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Amen. Well, um, last week, if you weren't here, um it was Vision Sunday. We celebrated nine years as a church, which was really cool. And I shared a parable of the sower that Jesus told, which I share a similar kind of message every Vision Sunday because that was really the first teaching I ever gave when we started this church. God gave us a vision to be a church that scatters gospel seeds where they haven't been scattered and to plant gospel seeds on all different types of soil. That's the type of church that we want to become. And um, I've been praying for the past couple months about what we're supposed to jump into next. And I'm happy to announce that we are gonna be starting a brand new series next week, going through the book of the Revelation. So if you've never studied Revelation, it is an amazing book. And the reason I didn't start it this week, I was gonna start it this week, but like 50 ladies from the church are all gone on a mom's retreat, and there's a women's retreat, and I was like, we can't have miss them miss week one. So next week, don't miss the revelation. It's gonna be an amazing time. I'd encourage you, even this week, if you've never read the book of Revelation, read through it and get yourself ready for what God's gonna do in this next season. It's gonna be really fun. So today, uh, with just kind of a one-off teaching, um, I was just praying and asking the Lord what he wanted me to share. And I just want to do a follow-up on another parable, or actually two parables Jesus gives about seeds that are a picture of how the kingdom spreads. Because last week we looked at the parable of the sower. And so today we're gonna look at two other parables of seeds and how when they are planted, they bear fruit, and how that um how the kingdom of God spreads in that way. So look down with me, if you would, in Mark chapter four, starting in verse 26. We're gonna look at a couple more parables of kingdom seeds being scattered. It says this in verse 26. It says, And he said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, and he knows not how. The earth produces by itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come. So last week we looked at the parable of the sower, and Jesus told us that the key to understanding all of the parables is that parables are a mystery about how the kingdom of God spreads. So anytime you read a parable, that's the filter. This is a mystery about how the kingdom of God works and how the kingdom spreads. So in this parable, the mystery is this: we see that a farmer goes and he plants a seed in the ground, and he wakes up and he goes to sleep and he wakes up and he's not really doing anything. All he did was planted a seed, and that seed begins to sprout and it begins to bud, and it begins to produce fruit and grain, and then it's harvested and able to be used for its purpose. And so the mystery of this parable is that the seed which was planted grows all by itself. And that's really the big idea because it even says that uh the parable it says, he knows not how. Like the the farmer goes to sleep and rises, and the seed is growing all by itself, and he knows not how. And that is the mystery of the kingdom of God. That the kingdom continues to spread in ways that we don't even know how it works. All I'm doing, like the farmer, is I planted a little seed, I go to sleep, and I wake up and I'm like, wow, God is doing stuff. And so here's the amazing reality of the mystery of how the kingdom works. The kingdom spreading is not dependent on all the stuff that we do, it is dependent on the stuff that God does, even when we're like the farmer sleeping in our bed. The best fruit and the best work and the best spreading of the kingdom doesn't happen by me saying, look at all the things I'm doing. I gotta try to do more, I gotta fit more into my schedule. It's resting and trusting that God is working even when we're sleeping. And that's really encouraging because by the way, I'm sure you most of y'all know this, we sleep like half of our lives. Like, say you get 80 years, you really only get 40 because you're asleep for half of it. So it's like to know that even when you're sleeping, like the farmer, God is doing stuff with the little seeds that we have planted is a really beautiful thing. And the reason he's able to do that is because the psalmist says in Psalm 121, verse 4, it says, Behold, he who keeps Israel will never slumber or sleep. So here's the good news when you're sleeping, God's not. When you're not working, when you're not planting seeds, God still is, and that's how the kingdom spreads, because God is the one who does the work. And so even when the farmer, again, the farmer can't see what's happening, even when the farmer is just sleeping, we see the seed grows all by itself because at the end of the day, the growth of the seed and the fruit of the seed, God is the one who is responsible for that. And when you understand that, that that's the way the kingdom works, God is the one who takes ultimate responsibility. It is so freeing and it is so humbling. It is humbling in the sense that I realize God doesn't need me. Like, and God doesn't need you. A lot of us think, oh, if I wasn't here and if I