Do you trust God to do things His way?

[0:00] We'll do turn with me to Matthew chapter 13 and these short verses that we read, 31 to 33. We've just been singing, You Believe in Him.

[0:14] But do you trust God to do things His way? That's the title this morning. God's ways are not our ways.

[0:26] And that single fact causes us all kinds of bother. Especially when God calls us to join in with Him in His enterprise of building a kingdom, an empire, that is to conquer the whole universe, the very cosmos itself.

[0:42] The very language of kingdom speaks of power and dominion, just as it did to Jesus' first disciples. And yet, what Jesus seems to be saying and doing just doesn't seem to match up with all of that.

[0:59] It didn't then, and the truth is it doesn't today. So take our world today. We are a world that knows all about power and influence, don't we?

[1:11] Opinion shaping in politics, in the media, in the celebrity culture that we live in. It's all about what you can see, isn't it? It's all about what's conspicuous, what's glamorous.

[1:25] It's so vital in our TV age, in our digital age. In fact, it's everything in our culture today. So we read that poor old Mr. Blair has to spend thousands of pounds on makeup so that he can look commanding on camera.

[1:40] Actually, it's poor old us. It's our taxes, of course. Or listening to Michael Heseltine this week on the radio, speaking about the Tory leadership campaign. And he said this, unless this person has TV charisma and is photogenic, he just simply will not do in today's world.

[2:01] Which, of course, leaves the poor old Tory party in a bit of a pickle. But that's the world that we live in, isn't it? It is a world of outward show. It's a world of what's impressive, what is powerful.

[2:13] And that's the world that we know and we understand. And so naturally, the church that is in this world is affected by that. And we begin to think in the same way, don't we? We want to show that the church is impressive.

[2:26] Or rather, perhaps more often, it's wanting to pretend to ourselves that the church is impressive. So we organize great big razzmatazz events.

[2:37] Church of Scotland is busy doing that sort of thing at the moment. Had a great huge celebration, that's the word these days, in the Edinburgh Conference Centre a few months ago. There's going to be one also in the Glasgow Conference Centre next month.

[2:52] Or we have great big evangelical rallies and we all get together and we have great music and we think it's great. We cheer ourselves up. In many ways, we're just trying to demonstrate to the world that we can beat the world in its own game.

[3:06] We can do something just as impressive as any secular event. And that's what Jesus' disciples, in a way, were longing for. That's what they were expecting.

[3:16] Something outwardly impressive. After all, they had the prophetic hope. The hope of the glory of God manifesting itself at last on the earth.

[3:27] Everything glorious and perfect. The kingdom of God having come. And so when Jesus came along and said, yes, the kingdom is here, it's begun.

[3:39] That's their expectation. But where's the power? We don't seem to see it, Jesus. Where's the impact? You seem to get such a hostile response.

[3:50] Where's all the glory? It just seems so feeble. And the great temptation for followers of Jesus then, and also today, because it's true for us too, the great temptation is always the same.

[4:05] We want to do it our way. But God's ways are not our ways. And although we think at times that we do know better, the fact is that we don't know better.

[4:19] And we have to learn God's ways of building his kingdom. And we have to learn to trust that God's way is the best way. Or else we'll become confused. We'll become disillusioned.

[4:30] We'll despair. Eventually we'll give up. We must learn God's ways. And that's what this chapter of parables about the kingdom of heaven is all about.

[4:42] The kingdom has begun, said Jesus. It will be complete. It will be consummated. We've got to be sure about that. Last time we saw the parable of the wheat and the tares and the dragnet, we saw that there is a certain day coming that will sort out everything.

[4:58] That judgment is very real. That heaven and hell themselves are a real and terrible thing to be coming to terms with. And in the light of that future reality, we're to be realistic about the present.

[5:13] We're to see that God has it all under control. We're not to panic. But rather we're to trust. And we're to be realistic. We saw in the parable of the sower that there will be a mixed reception to the gospel.

[5:26] That's what we'll see. There will be many heartbreaks in gospel kingdom building. In the wheat and the tares parable, we saw that it's going to be tough.

[5:37] There are going to be battles. And it will be like that right to the very end. We've got to be realistic. There's no room for false optimism, for false triumphalism in the church of Jesus Christ.

[5:47] No. But on the other hand, there's to be no false pessimism either. God's ways are not our ways.

[5:59] And at times things may seem the very antithesis of our ideas of earthly power and success. But God says, don't lose heart. I am at work.

