Jesus Heals - June 27, 2021 - Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 08) - Text: Mark 5:21-43

Our lectionary series used to call for either the reading of the healing of Jairus’ daughter, or the healing of the woman. I would suppose that as the years have passed and as the lectionary committee continued looking at these text, rather than simply giving us one or the other of the text, they have seen fit to put both readings together, and well they should as I believe they both fit well together. I will also contend that the reason they fit well together is for the purpose of showing us that Jesus is who He says He is, that is that He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, even God in human flesh. As the Gospel writer Mark revealed to us last week, so again this morning, Mark shows Jesus’ humanness through His compassion for the people and he shows us Jesus’ divinity through His power and authority over the world, especially in His ability to heal and bring back to life.
 

Our text begins with the request. Jairus, the synagogue leader comes to Jesus to request that Jesus would come to heal his daughter. His daughter is sick and is near the point of death. Certainly Jairus has heard about Jesus even if he has not actually heard Jesus preach and teach. Perhaps He has even seen Jesus do some miracles. Certainly there is some foundation for his coming to Jesus to make a request for healing for his daughter. Or perhaps this is the last desperate act of a desperate man. His daughter lay sick and near the point of death and there is nothing he can do. Certainly Jairus knows that Jesus has a reputation and any good member of the synagogue would have nothing to do with Him. Yet, under threat of being expelled, Jairus is a father who loves his daughter and will do anything to save her, even risking his own position in the synagogue.
 

Jairus’ actions show he has faith. He has faith in Jesus. He actually believes Jesus can heal his daughter, that is why he is coming to Him. He may even have faith in Jesus that He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the world. It may be that out of fear he is unable to admit such faith. Jairus has faith in Jesus and so he approaches Him, falling at His feet, begging Him to come and heal his daughter. His is the cry of a desperate man who desperately loves his daughter. Jesus’ response is that He agrees to help him and so He went with him.
 

On their way to Jairus’ house there is an interruption, not necessarily a lengthy interruption but an interruption that is long enough to detain Jesus, and the second narrative in our text. There is a woman who is ill. She has been to see many physicians and they have all used up all her money, charged and over charged her and not one of them has been of help to her, if anything, they have even made her worse. She too has either heard of Jesus or heard Him preach, and she too, like Jairus, believes that Jesus can help her. Perhaps she too believes that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world, the Christ, but we are not told. We are only told of her faith. The woman’s faith is such that she believes that if she can just touch Jesus’ clothes that she will be healed. Her’s too is the last desperate act of a desperate woman.
 

So, as the crowd pushes against Jesus, this woman sees her opportunity for anonymity. While the crowd is pushing against Jesus, certainly He will not feel an extra touch, a touch of His garments, at least that is what she thinks. So, she reaches out and touches Jesus’ clothes and she is immediately healed. What a sigh of relief. What a great feeling, finally, after all these years to be free, to be healed. As for Jesus, He immediately senses her touch, as our text puts it, “Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from Him.” Of course, Jesus is truly God and so He already knew what was going on in this woman’s mind and He knew the moment she touched Him and that it was her.
 

And so Jesus makes an issue of what happened. He confronts His disciples and the crowd. He wants to know who touched Him? Who drew power from Him?  As the seconds and minutes tick by, the woman knows she is caught. She knows she can hide no longer and so she comes forward and confessions that it was she. She approaches, humbly, falling on her face, prostrate before Him. She fell down trembling in fear and humility and tells Jesus the whole truth of her life, why she did it. Upon her confession, Jesus reassures her that her faith has made her well. She will remain well and she may go in peace. This whole incident certainly could not have lasted too long, perhaps a few minutes at the most, yet this interruption which meant life and healing for the woman, meant death to Jairus’ daughter.
 

While Jesus was completing His words to the woman, one of Jairus’ friends comes with a dreaded announcement. Jairus’ friend approaches him and suggests that he not bother Jesus anymore because it is too late, his daughter had just died. It is interesting that one’s faith in Jesus was such that Jairus and his friends believed that while his daughter was still alive, Jesus could heal her, but they did not believe that He had power over life and death.
 

Jesus turning His attention back to Jairus assures him and tells him, “Do not fear, only believe.” Interesting that Jesus had just healed this woman, as He had healed many others, continually showing Himself to be truly God and yet, there is still such doubt and fear when it comes to His ability to bring back to life. Again, it is almost as if they believe Jesus has some power, but not all power. Their faith reflects our own faith at times. How often do we find ourselves believing that Jesus has power, power to forgive, power to heal, power to do some things, but we fail to believe that He is all powerful. We show this in our thinking that there is something we must do to help with our salvation, to help Him with His work or whatever. Too often we neuter God in our unbelief.
 

Jairus’ shows his faith. He does what Jesus says. He believes and they continue going back to his house. When they get to his house the professional mourners are already there. There is weeping and wailing and quit a commotion. Jesus tells them that the child is not dead, but is sleeping and their reaction is to laugh. Again, it appears that theirs is a lack of faith of Jesus ability, not to heal, but not bring back from the dead.
 

Jesus sends everyone out of the room except Peter, James, John, the girl’s mother, and Jairus, the girl’s father. Jesus takes the daughter by the hand and speaks to her. He says, “Talitha cumi,” which we are told means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” And immediately, the girl got up and began walking around. Certainly this was an amazing and an astonishing site. Mark tells us that they were overcome with amazement. Jesus brought her healing, bringing her from death to life. Jesus brought her complete healing with no lingering side affects. She got up immediately and she began to walk around, immediately.
 

Through this miracle, as through others, and as through all His works, (sign, wonders and miracles as John calls them), through Jesus bringing back to life, He shows His power over all creation. Jesus is who He says He is. He is the Christ. He is the Messiah. He is God in flesh. He is God with power over all creation and He continues to show that power, even if only on a limited scale. Remember, as a human, while living on this earth, Jesus does not always, nor fully, use His divine powers.
 

Finally, we are told that Jesus’ charges them to tell no one. And we know how this usually does not take place. It does not take long for the word to get around that Jesus has healed another person, that He has now raised this young girl from the dead, that He has done another miracle and so people everywhere are hearing the good news.
 

Okay, so these are two exciting narratives, but what do they mean? What does all this healing and bringing back to life mean? As I have said before, Jesus is truly God. He continues to show Himself to be truly God. He does this through the sign, wonders and miracles He performs. It is important that He is truly God so that He might be conceived and born in perfection, so that He might live a perfect life, so that He might be able to raise Himself from the dead. Not only is Jesus truly God, He is also truly human. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit through the human woman, Mary. He was born as human in the usual human way. He had to be human in order to take our place, to be our substitute.
 

As His creatures, as His creation, as sons and daughters of the Lord, we are Jesus’. We are His, purchased and won by Him. Even more, we were sick in sin. We were dead. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. And Jesus comes to us to reach out His healing hand to us. Jesus calls to us to rise, from eternal death and hell to life, eternal life in heaven. Jesus continues today, while He is seated at the right hand of the Father, ruling over us, guarding over us, interceding for us, He continues also to be with us. He continues to bring healing to us. Sometimes He brings physical healing through the means of doctors, nurses and medicines. Sometimes He brings healing immediately. Sometimes He says to us as He said to Paul, “My Grace is sufficient,” and we remain in our sickness. Whatever the case, we do know that He is with us. Even more than physical healing, He brings spiritual healing. He brings healing through His means of grace, through His Word and sacraments. He brings forgiveness of sins and with forgiveness always comes life and salvation.
 

Is anything to hard for God? Certainly not. And even if He chooses not to give us physical healing while we are in this world, we know that we yet have the ultimate victory. Death and the grave have no power over us because Jesus conquered death and the grave and His victory is our victory. So, either way, by faith in Jesus and His work for us, in our place, we will see Him and we will live with Him forever in heaven for eternity. And so, ultimately we will stand before the Lord’s throne robed in His robes of righteousness with all the saints and rejoice and say, “To God be the glory.” For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Jesus’ Calming Peace - June 20, 2021 - Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Pr 07) - Text: Mark 4:35-41

A few weeks ago we celebrated Mother’s day. Today, in order not to show favoritism, we celebrate Father’s day. So, “Happy Father’s Day to all our fathers. One of my favorite sayings about fathers is this: “anyone can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a daddy.” It is true, “anyone can be a father,” especially in our world today, “but it takes a special person to be a daddy.” We hear a lot of talk about fathers, and even mothers, spending quality time with their children. I think we should encourage, not only the spending of quality time but, the spending of quantity time with children. I have never heard a child or an adult say, I wish my father would not have spent so much time with me. Or, I wish my father would have been gone away at work more often and for longer hours. As it is, our time on this earth is fast and fleeting. Our time on this earth is a mere handbreadth as the Psalmist reminds us. Now is the time to be a good daddy because as Paul continually reminds us we will not live forever on this earth.
 

Today we continue with another day in the life of Jesus. Last week, you might remember, we were following along with Jesus as He was teaching His disciples, and us, through telling parables.  What great joy is ours to know that we too are disciples of Jesus, that is we are His children and we are being taught as He is teaching His twelve apostles and those who have gathered to hear Him teach. Last week Jesus taught us about what the Kingdom of God is like and the fact that He is the one who gives, strengthens and keeps us in faith through His means of grace; His Word, Holy Baptism, Confession and Absolution and His Holy Supper and the fact that as we live lives as priests in the priesthood of all believers, we are sowing seeds of faith.
 

In our text for this morning we are privileged to see Jesus in His humanity, that is we see that Jesus is truly human. As we heard last week, Jesus had been preaching all day and now at the end of the day He dismissed the crowds so they could go home. He instructed His disciples in His desire to take the boat to the other side of the lake, perhaps to go there and begin teaching in the morning to still others. And we are told that He got in the boat and as He was truly human, He was tired, and He fell sleep.
 

Jesus is truly human and He exhibits human traits. Although He could have and at another time did walk across the lake on the water, this time He rode in the boat to get to the other side of the lake. Jesus depended on His disciples to row the boat to get across the lake. And again we are told that He fell asleep on a cushion in the boat.
 

We have established the fact that Jesus is and shows Himself to be truly human. He is a human man and shows His humanness in the fact that He was tired and sleepy and that He got in a boat, depending on His disciples to row Him across to the other side of the lake. Our text continues by showing us the fact that Jesus is also truly divine, that is that He is truly God. Jesus was able to sleep because, unlike His disciples and very often unlike us, He did not have any fear of the elements of the weather.
  

After the storm arose, after the waves began pouring water into the boat, after the disciples, full of fear because of the storm, woke Jesus, Jesus got up, commanded the wind and the waves and they obeyed. The wind ceased and the waves calmed, who else has control over the wind and the waves, over the weather, except God Himself and so through His control over the wind and the waves Jesus shows His divinity, He shows Himself to be truly God.
 

In the second article of the Apostles’ Creed we confess what Jesus is demonstrating, that we believe in “Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” Jesus is truly God, truly divine, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and truly human, born of the human woman, the Virgin Mary.
 

Jesus calms the storm and then He turns to His disciples as a disciplinarian. Jesus questioned His disciples as to why they were afraid. Someone once pointed out that the explanation to the first commandment is that “we should fear, love and trust in God above all things,” which truly means that when we are afraid of something or someone else other than God, that is idolatry, at least idolatry in its finer form. So, here in our text we see the disciples committing idolatry.
 

Jesus also questioned His disciples concerning their lack of faith. “Have you no faith?” Jesus asks, rather astonished. Personally, I am glad we have texts like this text, because I believe we must all admit that we are truly Jesus’ disciples, and truly we are very much like His first disciples, idolaters and lacking in faith. Not that this gives us any excuse to be lax in our own faith life, but certainly if the disciples struggled, I do not feel too bad when I have struggles in my own life.
 

But our text is not complete. At the end of our text we see that Jesus is also compassionate. The disciples were out in the middle of the lake, feeling threatened by a storm, being idolatrous, showing their lack of faith and Jesus saves them. He rebukes the wind and the waves and calms the troubled sea. Jesus takes care of the fear of His disciples by calming the storm and He moves to take care of their lack of faith also by calming the storm.
 

Jesus demonstrated, again, that He is God in human flesh. Jesus demonstrated once again that He is indeed the Messiah. This miracle, like many others Jesus’ performed, showed Him to be truly God in human flesh. Who else has power over nature except the very one who created nature, all things, God Himself, and yet here is Jesus, true God in human flesh and blood showing He is truly human in His getting tired and sleeping.
 

