Sunday Setup – Matthew 13:24-30

[music] [music] [music] [music] [music] Hey Cross Church family, welcome to the Sunday setup. this our time each week where we prepare our hearts for Sunday by praying through the piece of scripture that we'll be preaching through this weekend. And we want to start today as we continue in our series going through the parables. And we'll be in Matthew 13 starting in verse 24. And it says this as Jesus is continuing and talking about these stories and using metaphors of seeds and gardening. And he continues on. He says this. He presented another parable to them. The kingdom [music] of heaven may be compared to a man who swed good seed in his field. But while people were sleeping, his enemy came and swed weeds among the wheat and left. When the plant sprouted and produced grain, and the wheats also appeared, the Landover servants came to him and said, "Master, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from? An enemy did this, he told them. So do you want us to go and pull them up? The servants asked him. No, he said. When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time, I'll tell the reapers, "Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but the collect the wheat in my barn." This is a powerful passage and one that we will be studying through the lens a little bit of Father's Day because it has so many connecting points of how dads want to protect and provide for their family and Christ gives us guidance in this parable on how we are to do that. But as we prepare our hearts, I think [music] for this passage, this wheat and the tears, the wheat in the weeds, I think the first thing I want us to acknowledge in verse 24 is it tells us the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who swed good seed. This is talking about how Christ has swed the seed of the gospel of himself into our lives. And I think before we get [music] into the rest of this passage that focuses on the bad and the weeds that come up, often we aren't thankful for the wheat and the good seed that comes [music] up. And I I want this kind of this prayer prompt of almost praise and thanksgiving as we start out is Jesus, thank you for sewing good seed of God. Thank you for sewing good seed of good seed of your grace, good seed of your faithfulness, good seed of my family, good seed of my church. Jesus, thank you for sewing good seed of. Pray that prayer to our [music] God. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Jesus, thank you for sewing good seed of salvation, of deliverance. parents. Um Lord, just good seed of a better changed life now and for all of eternity. And we thank you that you have allowed us to know your truth. You have allowed us to get closer to you. [music] And Lord, we just thank you for the good seed that is sown and [music] not just focusing on the weeds that we are surrounded by the evil that is present in our world. Lord, we thank you for your goodness that is so [music] present in our lives. God. But we don't stop there. Not only do we thank Christ for the good seed he sews and the good seed he throws out. But in this passage, you're going to see and we're going to break down this week. The weeds are not pulled up. When we see a weed, we want to pull it up. But he tells us that is not necessarily our job. [snorts] But instead, the imperative here, the job that is seen for us when we talk about the good seed growing in our lives in verse 30, let both grow together until the [music] harvest. Our job is to grow. Grow despite the conditions that are around us. In the second prayer prompt, as we thank God for the good seed that is sown, we need to focus on how do we foster and how do we love and how do we water and how do we make sure that seed is growing in our lives. And and here's our prayer prompt in this is Jesus, help me grow despite. Help me grow despite maybe unbelievers in my workplace that are pushing me in wrong ways that I just need to be more bold about the gospel. Uh Lord, help me grow despite the stress in my life, despite the anxiety, despite the sin that you might be struggling with. Is God help me grow despite. How do we keep growing the wheat [music] despite the tears and the weeds that are surrounding us? Pray that prayer to our God. [music] [music] [music] Heat. [music] [music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] [music] >> [music] >> Lord, we thank you for the good seed that you have seown in our lives, Lord. And we just ask that we continue to grow in it. That it be what fuels us. It be the plant and the fruit that we show in the world around around us. And despite [music] opposition, despite struggle, despite evil, despite the hardships in the world around us, Lord, we can continue to grow the right thing in our lives. We can grow in our relationship with you and our witness be made ever known to those around us. God, we thank you for this time. And we just ask that you prepare our hearts so when we come together this Sunday that as we've prayed through this passage [music] that we can praise through it that we can preach through it so most importantly that we can put it into practice next week. Lord, we just thank you for this time and we ask that you all bring us together safely this Sunday as we get to celebrate dads and we get to celebrate ultimately your sacrifice, your freedom that we have in you and your love for us. And we lift all this up in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you guys for joining us today. We can't wait to see you this Sunday for Father's Day. See you soon. [music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat.