While Men Slept | Don’t Give Up On Your Seed | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas
While Men Slept | Don’t Give Up On Your Seed | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas
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Speaker 1
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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Don't give up on your seed.
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Don't give up on your seed. If you want to write a title or or just have a reminder, put that down. Whether it be in your phone or in your notes, I want you to just simply put, don't give up on your seed, because the seed is what carries the potential.
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And if the seed's been sown into good soil, and the seed has had the proper watering in in on that ground, and if you have been patient in the timing, it's important to understand that the seed will do the work.
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I had a situation earlier this year, and the Lord put it on my heart to sow into a ministry because I was believing for something.
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And and and like many of us, we come in and you know, we'll sow, and right away we're like, God, where's the harvest at? And that's good. Have that expectation.
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But I walked away and I said, Lord, I was expecting something and it didn't happen. And the Lord stopped me as I was as I was walking and He said, let the seed do the work. Amen. You gotta let the seed do the work. We've got this whole garden situation in our in our backyard and my wife's really learned how to become just a great planter of sorts.
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And she put these jalapeno seeds, in some soil. I don't know how long ago it was. If I say a couple months, she's gonna be like, no, it was a couple of weeks. No, I don't even know when it was, but she put it in the soil.
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And she came in, last night and she had a handful of green jalapenos.
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Man, Andrew, I was so excited to make salsa. You don't even know. Fresh.
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No, I didn't know. No. It's still it's still in... Yeah.
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I was excited. I couldn't I couldn't wait. But I remember about a week ago, we were looking at it and and they weren't fully grown. And sometimes we are so quick to want to have what we want and what we're praying for, what we're believing for that we will prematurely pull from the vine something that is not ready yet. That's a word right there. I haven't even gotten to Matthew 13. I'm just talking to you right now.
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Don't prematurely pull the fruit from the vine because it will never be what it could have been because you weren't willing to give it the time. Timing is everything.
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Are you at Matthew 13? Great.
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Let's go to verse 24.
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The Bible says this in Matthew chapter 13 verse 24 is where we're going to spend our time today, we're going to pull a few thoughts from here. Jesus is giving this parable, this illustration as He is as He's teaching, and He and He says this.
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Another parable he put forth to them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
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But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
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But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.
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So the servants of the owner came and said, sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How does it have tares?
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He said to them, an enemy has done this, the servant said to him. Do you want us then to go and gather them up?
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But he said, no, lest while you gather up the tares, you also uproot the wheat with them. Let them both grow together until the harvest. And at the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers, first gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.
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Alright. Let's take a breath and jump right down into verse 37 where Jesus begins to explain what this parable means.
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He says this in verse 37, same chapter.
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He answered and said to them, he who sows the good seed is the son of man.
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The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. Verse 39, the enemy who sowed them is the devil.
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The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
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Therefore, as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.
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The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that are offered, or excuse me, all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness.
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And verse 42 says, and I'll cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
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Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. The the the passage that Jesus begins to illustrate and that he begins to talk about is he says that there is a man who had good seed. Somebody say good seed. Good seed. And he says that the man had good seed. The kingdom of heaven is like this man who has good seed and who planted it or sowed it in his field.
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Now for weeks on end, we have been talking about the seeds that you sow, the seeds of your time, the seeds of your talent, the seeds of your energy, the seeds of your thought, the seeds of your words, the seeds of your actions, the seeds of your finances, the the the the... We've been talking about seeds that you've been sowing, but today I want to talk to you and from the lens or from the viewpoint that you are the seed that has been sown.
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I want to just focus on the seeds that you've been sowing, I want to talk about how has God planted you and where has God planted you? Because if there ever was a time that we need to get rooted, that we need to be planted, it's right now.
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It's right now. I have said this over and over, I don't know how long, but whatever God is going to do in the earth, He's gonna do it through you.
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Whatever God is gonna do in the world, He is gonna do through you.
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And God is looking for men and women in generations that are willing to get planted.
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The Bible says that it's by our fruit we are known. But if we're not planted, then we've got no fruit, which means you're not known. And if you're not known, then you're going to shortchange the Gospel from being able to reach its destination.
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Because it goes from generation to generation to generation.
