TRANSCRIPT BELOW

There is freedom waiting for you on the other side of tough times. I’m praying that you begin to identify the blessings in your life and focus on them until you breakthrough into a new, anointed light. PLEASE do not hesitate to reach out to me if you need someone to walk through the process with you.

Make sure to get connected at Five Stones Church – we have an incredible community and small groups.

Blessings and Honor,
Scott

OUR SHOP IS OPEN

STOP BY OUR SHOP – Every penny goes to ministry!

Transcript –

during World War II there were hundreds of Native Americanservicemen that that played an instrumental part in in victoriesyou know what they they were called uh code talkers because you know in battle intercepting the the enemy’sCommunications was a sure way to to make sure you defeated the enemy if I knewthe play you were going to run and I could be there ready to ambush I’m gonna have victorythe problem during World War One and World War II was Communications were not that complicated and it was easy todetect the the enemy’s code the Allies code so these Native Americansthey were using their their indigenous language and they were using that as code talkersand they were transmitting these messages between the different service organizations for the Allies the goodguys for your young folks you know at the Battle for Iwo Jima there were six Marine Navajo codetalkers they transmitted over 800 messages without error and withoutdetection they insured victory in the Battle of Iwo Jima you know that todaythat Navajo code has never been broken I’m sharing that with you to share thisthe one thing the Lord put on my heart is that God is the decoder for unlockingthe mysteries of The Parables of Jesus Christ if you want to know the Deep mysteriesof God’s kingdom you must first know Jesus who reveals those truths through the Holy Spiritwe’re going to talk about Jesus the Storyteller Jesus the parable tellerand you’re like well why did he talk in Parables well guess what the Bible answers that question why did he justsay the things we can understand guess what the Bible explains that but I want you to understand because youknow 35 percent of all Jesus’s teaching were in parablesand I’m going to give you the parable that unlocks all the other Parables even Jesus says if you don’t understand thisyou don’t understand nothing but I want us to stand as the body and I want us to read the word that gives us thatunderstanding and it comes from Mark we’re continuing our walk through the gospel of Mark and today is from uh Mark 4 10-13 and ifwe’ll read the body the parable of the farmer scattering seeds so we’ll read later when Jesus was alone with the 12disciples and with the others who were gathered around they asked him what The Parables meant he replied you arepermitted to understand the secret of the kingdom of God but I use Parablesfor everything I say to Outsiders so that the scriptures might be fulfilledwhen they see what I do they will learn nothing when they hear what I say theywill not understand otherwise they will turn to me and be forgiven then Jesussaid to them if you can’t understand the meaning of this Parable how will you understand all the other parableswhat we’re going to share today is that is that scripture is thatParable that unlocks your understanding to all the other Parables so let’s start offwhat is parable like that’s a great question a parable in the Greek means it means toplace two things side by side so that you can compare and you can understandso say for example Jesus uses a lot of examples a lot of stories Parables thatare that are uh Farm based they were an aggregarian Society they were farmingand so you’ll see uh sowing and reaping and planting and harvesting those are things that people in the day thatthey’re related to so what he does is he takes something physical an example like farming and then he lays it besidessomething spiritual one of God’s truths so that we can examine it so we canbetter understand it like today I use a lot of parable examples something physical from from my law enforcementcareer or from Triathlon or weightlifting that’s how I relate spiritual truths but this is all that aparable is it is a story and that you’re taking something physical that we’re aware that we’ve we can relate to andthen you put it next to something spiritual a truth and then when you get it it’s like oh I get itso the question is well why did Jesus use parables well Matthew 13 answers that questionhis disciples came and asked him why do you use Parables when you talk to the peoplehe being Jesus he replied you are permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven but others are notfor those who listen to my teaching more understanding will be given and theywill have an abundance of knowledge but for those who are not listening even with little understanding they have willbe taken away from them what I want to share with you is God’s word is good enough to be stewarded wellwe want to hear from the Lord the Lord has an expectation that we reverence that word we honor that wordthat that we Steward that word well it’s not like casual locker room conversationyou see there’s an old saying that I always I