wasn't doing this, and if I didn't disciple these people, and if I didn't pray for these people, and if I didn't lead this Bible study, and if I didn't start this church, then where would the world be? And it's like the world would be just fine. It'd be just fine without me. It'd be just fine without any of us. God is the one who ultimately does the work. God is the only one who is indispensable. And so that's humbling. It's humbling to know that, hey, God's gonna do the work even when we're not putting it in. And then it's also, secondly, it's freeing. Because for me, this helps take the pressure off. Like it's freeing to know that the fruit that comes from this ministry is not dependent on me. And I'm here to tell you that in the last nine years of this church, the majority of the fruit that has come in this church is not because of me, it's because of God, and it's because of other people that God has brought who is continuing to plant little seeds. And for me, that is a huge weight off of me. In fact, Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 3, 6. Paul said, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. Isn't that good? Paul says, I planted this church. When Paul left, a guy named Apollos came and kept watering, he kept pouring in. But ultimately he said, It's up to God. The fruit is up to God because God is the one who is ultimately faithful. And so in your life, that this should be an encouragement for you that you are not the one to bring about the fruit. And a lot of us, that's hard to accept because we want control. Maybe you're here today and maybe you're married, and maybe your marriage is in a really difficult season, and you've just been working so hard and you've been trying to fix it. And I'm not saying you shouldn't get help if your marriage is in the struggle, but maybe you're like, man, I just keep trying to fix it, I keep trying to take control, I'm putting in all the work and nothing's happening. And I want to encourage you here today that to know this. God is the one who is working on your marriage. God is the one who is working in your heart. God is the one who is working in your spouse's heart. You can't fix it, but when you sleep, God is working behind the scenes. Or maybe you're here and maybe you have some kids that you raised in the faith, and maybe now you wrestle with them because they're no longer walking with Jesus. And you're like, man, I keep I keep trying to get them back into church, and I keep trying to get them to come to the men's group or the women's group or whatever, and they're just not doing it. And guess what? You can't make your kids follow Jesus. You can do all the work you want, you can try and force it all you want, but guess what? God is working in their life even when you can't. And that's what this parable is. You now as a parent might be in a season, you know what? I have to rest a little more. I'm not doing the work anymore of parenting. They've kind of moved out and they're making their decisions. I have to rest and trust that now when I'm not working, God is the one who is working in their hearts and working in their lives. Or maybe there's a neighbor or a coworker or somebody that you've just been praying for that one day they would come to church with you, or that they would come to a Bible study with you, and you're like, ah, it just hasn't happened yet. And you keep inviting them and you keep praying for them, and nothing's happening, and it looks like nothing's happening, but guess what? God is working in their hearts. And guess what? It's not dependent upon you and how many times you invite them or how many times you pray for them. You planted that little seed, and God you have to trust, is working in their heart even when you're not there. This is the message of this parable. Or maybe you're here and maybe you're single, and maybe you really want to be married, and you're just you're trying so hard, and every week you're going on a new date with someone new. New dating app, new guy, new girl, just every week in some, and it's not working out. You're like, I'm trying so hard. And God's like, Stop trying so hard. He's like, I know that desire that's in your heart. I gave you that desire. And you don't have to work and force your way into the right marriage. God is gonna bring that person when he knows that season is right for you. And so that's what's so freeing about this parable. We think, okay, I plant the seed and now I water, and now I can now I prove. And no, all the all the all the farmer does in the parable is he just plants the seed and then he goes to sleep. And miraculously, it the plant becomes the plant that it was supposed to be. And that's the way that it works in our life. What God wants for us is to just be faithful with the little gospel opportunities he's given us and then entrust the fruit to him. Not not, I have to force this and make this happen and do all the work on my own. No, we just plant the kingdom seeds and we trust that God is gonna bring the fruit in his perfect timing. And so, what I want to challenge you in this morning is simply this to just ask yourself this question. What are the planting and watering opportunities that God has given you? Again, the it says here that in this parable that the king this is a parable about the kingdom. He scatters seed and then he goes to sleep. That's all the farmer does. He says, Here's the seed that's in my hand, I'm gonna plant this and then I'm gonna go to sleep and trust that God is the one who's gonna bring the fruit. So, what are the seeds that God has given you? What are the little opportunities that God has given you that He's just calling you to faithfully plant that in the ground? Just plant plant your prayers for this person and plant an invitation over here for this person, and then trust that God is gonna be the one who does the work in their life. What are the seeds that God has given you to steward? And what are the things that you need to let go of that you've been trying to take hold of? You've been trying to produce fruit, you've been trying to force fruit into other people's lives, but he says, Hey, just sit back and rest. Like the farmer, take a nap a little bit. And when you wake up, you're gonna see God did something that I could never have done by myself. Amen. Amen. So that's the parable of the farmer who plants a seed and takes a nap. That's the way the kingdom spreads. It's really beautiful. And then the second parable that he follows that up with the parable of the mustard seed, look at verse 30. This is one of my favorite parables of all the parables. It says, And he said, With what can we compare the kingdom of God? Or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is the smallest of all the seeds on earth. Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and puts out large branches so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. Okay, so here's another random story. He says, And the kingdom of God is going to be compared to like a mustard seed. Some guy has a little mustard seed, which is the smallest of all the seeds. He plants the mustard seed, and then one day it becomes the biggest tree in the garden, and all the birds of the air come and make their nests in its shade. So, if these are again parables about how the kingdom of God works, the question we have to ask is, well, what is this telling me about the nature of the kingdom of God? What do I learn from how the kingdom spreads from the parable of the mustard seed? And the big idea is this that God's kingdom always has small beginnings. That's the whole point of this parable. God's kingdom starts with small beginnings. He says it's like a guy who has the tiniest seed of all, just a little mustard seed. And if you compare the mustard seed to all the other seeds, you'd think this can't really do that much. It's so tiny. But that's the way the kingdom starts. It starts with the smallest of opportunities. It starts in the smallest of ways. And this again is so freeing to know. And this is so counter the way that our culture thinks. It's also so counter the way that a lot of Christians and churches think. A lot of Christians and our culture, and even some churches, get so infatuated with the big things. We we believe that if God's really gonna use us, if God's really gonna use my life to make a big difference, then we need a bigger platform. We we need bigger following, bigger influence, a bigger salary, a bigger church, a bigger whatever it might be. Our culture, how many of y'all know, is all about bigger? The mantra of our culture is what? Bigger is better. So we look at what's big and we go, and even in churches do this, we look at what's big and go, wow, they must really be doing it right. Look, they're reaching thousands, if not tens of thousands of people. And we think bigger is better because we bought the mindset of the culture rather than the mindset of the kingdom. In the mindset of the kingdom, bigger is not better. In the mindset of the kingdom, Jesus says, whoever is faithful with the smallest, tiniest little mustard seed, that is where the fruit is gonna come from. And so again, the way the way that God's kingdom looks is so different than the way that the world thinks. God's kingdom isn't marked by what's flashy and big and successful. It's a small, tiny little mustard seed that one person faithfully says, you know what? I don't know how much can come from this one little seed that I have, but I'm gonna plant it nonetheless and I'm gonna trust again that God's gonna do with it what He wants to do with it. That is the way the kingdom of God spreads, not in the big, flashy, successful moments. It begins in just the small moments that nobody will ever see and that nobody will ever notice. Just like a mustard seed being hidden in the ground. The kingdom of God starts when you invite your neighbor over for dinner. Like that's it. That's a mustard seed. You're like, wow, God, I have this rental or I own this house or I live in this neighborhood. How does the kingdom spread here? Well, just mustard, think mustard seed. Well, here's a neighbor I get to talk to every now and then. And maybe I just am faithful cultivating a relationship. Maybe I just invite them into my house and I just have dinner with them and get to know them and hear their story and trust that you're gonna bring fruit in their life. That's where the kingdom starts in your neighborhood. Just being faithful to cultivate those relationships. The kingdom of God starts when you generously give when you feel like you have nothing to give. Like the widow who showed up that Jesus saw in the temple, who gave one little penny, one little mite, and Jesus said she gave more than everybody else because everyone's giving out of their abundance, but she gave out of her lack. She didn't get celebrated by the world. That didn't look all flashy. No one was like, whoa, she's crushing it. She gave no, but what was she doing? She's being faithful with the little bit that she had. She said, I don't have a lot, but I'm still gonna give to the Lord. The kingdom of God starts when you use the small little following you might have on your social media and you say, God, how can I use this to glorify you? How can I make my social media not just about me and drawing attention to me, but what does it look like to use my social media in a way that is planting gospel kingdom seeds? The kingdom of God starts with uh when you have a conversation, whether in a classroom or in this room, with the person who's always just sitting by themselves. You show up to your class, you show up to work, you show up here on a Sunday reverend, there's always, well, someone's here by themselves, and maybe it's their first time, or maybe it's just the person in the class or the person at your work who's just like the loner, but you say, you know what? Maybe this is a kingdom moment. Maybe this is a moment that I get to just go plant a seed and just say, Hey, what's what's going on? And hey, what's your story? And hey, is there any way I can pray for you? And again, none of these, uh none of these examples are are flashy. None of these examples is anybody ever gonna praise you and go, Wow, man, you're so spiritual, you're so legit. Wow, like, whoa, you you said hi to somebody? Wow, you you pray for somebody every now, you had somewhere for dinner. None of that is super big and cool. It's just faithful, tiny little mustard seed moments. And that is where the kingdom of God starts. It starts just one person at a time, one yes at a time, small mustard seed moments. And I love what the prophet Zechariah said in Zechariah 4, verse 10 in the New Living Translation. At the beginning of 4 10, he says this do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin. And here's the key Again, he says, Don't despise these small beginnings, being faithful in the small things. He says, Notice, the Lord rejoices to see it begin. Nobody else is gonna rejoice at what you're doing. I'm here to tell you that. Like nobody's gonna, nobody's gonna be like, You're awesome, dude. You prayed for a person, you're awesome, you help nobody, but God does. Isn't that amazing? Like when you take that small little mustard seed, like here's an opportunity to serve somebody, to pray for somebody, to love somebody. No one's gonna see it, but God does, and He rejoices. Like, think about that. God is up there rejoicing that you said yes to just a small little opportunity. That is so beautiful and so amazing. And so at the end of the day, when you take that step of faith and when you say yes to those small little kingdom beginnings, you will not receive the praises of men, but you will receive the praises of the Lord who rejoices to see the work begin. And so what we see in this is very simple. God is not interested in your greatness. What God is interested in is your faithfulness. And we've we've got it mixed here. We we think, I want to be great, I want to do great things, I need bigger, I need greater, and God says, How about just start with the mustard seed? How about just start with being faithful with what you've been given? And again, the world values greatness, but true greatness in the kingdom starts with just being faithful with what God's given you. I read this post by my buddy Nate Edwardson, who's a pastor down in Reading at an amazing church called The Stirring. He posted this on his social media two weeks ago. I want to read what he said. Listen to this. He said, We've been measuring the wrong thing. Gideon had 300, David had his mighty men, Abraham had a family, Moses had a nation, Priscilla had a home and a table. Naomi had Ruth. Jesus had 12. Mary had a son. Different numbers, different assignments, same faithfulness. We count attendance, God counts obedience. We want to fill rooms, God wants to fulfill assignments. Never confuse the size of the assignment with the significance of this assignment. They are not the same thing. Isn't that so good? When you look at the Bible, you're like, wow, okay, Gideon was given influence over 300 people. He wasn't any less than Moses, though, because Moses was leading a nation. Just different assignments, different stewardship. Jesus primarily just had 12 guys. He didn't have a huge mega church, he had 12 guys he faithfully discipled who then went and planted churches. Mary had just one. She had Jesus in her womb who she was called to steward. So again, bigger is not always better. What God is looking for is faithfulness in the assignment that He's given you. So I can't look at what God's given me and go, oh God, why don't we have a church of 2,000? Why don't we have 10? It's like that's not my assignment, at least not in this season. If it is, then God's gonna make it happen. I have no idea. But that doesn't even matter. What matters is this is my assignment right now. And your assignment is gonna be different than my assignment. Your assignment probably isn't planting a church and leading a church, and that's not any less than what I do. It's a different assignment. The question is, are you being faithful in the small moments and small mustard seed opportunities that God has given you? That's it. That's all that matters. God's not looking at anything else. Jesus put it this way in Luke 16, verse 10 the one who is faithful with little will also be faithful in much. So here's my question for you Have you been overlooking just the small opportunities that God has placed right in front of you? Because you want to do something big, you want to do big things for God, or you want to do big things for yourself, or you want to get the bigger paycheck or the bigger whatever. That doesn't matter in the kingdom. Have your eyes been set on the small task just right before you? And if you said, God, help me to be faithful with this, help me to steward this. Because at the end of the day, whatever you have to steward, God's given you that. And God gives a different measure to different people for different seasons because he knows we have different capacity. Like in the parable of the talents, one guy gets five talents, one guy gets two, one guy only gets one. The guy who got two or one isn't any less less than the guy who got five. God just knew you have a different capacity. But what's interesting is the guy who got only one talent, the guy who had the least, he's the guy who buried it in the ground. And that's what we do so often. We're like, man, I don't really got any big opportunities or big things. And so we just we overlook and we squander and we bury the small mustard seeds that God has put in front of us. So again, I want to encourage you to prayerfully say, God, what is the mustard seed for me? What are the small day-to-day moments that you've given me to steward? Maybe it's the family that you live with, maybe it's the coworkers that you work with, maybe it's the customers that you serve or the employees that you get to employ or whatever. But say, God, today help me to just look at these small opportunities and help me to steward them in a way that would give you glory and honor in the small things. Because that's how the kingdom of God starts. That's where the kingdom of God spreads, not in the big and flashy mega church vibe. It happens in your life and in my life when I just say, God, I'm gonna be faithful in the small opportunities that you've given me. Amen. Now here's the thing although the kingdom, he says here, starts like a tiny mustard seed, notice again what Jesus says in verse 32. He says, Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches so that the birds of the air can make their nests in its shade. So he says the kingdom starts like this, a tiny little mustard seed. But if you're faithful with that tiny little mustard seed, Jesus says that mustard seed is gonna grow into the biggest tree in all of the garden, so big that a bunch of birds are gonna come and make their nests in it. Now, here's what's crazy. I don't know if you knew this, but mustard seeds do not actually grow into the biggest trees in the garden. Did you know that? If you go plant a mustard seed, it will not become the biggest tree in your garden, unless it's the only tree in your garden, then that which case it would be. So the question is, well, why does Jesus say this then? Because mustard seeds don't do this. And it's very similar again to the parable of the sower. If you were here last week, remember in the story of the parable of the sower? The sower goes and scatters seeds and he throws some by the wayside and he throws some on stony ground and he throws some in the thorns and then he throws some on good soil. And again, in the natural world, no farmer would ever do that. No farmer's gonna throw seeds in the on the rocks and throw some on the thorns, just like no mustard seed actually becomes the biggest plant in the garden. So again, what we need to understand is these are parables that are a mystery about how the kingdom of God works. The natural world doesn't look like this. The natural world, you don't throw seeds on the stony ground. The natural world, a mustard seed doesn't become a big tree, but in the kingdom of God, the mustard seed can actually supernaturally, the smallest thing can become the greatest thing. That's what he's saying here. Not in the natural world, but in the supernatural, because this is about how the kingdom of God works. And what's interesting is that this idea of the mustard seed becoming the largest tree that the birds of the air can come and make their nests in is actually a prophecy or a vision that was given by the prophet Daniel in Daniel chapter four. Now, what for most people living in 2026, even if you grow up in church, most of us are not super familiar with the Old Testament. So when we read the New Testament, most of us just see it right there in front of us. But for Jesus' first uh century audience, when Jesus said, a mustard seed becomes the biggest tree and bears fruit up to the heavens, and the birds come and make their nest in it, immediately a first century Jew would have been like, oh, he's referring to Daniel chapter four. They would have made this connection. So to understand what Jesus is saying here, you have to go say, what was the connection that they would have made in their mind? And I want to read you this in Daniel chapter 4, verse 10 through 12. Listen to the vision that Daniel was given. He says, The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these. I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. Its leaves were beautiful, and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beast of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. So notice the similarities here. Daniel has this vision of a great tree whose branches reach up to earth, and the beast of the field come and take shade in it, and the birds come and make nests in it. And so now Jesus tells this story in Mark chapter 4, and he goes, if you plant this little mustard seed, it's gonna be this mustard seed is gonna become the biggest tree reaching up to the heavens, and the birds of the air are gonna come and make their nests in it. So again, we miss the connection to Daniel, but the first century audience would have got that. And in the first century, what they would have understood is that this tree that Daniel was speaking of was a prophecy about the restoration of the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of earth. It was a prophecy that this tree on earth reaching up to the heavens for the birds to come make nest in it. He was saying, God's kingdom and man's kingdom are coming together. God is making a way for the tree of life that we were robbed from in the Garden of Eden that we no longer have access to. He's making a way for us to have access to that tree again. Because did you know that the story of the Bible begins with the tree? And there's a tree right in the middle of the story, and there's a tree at the end of the story. Jesus knows this. You guys know Genesis 1, 2, and 3, God creates the Garden of Eden. He fills it with beautiful trees. The tree of life is in the center, and also the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And he tells Adam and Eve, the first humans, he says, You can eat of any tree you want. The only one you can't eat of is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Of course, as the story goes, they go eat of the one tree they're not supposed to eat of. And what happened? They were kicked out of the garden of Eden, which is where God's relational presence existed with humanity. They're kicked out from the Garden of Eden, cut off from the tree of life, which God said, if you eat of the tree of life, you're gonna get live forever. They're now cut off from that. So the whole Old Testament is humanity is trying to find their way back to God's presence, but they can't because we've been cast out of Eden. So what happens? You get to the gospel stories, and guess what? The kingdom is birthed like a little tiny mustard seed. Literally, the seed of the woman, this this little girl, a 13 or 14-year-old woman, name Mary, is conceived of the Holy Spirit with a little baby by the name of Jesus. And this little baby comes and he comes in mustard seed form. The kingdom didn't come on a chariot and a horse, and yeah, it came in the in the womb of a virgin, a tiny mustard seed. And she gave birth and she stewarded this baby that God gave her, and she raised this baby Jesus, and eventually this man, Jesus, goes and he dies on a tree. He hangs on a tree, he gives his life on the tree for the sins of humanity. What was he doing? He was making a way for us to be restored to God. He was paying for our sin. He was making a way for us to be forgiven so that heaven and earth could be joined again, so that we, like birds of the air, could come and nest in the kingdom of God. And then we see at the end of the Bible, at the end of Revelation, which we're gonna start next week, which I'm so excited for, the tree of life is there. New heavens, new earth, the tree of life that all humanity comes and gets to eat from for all eternity. That this is the story of the Bible. Beginning, middle, and end all starts with the tree. And so Jesus here says this here's the parable. Starts like a little mustard seed. Starts like a little mustard seed, grows into the biggest tree that all the birds of the air come and make their nest in. And guess what? That happened when Jesus came to this earth. Jesus was the mustard seed. Jesus is the mustard seed. Jesus is the ultimate example of this. Because he, Jesus, was planted in the ground of the earth. Three days later, when he rose, the tree of life was rebirthed. The tree which connects humanity and God was restored. We had a way to God once again. And now for the last 2,000 years, think about the tree of God's kingdom and how it's been spreading. You are nesting right now in the tree of God's kingdom. For any person who has placed their faith in Jesus, you are now another branch on the tree. You've been grafted in. And for 2,000 years, God's kingdom tree has been spreading and growing throughout all the world. And people like me and you, birds all throughout the Old Testament, speak of unclean animals. We come in unclean, we make our nest, and we're saved by the grace of God so that the kingdom