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I stand here today as a third generation because my grandfather was willing to get planted in Margate, Florida. But if he never got planted, then there wouldn't have been a Bishop Rick Thomas to minister and now a Pastor Sean Thomas to minister. But because one generation was willing to be a seed planted, it now was perpetuated over time.
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You've got to be willing to get planted.
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I said you gotta get willing to be, get planted.
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And so, the parable says that that that there was a man who sowed good seed in his field.
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Now, let's unpack what Jesus clarified when He made that statement. He says this is that the man was meaning himself.
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The son of man, meaning Jesus, sowed good seed in His field, in His fit, in His field. It's His possession, His field. The Bible says this, is that God created the world.
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Quiet.
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I don't care what is going on in the world today. I don't care what chaos, what problems.
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I don't even care and I understand that the Bible says in Ephesians two that the enemy for a season is the prince of the power of the air, which means the devil is, has authority and influence over this, over this world that we're living in. But God owns it all. It's his world. It's his field.
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And so He says that a man sowed good seed. I want you to say good seed. Now this is important because the word good is not just talking about how something feels or how just something is experienced. The word good, it means purpose.
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The Greek word for good is kalos.
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Kalos.
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Kalos means that it has purpose. It is meant for a specific thing. It is productive.
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The Bible says in Genesis one, when God was putting all of creation in its place, every time that He finished an act, meaning when God separated day from night, the Bible says that He saw it was good. He wasn't just sitting back saying, wow, that looks pretty. He was saying, that has a purpose.
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When He separated the waters from dry land, He saw that it was good. It had a purpose. When He put the birds in the air and the fish in the sea, He said, I saw that it was good. It had a purpose. It meant to be productive.
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So, when God says that we have been sown as His seed, it means this, that you have a purpose.
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You are called to be productive in the purpose that the Lord has set before you.
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You have a purpose.
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You are not here by accident.
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You are not here by mistake. You are not here by happenstance.
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You are here because God has an assignment for your life.
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God has got something incredible and great that's inside of you that He wants to get on the outside of you. And the only way that that potential that's on the inside gets on the outside is when I get planted.
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Because no seed can actually enter into its productivity if it is not planted. And so, He says that the good seed, he sowed it in his field.
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The bible says that Jesus explains this passage by saying that the field is the world.
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So, if I am the seed, He has planted me in the world.
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Now, the world and the earth are two different things.
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The earth is what's beneath you.
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The world is what's around you.
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The world is not speaking to the hardscape that's underneath your feet.
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The world is the governing systems.
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The world is how the education system functions. How the political environment functions. How the financial environment functions, how the religious firemen functions, which by the way, this is not about a religion. This is about a relationship with Jesus.
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Okay? But but these are these are the world's systems.
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Then I go back to the statement that I made. Ephesians two says that the devil has access to being the one that is trying to rule over the air right now. Says it in Ephesians chapter two. But the reality is this, is that God has planted us in this world not so that the devil can have the final say, but so that Jesus has the final say.
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And Jesus has the final say when I wake up in the morning and I testify that my God is a good God, and that He loves me, and He wants to bless me. I get the final say in Christ Jesus when I declare that I'm the redeemed. I've got the final say in Christ Jesus when I declare I am healthy and wealthy and wise and full of the Holy Ghost. I get final say when I'm reminded that God has plurred a plan and a purpose in my life, and I'm advancing in that thing. I get the final say in Christ Jesus when I walk out into the neighborhoods and the community, and I'm reaching my world with the Gospel. That's the final say.
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But the devil does not like that.
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Tell somebody the devil does not like that. The devil
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does not like that you're planted.
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The devil does not like that you're getting rooted.
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Because he knows the... You establish yourself at the root, it's a matter of time in Christ Jesus that you get to the fruit.
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And so, it's important that we look at this from the standpoint that he says that good seed's been sown into the, to the world.
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What is your world?
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Where has God placed you? I'm not just talking about your local church. I'm talking about what governing system. Let me just, so I make sure that we don't have confusion.
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The world is your place that you influence.
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Where has God given you influence?
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How has God given you influence?
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With whom do you have influence?
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It's there. That's your that's your world.
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The devil doesn't care that you came to church today.
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Do you think he really cares that you came to church today?
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I'm gonna steal my own thunder right now.
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The devil doesn't care that you said yes to Jesus. He could care less that you've received Christ Jesus and salvation. He don't care about that. You know what he cares about?