always like it said I can explain it to you but I cannotunderstand it to you parables are the same thing Jesus will speak thembut unless you have faith and are willing to hear you’ll never understand them some of the purposes of Parablesthey explain deep Mysteries like these are not casual locker room conversations these aren’t yesterday’ssports scores this is the word of the Lord and it’s worthy to understand it’sworthy to pursue Parables they provoke deep they provoke interest I mean canyou think of Imagine back then and and they’re farmers and their fishermen and here’s Jesus and he’s talking aboutfarming sowing seeds oh that’s something I can connect to like I don’t know anything about scripture I don’t knowanything about this guy Jesus but he’s talking my language he’s talking farming just like if we talk military oraerodynamics or music whatever draws our attention and that’swhat brings people in that’s what good stories do they get people’s attention Parables were used to instruct hisdisciples and they gave examples to God’s people how they should behave as Kingdomcitizens so we could say well wouldn’t it have just been better to stop telling storiesand riddles why not just talk straight what I want to tell you is Parablesdivide you see Jesus came to divide this world will be like no no let’s coexistall religions coexist it’s all the same Sky Daddywhy can’t we just all get along I want to tell you Jesus didn’t come tocoexist Jesus didn’t come to tolerate like The Parables Jesus came to divideLuke 12 tells us this is Jesus do you suppose that I came to give peace on EarthI tell you not at all but rather division the wheat from the chaffsheep from the goats you see Parables divide listeners intotwo groups Jesus’s disciples and everybody elsewhen I tell you guys there’s no in between there’s no neutral groundthere’s no time out in the Kingdom Jesus didn’t come and create a neutral ground he came to divide hisfrom everybody else and you get to make that choice but I will tell you without Jesus even the wise are confused I’llgive you an example and I want you to read through this with me this is Nicodemusand this comes from John it says there was a man of the Pharisees the great teachers the scholars of thetime named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews this man came to Jesus by nightby night because he couldn’t be seen in public with him and said to him Rabbi weknow that you are a teacher come from God for no one can do these signs andyou do unless God is with him Jesus answered and said to him mostassuredly I say to you unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom ofGod Nicodemus said to him how can a man beborn when he is old can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb andbe born Jesus answered most assuredly I say to you unless one is born of water in thespirit he cannot enter to the kingdom of God that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of thespirit of spirit do not Marvel that I said to you you must be born againthe wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes sois everyone who is born of the spirit and Nicodemus answer to him how canthese things be and Jesus answered and said to him youare the teacher of Israel you are the teacherof Israel and do not know these thingsmost assuredly I say to you we speak what we know and testify whatwe have seen and you do not receive our Witness if I have told you Earthly things andyou do not believe how will you believe if I tell you Heavenly thingsI submit unless you know Jesus the Christunless you submit and you have ears that are willing to hear the most simple concepts of salvationyou’re going to remain confused about like this is Nicodemus the teacher V nota v teacher of Israel and he did not understand the mostsimple concept of salvation of being born againand it wasn’t to to condemn him it was to convict himyou see and this is the parable so okay well some of these Parables can be complicated and and I don’t know I justdon’t get it sometimes well Jesus says hey let me help you out this Parable unlocks all the other Parables if youget this you’re going to get them all Mark 4 he said and he said to them doyou not understand this Parable how then will you understand like the parable of the sower of the seeds is the parable ofParables it’s the unlocking of all the rest of the Parables like once you get this then you’ll be able to get theseand I think uh maybe Elliot created a graph instead of reading through them but but you know you look at these Parables and I just want to share thepower of Storytelling like you look at this list and and I’m I’m sure youprobably are familiar with most of them if not all of them and you may not remember all the Deep spiritual truthsbut these stories have been embedded in your heart they’ve been implanted in your heart so when you see somethinglike that pop up on a screen you’re like oh yeah I remember that I remember thatyou see people remember stories we don’t really remember facts and databut we remember stories even stories that maybe initially we don’t understand they Peak our interestand that’s the power of the parable so this is the parable uh for turning that key for unlocking your