of God can continue to spread. So what this is is a mystery of how the kingdom works. Started with Jesus being faithful, willing to give his own life, and now we are a part of the tree. We are the fruit of his life that was laid down on our behalf. And so my question in closing for you is twofold. First off, number one is this have you received the mustard seed, Jesus Christ? Have you seen that he not only spoke of this for us to steward, but he's the ultimate fulfillment of this? Have you seen that Jesus laying down his life, giving his life so that you might have life in the tree of life, that you might come and build your nest in his kingdom so that you might have a new start and new beginning. Today, if you've not placed your faith in Jesus, if you've not entrusted your life to him, I would invite you today to come and surrender. I'd invite you today to say, you know what? I've been living for my own kingdom. I've been worried about the big things and bigger this and bigger that. And maybe today God is calling me to come and lay all that down and just say, I'm gonna be a part of your kingdom, even if it means being faithful in the small things. And for a lot of you here, I know you have received the mustard seed. You have placed your faith in the finished work of Christ. You have let him birth his kingdom in your heart. But my question for you is, okay, now what are you doing with that? Now are you being faithful, like the parable asks, being faithful to continue to steward the small mustard seeds that God has given you. Rather than comparing them, and am I doing this as big as these people? Let's stop thinking that way and say, God, today I'm gonna be faithful with what you've placed in my hand. I'm gonna be faithful with the job you've given me, I'm gonna be faithful with the friendships you've given me, I'm gonna be faithful with the season of life you've placed me, I'm gonna be faithful with the resources you've given me, I'm gonna be faithful with the time you've given me. All these are small little mustard seeds. Then when we plant it in the ground and say, God, I'm giving this back to you, the fruit will come, but that's not our responsibility. We say, God, I'm trusting that you're gonna do something bigger than with this than I ever could. And so today I want to invite you to just examine your life and examine your heart and say, God, what does it look like for me to be faithful in the mustard seed moments that you've entrusted me to? And as we give those back to Him, they will bear fruit for eternity. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you so much for these two parables. Thank you that we're reminded of the farmer who plants a seed and he goes to sleep. And when he wakes up, he knows not how the plant is bearing so much fruit. And God, I feel like every day I wake up, that's how I feel. I'm like, God, how how is all this amazing stuff happening? And it's you. It's because it's you. It's you doing the work. It's it's us resting and trusting that it's not dependent on us, it's dependent on you. And so, God, thank you for your faithfulness, even when we're faithless. Thank you for the work that you are doing behind the scenes, even when we're not working. God, I pray today for anybody who's in a season right now where they've just been striving and trying to take control and trying to fix things and trying to make it happen in their own strength, that today you would just invite them into a posture of rest, resting and trusting that whatever seed, God, has been planted, whatever you've begun, you're gonna be the one who's faithful to bring it to completion. God, thank you for that. Thank you for that reality. You are the one who brings it to completion. And Jesus, thank you that you are the mustard seed. Thank you that we see this parable in real life of a mustard seed growing into the largest tree when we look at your life. That as you came and you you were buried in the ground, like a seed planted, that now 2,000 years later, we can look across the span of history and know that billions and billions of people have been grafted into this beautiful tree that came as the result of you just laying down your life. And so, God, we thank you for that. We thank you that we know that this principle of being faithful in the small and it growing into something far bigger than we could ever realize. We know it's true because we see it modeled in your life, Christ. And so today, God, help us to reframe and reorient the way that we think. Help us to just say, God, today, what are the small things you've put before me? And help us to be faithful in those. Help us to plant those and to steward those and to not squander them, God. And so I just pray for each person here that even this week, God, as we're faithful over the small little things that you've steward you've given us to steward, that your kingdom would continue to spread, that this tree of life and the tree of your kingdom would continue to bring more birds of the air, more neighbors, more family members, more co-workers, more friends into your kingdom by our small acts of faithfulness. So, God, thank you and fill us with your spirit and empower us to do this as we go out. And we pray this all in Jesus' name. Everyone said, Amen.