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He cares about that now as a good seed that you get planted and you start creating a new environment that he is opposed to. The devil does not want you to be fruitful and create influence and cultural change from the kingdom of God into this earth. That's what he doesn't like. So, he's not going to try and sabotage you and keep you. Well, know, the devil showed up and kept me from church today. No, you saw that it was going to rain and you decided you wanted to sit at home and livestream.
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The devil didn't do that.
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He's just Satan's out to get me right now.
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No, your pride that you need to keep in check is out to get you right now. You know the devil didn't do that.
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Your world is the place of influence.
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You are a seed with potential.
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And as a seed gets planted, and as it's watered, and as time takes its effect, it's a it's just a matter until now that potential goes from destiny concealed to destiny revealed.
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But now let's go, let's go to our passage here.
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Because the Bible says that we are sown into His field.
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John three sixteen, for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. But verse 17, God didn't send His Son to condemn the world. But that through Him, the world would be the world would be saved. That through Him the world would be be saved. It's interesting that conversation is the only place in the Bible that Jesus actually uses the language born again. The bedrock of the very thing that we believe born again. You, it's probably the most loaded Christian question in the most loaded Christian declaration.
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Are you born again? I am born again. But Jesus only talks about it one time in John chapter three in the Gospel.
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And everything that we know and say and believe is off of one interaction with a religious leader, not even a sinner, with a religious leader, which I'm certain that he probably said, but he's having an interaction with this religious leader by the name of Nicodemus.
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And I don't want you to turn to to John three, but I just I for our time, I want to just bring us through something, and we're going to get there. Somebody say, we're going to get there. Okay.
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So there's this conversation that Nicodemus is having with Jesus. And and Jesus says this, is He says, Nicodemus, only those that are born again can see the kingdom of God.
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Only those that are born again can see the kingdom of God. And he goes on and he talks about how you gotta be born of water and of spirit and then it leads us right into John three sixteen, for God so loved the world. The point about it is this.
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The point is that Jesus is communicating to this man, to this leader privately and He says, only those that are born again can see the kingdom of God.
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The kingdom of God is God's potential in a believer's life.
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Only those that are born of God can access the potential of God.
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So how do I become a good seed in the passage that Jesus talks about later, is I gotta be born again.
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I'm not talking about you're a good seed because you did good deeds. I'm talking about that you are releasing the potential of the kingdom of God out of your life because you have now been born again. So, what is born again? I'm sorry if I'm insulting anybody's intelligence right now.
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But I feel like sometimes we hear statements and phrases and and and we don't. Born is to come forth, like when a baby is being birthed. I know it's the obvious.
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But the word again is not necessarily talking about repetition or repeat.
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Again, actually in Hebrew means high calling, the place of God. That you have now been brought forth to a place in God that outside of God you would not have.
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And when you are born again, when you are stepping into that calling that God has for your life, you can now see the kingdom, see the potential that God has inside of you as a good seed. Are you with me right now as I'm teaching this thing? I want you to see this. Because He's telling him this, is that until Nicodemus you are born again. How does that happen? By water and spirit.
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How does that happen? When I believe in my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is the Son of God. Now
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that when I'm born again, I now have access to a kingdom. It's funny. Jesus in in in John three is talking about a kingdom.
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A... It's a conversation about kingdom. It's not religion.
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He's talking about kingdom.
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Kingdom.
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Kingdom.
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Because in the kingdom you have certain rights.
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In a kingdom you have certain rights.
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What he's saying is that that when you enter into this kingdom, you have legalized rights that outside of the kingdom you don't have.
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I think about our nation and I love The United States Of America.
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I'm the only one.
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I love our nation. I love The United States Of America.
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Regardless of what you think and feel about who's in charge or not in charge. That's not about that. We live in the greatest nation in the world. The freedoms that we have, second to none, and it's amazing.
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But to experience those rights, there is a right way and a wrong way. And unless if you are born as a citizen in the nation, there is a due process for you to become a citizen.
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Just hang with me for a second.
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There is a due process whether you like it or not, whether you agree with how they're doing it or not, it's not the point.
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There is a due process that if you were not born of the Kingdom Of America, that there is a due process for you to become a citizen. Okay?
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In the same way, when I was born in this world, I was born a sinner.
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I wasn't, while I was made in the image of God, I was still born a sinner.
