Jesus and his apostles might seem to the world as an insignificant beginning but Jesus’ parables today hint that the insignificance will be significant indeed.

Starting out things are small

All businesses have to start somewhere and all businesses often start out small.

Jobs and Wozniak started Apple from Jobs’ garage in 1976 and it grew to a company valued over a trillion dollars. The company Nike began with a coach tinkering with shoes and a safely unimportant runner who tried them out.

Quite often businesses and organisations that have success and influence began humbly.

I’m going to introduce you today to Management advisory service. Imagine you are the fly on the wall in the offices of Management advisory service. A company who tries to help companies begin well. So let’s listen in to the conversation between the Management advisory service and a potential client…..

Hello, it’s nice to meet you and welcome to management advisory service. I have your proposal for forming a company before me, do have a seat.

I hope you don’t mind me saying at this early stage but I did find a few discrepancies on your form.

In other words, I couldn’t actually make head or tail of it.

I have your file here

it says you’re 30 years old yes? you are the son of Joseph and Mary, Yes? And for a number of years you’ve been working in your fathers business as a carpenter is that correct?

Your answer to question seven on your application has perplexed me somewhat. the question was: will your company be a public limited company, just a limited company, or a father and son business.

You wrote an everlasting company.

I mean what a ridiculous answer I’ve never heard of an everlasting company. face the facts good man, Companies either have cash flow problems, get forced out of business by strikes, are defrauded by their employees, have too high overheads, cannot obtain raw materials…..

and that’s the good news.

Most cannot pay their creditors interest and land up at the receivers bankrupt.

I’m not being negative about your chances of survival, but it’s my job to help you face the facts man

and this proposal is not a winner.

Are You still interested in forming a company?……

Oh you are?

And father and son would represent your work nicely?

father and son it is then, now let’s move on.

Another concern on your proposal is your proposed personnel……

start small with a dozen employees, but a few million to be added at a later date? what?!?!

Even these first 12 I mean seriously, I wouldn’t be in much of a hurry to recruit them if I were you!

look at their CVs – these four fishermen for example, Andrew, James John and Simon who for some absurd reason you want to call Peter, yes Peter.

Now I need to be honest with you here, so take it like a man there are some hard facts to consider.

pardon?

Listen, listen to be blunt. These men are useless

for instance, take this Thomas fellow. How could you ever motivate a man like him? He’s such a doubter, he would question your every decision

what you need is, a team of men with influence, charismatic personality

People who are strong and decisive….. with good communication skills,

and of course people with contacts within government are most helpful if you know what I mean,

but most of all you need people with brains, not sawdust.

I know you consider this plan serious but you have to admit it is rather unusual.

Personnel issues Aside….

your plans to free the oppressed and recover site to the blind are somewhat ambitious.

Do you know it’s all been tried before the wonder pill the miracle Faith healer pill, the wonderful miracle, faith healer pill it’s all just a fad young man.

Listen to me, forget this signs and wonders idea

with this group of ragamuffins, you have to face it, Jesus. Your staff will never be world changers they’re just ordinary people!

That was adapted from Fish and chips by Barry Boyton.

In the business world God’s business plan for world change seemed ridiculous but as with modern examples of apple and Nike , Our modern saying ‘Great Oaks from Little acorns grow’ rings extremely true.

Jesus and his group of friends might seem to the world as an insignificant beginning but Jesus’ parables today hint that the insignificance will be significant indeed.

Despite the ambivalent and hostile reactions to Jesus and his message, which we can read in chapters, 11 and 12 these parables suggest that God’s purpose will reach its triumphant fulfilment.

Jesus‘s ministry may be unnoticed or disdained for the time being, but the time will come when it will be impossible to ignore it.

The parables

‘All three parables from v24-33 which included those of the wheat and weeds that Bruce looked at last week and those of the yeast and mustard seed from today are all explicitly about the kingdom of heaven and describe different aspects of the new reality which has come into being through Jesus’ ministry. This reality is that God is at work in his world.

The mustard seed, a tiny seed will grow to a massive tree and the yeast hidden in dough will spread causing the dough to rise.

Both of our parables speak of a small, barely perceptible, beginning which results in a spectacular transformation – this is the truth of the kingdom of God.