[6:10] My kingdom is growing. Maybe seeming very, very hidden to the world. To faithless eyes, it is invisible. To faltering believers' eyes, often it seems invisible or at best tiny.

[6:23] But my kingdom is growing. And what's more, in the end, the contrast between what you seem to see now and what every eye in heaven and earth will see then is going to be vast.

[6:38] So great, so immeasurable that it will stagger the church. It will stagger the world. It will even baffle the hosts of heaven, the angels themselves. God's ways are not our ways.

[6:52] But God's ways are the best ways. They are the most wonderful of ways. One day all will see that. But as believers in Jesus, we are called today to see that now.

[7:05] We must see that. His ways are as high above our ways and his thoughts as high above ours as the heavens are above the earth, Isaiah tells us.

[7:16] And we need to know those ways, brothers and sisters. We need to trust them. We need to learn to rejoice in God's ways as we follow his way in building the kingdom of Jesus Christ, not our ways.

[7:30] And that's so important to learn. The kingdom of God has begun. It is alive. It is growing now. And it will overcome this whole world. God's kingdom growth is inevitable as it is irrepressible.

[7:44] And we need to know that. And Jesus tells us in this passage not to lose heart. Don't lose heart, workmen of God, workwomen of God.

[7:56] Learn what God is like. Be patient. Have faith in his ways. But be persistent. Show faithfulness in his ways, not trying to do it our way.

[8:08] Because God's ways never fail. They never fail. They always accomplish what he purposes. And in a nutshell, that's just the message of these parables that we read.

[8:21] And what a necessary message it is, isn't it? For Christian believers in the 21st century, in a pagan city, in an increasingly pagan nation. We need to know that.

[8:32] Let's look closely at these couple of verses in the text. The first parable there of the mustard in verses 31 and 32 focuses on the propagating power of the kingdom of God.

[8:45] The parable of the mustard teaches us that although Christ's kingdom may seem insignificant to the world, and even to us at times, no, that's not true. In fact, it's powerful, it's growing, and in the end it's going to encompass the whole world.

[9:02] The growth of God's kingdom is inevitable. That's the message. Jesus uses this picture from the herb garden. His point is to emphasize the huge contrast between the thing that's planted, the tiny, tiny little seed, and what we see at the end of the growing process.

[9:19] The mustard seed was tiny grain in my hand. You saw it, or you didn't see it. It was proverbial in Israel for the smallest thing, the most insignificant thing, and yet, within that tiny thing is the power to produce something absolutely vast in comparison.

[9:39] All the power lies within that seed. It grows into something that's not just a garden plant, where there literally is vegetable. It's far bigger than all of those.

[9:49] It's a tree. It's a mini tree. It's big enough for birds to come and build their nests in. Some of you children, I guess, have probably planted seeds at school, probably crest seeds.

[10:02] Our children have planted crest seeds. They're tiny, tiny little seeds, but they don't grow into trees. They grow into little plants you can have on your salad table. Maybe you've seen sunflower seeds.

[10:13] They're a little bit bigger, those seeds, aren't they? But they do grow into enormous great plants. Maybe some of you have grown them. Did you ever think that something so tiny could produce a huge great sunflower?

[10:27] Well, you wouldn't, would you, unless you'd seen it? Or unless you knew about gardening, unless you'd read it in books and understood that that's how these things work? And Jesus is saying, well, my kingdom is just like that.

[10:40] You would never think it just by looking. But that's the way it is. Something that seems totally insignificant now, but it's got propagating power.

[10:52] So that its growth in the end is a foregone conclusion. It's inevitable. Jesus is actually drawing allusions here to the Old Testament, to the prophets. Let me just read you a couple of verses from the book of Daniel.

[11:05] It's from Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel chapter 4. My dream went like this, said Nebuchadnezzar. 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.

[11:21] Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant. And in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it.

[11:32] And Daniel interpreted it to be the growth of an empire that would cover the earth. And Jesus is saying, yes, that's what I'm talking about, a world conquering kingdom.

[11:46] But it all comes from this thing that seems at the moment to be so tiny, so insignificant, almost invisible. And what's more, Jesus is saying, it's going to seem like that to the world right to the end.

[12:02] For those who've got blind eyes, who will not see the truth about Jesus Christ, it's always going to look like that. But for you, for my disciples, for my followers, you who are beginning to follow me, who are listening to my message, you whose eyes are being opened, you are being given more, I want you to see now what others will only see at the last day.

[12:26] It's the point of verses 34 and 35. We looked at them a couple of weeks ago. Jesus is saying that the parables are the revelation of God. They're showing the fulfillment of God's plan for those who have eyes to see, for those who will see.

[12:42] But of course to others, the whole thing is just a lot of nonsense. It's just as insignificant as a tiny mustard seed. But for those who do have eyes to see, who are following Jesus Christ, more will be given, said Jesus.

[12:58] He wants us to see that even now the kingdom is growing, it has power, it is progressing. It's hidden to the world, but it's happening. The world, you see, sees a gospel story that's feeble, that's pathetic, that's weak.

[13:13] It sees a church that's weak, that's declining, that's finished. I don't know if you listened to the Sunday morning program this morning. I do it every week. It's a penance almost. But these four people are rabbiting on about how the church was going to inevitably disappear in this country.

[13:32] Unless we start to take on Buddhist chanting and Hindu meditation and all the rest of it. Because that's what people want. Well, it always makes me get up and have my shower anyway.

[13:43] But that's ridiculous. That's what the world sees, you see. But Jesus says, no, no, no, no. Don't despair. It's always been like that. It's always been like that from the beginning.

[13:56] Think of Jesus himself. Who would have guessed that the king of glory in coming to earth, rather than standing upon the earth and calling all to bow down, would be born in a shed in amongst the animals.

[14:12] Would live in a backwater province, work with his hands as a carpenter, die on a cross naked in a rubbish dump. But that's the power and the wisdom of God at work, says the gospel.

[14:26] Who would have thought that Christ's mission would begun with 12 illiterate men, fishermen and tax collectors, and an Eeyore like Thomas.

[14:39] And yet, these were the men that turned the world upside down. God's ways, you see, are not our ways. It may not seem so to us, but the growth and the triumph of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is inevitable.

[14:55] What the world derides, God chooses as his way of confining the mighty. That's his way. It's not our way.

[15:06] It's not the way we would go about establishing a kingdom, but it is God's way. To the world it seems foolish. It seems incomprehensible. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.18, The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God.

[15:25] You see, the foolishness of God, he says, is wiser than men. The weakness of God is stronger than men. That's God's way. And it's the way Jesus won the world for himself, through the shame of the cross, and it's the way Jesus calls people to himself, through the word of the gospel of the cross.

[15:47] Both seem foolishness. Something so small, so feeble, such a tiny seed. Scattered in gospel proclamation, but that's the power of God.

[16:01] It seems to disappear. It seems to just vanish into the ether. But no, says Jesus, it contains within it the power to propagate the kingdom of heaven, until the whole world is changed and filled with the glory of Christ, as sure as the waters cover the sea.

[16:22] The growth of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is inevitable, because no matter how insignificant it may seem, to the world, even to us at times, the seed of the gospel of the kingdom has mighty power within it to propagate itself, until all is complete.

[16:43] And Jesus wants his followers to know that. He wants us to trust his way, and join his way of building his kingdom. And to understand that means a challenge for us, doesn't it?

[16:55] It calls us to faith, and it calls us to patience. God is at work. So don't despise his seed. Don't despise it. But trust it.

[17:09] Let it do its work. The gospel is God's power for the propagation of his kingdom. So however insignificant, however pathetic it may seem to be, just sowing this seed of the gospel, don't lose heart.

[17:27] That's what Jesus is saying to us. Don't succumb to the ways of the world and leave behind the ways of God's kingdom building. Don't turn to something that seems outwardly much more impressive, much more visible, much more apparently effective, much more glamorous.

[17:45] No! Trust the seed. Sow the seed. Keep on sowing the seed. That's the implication. Even when it seems that there's so much hard ground, so much rocky soil, so many thistles and thorns.

[18:02] Even when it seems that there's so much opposition, so many weeds, so much evidence of an enemy. Even when there still seems to be no visible sign of anything, let alone the great tree that we long for, the great revival that we long for in our land, the great awakening that we crave for this world.

[18:24] Even when we don't see it, Jesus says, trust and be patient. The growth of the kingdom is inevitable, but it's growth God's way. So do you really believe that?

[18:37] Do you trust God to do it his way? We find it so hard, don't we? We've got a scoffing world telling us all the time that it's rubbish. We have our own fears within, welling up to tell us it can't be true.

[18:50] But Jesus says, have faith, have patience, trust my word. Have faith and patience, he says, as you bring up your children.

[19:03] Trust the tiny seed of God's word to be doing its work in their lives. You see, we're so easily affected by the world's thinking, aren't we? We think we need impressive things, exciting things, entertaining youth work, all of these sort of things, otherwise we'll lose our children.

[19:18] And so we're frenetic, we're worried, we're desperate for our children to make some sort of profession. Of course we only have to look at the parable of the sword to see how little assurance that gives us.

[19:35] But no, says Jesus, have faith, have patience, trust my word, keep sowing, the word of the kingdom is powerful. It's planted in your children from their very infancy.

[19:48] Grasp the wonderful gift that God's given us as believing parents. Trust the God before whom you took your vows as you stood with your children and they received the gospel promise that first time in the baptism.

[20:03] Nurture the seed of faith that's within them. Trust the word of God. Share with them the blessings of being in a household of faith.

[20:16] Teach them the word at home. Teach them the word in the church. Cherish the word at home and let them see you cherishing the powerful word of God.

[20:29] Let your children see what you see, the real power of God. Let them understand where that resides. And Jesus says, trust the propagating power of my word.

[20:44] Have faith and patience as you witness to friends and family and pray for their salvation. Trust the tiny seed to do its work. A word of power. Again, the world's thinking infects us all the time.

[20:58] We need some style. We need razzmatazz. We need impressive things. We need visible things. But Jesus says, no, no, no, that's not my way. Keep on sowing the seed.

[21:09] Sowing the gospel seed. Trust. Be patient. Yes, you think it's feeble. You think it's so tiny you can't see it. How can that tiny word about Jesus do anything?

[21:22] How can it change a committed atheist? How can it turn around a godless pagan? But it does. And moreover, it's the only thing that does.

[21:36] So trust. Have faith and patience as we think of our task of here as a church in mission to this city center, to the whole city. Trust in the seed of the gospel of the kingdom to do its work.

[21:48] The other Saturday, I was uptown here in the afternoon and I was wandering around up Sochie Hall Street and down Buchanan Street here and I was just staggered, absolutely staggered again by the throngs of people.

[22:00] Thousands, tens of thousands of people. And a knot came into my stomach as I walked down and saw our church and I thought, how unimpressive that is.

[22:13] How small it is. I thought about myself and ourselves as a congregation and I thought, how feeble we are, how weak we are for this task. As I come to preach here on a Sunday and on a Wednesday lunchtime, fear strikes my heart as I come through that door and I come up these steps and I think, what have I got?

[22:34] It's something so small, so tiny, so feeble. Just some words about Jesus. And it's so tempting to believe that.

[22:45] It's so tempting to say, no, no, what we must do is ditch that and do something big, something impressive, a big splash, big publicity, big events. But no, Jesus says, my way is to plant tiny, insignificant seeds, even invisible seeds.

[23:06] And yet, growth is inevitable. Yes, it seems insignificant against so much that we think we could do. Yes, it may disappoint, there may be many heartaches and many oppositions, but the fact is that the evidence is all around us of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ at work.

[23:31] It's also true on a much bigger scale, isn't it, as we think about the world and our nation and our city. to the world's eyes, to many wandering Christians' eyes, it just seems so little, the church is so feeble, so passe.

[23:46] We're told, oh, we live in a visual age, a sensory age, a soundbite age. What we need is to be grand, to be impressive, to attract people. And we're taken away by that thinking, just look at the kind of things that Christians will give their money to and won't give their money to.

[24:04] We're rushed to give our money to impressive things, to the big splashes. But will we give it to something as dreary and dull, as invisible, as just simply teaching and training people to teach others in the word of Jesus Christ, the word of the gospel, the seed.

[24:25] But Jesus says, don't lose heart, don't lose faith. Trust the word of the gospel. It has propagating power. It's God's way of building his kingdom and growth is inevitable.

[24:41] Paul says, this word of truth which came to you is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world. So have faith in God's word.

[24:51] Have patience in sowing God's word. The gospel is God's way. The gospel at work is God's kingdom power at work.

[25:02] The second parable in verse 33 focuses not on the propagating power so much as on the penetrating power of the kingdom of God.

[25:13] The parable of the yeast teaches us that Christ's kingdom may be inconspicuous to the world and even seem dead but no, it's alive, it's infectious, it's penetrating deep into the world wherever the gospel of the kingdom is at work.