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So, I had to go through a due process in order for me to become a legalized citizen of the kingdom of heaven. My due process was that I needed to put my faith in Jesus, and out of believing in my heart and confessing with my lips, that due process legalized me as a as a citizen, which means I've got legal rights to walk in the potential of what that kingdom has.
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You you you with me on this? So now that I got legal rights to operate in the potential of what the kingdom has, it means that God is saying, as He's releasing me and sowing me, that I've got a legal right to release all the potential that's on the inside outside of me creating an environmental shift.
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A cultural change in the earth.
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So now I get back to the parable because the Bible says that as the good seed was sown, when men slept.
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Sounds like another good title for this message.
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When men slept, an enemy came and sowed tares, which was weeds.
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Sowed tares when men slept.
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But it's interesting because it says that when men slept and the enemy sowed tares, which is weeds, that then he went his way. I think sometimes when challenges come, we think that the devil's just standing in the corner just laughing at us.
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Devil don't care.
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He sows a tear and he takes off.
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You know what that's like?
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Has anyone ever, been online and you're just scrolling and you and you see something that you like?
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And so, you hit save, you bookmark it.
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Somebody maybe told you about a a restaurant or a place to go or something to experience.
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And so what you did was you just saved it to favorites. Anybody ever done that before?
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Right? I do it all the time. My my my list is full of things that I'd like to experience and do and have and whatever. Right? So what we do is we we bookmark it. We save it to our to our favorites for the opportunity that I'll come back to it.
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But most of the time, I only come back to that thing that I saved when I hear about how good it was. So I can see a restaurant pop up on my feed.
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I can save it. Find out that it has bad reviews and I'm not even gonna bother it. I'm going somewhere with this.
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But I can see something that looks good.
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I can read the reviews. I can hear all the amazing things about it.
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And because of its potential, I'm a come back at the opportune time.
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When the Bible says that the devil sows the tares.
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Look at the sequence.
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The good seed went into the ground first and the tares came second.
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God has planted you but the devil has bookmarked you for an opportune time that in the event that you start growing and becoming fruitful then the challenges will come.
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You hear me on this thing? He has bookmarked you. He don't care that you love Jesus. He doesn't care that you got saved. He doesn't care that you came to church.
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He doesn't care about any of that. What he, what his only aim is, is are they gonna be productive as good seed? Are they gonna be fruitful? Are they gonna reach the world with life? Are they gonna fulfill the purpose? Because it's only at that point that the Bible says that now when the seed begins to grow and it begins to create the wheat that now all of a sudden the servants say, hold on. They go to the master. Hold on a second now.
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Did you not sow good seed? What are these tares doing here?
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It's only when you're operating in potential.
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But you don't understand man. Things are just so hard. You might just need to have a little self control.
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You just might need to get yourself disciplined.
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We wanna blame the devil for every single little thing and at the end of the day, you gotta take responsibility for yourself.
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The devil's only after those that have potential.
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He's just beating me up over this thing. No, you just need to have self control.
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Stop hanging out with certain people. Stop doing certain things.
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Stop thinking certain thoughts. He's just beating me up. No, you're beating yourself up.
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But it's the moment you start getting that potential released and that seed now sticks into the ground.
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And the enemy knew that. So what he did was he was willing to sow a tear.
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And here's the deal. The tears, the tears are not there to destroy you.
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Tears don't destroy because if you read the passage and look at the text, the Bible says this, is that while men slept. In other words, while men were not paying attention. How did the enemy even get that tear into my situation right now? It's when I'm not paying attention.
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It's when I'm walking in ignorance.
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It's when I'm not being full alert. It's when I'm not preparing myself and being watchful. And if there ever was a time, and I'm speaking this right now. This is a prophetic word for this house right now. If there ever was a time that we need to wake up and arise, oh sleeper, we need to do that right now. We have to be vigilant. We have to be active. We have to be on the money right now with where we are in our awareness because the enemy is looking for who is not paying attention. And it's when the men slept, oh I love this. The Bible says when men slept, the enemy sowed the tare, he went his way.
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Then growth begins to happen. The harvest wheat begins to show itself. Then those same men come back and they say to the master, I thought you sowed good seed. He did sow good seed. You didn't do your part, Joker. And so, the enemy came in and sowed a tear. And so, I love it. So, should we rip it up?