As we look at these two parables, we need to remember that parables are often exaggerated to convey their point.

Mustard seed

In the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a The mustard seed which grows into a big tree which birds flock to and nest in its branches.

In reality Mustard tree isn’t exactly huge – but the parables’ meaning is not dependent on botanical accuracy. It’s what it represents and conjures to the minds of its hearers.

In Jesus’ day The words here conjure up connections to the Old Testament writings that prophesied what Gods kingdom would look like.

There is an image in Daniel 4:12 and 21 of a tree ‘It’s leaves were beautiful, it’s fruit ambundant and on it was food for all, under it the wild animals found shelter, and the birds lived in its branches from it every creature was fed.’ – this speaks allegorically of a kingdom whose dominion extends to the ends of the Earth and incorporate all people.

Likewise in Ezekiel we can read( 17 verse 23) On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it and it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar birds of every kind will nest in it they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. 31:6 all the birds of the sky nested in its boughs all the wild animals gave birth under its branches all the great nations lived in its shade.

The symbolism here suggests that gods kingdom will be extended to the Gentiles too, and that seems to be why Matthew phrases Jesus’s parable in this way, hinting to these prophecies, and helping his readers conclude that God is at work to expand his kingdom to include all nations.

God is at work in the world bringing about his kingdom where Jew and Gentile – all nations will be incorporated and included. Jesus and his friends might in their time have seemed like a group of unlikely world changers but today there are an estimated 2.2billion Christian’s in the world. God is at work changing lives, bringing people into his kingdom.

Yeast

In the parable of the yeast we hear that the kingdom of heaven is like yeast mixed. In the original the verb hid is used to describe this mixing of yeast.

In the ancient world the usual method of bringing about fermentation in bread making was to insert into the new dough a small amount of old fermented dough reserved from the previous baking ( like a sourdough starter) the remarkable thing about the leaven is the expansion it causes in the new dough.

When it’s mixed in you cannot distinguish the starter from the dough it was added to. The starter is hid.

This parable puts a positive spin on the secrets of the kingdom being hid. It seems to convey that that for a while it may seem hidden but it will work it’s way through the world. In Jesus’ day – the part Jesus played in bringing Gods kingdom about was not understood but here we stand centuries later and Gods kingdom truly has grown. it began with a group of common uneducated, fishermen, and farmers carpenters and women tax collectors and disreputable characters.

If the kingdom of heaven is like yeast affecting dough then we can conclude that Those in Gods kingdom have a dramatic effect on society. God can take even the most distasteful character and transform them and then transform society through them. despite its appalling failures down the ages the church has had an amazing record in medical care, social work, education, liberation of women and slaves and the defence of prisoners, the age of the helpless, and those whom society neglects.

Impact of God’s kingdom

The first institution for the blind was founded by Thalasius a Christian monk. The first free dispensary was founded by apPolonius, a Christian merchant. The first hospital was founded by Fabiola, a Christian woman.

There are many other Examples of in history of Christian’s bringing about gods kingdom in the world.

Florence Nightingale was born to wealth in Britain, at the age of 17. She believed that God spoke to her and called her to service. her theology, her knowledge of God, and trust in him, motivated her to commit her entire life, to the cause of alleviating conditions of the poor, especially in hospitals and work houses.

William Wilberforce who lived in the 18th, 19th centuries, was a member of Parliament, he wrote that God Almighty had set before him two great objectives, the suppression of the slave trade, and the Reformation of society. He successfully mobilised Reformation societies which enlisted the signatures as over 1 million English people for a petition to set every slave free.

Mission aviation Fellowship, is a Christian humanitarian aid organisation that today operates 138 purpose-built light aircraft in over 26 countries and partners with more than 2000 humanitarian organisations, including UNICEF, World Health Organisation, the Red Cross, Medicare and tear fund . It Was co-founded by Stuart King who lived in my hometown of Folkestone. He was an RAF pilot in World War II, his faith and skills as a pilot saw him pioneer work to deliver bibles, humanitarian aid, fly in and out of emergencies. All motivated by a love of Jesus and a desire to live out his kingdom

Salt and light
Earlier in Matthews gospel Jesus teaches that in his kingdom his followers are to be Salt and light to the world – Matthew 5:13-16, you are the salt of the Earth but if the salt looses its saltiness how can it be made salty again it’s no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under foot, you are the light of the world a town built on a hill cannot be hidden, neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl instead they put it on it stand and it gets light to everyone in the house in the same way let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven.

how are you being called to be salt and light in your homes, friendship groups, communities, jobs, volunteer roles?