understanding andthis is from Mark four one nine and it says and this is Jesus listenlike listen before we go past the exclamation point let’s park on the word listena farmer went out to plant some seed as he scattered it across his field someof the seed fell Upon A footpath and the birds quickly came and ate it so I wantto make sure we’re understanding as we’re listening the farmer is you the seed is the word of the Lord thescattering is sharing the gospel let’s make it super real super applicable okayother seed fell on shallow soil with underlying Rock the seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallowbut the soon but the plant soon wilted under the hot sun and since it didn’t have Deep Roots it diedlike how many people do we know who come to Christ they’ve heard the word they’re like Idig it thank you Jesus but they don’t read the word they don’t renew their mind they don’t read theBible their minds not transformed their life’s not transformed and then they get a little bit of heatmaybe their friends are like you’re not one of them people are you I I saw you post something about Jesus on yoursocial media no no not me not me why because a little heat came and theirRoots weren’t deep because that root has got to tap into the water the water of the Living Word of Christ and the onlyway to get that is by growing your root is by making sure that water of the Living Word is available through reading the word of the Lord transforming yourmind Renewing Your Mind other seed fell among thorns and grew up and choked out the tender plants so they produce nograin those thorns that could be demonic attacks that could be the world that’sanything that interferes between the soil the seed and the Sunthe sun sun and the son Sun and they produce no grain still otherseeds fell on fertile soil and they sprouted grew and produced the crop one seed one seed you plant one seed it hasthe potential to grow 30 60 even 100 times as much as you plantedand then he said anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand what Iwill share with you is I ask you to park on listen and then he ends with anyone with ears to hearshould listen and understand what I want to tell you is to listen andto hear and understand is a function of the Mind he’s not saying I want you all to getthe feels in your heart I want you all to get the butterflies in your belly this is this is a mind transformationwhy because the battle with devil is in your mind your mind isthe battlefield this is why Jesus telling you listen listen and understandthis is not about emotion emotion are the ones that got in the shallow soil and sprouted and then lost attentionbecause now they’re not feeling all good now they’re feeling bad maybe they wentthrough something terrific horrific I’m sorry and then they lost their weight becausewell I don’t feel no love from Jesus no what it is is you’re not the world is dictating your emotionsit’s purposeful and intentional that he starts off the parable that unlocks allthe other Parables he starts it off with the word listen listening is a function of the Mindhe ends it with understand is a function of the Mind where’s your Battlefieldwith the Devil in your mind in your mind look feelings emotions areamazing but let them be secondary let them be the manifestation of your spiritualperson when you come to a spiritual revelation like this week after fasting and prayingand the lord gave that word I had an emotional manifestation but that emotiondidn’t drive that Revelation what I’m asking you is no matter what you’re going throughallow yourself to be spirit-led listen to the wordhear and understand what the Lord’s saying to you if we’re caught up with our boohoo head and a pillow you’re notgoing to hear nothing allow the Lord the word of the Lord todrive your life that word transforms your mindyou know Mark 4 24 25 tells us and then he said to them take heed what you hearwith the same measure you use it will be measured to you and to you who here morewill be given for whoever has to him more will be given but whoever does not have even what he has will be taken fromhim now we saw the parallel scripture in Matthew God’s word is good enoughto listen to to steward to write down like we’ve got to ValueGod’s word and these Parables if we want to understand The Parables we’ve got tolisten to The Parables we’ve got to understand The Parables and when we come into understanding then God will lockmore God will give more so many people are like Lord I need a word no no not not that word give me another word uh Idon’t like that word either so then you get on your phone and you’re like hey to give me a wordwell that’s different for what the Lord said but I receive it that’s not how itworked that’s not how truth works that’s how you tickle in little itchy earsyou see Jesus is talking he’s teaching about the kingdom of Godand I submit do you even do you know where to find this KingdomI’ll give you the answer because God gave us the answer in Luke 17. it said now when he was asked by the Phariseeswhen the kingdom of God would come he answered them and said the kingdom ofGod does not come with observation nor will they say see hear or see therefor indeed the kingdom of God is within you what I will tell youwhen Jesus was sharing this truth this was pre crucifixion Resurrection Ascension andthe day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came in and dwelled when the Holy Spirit came and it dwelled his body onthe day of Pentecost this is when the the kingdom of God is found in you youare the kingdom of God your body is the physical Temple that you have the Holy Spirit living insideof you the holy spirit is God God is God the Father God the son and God the HolySpirit you have God the Trinity living inside of you because you arethe local Body of Christ you are the kingdom of God you were anambassador for the kingdom of God Jesus is trying to teach you about yourselfabout what lives and resides in you you see the so repairable it teaches usabout using other Parables what Jesus is telling us in this Parable the sower of the sea is that there’s hope as long asyou have ears to hear no matter what you’ve been through in your life maybe it’s been bankruptcymaybe it’s divorce maybe it’s lost through death maybe it’s a change of career maybe you’re still in thewilderness season like like even if something traumatic has happened in your lifeand maybe you found yourself separated there’s always hope as long as you haveears to hear seeking God’s voice you know in this Parable he tells us even hardened soil heartscan be turned over to good soil there’s always hope you know the sower the onewho believes and sows the gospel we get to help soften the soil and sometimes we we get a littleimpatient oh my gosh I thought about Jesus five times and they still acting a foolbut you know like Paul tells us some plant some water only God brings theincrease so you keep sowing that seed and from this parableis Jesus encouraging you if if you sow the seed share the gospel and there’s nogrowth don’t give up there’s always next season what I want to share with you is I’ve shared it withsome folks over the last couple weeks it’s being consistent like you don’t know if we think well I’m gonna sharethe gospel with somebody and they better respond listen it’s not up to you it’snot up to you all you do is sow the seeds I want to tell you that that PeterPeter it took four different encounters with Jesus Christ before G uh Peter acceptedhim as Lord and savior I will tell you that that he was introduced to Jesus by his brotherand that didn’t do it Peter was with with the disciples in the synagogue when Jesus’s first timesharing the gospel a demon manifest and Jesus casts them outdidn’t affect Peter they matter of fact they left that church and went to his house where his mother-in-law was healedby who Jesus this brother got to hear the gospel he got to see a demonic deliverance and hegot to see a physical healing and guess what nadanada what touched Peter Luke 5 tells us and when he had stoppedspeaking talking about Jesus he said to Simon launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch but Simonanswered and said to him Master we’ve told all night and caught nothing nevertheless at your word I will letdown the net and when they had done this they called a great number of fish andtheir net was breaking so they signaled to their Partners in the other boat to come and help them and they came andthey filled both boats so that they began to sink when Simon Peter saw it he fell down atJesus’s knees saying depart for me for I am a sinful man oh Lord Romans 10 13tells us what for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved I will submit to youfor encounters with the living Christ before it struck Peter Peter was abusinessman his boats he had Partners Peter was into making money and it was when Jesus affected hispocketbook when he blessed him that that Peter fell down before anddeclared that he was Lord he confessed his sinful man and he declared him Lord I’m not tellingyou that that it took it took like Peter’s a greedy dude but that’s where it struck Peter sometimes it takes aphysical healing to to strike the match for Christ sometimes it takes a lot ofdifferent things but you know what it’s not for us to determine what it takes and what it takes it’s just us to keepsowing that seed us to keep sowing that seed I want to encourage you sow the seedsow the seed you see that willingness to hear it matters more than the conditionof your heart at the time because the word is what transforms Romans 12 2 tells us this and do not be conformed tothis world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfectwill of God this is why Jesus says listenexclamation point hear and understand because the word is what transforms yourmind it’s not a smoke machine it’s not laser light show it’s not a microphone strap to your face it is the word of theLord and if you’re stepping anywhere beyond the simple word of the Lordthen you’re stepping outside the will of God what he’s always teaching us also is andsowing that seed sowing that seed 30 60 100 times Harvesthe’s talking about the Great Commission this Parable that unlocks all the other Parables 35 percent of Everything Jesustaught was in Parable form and the very last thing he says before he leaves and ascends to Heaven is growthe kingdom Matthew 28 tells us Jesus came and toldhis