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Should we just pull it all out of the ground so that there's nothing in the ground anymore? Because that that that bad tear has got to be destroying that good seed.
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I'm gonna say something, this might be a little controversial.
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You can correct me later. I'm just going there.
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I did this.
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You can correct me later.
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I could be off. I could be off.
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Jesus help me.
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The devil cannot destroy a believer.
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The
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devil cannot...
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My life is just destroyed.
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No.
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Listen to me. The devil cannot destroy good seed. He can only disrupt it. Because the tear did not destroy the good seed, it only disrupted it.
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Yeah, but John ten ten, doesn't it say that the thief cometh not but to steal, to kill, and to destroy?
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The implication is the intent.
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The intent is that the thief would like to steal, he would like to kill, he would like to destroy.
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But as the Good Shepherd in John ten ten, is he says, not under my watch because I come that they have life and have it more abundantly.
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So his intent is to destroy, but he can't destroy good seed. So if the devil can't destroy good seed, he's going to try and disrupt it.
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And here's what happens. When the tear is sown, the the the the roots of the tear begin to grow deep. You can't see it on the surface because a tear and a wheat are identical at the beginning.
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Listen, Roman law back in those days, it was illegal for enemies to sow tares into farmers' fields. They made it a law that you couldn't do it because it would so disrupt the agricultural system that even if you were trying to sabotage your competitor, it would spread into other people's fields, and it would cause great calamity in the land. It'd be a big problem. So, they made it a law that you couldn't sow tares at all because the weaning system, the root system gets so entangled with what is good.
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And what you're fighting in your life right now as good seed that is now becoming good wheat, it's not a demon, it's a system.
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Because we want to blame the devil for everything, but you're fighting a system that he sowed, because the Bible says that He sowed it and He walked away. He's not even there. He got a system inside of you that you're struggling with.
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You got a system that you're saying, but God called me to this place, but I'm struggling with it so maybe it wasn't God after all, and so you uproot yourself to go somewhere else. And
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Jesus says in the parable, let them both grow to the end.
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Let them both grow to the end.
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I, I, I was reading through this and, and, and, and I, and was just resting and I just kept saying, but, but God, what, what was the point of the tear?
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What is the point if the devil can't destroy me?
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What is the point of the tear? And God said that it's not that he's destroying you, he's disrupting you. But many of us, we get so disrupted in our lives that we self destruct and we destroy our own harvest.
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Wouldn't it be easier just to rip it all out together and start over?
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Wouldn't it be easier just to forfeit what is good because of what is wrong?
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And so, I put my attention on all my pain rather than the attention of God's promise.
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And here's the deal, is that we are trying to fight a fight that you were never intended to fight.
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The Bible doesn't say that your faith fight is you throwing up the fist going at it with the devil.
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The Bible says this, is that you resist the devil, and he will flee.
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So how am I fighting right now? I'm resisting everything that's trying to disrupt my life, but I get so focused on that individual or that situation or that thing, that pain point that I get so aggravated that I would rather just run and move away and go somewhere else.
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And this is what happens with many people, and you wonder why. Why am I not seeing fruit in my life? Because I'm not getting roots into the ground.
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And so, I self destruct.
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And now, what could have been never will be, and who I'm supposed to reach will never be reached.
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Because the Jesus that the world's gonna experience is the Jesus that's in you as good seed. For the Bible says in James one eighteen that we are our first fruit after His own kind.
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So, when I'm born again, I'm of His kingdom. I'm representing His kind, His potential, His authority, His ability, and so I've got to get rooted into the ground so that His kind can flow out of my life. But His kind can never flow out of my life if I constantly am uprooting.
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And so he says, let the two grow together.
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Let the two grow together. Let the two systems...
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And this is what we're dealing with. Listen. Listen to me. This is what this is what we're dealing with today.
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We have two systems fighting, kingdom of God and the earthly worldly system.
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So we just wanna uproot. I've... You know what? Oh, man. I should... I don't know if I should go there.
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I'm gonna say this and I I I... Oh, God help me. We're already there.
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We're already there.
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There's been so many amazing things about 2026.
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But there's also been some great frustration, and I'm gonna say great grievance that I believe in the eyes of the Lord and in the body of Christ.
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Now, gonna preface this.
