Make It A Garden

Last week was Vision Sunday, right? The week before that, Pastor Josh gave a message out of Matthew 13 on the soil of our own lives. Do you remember that? Just by way of recap, we looked at soil and not just like what's out there, we looked at the interior of our own lives, but when we've all got some of all of them, probably.

But the Lord in Matthew 13 describes four types of soil. There's the hardened soil on the path, right? It's been treaded on so much that it's compacted, and the Lord throws the seed. He throws the good word.

He throws the invitation and bounces off because it's hardened soil. We're like, a fence and bitterness, it's just kind of hardened us, right? Then there's the rocky soil where it says, and you receive the word with joy, but there was these big old rocks, there was these conditions, there was these things that you said, as long as it doesn't mess with this. And so there's a little tiny root system, but as soon as the sun comes up, so to speak, as soon as it gets hot, as soon as the heat gets turned up, it withers because there's not actually a solid foundation.

Third, there's the thorny soil. This is where a lot of us started to feel the Lord inviting us into some change, right? Because it's like, man, I have a good heart. I'm excited about the word of the Lord.

I want this in my life, but wow, I'm getting crowded out by all of the things that I have to do and all the things I signed up for and the deceitfulness of riches and this drive to just have a little more, and suddenly I'm starving that word that the Lord gave. There's no room. In the last soil, of course, it's a good soil, 30, 60, 100-fold harvest. I'm not bringing this up because what I'm going to talk about tonight is a direct correlation to that.

It's more saying, I don't want to forget what the Lord did that night, because a lot of us that night felt some conviction and felt an invitation to step into some next step or to some way of actually tending to the soil of our own souls. And so often we sit here and there's an incredible word that's given, and we go, amen, and we might feel the presence of the Lord on something, and then we walk out the door and two days later, we've forgotten. It's not because you're bad-natured and wicked. It's because you forgot.

So I believe that part of our role here is to remind us. Don't forget what the Lord said. Don't forget what he did. And so in that soil conversation, just want us to be present to that.

And in some ways tonight's message is related to that, but tonight specifically, I want to talk about how we are stewarding, not just our own soil, but the soil that we find ourselves, the things that are around us. And I use that word stewarding, and I just want to name, this is one of those words that the church has fully just kind of cornered the market on. I don't hear many people outside of the church use a term stewardship. Someone says there's a stewardship class where you're like, it's Christian, and it's like a Dave Ramsey financial on the spot.

Stewardship, it's not like fellowship. It's like nobody says we're going to have a time of fellowship besides churches, right? We're just kind of, there's certain words where it's like, we don't know what this means, right? But I do think that it's helpful to just name what stewardship means, all right?

What stewardship means is the careful and responsible management of the things that you've been entrusted with. The careful and responsible management of the things that you've been entrusted with. That's not just a church word. That's a really, really good thing that all of us should be engaging in.

First Peter, 4, 10. Peter says this, he said, each of you should use whatever gift you've received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. He's saying, who much has been given, much is expected, but he's not holding that Oreo as a threat. He's saying, look at what you have.

Look at what you've been given. Now be responsible and careful managers for things you've been entrusted with. It's an invitation into stewardship, right? So when I'm talking about the soil that's around us, it's a different way of saying that value that we have as a community that we just call out.

Alright, so if you've been around who's heard of us talking about the everyday lifestyle, and it's four pillars, is that actually it? Like I can go into more. When I say everyday lifestyle, who knows what that means? Okay, so a lot of you might not know this.

This is our way of just trying to describe what a healthy believer looks like as they're attempting to follow Jesus. And so this is not something that we made up, it's just our language for it, but we call it up, out, in together. Now that I say that, who's heard that before? A few more hands, okay.

Up, out, in together. These are the four different expressions of our lives that when put together build a sturdy foundation of following Jesus. So if you picture a chair with four lights up, out, in together, you need all of them. Up is our looking up at God worship, adoration of Him, in, is our heart, health, how's my soul doing, my identity, out, is how we view the world outside of us and the way that we're being a witness to Jesus, to those outside of our own selves.

And together is the way that we do all of those in community, okay? So that's a little plug for you. I have the privilege of overseeing our everyday lifestyle school, ELS. Hey, there you are.

We've essentially said, let's take nine months to figure out how to do that. How are we going to do up, out, in together? What does that actually look like? How are we going to actually pursue this?

And as a part of that curriculum, we just ask the honest question. So of those four, which one is the most difficult or gives you the most traffic? And it wasn't close. It was out, right?

It was stepping outside of ourselves and actually being a witness for the Lord being one who advances the kingdom in spaces where it's not currently. And I don't think that's just our school. I think that's an accurate picture of this church. I think it's an accurate picture of the entire Western church.

That out value is challenging. It's difficult because it's not about us at all. There's no immediate reward. I'm not trying to shame anybody.

I'm just thinking about why is this so difficult? It's because there's a ton of risk and very little immediate reward. So up, looking up at God and worship and adoration. Yes, it's about him.

But we all know that when we're in that spot, it's like, well, I feel better. This actually feels amazing to be in alignment with the Lord. So we're like, worship is great. And then we talk about in and all of our internal health and our identity.

It's like, man, you go to the Lord, you ask for your identity. I mean, it essentially just tells you how much he loves you. It's like, that feels amazing. It can absolutely be difficult to navigate some of those things, not minimizing those heart health moments.

But by and large, we're going, man, I see the end goal of this. And I want what's on the other side of that, right? Together, amazing. Everyone wants to be known.

Everyone wants to be a part of something and invest in a group of people and be known. So there's all these rewards that we get, which is great. And when we look at it, it's intrinsically and by definition, self-giving. It's about somebody else.

It's about investing in something else. And I have absolutely zero reward on it. And there is some reward. I'm just saying we don't look at the reward of it.

We're just going to look at what that costs. We're not uncomfortable at it. For me, I'm just going to say, this is my story. So I'm not trying to point the finger here.

I'm saying this is my story. Raised as a kid. I loved worship. I love all these different expressions.

I love going to church. I loved talking about our hearts and all that. I was into it. But when it came time to talk about being a witness for the Lord, what immediately happens, those of us that are in this camp?

First thing is fear. We go, oh, but that's so uncomfortable. And what about this and this and this? And I have all these pictures of my mind of how it's going to go wrong or how I'm going to screw it up or how I'm going to look like a doofist or whatever.

We just get scared and there's fear. And then directly following that is guilt. And we go, but I shouldn't feel that way. But man, if I was really following Jesus, then I wouldn't even feel these things.

But I am afraid. But I shouldn't be afraid. And then you're in this wheel of fear and guilt. For many of us, that's our story.

Pastor gets up and says, we're going to do a seven week series on intimacy with God and everyone's there. Pastor gets up and says, we're going to do a seven week series on going outreach in our neighborhood and everyone schedules a vacation. Oh, how long was it? Yeah, that's the exact time I'm going to be gone.

Bummer. Right? Where there's a bit of a fear on it. And it's because it's uncomfortable and it costs us something.

And our selfishness starts to get exposed a little bit. And again, please don't hear me in a shaming way. I'm just trying to give language to what's going on in my heart sometimes. Maybe you can relate with it.

But selfishness gets exposed because we don't give anything for the most part out of it. I've said it before. I'm doubling down on it now. I think that in your pursuit of following Jesus, selfishness will be a more common enemy than the devil.

There may be some times in your life where you're having to show down with the devil in the demonic. There'll be a hundred times a day where you're confronting your own selfishness. We need to realize, oh, this is the boss at the end of the level. Like, our selfishness is a problem.

And we're so conditioned to try and be comfortable. But every form of discipleship program that I've ever heard, name, is that being comfortable is the greatest enemy of your spiritual growth. Because then you intrinsically limit yourself. And so we're just kind of in this process of going, and I want to go out.

It's one of the four legs. It feels super important. I hear all these wild stories and there may be the time where I stir up enough courage and I go and say, OK, there's enough. Whether it's obligation or guilt or maybe there's a moment of genuine connection with the Lord, you step out, you reach out, you go, that was amazing.

And then you come back to your comfort zone for most of us. What I want to talk about tonight is essentially it's a way of viewing out that has genuinely changed my perspective. And it's invited me into a way of doing this where I go, oh, that feels like me. I actually can do that.

This is not going to be a wildly new message, but it's going to be different languages than I've heard before. And then we've said before. And for some of us, maybe this is going to be one of those keys that unlocks our heart to go, no, I want that. I'm not motivated by obligation or by shame.

Man, that doesn't feel like it makes me afraid or guilty. I actually want that. So let's do that together. Can we do that?

Yeah. OK, wow. