen. To support the ministry, you can go to our website, abundantlife.tv.
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And remember, we are better together.