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Sin is sin and sin needs to be dealt with. But where do we get a license to start attacking other believers, leaders, ministers and ministries trying to uproot them from where God has planted them. And this year I've never seen such an an awakening, not in a great way. An awakening where we've been attacking the body of Christ ripping down men and women of God because we don't agree or we don't like. Again, I'm not giving a permission slip for sin needs to be dealt with, but who are we to stand in as judge and jury? And
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we better mature as the body of Christ and stay focused on where God has planted us And stop trying to determine whether or not that individual, that ministry, that situation is a wheat or a weed. Who are we?
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The thing that jumps at me at the text is that the master says, let them grow together.
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It's not that I'm tolerating nonsense.
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It's that it's not my job to fight that battle.
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My fight is not in how I retaliate.
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My fight is in how I resist that situation.
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And let God be God.
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And let God fight my battles, and let God deal with it. You think about where David and Saul had their situation where Saul was trying to take out David and kill him. And David had Saul by the edge of his robe in a cave, and he cut the edge off and he felt this grievance, who am I to touch? I'm not gonna touch that tear.
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I'm gonna leave it in the hands of God and let God be God.
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And at the end, God will separate.
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He'll separate it.
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And so, when I'm looking at this passage,
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the reason why I said don't give up on your seed is because God is doing something in you and through you, but if you're not careful, you will allow situations and peoples and things and systems that are not of God to get you so irritated that you will uproot yourself and you'll never step into the fullness of what God has for your life. And
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your potential, guys, is too great.
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Your purpose is too rich.
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What God has for you is too awesome.
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It's just, it's amazing.
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You don't wanna give up on your seed. The Bible says, and I'm gonna I'm gonna close with this.
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The Bible says in, first John chapter five
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verses four and five.
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He says whatever is born of God
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overcomes the world.
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So I told you.
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In the gospel of John chapter three, if you're born again you see the kingdom.
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And God so loved the world that those who are willing to be born again, those who are willing to have the kingdom rights, now can release their potential in that world.
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But first John tells us whatever is born of God overcomes the world.
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Now let me just teach this for one short moment.
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The word overcome is a Greek word called nykaio.
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Overcome.
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It is a Greek word called nykaio.
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Nikeo means this.
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It means to step into a trial knowing that you're gonna win. Yeah. Okay.
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Maybe you've experienced this or you know of a situation where the party that knows they're not guilty has been called to a trial.
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But as a legal citizen with rights, I step into that trial already knowing the verdict on the other side that I'm gonna win.
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Those that are born of God can step up to every trial already knowing that as a child of God, as a kingdom citizen, I'm gonna overcome that situation.
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Every tear, every complication, every challenge, Every difficulty.
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But whenever you go to court, less if you just know the law so well, you don't represent yourself.
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You have someone who is mediating on your behalf.
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And the Bible tells us in Hebrews that Jesus is our mediator between God and man.
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So, it's not that I'm fighting the battle anymore.
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It's that I'm already stepping in to the courtroom of heaven knowing that the battle has already been won because I have a mediator who has pled on my behalf that says, game over Satan.
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So, how the wheat deals with the tare is by not touching the tare and at the end of the age, the harvesters they come and then they separate because God fights our battles.
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Good.
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So, whatever is born of God has a legal right to win the trial of the world. Everything that you've been dealing with and facing and fighting.
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From sickness to aggravated relationships.
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And by the way, it's not the person because we don't wrestle flesh and blood.
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It's the enemy that's trying to influence and work through an individual.
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I remind myself all the time.
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They just need Jesus.
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Whatever's born of God overcomes the world.
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And this victory that has overcome the world is our faith.
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So how do I deal with the tear?
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I've got to remain in faith.
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And faith is not how I retaliate.
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Faith is how I resist because he says submit to God, and God will submit to you.
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I'm getting there. I'm getting there. I'm feeling it now. Thank you, Jesus. This
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victory... You'll like this one. The word victory in Greek means Nike. That's what Nike means. So, what's on your shoe right now? It means victory.
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So, this victory that I get from overcoming this trial that has already been declared a win on my behalf is the result of my faith and my steadfastness in Jesus.
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Count it all joy.
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Count it all joy, brothers.
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When you fall into various trials, that trial is the same language as overcoming.
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I'm called to trial.