[25:29] The growth of Christ's kingdom is irrepressible. That's the message. There's a similar contrast, isn't there, as with the mustard seed. The point is the extent of the effect of yeast which is out of all proportion to its size.

[25:43] Tiny bit of yeast and three measures of flour, apparently that's 40 litres of flour, makes enough bread for a hundred people to eat. It's staggering. But it's not just that contrast, there's more to that.

[25:56] Do you see in verse 33 we're told the leaven is hidden in the flour. It's not the normal word he would use there. It's used to emphasise the fact that the kingdom of God is so inconspicuous.

[26:09] It is hidden. It's not like a conquering empire. It's not trying to bring the world into submission with tanks, with missiles, or with suicide bombers for that matter.

[26:21] Not like that at all. No, says Jesus, his kingdom is within his people. It's like yeast hidden in the dough. And yet, hidden there as it is among ordinary men and women and boys and girls, it has a penetrating power.

[26:37] A power to influence. A power to change. A neighbourhood. A city. A nation. The whole earth. That's what he's saying. Do you see, if the tiny, insignificant-seeming seed of the gospel is the power of kingdom propagation, then the ordinary, inconspicuous people of the kingdom are God's method of kingdom penetration into the world.

[27:04] Contagious gospel people, that's what he's talking about. Christ's word and authority is worked deep into their lives and those lives are then at work in the community.

[27:17] Bringing about change where they are, where they work, where they move. That's the nature of yeast. Yeast is an infection. It's contagious. Once it's active, it's unstoppable. It spreads.

[27:29] Penetrates. That's why the Israelites, before the feast of the unleavened bread, had to spend days scrubbing out the entire house, lest even a tiny fragment of that yeast infection would remain and infect.

[27:45] It penetrates. But you see, to grasp that also gives us a challenge, doesn't it? It calls us to faithfulness and to perseverance. Jesus says, God is at work, his kingdom is at work, but it's at work through you.

[28:01] So don't despise his sores. Don't despise the seed, the gospel, but don't despise the sores of the seed. Take heart. God's people are the method he uses for propagating his kingdom.

[28:14] And there's nothing in the world so powerful as contagious Christian people. when ordinary, inconspicuous Christian believers like you and me, when we take Jesus' word deep into our hearts, deep into our lives, from small beginnings it will always penetrate.

[28:36] It will penetrate our whole being, working conformity into Christ. That's what God is doing with us. To the world, of course, that's hidden.

[28:46] It looks like nothing. It may be something to scorn. You become a Christian and your family, your friends who are unbelievers may be scorned. They see, perhaps, a change in lifestyle.

[28:58] They see, maybe, evidence of change priorities in your life. But it's nothing to them. But the results of that kind of change can bring a revolution which is absolutely enormous.

[29:13] It can change things for eternity. just think of the revolution that began with those 12 men following Jesus spreading throughout the ancient world to others amidst the fire of persecution, opposition.

[29:27] So powerful was that movement that within a few decades the whole of the ancient world had been touched by the gospel. Within a couple of centuries the entire empire became Christianized.

[29:39] The whole of the western world as we know it today was changed forever. by something that began so inconspicuously. Just think of the magnitude of the revolution, the social revolution that took place in Britain in the 18th century following the Great Awakening.

[29:59] Think of the huge penetration of the gospel into the hearts of a few men like William Wilberforce, the seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, the men of the Clapham sect. Think how that penetrated through the echelons of power in our nation to change, to transform the social fabric of this country that's still evident today.

[30:22] You see, changed lives penetrate the world. Isn't that an encouragement to you? Isn't it an encouragement to faithfulness, to perseverance that the gospel can penetrate your life, your heart can take over and when it does, you too will become infectious.

[30:44] You will become contagious to spread that change to others in your family circles, in your work circles, in your school, wherever it is, may be inconspicuous, but wherever you live, wherever you work, wherever you study, wherever you have leisure, the gospel is at work penetrating and it's through you.

[31:07] This isn't just something for specially gifted people, not just something for the extraordinary among us, for the super clever, for the wonderfully gifted. No, this is for inconspicuous, ordinary, quiet Christians.

[31:22] Any believer, man or woman, boy or girl in school, anyone who treasures Jesus Christ and his gospel and embodies Jesus Christ and his gospel so that their love for him is evident in their life.

