# Wheat and Weeds Sermon transcript from Cross Church Surprise. Series: Parables Date: June 21, 2026 Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/surprise/episodes/wheat-and-weeds ## Summary What if the weeds in our lives are there for a reason? How do we protect our families in a world filled with evil? And what does it mean to trust the ultimate judge? Join us as we explore the parable of the wheat and weeds and uncover profound truths for our lives. Let's dive in together! ## Transcript 0:00 · Your job was never to be the judge, 0:04 · because we serve the perfectly just judge. 0:07 · So no weed is gonna get away with it in the end. 0:11 · No evil will go unpunished. 0:13 · But when we say he is my savior, 0:16 · that I believe he lived and died and rose again 0:18 · and changes my life, we don't fall away from that. 0:22 · He remembers that, he honors that decision to follow him. 0:26 · And he one day will give us rest and joy 0:29 · for all of eternity. 0:33 · But hey, if you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it 0:35 · and flip open to Matthew chapter 13. 0:39 · Matthew chapter 13, and we're gonna be starting today 0:42 · in verse 24, and we're gonna read 24 through 30, 0:45 · and then we're actually gonna end our time 0:47 · jumping to 36 as this parable connects to it. 0:51 · And if you've joined us today, 0:53 · we're a couple weeks into our new series 0:55 · of recalling parables and studying through the parables, 0:59 · the stories that Jesus taught. 1:01 · And we're doing this on the tail end. 1:04 · I have an eight-week series looking at the miracles 1:06 · of Jesus that answered over and over again 1:08 · is who is Jesus? 1:10 · And as we studied that, we got to see glimpses 1:13 · of his authority over different areas of our world 1:16 · and different things that are so much bigger 1:18 · than we can imagine, and it all pointed to 1:21 · that Jesus is God, the Savior, 1:24 · who changes everything about our life. 1:27 · And as we come to the series and the parables, 1:29 · it shifts from who is Jesus 1:31 · to what does this God man actually teach? 1:35 · And as we've started in the first couple weeks, 1:37 · we've seen these stories that Jesus has taught. 1:40 · Last week, he talked about a farmer 1:41 · throwing and scattering seed, 1:43 · and as seed, the good word that God gives us, 1:47 · God's word and gospel truth falls on soil. 1:50 · It represents the hearts of how do we receive 1:53 · the good news of Christ? 1:55 · Well, today, we stay right in that field 1:57 · as Jesus continues on in Matthew 13, verse 24, 2:01 · and he has another parable as he expands upon this field, 2:06 · and it says this, he presented another parable to them. 2:09 · The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man 2:11 · who sowed good seed in his field, 2:15 · just as we saw last week. 2:16 · But while people were sleeping, 2:19 · his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and left. 2:24 · When the plants sprouted and they produced grain, 2:27 · then the weeds also appeared. 2:30 · The landowner's servants came to him and said, 2:32 · Master, didn't you sow good seed in your field? 2:35 · Then where did these weeds come from? 2:39 · An enemy did this, he told them. 2:41 · So do you want us to go and pull them up? 2:43 · The servants asked him, no, he said. 2:46 · When you pull up the weeds, 2:48 · you might also uproot the wheat with them. 2:51 · Verse 30, let both grow together until the harvest. 2:56 · At harvest time, I'll tell the reapers, 2:59 · gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles 3:02 · to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn. 3:07 · You see, as we approach this passage, 3:09 · and it's so fitting that as we're planning out 3:11 · this series, we didn't think about today 3:13 · being Father's Day, 3:14 · but when I read this passage as a father, 3:17 · all I can think of, how do I protect my family 3:20 · in such a messed up world? 3:22 · You see, the weeds that we're gonna parse through 3:24 · and see in this is evil that rises up amongst them, 3:28 · and we have weeds and evil that is in our world 3:31 · that we didn't bring into our home, 3:33 · that maybe we didn't allow our kids to be exposed to, 3:36 · but the frustrating thing about being a parent 3:38 · is your kids are going to be exposed to sin 3:41 · no matter what, because we live in a broken world, 3:45 · and as a dad, my gut is how do I protect them? 3:48 · How do I make sure that the world doesn't get them? 3:51 · How do I make sure my kids are raised up 3:53 · and don't become unsufferable jerks 3:55 · in a mess of an adult? 3:58 · But here's the Father's Day confession 4:01 · that I think all of us are brought to, 4:03 · is all dads wanna protect their families, 4:06 · yet all dads fail to some degree. 4:10 · I don't care how great of a dad you are, 4:13 · in some way you have failed your kids 4:15 · in raising them up the right way, 4:17 · and all of us have story after story of failure 4:21 · and how we wish we could've done better, 4:23 · or we wish we could protect them 4:24 · from all the hardship that comes around them. 4:26 · So today I wanted to do something different. 4:28 · Instead of just sharing how I fail as a dad, 4:31 · I wanted to bring two more dads 4:33 · and them share how we all fail together 4:35 · and can serve in this, all right? 4:37 · Okay, so with me I have Pastor Josh, our worship pastor, 4:42 · and Pastor Kyle, our youth pastor, 4:45 · and I wanna take a few minutes to introduce, 4:47 · here's what's gonna happen, 4:48 · they're gonna share just a little bit about themselves, 4:50 · I have a question for them, 4:51 · and then we're gonna give each one of them 4:52 · a chance to preach with me closing us out, 4:55 · and you are gonna judge at the end 4:56 · who did a better job throughout all that, all right? 4:59 · Just kidding, we're not gonna do that part. 5:01 · But let me start with me, 5:02 · and maybe you don't know me, 5:03 · and my name is Andrew, 5:04 · I'm the pastor here at Cross Church Surprise, 5:05 · I've been with Cross Church about 10 years, 5:07 · and over here for almost two in our surprise location. 5:11 · But let me tell you about my family, 5:12 · me and my wife Sarah, and there's a picture of us, 5:14 · we've been married for 12 years, 5:16 · we have four children, unbiasedly the cutest kids 5:20 · on the entire planet, all right? 