Gods kingdom may have started in a seemingly initially insignificant way but it is pervasive and although these parables are mainly an encouragement of God being at work in the world bringing about his kingdom, the bible tells us that we too are part of that plan. That we are to be active in his world. So let’s be active in Gods kingdom as he builds it and grows it.

Wheat and Weeds – A Parable about Judgment

On the face of it, this parable is quite straightforward (although I wonder what they’d say on Gardeners Question Time). It’s about judgment. You may be more inclined to convert the weeds, and turn it into a parable about evangelism. Jesus certainly talks about conversion elsewhere, but not here. So you have a field full of wheat and weeds, all growing together. Should you try and pull up the weeds? No, says the farmer, because you could damage the wheat. Leave it until the harvest and then the wheat can be sorted from the weeds. Most parables don’t explicitly tell you what they’re trying to say, but in this case Jesus has thrown in an additional bit of decoding for you. The field is the world, the wheat is God’s followers, while the weeds are evildoers inspired by the Devil. At the end of the age, there will be a final reckoning and God’s angels will separate God’s people from evil people, and those evil people will be consigned to a terrible fate.

But what’s Jesus’ point? Well the point that is particular to this parable seems to be the bit about pulling up the weeds. Jesus says that if you pursue that policy, you’ll do more harm than good.

The world doesn’t see it that way. Throughout history it has been pretty commonplace for political regimes to want to remove opposition, to get rid of the people who are undermining what they are trying to do. I was listening to a Tony Blair interview recently. He was asked what he made of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and he replied by talking about the Russian leader’s different ‘incarnations’. Initially he was a member of the KGB, then he tried to pursue democracy until he felt it wouldn’t work for Russia, and now who can tell how big a monster he might become? Anybody who opposes him is swiftly arrested and thrown into prison. Alexei Navalny is a high-profile opposition leader. You may remember he was poisoned, spent time in Berlin recovering, and then on his return his flight was diverted, he was detained and then imprisoned, initially for 2½ years, then 9 and now, as of a few days ago, 19. He was obstructing the growth of Putin’s new Russia, a threat to what the president was trying to achieve. In terms of this parable, Putin felt he was a weed that needed to be removed.

Now you might quibble and argue that Putin is the weed and Navalny the wheat, but what I’m saying is that removing your enemy is a way of consolidating your position. It’s how the world has always worked. Believe it or not, Hitler described himself as the emissary of the Almighty. He was angry at Germany’s capitulation to the Allies in 1918, and blamed it on Jews and communist sympathisers. After he became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he began a purge, initially targeting political, military and trades union leaders, but then introducing mercy killings and eventually the holocaust. Homosexuals, prostitutes, JWs, gypsies, alcoholics, pacifists, beggars, hooligans and criminals were all rounded up and sent to concentration camps. That massacre of his own people beggars belief. But he was determined to root out the weeds, as he saw it.

So no big surprises when powerful people get rid of undesirables, or when decent people try to avoid them. Gated communities and home-schooling are often methods of self-protection. None of us wants horrible people disrupting our lives.

But here’s the thing. Jesus slaps a ban on good people trying to get rid of evil people. You’d think that ridding the world of evil people would be a good thing, but Jesus says ‘Absolutely not’. And there are probably two reasons for that. Scholars will tell you that when Jesus talked about the weeds, he was probably referring to darnel, a lookalike plant. During the growing season, wheat and darnel were almost identical, but come harvest their respective colours changed, and the difference became more apparent. But in addition, below the soil their roots became entangled, so if you pulled up the darnel you might finish up damaging the wheat.

So think about that. It can be hard to pick the good-uns from the wrong-uns. And that’s probably true in the Church as well. From my experience, we Christians all get very judgmental. We label other people as non-Christians or unbelievers, but perhaps we should be looser and more inclusive, and leave the wheat and weeds judgment to God. He knows people’s hearts and motives, and He alone judges fairly. But sadly, the Christian Church has a long history of trying to do His job for Him.