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The enemy's trying to beat me up. He's trying to disrupt my life, but count it all joy because when I show up to trial, I've already overcome it. Okay? So, count all joy.
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When I encounter various trials, various means uncertain.
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You ever wake up and say, where did this thing come from? That's what that means. Various trials means out of nowhere. Why am I dealing with this now? I just got through this one situation. And and again, I I I I... Oh, God. Hear my heart, guys. Lord, hear me. Lord, use me.
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Your trials is not because you're a failure.
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Your trials is not because you're a wash up or you've messed up. Your trials is because the enemy earmarked your potential and he does not like it. And so, is going to try and allow the system to disrupt you so badly that you'll never know what it is to be an overcomer. To walk in your legalized guaranteed rights as a citizen of heaven having victory. Amen. Let's go. Do you like?
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So overcome the world through faith.
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And I'm just encouraging y'all today. I mean, I'm... I know I'm speaking to someone right now that's been and struggling. You're feeling the tears tearing you apart. It's your faith. And God is saying, don't touch it. God is saying, don't uproot it. I'm fighting it. I've got you. I'm with you. I'm surrounding you right now.
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And here's the thing. How they know the difference between a wheat and a tare is not when it's first sown, it's when it begins to grow.
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Okay. Last point.
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Last point.
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Are we okay? I gotta get this out. I gotta get this out. Okay.
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So a wheat and a tare look exactly the same when they're first sown and when they begin to grow. That's why they didn't recognize it at first. It was only when the seed begin to grow wheat, when it began to become productive, when it was showing its potential, that they saw the difference.
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So, the weed is a counterfeit.
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Okay? The weed, it's just a... It's a counterfeit.
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Things that look like God, feel like God, sound like God.
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Devil doesn't show up with a pitchfork and a tail and horns.
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We have this very funny picture of what the devil showed. The devil's not gonna show up like that. He's gonna show up as a counterfeit.
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Okay?
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Like a lion because Jesus is the lion roaming around seeking whom He may devour, it's gonna be a lookalike. It's gonna be a counterfeit. It's a copy. Okay?
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But here's how you know the difference.
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When the seed, the good seed produces wheat, the wheat that is in the head of that grain is weighty because a weed has no grain to produce.
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Watch this now.
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The wheat that is...
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The grain that is in the wheat head, it's... It becomes so heavy that the good seed, the good wheat, if you ever look at it, it begins to fall and rest like this.
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The weed that has no wheat stands really tall.
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So they can tell what has the good wheat and what is a fake.
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What's the point?
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The point about it is this, when God begins to prosper your life, When God begins to give you increase.
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When God begins to move in your life. It's not for you to stand and be proud and say look it's me.
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It's when the wheat is willing to bow down and surrender out of humility because it is God that blessed me.
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It is God that increased me. It's that God saw me in my challenge, and He saw me in my calamity, and He saw me in my difficulty, and He saw me when I felt like giving up on myself, And He saw me, but I was willing to remain steadfast in faith. I didn't have another praise to give, but I didn't get out of position.
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I didn't have another thing to say, but I'm not going to get out of position.
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I didn't know where to go or what to do, but I'm not gonna get out of position.
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But God began to prosper me because He was faithful, and He was good, and He cares, and He loves, and He redeems, and He restores, and He heals, and He renews, and He revives because He's a good God.
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And so I bow down before Him, and I worship Him, and I bless His name.
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But the terror, the counterfeit does not know that, so the terror is about Himself.
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The Bible says, when I submit to God and He submits to me, He will exalt me.
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Ready for this? Due time.
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He will exalt you in due time.
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I would have fainted if I hadn't believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I would have passed out, but I was reminded that I'm a good seed planted into good soil, that I've been watered, and I've given time its preference.
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And now even though the enemy is trying to sow all kinds of things into my life, my God is the one that brings me up as a harvest.
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But you gotta be a good seed.
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And the bible says this, that the good seed are the righteous ones. The good seeds are the ones that believe with their heart and confess with their lips and declare that Jesus is Lord, because it's that I overcome the world when I believe. Verse five is what it says in in in first John five five. It just says, who are those that overcome?
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Those that believe that Jesus is the son of God.
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Thanks again for listening to today's podcast. We trust that it has touched your heart and blessed your life.
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Listen to support the ministry, can go to our website abundantlife.tv.
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And remember, we are better together.