5:23 · It's just a fact that I state. 5:25 · But our four kids, we have Aria, Archie, Arlo, 5:28 · and Alice, ranging nine, eight, four, and two. 5:32 · So that is my family and who I get to, 5:35 · who calls me dad and who I have the privilege 5:37 · of messing up their childhood 5:38 · and hoping they don't turn out to be terrible adults. 5:41 · But I want these guys to also introduce their family. 5:44 · So Kyle, I'll start with you, 5:45 · just tell us a little bit about your family 5:47 · and where you're at. 5:49 · So yeah, married to my wife 13 years, 5:53 · we got married in Paris, Paris, Las Vegas. 5:57 · Just so you know. 5:58 · Ah, that's a good one. 6:00 · We're not that rich. 6:03 · My oldest is Chloe, 6:05 · she is 12. 6:07 · Kaylee is 11. 6:09 · And my twin boys are 10. 6:11 · We had four kids in two and a half years. 6:14 · So pray for my wife. 6:15 · She's got a handful at home. 6:18 · But yeah, been at Cross Church for about four years, 6:22 · been on, was a member first 6:24 · and then been on staff about three. 6:25 · So yeah. 6:26 · Awesome. 6:27 · We love Kyle. 6:27 · He's our giant kid on staff 6:29 · that keeps us young at heart. 6:31 · Yeah, buddy. 6:31 · Yeah, that's right. 6:33 · Josh, how about you? 6:33 · Tell us about your family. 6:34 · Yeah, my name is Josh. 6:36 · I'm the worship pastor here. 6:37 · And my family, you'll see on the screen behind me 6:39 · is my wife, Carol. 6:40 · We've been married coming up on seven years. 6:42 · And then my three girls, 6:43 · I have three girls under four. 6:46 · So pray for me with that. 6:47 · But the far right is Adelaide. 6:50 · She's four years old. 6:51 · I have Bethany. 6:52 · She's two years old. 6:53 · And then the little baby was born in January. 6:56 · So she's six months old. 6:57 · That's Callie. 6:58 · So where Andrew has the A's for his names, 7:00 · I have A, B, C. 7:01 · So it makes up for it. 7:03 · I never knew that. 7:04 · And I've been with Cross Church coming up on 10 years now. 7:07 · I came at Surprise. 7:08 · Then I went to Phoenix for seven years. 7:10 · And then I'm back at Surprise. 7:12 · Yep, he couldn't escape me. 7:13 · I left Phoenix and he came with me. 7:15 · So just gonna get away from me. 7:17 · But hey, today we're gonna talk a lot 7:19 · about in this passage, 7:21 · how weeds can't come up 7:23 · and we can't protect against everything. 7:24 · And we're gonna talk about how we fail 7:26 · to do what we probably want to in the moment. 7:28 · And there are things beyond us. 7:30 · And as I was going through this passage, 7:32 · one of the things that I always stick in my mind, 7:34 · this has happened during COVID, 7:36 · where I remember it 7:37 · because I had to go to the hospital. 7:39 · We had to wear masks. 7:39 · That was always fun, right? 7:41 · But we had this dog that we had since she was a puppy. 7:43 · She was a great Pyrenees, 7:44 · grew up, became 100 pounds. 7:46 · My older kids knew this dog, 7:48 · would sleep on this dog, 7:49 · would take naps on this dog. 7:51 · And this dog was always nice, 7:52 · but was still a dumb animal. 7:54 · And in one time, 7:55 · and if you're offended by that, 7:56 · I got a different sermon for you. 7:59 · But this one day, 8:00 · this dog was growling at my kid. 8:02 · And I could see, I was like, 8:04 · and Aria just wanted to give her a hug. 8:06 · Give Sky, short for Skywalker, a hug. 8:08 · And she went to go get a second hug. 8:10 · And then all of a sudden, I saw it in slow motion. 8:12 · I went to grab my dog's mouth, 8:14 · but was not fast enough. 8:15 · That dog, Snarl, tried to bite her, 8:18 · cut her face, blood everywhere, 8:20 · had to get stitches, a scar from it. 8:22 · And in that moment, 8:23 · I could see what was happening. 8:25 · I could see what I wanted to do to protect my kid, 8:28 · but I just couldn't do it. 8:30 · And ever since then, 8:31 · I've always thought about those moments I failed 8:33 · to protect my kids that was beyond my control, 8:36 · that I wish I could. 8:37 · And I want you guys to share in my failure 8:39 · to make me feel better about this. 8:42 · So Kyle, why don't you tell us about a time 8:43 · where maybe you as a dad failed to protect your kids. 8:46 · Yeah. 8:47 · So I think every parent struggles with this, 8:50 · especially guys. 8:51 · I mean, when you have multiple kids, 8:53 · you always wanna give each kid their own attention. 8:56 · And you wanna grow them, especially our boys. 8:59 · We wanna grow them spiritually. 9:01 · We want them to make them confident. 9:03 · We don't want to emotionally damage them 9:06 · or anything about them. 9:07 · And just having four kids, 9:08 · I just think it comes with that struggle 9:10 · of me always failing and just thinking 9:12 · that I'm failing, 9:12 · I'm not spending enough time with them, 9:14 · and I'm just doing everything wrong. 9:17 · And there was one time in my life, 9:18 · I just remember I was disciplining my boys at this time, 9:22 · and I was going through the discipline thing, 9:26 · but my phone happened to be on, 9:27 · and it happened to be recording. 9:29 · And I was like, man, okay, this is a total God thing, 9:32 · I think, looking back at it now. 9:34 · But in that recording, 9:36 · I just remember listening back to my conversation 9:39 · with my boys and my kids, 9:40 · and I was just like, man, 9:42 · do I really sound that harsh when I speak to them? 9:46 · Do I really sound that mean and angry 9:49 · and just the anger voice coming out of my heart to them? 9:52 · And I just remember it just really took me back, 9:54 · and I was just like, 9:55 · I kind of failed them in that moment. 9:56 · I don't want my kids to remember me as that type of dad, 10:01 · as the dad just coming at them harsh and angry, 10:04 · and always responding in just meanness. 10:06 · So I would say that's the emotional side, 10:09 · the heart issue that I think I failed as a father 10:12 · at that point. 10:12 · Man, that's good. 10:13 · Yeah, it's hard. 10:14 · Man, I physically failed my kids 10:16 · and letting them get attacked by a dog. 10:17 · You emotionally failed your kid. 10:19 · Josh, bring this home. 10:20 · How have you failed your children? 