Two things happened towards the end of the 12th Century. Firstly, there was a French merchant called Peter Waldo who started reading the NT and noticed that there was an enormous gulf between what Jesus taught and what the Church was teaching. So he gathered a group of interested friends and they read the Bible together, and tried to imitate Jesus in the process. They became known as Waldensians. Harmless enough you might think, but the Roman Catholic Church felt threatened by them and other dissidents, so it started a thing known as The Inquisition. The Inquisition used what was considered to be ‘gentle persuasion’ to get people to change their views and embrace orthodoxy (we tend to call it torture these days). The thumb-screw was so simple and yet so effective. You crushed a person’s thumb or fingers until they confessed the error of their ways and fell back into line.

I know what you’re thinking – that’s Catholics, we’re Protestants. We Bible-believing Christians would never do anything like that. But you’d be wrong. There was Huldrych Zwingli, the Protestant Mayor of Zurich. The first Baptists appeared in the 1520s, and in Zurich they started rebaptising his citizens, so Zwingli took one of them, Felix Manz, tied him up and threw him in the lake: Let him who talks about going under go under himself, he commented from the shore. Another celebrated reformer and Mayor of Geneva, John Calvin, had to deal with a deviant preacher called Michael Servetus. Servetus was what we today would call a Unitarian, and Calvin tried to persuade him to become a Trinitarian. Servetus refused, believing his views would help relations between Jews, Muslims and Christians. So in 1553, frustrated by his stubbornness and in an attempt to protect his citizens from being corrupted, Calvin had Servetus burned at the stake.

Even our Protestant heroes took the easy way out and disposed of those who opposed them (and don’t get me started on Martin Luther). We may not execute people today, but the intolerance persists. Interestingly, and in stark contrast to this parable, our intolerance of others tends to have more to do with their orthodoxy (or otherwise) rather than their conduct. American comedian Emo Philips captured it well:

In conversation with a person I had recently met, I asked: “Are you Protestant or Catholic?”

My new acquaintance replied: “Protestant.”

I said: “Me too! What denomination?”

He answered: “Baptist.”

“Me too”, I said. “Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?”

“Northern Baptist”, he replied.

“Me too”, I shouted.

We continued to go back and forth. Finally I asked:

“Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1879

or

“Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1912?”

He replied: “Council of 1912.”

I said: “Die, heretic!”

But let me go back. Jesus came proclaiming the kingdom of God. The language was not unfamiliar, because kings have kingdoms. They have territory under their control. If an invader attacks, the king’s army is mobilised and they look to neutralise the threat. But then it becomes clear that Jesus is not interested in territory or armies. He’s interested in people who embrace the call of God and who live their lives by the values of this King whose concerns transcend territory. And so the Christian movement spreads and you find small pockets of Christians all over the place. And those Christians aim to be good citizens wherever they live, whatever the culture, and they promote Jesus’ way of living. But as time goes on it becomes frustrating for them. They want to make their communities wholesome places, but they encounter opposition. The towns in which they live include people who are not interested in their gospel – they just want to have a good time. They don’t care about their neighbours or about justice and equality. What should they do? This is the question being posed by the parable. Clearly Jesus is saying that they can’t dispose of their opponents, so what should they do?

40 years ago, the late Evangelical leader, John Stott, wrote a book entitled Issues facing Christians today. In it he wrote a chapter examining this very question. He talked about the two extremes, imposing your views on people or, alternatively, laissez faire – letting people do whatever they want. Neither way is good, he argued. Instead he suggested a 3rd way of persuasive dialogue.

You may remember Jesus’ words to His followers – you are the light of the world. But that’s not all He says. He goes on: People don’t light a lamp and then hide it under a bowl. They put it on a stand so it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify God. In other words, get yourselves out of the church building and into society so that through your words and deeds people can visualise what the kingdom of God is all about. We need Christians in local politics and business and education and the caring professions and volunteering, modelling with integrity this kingdom way of living, and of course also in the family.

The reality is that good and bad will always exist, and we must accept that reality. There are good and bad people in society, just as there will be genuine and non-genuine Christians in every church. Even Jesus hosted a small group of twelve disciples that included a Judas. It remains a puzzle as to why He knew and yet didn’t root him out. Perhaps He nurtured hopes of him changing.

And it’s also true that those good and bad labels are not exactly straightforward, because we’re all a mixture of good and bad. But more of that when we get to the parable of the dragnet.

What you do and how you live is the one thing you can control. Other people must make their own decisions. In Matthew 25, He told that disturbing parable of the sheep and the goats, and in Matthew 7 you have those disconcerting words: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, evildoers!’

So here and now, in this broken world and often hampered by our own broken lives, we choose to overcome evil with good. We strive to be imitators of Christ, holding firmly to His principles, calling others to follow Him yes, but leaving the ultimate judgments to God Himself, and praying that, in the meantime, our lives may have a positive impact. So, let’s let our lights shine! When we choose the path of integrity, who can tell the impact? As Jesus hung on the cross, he prayed “Father forgive them” – who can measure the impact of that one supreme act of love and sacrifice, but I, for one, am eternally grateful that He made it.

Talk on Kingdom Secrets from Matthew 13

Introduction

Last week we began our series on Matthew chapter 13 looking at the parables of Jesus. We explored that parables were used by Jesus as a form of teaching, comparing things to portray a teaching point, and we briefly touched on the why of parables as a way of revealing the mysteries of God but explained that that is what todays passage is about.

The reason Jesus teaches in parables is connected with kingdom secrets.

I wonder if you’ve ever felt like you’re missing out on something, that there is a secret you don’t know – or that something is hidden from you. It can be like that with professional jargon – only those trained in those professions can understand what is being said and abbreviations used are understood in their context but can mean something else entirely in a different context. In schools the abbreviation TTO is used which stands for term time only – in the medical world it was a phrase used to mean medications ready for discharge. Until you know the jargon it can feel a bit like a secret language, understanding is limited and can be confusing. It is the same with learning a foreign language. To begin with nothing is understood and then slowly and surely, odd words are understood, then whole sentences and then big chunks of speech. Church life can also feel a bit like that when people first enter it can seem like there are secrets, things hidden, and as we take in God’s word, as we experience him speaking to us through his Holy Spirit, as he opens are eyes – things that we at first didn’t understand begin to make some sense.

Parable of the soils

The parable of the soils last week was told to a crowd while Jesus was sitting in a boat. He didn’t interpret it to them he just told the parable. It was only later in the chapter that Jesus then explains it to his disciples. But only his disciples. On the first telling of the parable of the soils Jesus ends it with – whoever has ears let them hear. The parable is left as a mystery with no explanation.

Last week we said that the parables were to point people to Jesus, to who he is, what he had come to do, the bringing in of God’s kingdom, and to illicit a response from his hearers. If you had just heard the parable of the soils would you have understood? The disciples weren’t really sure about why Jesus spoke in these parables – in riddles – which is one translation of this word.

Parables caused confusion

In verse 10 Jesus’ disciples ask him – why do you speak in parables?

Jesus’ response is this from v11: “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.”

He goes on in v13 to say “Though seeing, they do not see;
    though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” And then he quotes from Isaiah,

‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

Later on in the chapter Matthew gives his opinion on why Jesus speaks in parables and quotes from Psalm 72 – he writes: Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. ³⁵ So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.

Why does it matter that Jesus spoke in these riddles and that to many they were not explained? We need to look a little at the context of both of these Old Testament passages.

Old Testament context

Isaiah 6:9-10 is a passage in the Bible where God tells the prophet Isaiah to proclaim his word to a people who are deaf and blind to his truth. The passage is not a command, but a prediction of what will happen to Israel because of their rebellion and disobedience. The sense is, Because they had heard Gods words, been given ample opportunity, and seen Gods works, but to no purpose, and had hardened their hearts, would not learn, repent or change, their sin shall be their punishment. God will still continue in his word and works, but will withdraw his Spirit, so that they shall be as unable, as now they are unwilling, to understand. In simpler terms Many hear the sound of God’s word, but do not feel the power of it because they’ve closed themselves off and so God is allowing that to continue.

Time and time again God’s people had turned away from following God’s ways and these words are spoken as a prediction, a warning.

According to James Montgomery Boice Psalm 72 is the longest historical psalm in the bible. Its lesson is that history must not repeat itself. The people must never again be unbelieving.