So, as we usually ask of our texts, “What does this mean?” There are some pastors, good pastors, who would suggest that this story is a story about the storms of life, in other words they would take this story as an allegory which is that parts of the story are symbolic. To allegorize this story is to suggest that the wind and the waves are the trials and temptations, the struggles we face in life. When we face the trials and temptations, the struggles in life we have a tendency to be afraid and lack faith. It is only when we call on Jesus that He comes to help us by calming the storms of life.
 

So, the allegorized version of this is a story can be summed up by saying that this story is about Jesus helping us through the storms of life. Now, there is some merit to this allegorizing of this story, because we would certainly agree that we do have struggles in our lives and when life is hard and we pray to Jesus, He helps us in those times of trouble. Actually He helps us even before we pray. But I think that allegorizing of this text leaves out too much of the heart of this text. Is the reason Jesus came to earth simply to be in our lives in order to calm the storms of our lives, or is there more to why He came to earth?
 

I believe that the fullness of this narrative is that this is a narrative about Jesus’ humanity, that Jesus uses this narrative to demonstrate that He is one of us, truly human. It is important that Jesus is human, that He is like us, even one of us. Jesus, who is truly God, and we will talk about that in a minute, was in heaven enjoying all the glory that was His in heaven, and yet, He gave up that glory in order to take on human flesh and blood, to live for us. Remember, God’s demand is that we are perfect and we cannot fulfill that demand. We are conceived and born in sin and so we can never live as He would have us to live. And in order to be our substitute, in order to trade His perfect life for our imperfect life Jesus had to be truly human.
 

This is a narrative also about Jesus divinity, that He is truly God. Jesus demonstrates that He is truly God with power and authority over all creation. No one has power over creation except the one who created all things and that one is Jesus. Jesus had to be truly God in order to be born in perfection and in order to raise Himself from the dead.
 

So, more than simply being a story about how we have struggles in life and we can go to Jesus and He will help us with our struggles, this is a narrative about how God loves us His creation, His creatures so much that He would become one of us, that He would struggle like us and for us. This is a story about how our God came in human flesh in order to overcome struggles for us, in our place.
 

In our Old Testament Reading from Job, the question God asks is “Who are we to question God?” especially in times of trials and struggles. And in the Epistle Reading, Paul writes to the Corinthians about the fact that God does use difficulties in life to draw us closer to Himself. We live in a cursed world, a world that is tainted by sin and so we live in expectation of trials and struggles. Yet, as we walk through this valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil, for our God, our Savior Jesus, who is truly human and truly divine, who lived for us in this world and overcame this world is with us every step of the way and He has dominion over this world in ways we cannot fathom.
 

Our response to what Jesus does and what God gives is to live lives of faith, with His help. On our own we fail, but with God all things are possible. God created us, to love us and to give to us. Because of Adam and Eve the world has been cursed and thus there is sin and evil in the world. Life brings trial and struggles. Jesus came, as God in human flesh in order to fulfill all righteousness, in order to fulfill God’s demand of perfection for us, in our place, and He did, perfectly. Jesus freely took our sins and paid the price for our sin, suffering and dying on the cross. As we celebrated a few weeks ago and as we celebrate every Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead, victorious over sin, death and the devil. Jesus showed Himself to be alive and then He ascended to the place from which He descended. He is now seated at the right hand of the Father where He is watching over us, ruling over us and interceding for us. He will return again and gather us and all the saints and after robing us with His robes of righteousness He will take us to be with Himself in heaven for eternity.
 

Until our Lord returns, or until we pass on from this world, both of which will be sooner than we know and sooner than we might imagine, we rejoice in the opportunities we have of being given all the gifts and blessings our Lord has to give even through the very means He has of giving us those gifts, that is through the means of grace and through our making regular and diligent use of those means of grace. Through the very means of God’s Word, confession and absolution, our remembering our Baptism, and our partaking of the Lord’s very body and blood in His Holy Sacrament, the Lord strengthens us in our faith as we face the trials and struggles of life. And as He is with us, we rejoice and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Mystery of Faith - June 13, 2021 - Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 06) - Text: Mark 4:26-34

Our Old Testament reading for this morning reminds us, as you hear me continually say, that we get it right when we point to Jesus. Notice, it is God who brings high and low, who makes dry and flourishes. It is God who gives and we are given to, faith, forgiveness and life. In our Epistle reading we are reminded, as you hear me continually say, that our lives in this world are short and temporary, much like a tent. These two readings lead us to our Gospel reading, our text for this morning which also reminds us, as you hear me continually say, that we get it right when we point to Jesus. God give and we are given to, indeed, we are given to through the means of grace, the Word, Holy Absolution, and the Sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Holy Spirit has worked faith in our hearts and continues to grow that faith through these means of grace.
 

Perhaps you have heard stories such as stories about someone you spoke to only once. You helped him out when he was in a jam and when he ask you why you helped, you told him it was because of your faith in Jesus, because you had a personal relationship with Jesus. And the story ended with a bit of an update, such as, today the man you helped is an elder in his church. The way you treated him, what you told him had an affect on his life. Or maybe it was a story about a little boy from Sunday School. He was always the problem child. You did not know what to do with him. Time and again you got so frustrated with him. You prayed and prayed for him and even thought to yourself, “there is no hope for this child.” The little boy moved away and you lost track of him. Again at the end of the story you get this update, today, he is in college. He is studying to become a missionary. And if you asked him. He would tell you, it was because of that one Sunday School teacher who was so patient with him and told him about Jesus. Yes, these are made up stories, but I know that there are many true stories very similar to these stories. Maybe you have been a part of one. I suppose I could have made up some negative stories, you know the kind you very often read in e-mails or on Facebook, the ones that make you feel guilty because of some negative witness you think you may have made to someone. And unfortunately, we must all admit that at one time or another we believe our witness to be a negative witness. But I believe that Jesus is dwelling on the positive in our Gospel lesson and so that is where we will dwell. It is amazing how many lives we have the opportunity to touch each and every day, knowingly and unknowingly. And, to use the language of our text for this morning, we might say that every opportunity is an opportunity to plant the “seeds of faith.”
 

In our text for this morning Jesus tells two parables, but both parables are intended to drive home one point. The point of both parables, as Jesus Himself says, is to help us to understand, “What the kingdom of God is like.” Let me also say, we do not want to allegorize these parables, in other words we do not want to try to make everything stand for something, instead we will want to make one strong connecting point. There will be more than one connection point, but we want to find the one point that stands out. Jesus begins with, what my Bible titles as, “The Parable of the Growing Seed.” In this parable we do have several connecting points which we will mention, but we want to look for the main point. The connecting points are these: The seed is the Word of God. The ground is unbelievers. And the farmer is us. Let me say them again so that you have it: The seed is the Word of God. The ground is unbelievers. And the farmer is us.
 

In this first parable we will notice that the important parts are not the ground, nor the farmer, but the important part, the most important part is the seed. The ground does not plant the seed in itself and it does not make the seed grow. The unbeliever cannot plant seed or make the seed grow in his or her own heart. The farmer, you and I do not make the seed grow. The seed grows, “all by itself.” Yes, we do have the opportunity, even many opportunities in a day to make an impression on others. We do have the opportunity many times in a day to plant seeds of faith. As we wear the name Christian, that is, as others know that we are Christians, we do make a witness of what it means to be a Christian. Too often, I believe, we worry too much about our witness, whether we think it is a good or a bad witness and unfortunately, too often we decide it is best to make no witness at all, which is a witness in and of itself. In other words, when we decide it is best to make no witness at all, we have made a witness that our faith really is not important. Jesus’ first parable reminds us that the kingdom of God is not dependent on our good or bad witness, but it is dependent on the seed. I believe we can get some assurance from this parable in that fact we do not convert others, rather it is the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God which is the means of grace which does the work. Our concern is only to be about sowing the seed.
 

The second parable Jesus tells, in my Bible, is called, “The Parable of the Mustard Seed.” In this parable the Sower is God the Father. The seed is Jesus. And the large plant is the Kingdom of God which includes all believers. Again, let me give those to you so you are not confused:  In this parable the Sower is God the Father. The seed is Jesus. And the large plant is the Kingdom of God which includes all believers. In this parable Jesus reminds us of His humble beginning, that He was born in obscurity, to poor parents, in the small town of Bethlehem. Yet, through His life, suffering, death and resurrection He saved the whole world so that His Kingdom is over all people. Jesus is the seed. He is the seed of faith which we sow and share with others.
 

What does all this mean? Remember, Jesus tells us that He is setting out to tell us what the Kingdom of God is like. So, what do these two parables tell us about the Kingdom of God and what it is like? As we put these two parables together we can make three “aha” or conclusion statements. Our first conclusion statement, our first “aha,” is that Jesus is the beginning of faith. He is the prime mover. He comes to us through His Word. He comes to us through confession and absolution. He comes to us through Holy Baptism. He comes to us through the Lord’s Supper. As we have opportunity to live lives of faith, as we have opportunity to live our lives to the Lord’s glory, as we have opportunity to share God’s love with others, as we have opportunity to tell others about Jesus, these things are important, but we must remember that it is Jesus who is the first, the prime mover. We are not the important part in the equation. Jesus is the main thing. He is the one who is the seed and He is the seed which grows in us and in others. First, then, is that Jesus is the beginning of faith.
 

Our second “aha” is that Jesus is the middle of faith. He is the one who works in us to bring us to faith, to strengthen us in faith and to keep us in faith. And again, just as He works faith in our hearts through the means of Grace, through His Word and through Holy Baptism, so He uses these same means as well as confession and absolution to give us forgiveness and His Holy Supper in order to strengthen and keep us in faith. And He is also the one who works through us so that we are able and we have the opportunity to share God’s love with others and to tell others about Jesus. Our second “aha” is that Jesus is the middle of faith.
 

Finally, our third “aha,” which should come as no surprise, is that Jesus is the end of faith. He is the one who brings all people into His kingdom. He is the one who gathers all people around His throne. He is the one who gets all the glory. And well He should. He is the one who gave up everything for us including and especially His own life. Jesus, true God, was enjoying all the glory that was His in heaven, and yet, for our sakes, He gave up that glory in order to take on human flesh and blood, in order to become one of us, one with us, one like us, except without sin. He came to do what we could not do. He came to accomplish what we could not accomplish. He came to live perfectly for us in our place, obeying all of God’s laws and commands, and then He came to take all our sins upon Himself, freely. He suffered and died that we might not have to die. He died that we might have life, eternal life. This one person, true God, true man, born humbly in a manger is the one who’s kingdom has grown to be so big that all believers are a part of His kingdom.
 

When you stop to help anyone, you are imitating Jesus. You are sharing Jesus love with them. When you stop to help anyone and you tell them about your faith you plant the seeds of faith. Certainly, you have no idea where that will lead and so it is with the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is planted as the seeds of the Word of God are spread through Word and through action. Today we express this as, Jesus works using means, the means of grace, the Word and the Sacraments. Through these very simple, ordinary, earthly means God works faith, gives forgiveness, strengthens and keeps in faith.
 

When you patiently instruct and help anyone, you are imitating Jesus. You are sharing Jesus love with them. When you instruct anyone you are planting the seeds of faith. They may be little seeds, but it is the seed which make a difference. It is the seed of the Word of God which brings growth and maturity.
 

As fathers, even as mothers, indeed as parents, we are our children’s first teachers. They look at us and see how we live and they are instructed through what they see. As the old saying goes, “More is caught than taught,” in other words, our children learn more from us through our actions, how we live and move and have our being, how we make our divine service and Bible class attendance most important, than simply by telling them, or as the other saying goes, telling them to “Do as I say, not as I do.”
 

You know, we do not live in a vacuum. Everything we do has an effect or a counter effect on others, on those around us. How we live, what we do, what we say does impact those around us. Our impact could be a negative impact which could lead someone astray and for that we beg our Lord’s forgiveness. But, thanks be to God that there are many times that we have been so filled with God’s Word and His Holy Spirit, His grace, so much so that we cannot help but tell others about Jesus and share His love with them and in so doing we are planting the seeds of faith.
 

Jesus reminds us of the power of one little seed. One little seed may be all that it takes for others to become a part of God’s Kingdom. And it is not we who are bringing this about, but Jesus Himself who is that one little seed. My prayer for each one of you is that the Lord will continue to work through His Word, that He would continue to grow and mature in you so much so that you may be encouraged to share Jesus’ love and to share your faith in Jesus with others, so that the seed of Jesus might be planted, might spring up and bear abundant fruit. And that is what the Kingdom of God is like. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.