10:23 · Yeah, I think about a time when, 10:27 · so I work from home because I have another job. 10:31 · I'm only half time here at church, 10:33 · and so I have another full-time job 10:35 · where I work from home 10:35 · and I have the privilege of doing that. 10:37 · So I am with my family at least 80% of the week, 10:40 · and so with that has this courage, 10:42 · a safety blanket of me being able to help my family, 10:45 · my kids, my wife, whenever they are in trouble 10:47 · or hurting or just had a rough day, 10:49 · I can just walk out of my office and help them. 10:51 · But I remember this one time, 10:52 · I got a text and I was actually away from home. 10:55 · I was at a lunch meeting for my other job 10:59 · about an hour away, and I got this text. 11:02 · It was cryptic from my wife. 11:04 · It said, house on fire, leaving with kids. 11:08 · And I immediately. 11:09 · No concern at all. 11:11 · I immediately called my wife and she's not picking up. 11:14 · And then I get scared because I'm an hour away. 11:16 · I start driving. 11:17 · I say I gotta go. 11:18 · I grab my Panda Express Cup and I get in the car. 11:20 · I'm just driving. 11:20 · And I'm calling her multiple times and she's not picking up. 11:23 · Ended up everyone was safe and fine, 11:25 · but our solar panel caught on fire on the side of the wall 11:30 · and it struck a little fire on the house. 11:32 · It didn't burn through, but they were like, 11:34 · hey, you need to get everyone out of the house 11:35 · just for safety. 11:37 · But in that moment, I kept on feeling, 11:38 · hey, this is the one time I should be with my kids, 11:41 · like grabbing them and telling them, 11:42 · make sure everything's okay. 11:43 · When I finally called her, they were all crying. 11:45 · They were scared. 11:46 · And I just felt so powerless and helpless 11:49 · in that moment. 11:50 · All I heard is you were an hour away 11:52 · and you chose Panda Express to eat at lunch. 11:55 · I did not choose it. 11:56 · Okay, all right. 11:57 · It was out of my control. 11:58 · Anyway, but hey, all of that, 12:00 · this is the problem with dads. 12:02 · And on this dad day, we all fail. 12:04 · And whether you're a father or a mother 12:06 · or a son or daughter, there are these moments 12:08 · where just as this passage is gonna illuminate for us, 12:11 · is we want to control things, but we can't. 12:14 · And this morning, here's what I wanna do 12:16 · as three dads who love our families 12:19 · and who love our church. 12:21 · We want us to walk through this passage together 12:24 · as a church family and really answer this question 12:27 · that we see from the text, 12:29 · is how do we protect the ones we love 12:31 · in a world that is full of weeds? 12:34 · In a world that is so full of evil, 12:36 · how do we protect the ones we hold dearest? 12:40 · So let me pray for our time and pray over this passage 12:42 · and we will dive into the preaching of God's word. 12:45 · Dear Lord, I thank you. 12:46 · Lord, I thank you that you are so good, 12:49 · that God, often we struggle. 12:51 · Lord, we come into these moments 12:53 · where we just fail to live up to what you have for us. 12:58 · But God, your word shows us how you have a better way, 13:02 · how you have a greater way. 13:04 · And Lord, just guide the preaching 13:05 · and the teaching of your word. 13:07 · Lord, let our hearts be convicted and challenged 13:09 · so that we can go live out the truth you have for us. 13:12 · We lift all this up. 13:13 · In Jesus' name, amen. 13:14 · Amen. 13:16 · Hey, your first point on your notes 13:18 · is recognize the evil around us. 13:22 · I'm gonna walk us through 25 and 28. 13:26 · Thank Pastor Andrew for allowing me to go first. 13:29 · I am the oldest on staff 13:30 · and so allow your elders to go first, you know? 13:34 · So that's how, thanks Pastor Andrew for doing that. 13:38 · Just kidding, man. 13:39 · Hey, so recognize the evil around us. 13:43 · I wanna read this verse right here in 25. 13:45 · It says, his enemy came, 13:48 · sowed weeds among the wheat and left. 13:52 · Guys, what I want you to see from this verse 13:54 · is that you cannot escape bad things. 13:57 · I think a lot of times, us as dads, 14:00 · we like to put our kids and our family in bubbles 14:04 · and we want to escape the hard things of life, 14:07 · but we cannot escape hard things in this world. 14:10 · We can't escape life. 14:13 · We can't escape the things that are bad in our world. 14:16 · And the second thing I want you to see from this 14:18 · is that this did not happen by chance. 14:20 · Look at what it says right here. 14:22 · The enemy came. 14:24 · He put weeds into the field. 14:28 · Guys, bad things don't happen by chance. 14:31 · It is intentional what the enemy is doing in our world. 14:36 · It is not at random that these bad things happen. 14:39 · No, there is an enemy working in our world 14:42 · and he is allowing those weeds to grow among the wheat. 14:46 · See, Jesus is describing a weed, 14:49 · a particular weed, Darnell, 14:51 · and it grew right along the side of wheat. 14:54 · And you cannot tell the difference of Darnell and wheat 14:57 · in the early stages. 14:59 · It has the same green roots in the beginning. 15:02 · It has the same height in the beginning. 15:04 · And you cannot tell these two apart 15:06 · until they finally bloom, 15:09 · until they finally bloom and the heads open up 15:12 · and you can finally see that one is wheat 15:14 · and one is poison. 15:17 · One is wheat and one is poison. 15:21 · Guys, I think for a long time, 15:23 · us dads, us fathers, us men in the church, 15:26 · we have had our heads in the sand. 15:29 · For decades, we have allowed the women 15:31 · leading our church 15:32 · because we have put our heads in the sand 15:34 · and we have allowed weeds to just grow in our field. 15:39 · We've lived in this bubble that's saying, 15:40 · hey man, if the weeds just grow, we're good. 15:43 · We're okay. 15:44 · If we put our families in this bubble, 15:46 · we're okay and we're going to be just fine 15:49 · until we see the weeds bloom, 15:54 · until we see the results of what we have left behind 15:57 · of us allowing the weeds to grow. 16:02 · See, what we actually see from this 16:04 · is that man, we have fell asleep 16:06 · and we have allowed our guards to come down 16:08 · and us as men in the church, 16:10 · we have not raised up and said, 16:11 · hey, guess what? 16:13 · There is an enemy that is actually after our families. 16:17 · There is an enemy that is actually after our families. 16:19 · He wants to devour us and he wants to bring us 16:22 · somewhere where we should not belong. 16:24 · He wants to bring us into the depths of hell 16:27 · and we have actually not acknowledged this. 16:31 · We've actually responded like the servants, 16:33 · like it says in verse 27, the servants say this, 16:37 · master, didn't you sow good seeds in your field? 16:42 · Then where did the weeds come from? 16:45 · See, they're shocked. 16:47 · They're surprised. 16:49 · That's like us sometimes. 16:50 · Sometimes when bad things happen in our world 16:52 · and we're shocked, we're surprised. 16:53 · We're like, how can the weeds be this close? 16:56 · How can bad things happen in my house? 17:00 · But look how the master responds. 17:02 · He says, an enemy did this. 17:07 · An enemy did this. 17:09 · Men listen up right now. 17:10 · If you wanna be a dad one day, 17:12 · if you are a father today, 17:13 · if you are a husband today, you need to wake up. 17:17 · You need to wake up and you need to realize 17:20 · that you need to lead your families, 17:25 · lead your wives. 17:26 · And this doesn't mean lead with an iron fist. 17:29 · This doesn't mean to be a tyrant in your house. 17:31 · This means lead in a way that they are attracted to you, 17:36 · attractive to you. 17:37 · They are actually listening to you 17:39 · because you're following Jesus. 17:42 · Jesus is illuminating out of your heart. 17:46 · And they can't deny that, right women? 17:48 · You love it when your guys are on fire for God, right? 17:53 · Guys, we gotta start illuminating Christ. 17:56 · We gotta have the aroma of Christ coming out of us. 18:00 · And guys, we gotta lead our boys. 18:02 · We need to lead our boys to be men, 18:04 · but not just men of this world. 18:06 · They need to be men of God. 18:09 · We need to lead our girls. 18:12 · Show them that they need to have the love for God first. 18:15 · They need to fall in love with God first 18:17 · and then they can look around for a man 18:20 · to follow them, 18:22 · to be in their community with their faith 18:24 · and not dragging their husbands to their faith. 18:28 · You're inviting them to come in. 18:30 · That's what I hope for my girls. 18:32 · That's what I hope for my boys. 18:35 · Guys, I'm sick and tired of reading about young men today, 18:39 · 30s and 20s and I work with a lot of young people today 18:43 · and their lives are a mess. 18:45 · They're broken. 18:46 · Things are going down in their life. 18:48 · They have fallen away from their faith. 18:50 · They walked away from their faith. 18:52 · And I'm sick of reading about these stories 18:55 · because if we actually had real men of God, 18:57 · if we actually were on fire for Jesus, guys, 19:00 · then our men would be flooding our ministries, 19:03 · our kids' ministries, our student ministries, 19:06 · discipling them, teaching them 19:08 · at a young age of 10 and 12. 19:10 · So when they actually turn 20 and 30, 19:12 · they're not falling away from Jesus. 19:14 · They're thriving for Jesus, right? 19:18 · Right? 19:19 · That's okay. 19:19 · You can clap for that. 19:20 · Thanks, Alex. 19:21 · Appreciate it. 19:23 · Guys, this is a man message. 19:25 · This is a man message. 19:28 · Lead our homes. 19:31 · See, this came full circle for me and my family. 19:33 · All four of my kids are in a swim team. 19:36 · I love my kids being in sports. 19:38 · I think it's awesome. 19:39 · Also, all four of my kids are homeschooled. 19:42 · So talk about a bubble, right? 19:44 · Right? 19:45 · It's okay. 19:47 · But guys, here's the thing is that 19:48 · when they went to this, they went to practice one day. 19:51 · They came back from practice. 19:52 · They get into the van 19:54 · and then they asked this question to my wife. 19:57 · Hey, mom, what does the word gay mean? 20:01 · In this moment, me and my wife could just said, 20:04 · hey, we're gonna pull them out of swim. 20:06 · Hey, we're not gonna have them swim anymore. 20:09 · No, in this moment, the reason we do homeschool 20:12 · is not to put them in a bubble, 20:13 · but to raise them and instruct them in the Lord. 20:16 · That is my passion of why we homeschool. 20:19 · I don't homeschool them to protect them 20:21 · and put them more in a bubble. 20:23 · I homeschool them because I want to actually teach them 20:25 · the word of God and know how to respond 20:27 · correctly in this world. 20:29 · And so what my wife walked my kids through is like, 20:33 · hey, what does God's word say about that? 20:35 · See, this 13-year-old girl struggles with her sexuality 20:39 · and she said that, hey, I like girls. 20:42 · I wanna kiss girls. 20:43 · I wanna hold hands. 20:44 · I want a girlfriend one day. 20:46 · This 13-year-old girl on their swim team. 20:49 · See, me and my wife, we didn't shy away from that. 20:52 · We dove into that. 20:53 · Hey, what does God's word say? 20:55 · What does this book say about that? 20:58 · But more importantly, how can you go share the gospel 21:01 · to that 13-year-old girl and say, 21:03 · hey, you don't have to live in your sin. 21:05 · You don't have to be tempted 21:06 · by the temptations of this world. 21:08 · You can actually have freedom 21:09 · and that is through Jesus Christ, 21:11 · the master of this world, 21:12 · also the master that is sitting 21:14 · at the right hand of God right now 21:16 · and he's listening to you 21:17 · and he can take away that sin from your life. 21:21 · How can you go teach that on a sports team? 21:23 · How can you go teach that in our schools? 21:25 · How can you actually lead your homes 21:27 · and respond in this way? 21:30 · Guys, we need to recognize the evil around us, 21:33 · but we also need to respond with a better master. 21:39 · See, a lot of us guys, 21:40 · we're so worried about stocking up our shelves 21:42 · with guns and ammo. 21:45 · The world's coming, we got to stock up, 21:47 · but how well stocked up are you in this? 21:51 · How well stocked up are you in in the word of God? 21:55 · How well stocked up are you ready 21:57 · to answer the tough questions 21:58 · that your kids come and ask you 22:01 · and you're like, I got the perfect response 22:03 · because all I got is King Jesus. 