disciples I have been given all authority in heaven and on Earth therefore go and make disciples of allNations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit teach these new disciples to obey allthe commands I’ve given you and be sure of this I am with you always even until the end of the age he is with us throughthe Holy Spirit uh Scott Hobart has shared with me a couple years ago in the complete Jewish Bible uh translationwhere it says baptizing them in the name of it reads immersing them in the nameof the father in the Son and the Holy Spirit you want to learn something you want to learn language and culture intothis tradition immerse yourself in that culture this is the reason for the parablesthis is the reason that that he gave the sower seed Parable so that we can understand those other parablesso then we say okay I get it I get it I get it but like couldn’t have just spokeplain I mean like could he just speak plain Aramaic I mean like come on Jesuswell guess what Mark 8 he did he did Jesus predicts his death andResurrection Mark 8 says and he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer manythings and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise againhe spoke these words openly then Peter Peter took him aside and began to rebukehim and when he had turned around and looked at his disciples he rebuked Peter saying get behind me Satan for you arenot mindful of the things of God but the things of men so Jesus did he just spoke I’m justgoing to talk plain to you there’s still a misunderstanding because Peter and most of them are stillthinking he’s come to overthrow Rome he’s come to set up an Earthly Kingdom this is where Parables come into playthis is why parables are necessary because not everybody’s going to understand the Deep truths of theKingdom parables are there to unlock that you know Peter Peter wasn’t beingdemonic but Peter had taken his eyes off the cross and he unwittingly became a spokesman for Satan I’ll venture to saythat that probably most of us have had that experience maybe we’ve gossiped maybe we’ve rumored maybe we’ve we’veinadvertently cursed somebody or something not looking to well I’m not satanic butwhen you take your eyes off the cross when you take your eyes off the mission of Jesus Christ and you allow yourself to sit kind of in this stagnant waterthis stew this is where Satan this is where Satan starts to use it for his stream not theking’s stream I want to tell you keep your eyes on the cross listen be willing to hearso why did Jesus teach his stories well first thing is to fulfill prophecyJesus is the Fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy you know Matthew 13 tells us in prophecies and Parables allthese things Jesus spoke to the multitudes and Parables and without a parable he did not speak to them that itmight be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying I will open my mouth in Parables I will utter things keptsecret from the foundations of the world like Jesus didn’t come to unite his bodyis to be United but the world Jesus came to divide Jesus came with asword and you think well these parables are just little stories but these stories have power the word has powerother reason our answers aren’t important as important as we think you know we live in a world where wethink information is power and to a degree it is but we want answers fastlike we were talking the other day about the old encyclopedia britannicas most of us adults had those in our homethe idea now of get old dusty book and flipping through pages when you can Googleand you see a lot of times they ask Jesus questions but he avoided the answerwhat did he do instead he told him a story and they walked away confused becausethey weren’t listening because they didn’t have ears to hear they had no faith and they didn’t want to understand you see Jesus is more concerned with ourheart than our head knowledge the other reason he used that storystick a good story sticks with you even if you can’t remember it immediately or even if you heard it years later and Iwanted when I asked Ellie to put up that graphic or Ava was those lists ofParables I know that wherever your faith walk is and your understanding thosethings do strike a chord there’s some up there you’re like oh that’s familiar those things were told over 2 000 yearsago and they’re still familiar because stories stick stories inspire peoplegravitate towards what inspires them inspiring stories change livesthey changed lives you mix that with the word that transforms and then the story thatinspires and I would say Jesus was pretty pretty skilled at this because 2000 years laterwe’re still talking about him stories Parables when I say stories I’m talking about Parables they paint apicture of what could or should be like stories give us a goal they give us aTarget to aim for like Jesus painted a picture of what life with him would looklike we can look at these stories these parables and we’re like well that’s confusing andwithout Christ it is without the Holy Spirit they were meant to bejust like Nicodemus how can an old man be born againwhat I want to share with you what I want to encourage you is pursue the word of the Lord pursue his voice