An unbelieving life means God’s ways are not followed, life is not lived to please, glorify and honour God. How can we learn from the history of God’s people? How are the parables being used to aid this?

History Lesson

In Genesis we read that God created the world, humankind rebelled against their Creator (known as “the fall of man”), and God put a plan of redemption (salvation) into motion involving calling out a people for Himself to be a light for the nations (gentiles), and entering into a covenant relationship with them (known as the Abrahamic Covenant). He makes promises to Abraham that from him there will be a people who have a special personal relationship with the God who created all things and that people would be numerous.

In our recent series on Moses we saw the Israelites were great in number and we saw God continuing to make good on his promises and saves them from slavery for life in the promise land. They complain, they rebel, they are scared, they lack trust in God.

When they eventually get to the land generations later, the pattern of rebellion and God saving repeats through the book of Judges and then even when they ask for a king because the other nations have kings, it doesn’t stop their rebellion. Even with the few good leaders – rebellion and disobedience are a pattern.

The prophets are sent by God to warn what this rebellion will actually lead to – but God in his very nature saves and so promised that even though his people will be taken into captivity they will return to their land and there would be a promised messiah who would fulfil the role of perfect humanity living in trust and obedience to God.

In telling of these parables Jesus is pointing to who he is and the kingdom he is bringing in and just like in the old testament days when some hearts were turned against God there will be those in his day that also due to the rebellion of their hearts cannot accept and will not understand.

The disciples

In this passage though the disciples are blessed because they do understand – remember in v11 Jesus said: the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you.

Jesus has chosen them. He’s teaching them. Revealing who he is by his example and doing life together. There are glimpses when his disciples get it and others where he patiently explains again and again.

What are those secrets? Those secrets are knowing who Jesus is – the son of God – promised Messiah – who came as the perfect example of humanity living in trusting obedience to God, in an intimate relationship. Those secrets are Knowing that Jesus died, was raised to life for the forgiveness of sins – to stop the cycle of rebellion against God – and to allow us all the have a restored relationship with God if we repent of our sins and live full obedient lives in intimacy with Him. Those secrets are knowing that Jesus ascended into the heavens and rules God’s kingdom now on earth which comes about in the lives of his people and for eternity. Those secrets are knowing that Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to guide us as we read God’s word.

We are blessed with these secrets too – as followers of Jesus those secrets are also revealed to us. Through God’s word we can know the power of the cross, we can know that we are living in the kingdom of God, we can know his guidance and receive the promises God gave to his people.

Jesus spoke in parables – but for those who were of his kingdom he promised to give understanding.

Lessons for us

There are three lessons for us from this passage for us to focus on today.

Firstly, I think this passage brings great encouragement. It has shown us that those who are of his kingdom he promised to give understanding. From the example of the disciples that was a journey. Peter trusted enough to get out of the boat and walk on water but then he lost his focus on Jesus and began to sink. One time Peter acknowledges that Jesus is the One, the Messiah, the anointed one and yet denies being a friend of Jesus. Peter was one who Jesus revealed the secrets of his kingdom to, it took him time to get there, but he shared the truths of the kingdom with many other people and so I find that an encouragement for us. When we have accepted who Jesus is we are members of his kingdom and if we are listening he will show us more and more about the truth of his kingdom and who he is.

Secondly, it can help to lessen frustrations when our friends and family are not understanding our faith when it seems so obvious to us. Let’s continue to prayer that they will become open to hearing and understanding and to continue to sow the seeds of truth about who Jesus is and his kingdom.

Lastly it motivates us to continue learning more about God’s kingdom, God’s rule – who God is, why he sent Jesus and how that leads to transformations in our lives, families and cultures. Maybe you feel motivated to develop your prayer life, maybe you want to study the bible more. This can be in groups and towards the end of September there will be new groups starting again. Maybe you are better in a one-one setting and we could try and make that happen. Maybe you just want to get in a regular pattern of reading your bible at home. It might be you want to study more about the history of the bible, the Christian faith or you want to read about people’s experiences with God – there are books and podcasts we can point you too. There might be a life situation you’re going through and you want some godly wisdom. There are many ways we can continue learning the secrets of God’s kingdom.

Whoever has ears let them hear and let them respond.

Amen.