22:04 · This is the weapon we need to be picking up every day. 22:08 · We respond better because of Jesus 22:10 · and we know his plan 22:12 · and we know how to respond in our broken world. 22:19 · Amen. 22:21 · Thank you, Kyle. 22:23 · So we recognize the evil that is around us, 22:26 · but then where does that bring us? 22:28 · And so the second point 22:30 · that you'll see on the screen as well, 22:31 · it says resist the urge to play judge. 22:35 · So once we recognize the evil, 22:37 · where does this lead us to? 22:39 · It leads us to resist the urge to play judge. 22:43 · So Kyle said, in this passage, we see there is an enemy, 22:47 · but what do we do now? 22:48 · And in verse 28, the mass, the servants say this. 22:53 · At the end of verse 28, it says, 22:55 · so do you want us to go and pull them up? 22:58 · The servants asked him, we'll stop right there for now. 23:01 · I love this and men in the room, 23:02 · you've been a little quiet, that's okay. 23:04 · Well, here's the time to start getting your like, 23:06 · amen's or your yips ready or whatever it is 23:08 · that you need to do to show some encouragement. 23:10 · But here, I'm gonna ask you, are you the same as I am? 23:14 · Because I read this for the servants when they're like, 23:16 · hey, you want us to go and pull them up? 23:19 · They're like, there's an evil dude. 23:21 · He went and planted those weeds. 23:22 · Well, let's go kill him. 23:23 · Oh, actually, I'll go grab my gloves. 23:24 · Let's go pull them up. 23:25 · Let's get this done. 23:26 · Let's get something happen. 23:28 · Anyone just like wanna fix it 23:30 · as soon as you hear a problem? 23:31 · Yeah, just me, okay, we're good. 23:34 · Women in the room, you can go ahead 23:35 · and say amen if this is your man. 23:37 · But if you ask my wife, 23:40 · that would describe me to a T as well. 23:43 · Because as a husband, especially, 23:44 · but as a man, as a father, 23:46 · my brain immediately goes into 23:48 · what my wife affectionately calls fix-it mode. 23:51 · And when there is a problem, I'm like, hey, 23:53 · you know what, let me just go ahead 23:55 · and grab something off of Amazon. 23:56 · I see it can come here tomorrow 23:58 · and then I can go ahead and fix it. 23:59 · If it's actually too annoying for me to fix, 24:01 · and then I'm gonna get too annoyed and get frustrated, 24:04 · then I'm just gonna call someone else to fix it. 24:06 · We'll pay someone else. 24:07 · I'm a budgeting person. 24:08 · I love finances. 24:09 · I love spreadsheets. 24:10 · So the first thing that I go to 24:12 · when my wife says, hey, there's a problem, 24:13 · is like, hey, let's look at the numbers. 24:14 · We'll move some things around. 24:16 · We'll get this taken care of. 24:17 · We'll fix it. 24:19 · But, and again, woman in the room, 24:21 · this is when you can say amen. 24:23 · I've learned that, believe it or not, 24:24 · that's not always the correct answer. 24:27 · Amen. Thank you, thank you. 24:29 · All right, you can say it louder. 24:29 · Believe it or not, that's always not always 24:31 · the correct answer. Amen. 24:33 · Thank you, women, all right. 24:34 · So I've been married almost seven years now, like I said, 24:37 · and believe it or not, in this last year, 24:39 · I learned this important thing. 24:41 · I'm a quick learner, I promise, 24:43 · that God has allowed me as a man to fix things, 24:46 · and the best way to do that is not by talking. 24:49 · It's to immediately not do all the things 24:52 · that I want to do. 24:53 · It's by listening. 24:55 · It's by slowing down. 24:57 · It's by not grabbing the Amazon or the spreadsheet 25:01 · or the tools and immediately going to fix the thing. 25:05 · It's just by listening to my wife or my kids' frustrations 25:09 · or hurt in that given moment. 25:11 · Because as a girl dad, 25:13 · you saw my three girls up on the screen. 25:14 · It's even worse. 25:15 · When they get, owie, when they have a little scratch, 25:18 · I either go on one side of the coin or the other. 25:20 · They have a little scratch on their knee. 25:21 · I immediately go, eh, it's not that bad. 25:23 · You can walk. 25:24 · I don't need to carry you. 25:25 · It's just a little scratch. 25:26 · Or I'm on the far other side of the spectrum. 25:29 · My daughter's in this weird phase 25:30 · where she likes telling me the dog is annoying her. 25:33 · And so we have this dog named Doobie 25:35 · and she just says, daddy, Doobie's annoying me. 25:38 · And I'm like, okay, we'll just put him outside. 25:39 · He can live outside and never come in 25:41 · for the rest of his life. 25:41 · I'm like, let's fix it. 25:43 · Let's get something done. 25:45 · And that's our instinct, not just as men, 25:47 · but as women, as individuals, as people in this room, 25:51 · the people that you love, that you're close to. 25:54 · You want to shield them. 25:56 · You want to love them. 25:57 · You want to protect them. 25:58 · You want to helicopter them. 25:59 · You want to take them out from the evil. 26:02 · You want to separate themselves as far as the evil 26:04 · because you love them. 26:07 · But I love Jesus's answer as the master in this parable. 26:12 · In verse 29, he says, no, he said, the master. 26:19 · When you pull up the weeds, 26:21 · you might also uproot the wheat with them. 26:24 · No, they're like, we fixed this. 26:27 · Let's fix it. 26:27 · Let's grab some shovels. 26:29 · No. 26:30 · And that's such a frustrating answer, 26:32 · but it's a wise answer as well. 26:34 · But I want you to hear this. 26:35 · Jesus, in this no, does not say, 26:39 · hey, the weeds are fine. 26:40 · There's not actually evil in this world. 26:41 · You're worrying about nothing. 26:43 · He doesn't say that. 26:45 · Instead, he says no, not because the weeds are harmless, 26:51 · but because we, as individuals, as humans, 26:54 · are not careful enough. 26:55 · Just like Kyle said with Darnell, 26:57 · we don't know what's Darnell and what's wheat. 26:59 · So you're not careful enough. 27:00 · You're not wise enough. 27:01 · You're not omniscient enough to know 27:04 · what to pull and what to leave. 27:07 · And usually, this is what I fall into. 27:09 · I wanna believe that I know what's best for my kids. 27:12 · I know what's best for my daughter. 27:13 · I know what's best for my family. 27:15 · I know when I should take them out of the evil 27:18 · or leave them there. 27:19 · I know when I should fix this. 27:21 · I know when I can shield them and separate them 27:23 · and not tell them the things that are bothering me 27:25 · because I wanna protect them. 27:26 · I feel like I should know that as a man, 27:30 · but I don't. 27:32 · And the only one who does is our Lord, is our God, 27:36 · because we, as humans, we like to see 27:39 · someone's individual circumstances, 27:41 · someone's stories, and just start judging. 27:43 · Just start immediately leaping to, 27:44 · eh, let me fix that. 27:45 · That's a little bit, eh, that's a little bit too close. 27:48 · Let's get away from that. 27:51 · But God sees the heart. 27:52 · God sees, like Kyle said, Darnell. 27:55 · He sees what's under the ground. 27:57 · We don't. 27:59 · So if we just start yanking up something 28:02 · that looks suspicious, we might not just remove the bad. 28:06 · We might also remove the good. 28:09 · In verse 30, let's jump to this to close it up. 28:11 · It says, let both grow together until the harvest. 28:15 · Let's stop there. 28:16 · That's the master's continuing response. 28:18 · Let both grow together until the harvest. 28:20 · Again, this is not Jesus saying, don't do anything. 28:23 · It's not worth it. 28:24 · It's not even him flippantly saying, 28:26 · like many might say or that you might hear, 28:29 · only God can judge me. 28:31 · Yes, that's true, but you don't want that 28:33 · at the same time. 28:35 · Because there is a God who judges, 28:37 · and it is not our job to judge the harvest. 28:41 · We know the God of the harvest. 28:44 · I think about my time in college. 28:47 · I went to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, 28:49 · and I had this professor named Professor Gustafson. 28:51 · And I was not a good student. 28:55 · I procrastinated a lot. 28:57 · I turned things in late. 28:58 · I didn't show up to classes. 28:59 · I was always focused on other things, 29:01 · or maybe just trying as many things as possible. 29:03 · I said yes to so much. 29:04 · I still do that, just not to as great of an extent. 29:08 · I was just not a smart student, 29:09 · but I knew I had a calling on the Lord. 29:11 · To put it into perspective, 29:12 · I know Andrew likes to always talk about 29:14 · how smart he is as a student. 29:16 · Like in junior high, high school, 29:17 · he's like, oh, I had a bunch of awesome teachers 29:20 · who loved me, and we had a fun time in high school. 29:23 · He even has a master's, and he's working towards, 29:26 · he's working towards his, what's it called? 29:29 · Doctorate. 29:31 · So I'm not that smart, but I am smarter than Kyle, 29:35 · so that's why I'm in the middle. 29:40 · So in college, I was not that smart, 29:42 · but Professor Gustafson would always encourage me. 29:45 · He would push me. 29:46 · He would say, Josh, you have this calling. 29:48 · I know you want to study God's word. 29:50 · I know you want to be better. 29:51 · I know you're not this, I know you can do better. 29:55 · And he didn't just immediately take the Darnell, 29:59 · or take the hurt and anguish and frustrations 30:03 · and everything else I was going through, 30:05 · and immediately just write off, 30:06 · hey, let's just throw it out. 30:08 · He mentored me, he cared about me. 30:10 · He did not just say, hey, this season that you're in 30:12 · is not the end of your story, 30:14 · because only God knows our story. 30:16 · And I want to remind you, 30:20 · because it always reminds me of how my girls see me, 30:25 · because whenever they come to me crying, 30:27 · I have tears on their face, 30:29 · they immediately run up to me, 30:30 · and I love this because it's usually to me 30:32 · and not my wife first. 30:33 · This is the only thing they come to me first for. 30:35 · They come up to me and they say, Daddy, I have an owie. 30:37 · Can you kiss it? 30:39 · It might be their elbow, might be their knee, 30:41 · might be their cheek, could be anywhere. 30:44 · And they say, will you kiss it? 30:46 · And they're crying, they're hurt. 30:49 · And as soon as I kiss it, they just stop crying. 30:52 · They just go back and play. 30:53 · And it wasn't me kissing it that made it better. 30:58 · It wasn't that I had just had some magic power, 31:01 · I immediately healed them 31:02 · and I prayed to God to heal them. 31:03 · No, they still probably hurt. 31:05 · They still probably felt whatever they were crying about 31:07 · but at the same time, they knew that I loved them. 31:10 · And that took that instant of pain away in that moment. 31:16 · And so church, our job is to not get rid 31:19 · of the world of sinners. 31:21 · Our job is to not immediately take these sinners 31:24 · out of the world and say, hey, 31:26 · let's get rid of all the sinners. 31:27 · No, our job is to evangelize the sinners 31:29 · to make Jesus known to bring sinners into saints 31:32 · but it's not our job to separate ourselves 31:34 · or to separate the sinners from ourselves. 31:38 · In this story, we are the wheat 31:40 · and the wheat was never told to take care of the weeds. 31:43 · So God will handle the harvest 31:44 · and until then he'll not uproot what is growing 31:47 · just because we want the story to end right now. 31:50 · We want everything story. 31:52 · I want you to hear this, tell the truth. 31:54 · Jesus is not saying shy away from evil, 31:57 · shy away from telling the truth. 31:58 · Like Kyle said, we tell the truth in love 32:00 · but we do not take the throne. 32:03 · So tell the truth but do not take the throne 32:05 · just like we saying our King is coming 32:07 · and so that harvester is coming 32:08 · and to tell us more about that, 32:10 · why don't we hear from Pastor Andrew. 32:19 · This passage calls us to recognize 32:21 · the evil in the world around us, 32:24 · to resist the urge to play judge 32:28 · and finally it leads to rest 32:30 · in the judgment that is to come. 32:33 · As Jesus ends this passage in verse 30, 32:36 · when he says let both grow up together until the harvest, 32:41 · he says this at harvest time, 32:43 · I'll tell the reapers, gather the weeds first 32:47 · and tie them in bundles to burn them 32:51 · but collect the wheat in my barn. 32:55 · There's a harvest coming 32:57 · and later alone with his disciples, 32:59 · Jesus paints the picture of exactly what this means 33:03 · but Jesus doesn't mince words here 33:05 · and says hey, there's evil in your world, 33:08 · now just ignore it. 33:09 · Instead he says see it, identify it 33:11 · but then he says hey, don't deal with it yourself 33:14 · because I have a plan 33:17 · and Jesus lays out his plan 33:19 · as he gathers together in verse 36, 33:22 · when the crowds go away, 33:23 · his disciples approach him 33:25 · and I love it so they're like, 33:26 · explain the parable to us. 33:27 · I love how dense they are, 33:29 · it makes me feel good 33:30 · that I would be the same thing. 33:31 · They're like, we have no idea what you're talking about. 33:34 · Explain it to us 33:35 · and in verse 36 and 37, 33:39 · Jesus does exactly that, 33:40 · it says he replied, 33:41 · the one who sows the good seed is the son of man, 33:44 · it is Jesus, the one who is casting out the seed, 33:47 · the good news of the gospel. 33:50 · The field is the world 33:52 · and the good seed, 33:53 · these are the children of the kingdom, 33:55 · these are followers of Jesus Christ, 33:57 · those who have said Jesus is my savior 33:59 · and I'm following after him. 34:00 · The weeds, however, 34:03 · are the children of the evil one 34:07 · and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. 34:10 · The harvest is the end of the age 34:12 · and the harvesters are the angels. 34:16 · Verse 40 is so powerful, 34:18 · therefore, just as the weeds are gathered 34:21 · and burned in the fire, 34:23 · so it will be at the end of the age. 34:28 · Don't miss what Jesus just said. 34:31 · Jesus took the weight of judging the whole world 34:36 · of deciding what is good and what is evil, 34:39 · the things we try to do as parents 34:42 · but in as people where we say, 34:44 · that's wrong, this is right, 34:45 · he took that weight and put it on his shoulders. 34:51 · You see, you are not the harvester 34:54 · and that is good news. 34:57 · Your goal is not to go around and pick up the weeds 35:00 · and say that bro, he's too evil, 35:02 · that leader, she's crazy, 35:04 · I'm gonna pull that one up. 35:05 · God never gave you that role. 35:07 · It tells us the harvester in this story is the angels 35:10 · and the angels only work, 35:12 · they are messengers of the judge of the field, 35:15 · the son of man, Jesus who is sitting on his throne. 35:19 · You see, we see the gospel inserted in this story 35:22 · that Jesus is the God who lived, who died, 35:25 · who rose again and by rising from the dead 35:28 · and paying the price for our sins, 35:30 · we can have a new life in him 35:33 · and because we can have a new life in him 35:35 · that can endure forever, 35:37 · what this points to is that he is the ultimate judge, 35:41 · not us and his judgment is very real. 35:45 · Keep going in verse 41. 35:48 · He says the son of man, 35:49 · he's talking about himself, Jesus Christ, 35:51 · will send out his angels 35:53 · and they will gather from his kingdom all who cause sin 35:57 · and those guilty of lawlessness, 36:00 · they will throw them into the blazing furnace 36:03 · where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 36:08 · This is a sobering picture. 36:11 · This is not the part of the parable that we get to skip. 36:14 · Jesus starts talking about hell 36:15 · and there are many churches 36:17 · and there are many people in our world 36:18 · be like, can we not talk about that part? 36:20 · Like I love the good, loving, hippie Jesus, 36:23 · but the whole judging, 36:24 · throwing into a lake of fire, Jesus, 36:25 · it's not as comfortable, 36:28 · but this is a real truth that Jesus is laying down 36:32 · that one day there will be a real harvest, 36:34 · there will be a real fire 36:36 · and evil does not get the last word. 36:39 · Instead, evil gets a verdict 36:42 · and the verdict is an eternal punishment, 36:45 · an eternal separation apart from God. 36:49 · But he doesn't end it there as depressing 36:52 · and as hard as that is and thank God. 36:55 · In verse 43, he says, 36:58 · then the righteous will shine like the sun 37:04 · in their father's kingdom. 37:06 · Let anyone who has ears listen. 37:10 · They will shine in their father's kingdom 37:13 · on Father's Day of all days. 37:16 · I just love this verse. 37:17 · The harvest doesn't end with the wheat just surviving, 37:21 · it ends with the children of the kingdom, 37:23 · with those who proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior. 37:27 · It ends with them shining like the sun 37:29 · in the house of their father. 37:33 · Dads, here's the rest your soul has been looking for. 37:38 · Dads, you carry a weight 37:40 · that you were never strong enough, 37:42 · you were never wise enough, 37:44 · you were never smart enough to carry on your own. 37:47 · You have tried to be the harvester, the judge, 37:51 · the wall between good and evil, 37:53 · the guarantee that your kids will turn out good. 37:56 · I pray my kids will not turn out like jerks 37:58 · or dysfunctional adults 38:00 · and I hope I'm not the cause if they do, right? 38:02 · And we want to be all things to all people 38:05 · trying to protect it but that has not been your job. 38:09 · You have been failing time and time again 38:13 · because it was never your job to begin with. 38:16 · There is a judge, a good judge, a righteous judge 38:22 · who is perfectly just and here's what we see 38:26 · that no weed gets away scot-free 38:30 · but also no wheat gets lost in the shuffle 38:34 · because he is perfectly good. 38:36 · No wheat gets lost. 38:38 · We can exhale, that we can rest, 38:40 · that when we know Jesus Christ as our Savior 38:42 · and we are running towards him to follow him faithfully, 38:46 · he says you are mine and I am yours 38:50 · that nothing can separate you from me 38:54 · but it comes to this question, 38:57 · why has Jesus not burned the field down yet? 39:02 · It's not because he's slow, 39:04 · it's because he's merciful. 39:07 · He's giving the wheat time to grow. 39:10 · He's giving us time to continue to pray to God 39:13 · and to scatter seed so that more wheat 39:16 · can grow up in the field, 39:17 · that we can make Jesus known to more people, 39:19 · to our neighbors, to our coworkers, 39:21 · to our kids, to our family members 39:23 · and he has given us time because of his mercy 39:28 · how we can spread more wheat 39:31 · despite the weeds that are around us. 39:35 · And all this leads to I think the one thing 39:38 · that every dad and every mom 39:40 · and every son and daughter in this room can do 39:45 · and this wisdom that we see from this passage 39:48 · is we protect the ones we love 39:51 · by providing them Jesus. 39:55 · Here's the deal is you cannot pull every weed 39:58 · out of your child or out of your loved one's world. 40:01 · You were never meant to. 40:03 · Out here in the valley you know this 40:05 · is you pull weeds as they go around 40:07 · and apparently monsoon season is coming 40:09 · or all the weathermen are just liars 40:11 · because it's just been humid and it goes away 40:14 · but when the monsoons come 40:15 · the desert's gonna soak that up 40:16 · and all of a sudden weeds are gonna be everywhere. 40:19 · It'll be like 80 for one day, 40:21 · go back up at 110 and be really hot, 40:23 · humid and a bunch of weeds in your yard 40:24 · that you're gonna have to deal with 40:26 · and here's the deal is like we can't pull this enough 40:29 · and he tells us to stop trying to weed the whole field 40:32 · and start making sure the ones you love 40:35 · are planted as good seed. 40:38 · The very best protection you can give your family 40:40 · is not a higher wall around them, 40:42 · not a better bubble to protect them from, 40:45 · it's to give them the gospel of Jesus Christ, 40:48 · provide them, plant it deep inside them 40:53 · and I love this because that's exactly 40:55 · what Joshua did in the Old Testament. 40:57 · We read this verse earlier in service 40:59 · in Joshua chapter 24 starting in verse 14. 41:02 · I love this, he says, 41:03 · therefore fear the Lord and worship Him 41:06 · in sincerity and truth. 41:07 · Get rid of the gods your ancestors worship 41:09 · beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt 41:11 · and worship the Lord. 41:12 · He says all that garbage in your life, get rid of it. 41:15 · He says, but if it doesn't please you 41:16 · to worship the Lord, choose for yourselves today, 41:19 · which will you worship? 41:21 · He's saying, what are you gonna do? 41:22 · You have a choice to make. 41:24 · You can just say, I'm gonna follow Jesus 41:26 · or I'm gonna try to do this on my own. 41:27 · I'm gonna follow the ways of the world 41:29 · or I'm gonna follow the God of the universe 41:31 · and he ends it in 15. 41:32 · He says, as for me and my family, 41:35 · he says, we will worship the Lord. 41:38 · Here's what I love about this is Joshua said, 41:40 · I don't know what you're bringing into your house. 41:43 · I don't know what gods, what provision, 41:45 · what protection, what earthly wisdom you have 41:48 · but he's like, so at my house, 41:49 · I know what I'm bringing in my house. 41:51 · He says, we are going to worship the Lord. 41:53 · We are going to provide Jesus 41:56 · and here's the beautiful thing about this. 41:58 · I love this so much. 41:59 · I'm just getting going 42:00 · so you better be ready for this, all right? 42:01 · Don't clap too loud yet 42:03 · but here's what's so great about this 42:05 · and the beauty of this is when you provide 42:08 · your family Jesus, it's a package deal. 42:11 · It's not just Jesus and nothing else. 42:13 · It's Jesus that changes your life. 42:15 · Here's what I mean by that. 42:17 · When you provide Jesus into your little house, 42:20 · providing Jesus means providing a work ethic 42:23 · that supports your family financially. 42:25 · If you love Jesus, you're gonna work your butt off 42:27 · to make sure your kids have food in their mouth. 42:30 · Providing Jesus means providing a purpose 42:33 · that supports your family mentally. 42:35 · Our world is reeked with anxiety, 42:37 · is reeked with mental illness 42:39 · and the reason is because they don't have 42:40 · a bigger purpose they are looking towards 42:42 · in Jesus Christ. 42:44 · Providing Jesus means providing a character 42:46 · that loves your family emotionally. 42:48 · You're not just a hothead. 42:49 · You're not just a jerk. 42:50 · You're not just ruling with an iron fist 42:52 · but you love deep inside every single one 42:55 · of your kids and your family. 42:57 · Providing Jesus means providing an eternal security 43:00 · that protects your family physically here 43:03 · and for all of eternity, something you cannot do 43:06 · no matter how big, no matter how strong, 43:08 · no matter how scary you are. 43:10 · Our God is bigger than all of that. 43:12 · Providing Jesus means providing a savior. 43:15 · God's a savior who changes your family completely. 43:19 · Things that you cannot do and here's the thing. 43:23 · Providing Jesus is what you do as a dad 43:26 · that changes it and if you do not do this, 43:29 · you will fail every single time 43:33 · but I don't know about you 43:34 · and you can clap in just a second. 43:36 · I'm gearing you up for it, all right? 43:38 · Me in my house, whatever anybody else does 43:41 · in their fields, whatever they allow in theirs, 43:44 · as for me in my house, we belong to Jesus. 43:48 · Thank you. 43:49 · Thank you. 44:00 · Church, we're getting an opportunity to sing that. 44:04 · To sing how we worship Jesus 44:06 · because he changes everything. 44:08 · If you are a follower of Christ, 44:11 · you know how he's changed your life 44:13 · and you need to spread that from generation to generation. 44:19 · And if you're not a believer yet, 44:22 · my prayer, stop chasing the things of this world 44:27 · that leave you empty. 44:29 · Stop thinking the weed is really the wheat 44:33 · because in the end it is poison 44:36 · but the God of the universe 44:37 · has something so much greater for you. 44:40 · Church, how would you stand with me? 44:42 · I'm gonna pray for us 44:45 · and I want you to sing out this song 44:47 · and we're gonna sing together 44:49 · that we belong to the Lord 44:51 · as for me in my house, we will worship him.