[31:40] That's what happens. I got in this week the magazine of the Christian Medical Fellowship and was reading again the obituary of David Short who was at one time a consultant physician in Aberdeen and professor of cardiology.

[31:54] A wonderful, a wonderful godly Christian doctor who influenced generations of students in Aberdeen including myself, many of my friends. He had a life devoted to serving Jesus Christ and the obituary spoke of the many wonderful things that he had done.

[32:12] The kingdom of God penetrating the world wherever he went. Why did that happen? Was he extraordinary? Well, of course, he was a gifted man. But no, the secret I think is in one of the texts that was always framed on his desk in the hospital from Psalm 145 verse 2.

[32:33] Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. You see, the gospel of Jesus Christ had penetrated his mind, his heart, his being.

[32:45] And he was contagious. The gospel penetrated wherever he was. In the clinic, in the ward, with students, at home. You see, a life that exudes that kind of attitude can't but be contagious.

[33:03] You can't suppress it. It has penetrating power. And that's God's method of kingdom growth. It's his people. People who are contagious for Christ.

[33:16] Whose contagion cannot be extirpated, cannot be put away. Look at our situation here in the center of Glasgow in St. George's Tron. Can we do anything in this city?

[33:29] The city center thronged with people. The suburbs growing and expanding where many of us live. It seems such a huge task. It seems an impossible task.

[33:41] We look at ourselves and we see, well, alright, we've well filled a building, but we're tiny. We're feeble in comparison to the throngs out there. But Jesus says, yes, you can penetrate this city.

[33:57] If you'll be faithful and persistent in living the kingdom life and proclaiming the kingdom message wherever you live, wherever you work, with whoever you know, you can.

[34:08] That's my way. That's God's way of building his kingdom. It's inconspicuous, yes, to the world it might seem invisible, it might seem nothing, but it's irrepressible. It is a contagion that cannot be stopped.

[34:25] Of course, friends, there is a real challenge in that for us, isn't there? A real challenge because yeast, of course, has to be put to use, doesn't it? Yeast isn't any good on the shelf.

[34:37] It needs the warmth and the moisture to get the ferment going. That only comes when it's mixed in with the dough. It's no good leaving it in a packet on the shelf. We've got a bread maker.

[34:48] We hadn't used it for a long time. We went the other day to make some bread and we got flat bread. And the reason was that the yeast was two years past its sell-by date.

[35:00] It had been sitting on the shelf in the dark, dry, and I guess it must have become dried out, died. It needs to be in the dough, mixing it, fermenting it, getting in amongst it.

[35:17] That's how it penetrates. Jesus calls for faith and trust in his gospel. We're not to despise his seed, his gospel, the word.

[35:29] It has power. But not just that. He calls us for faithfulness and persistence in ourselves. We are God's method.

[35:42] We are his penetrating agents in this world. We've got to ask us, maybe sometimes we're too afraid of getting in amongst the ferment, mixing our lives and the gospel with the world.

[35:59] Maybe the reason we don't have quite so much impact is because we're a bit on the shelf in the packet. But friends, we mustn't be. And Jesus says we needn't be.

[36:11] We need to have eyes to see and ears to hear. God's word is powerful. The growth of his kingdom is inevitable. The gospel has propagating power. It has power. Don't be fooled.

[36:24] Don't be discouraged by the apparent lack of influence. Rather, have faith, have patience. Sow the seed, however small it may seem. That's God's way.

[36:34] And the growth of the kingdom is irrepressible. Christian people living for Jesus have penetrating power.

[36:45] They have. So don't be discouraged by the apparent inconspicuous life that you lead. Don't think that you can have no influence because you have nothing special.

[36:59] No. Be faithful. Persevere. Live for Jesus Christ and his kingdom and your life will be infectious. It must be. That's God's way.

[37:13] And friends, we're all caught up in it. So we better get to learn God's way. But to be encouraged and rejoice in it. Listen to these words from Isaiah 55.

[37:25] For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth.

[37:45] It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. God is building His kingdom His way.

[38:03] Trust Him. Don't lose heart. But join Him in doing it His way, not our way. Do you trust God to build His kingdom His way?

[38:18] Well, if you do, then we must. And we can't lose heart, and we won't lose heart. Well, let's pray together. Help us, our God, to see the glory and the power of your gospel and the privilege and the calling of being your gospel people.

[38:45] Help us to submit our minds and our hearts to your ways and to rejoice in them for we ask it in Jesus' name.

[38:55] Amen.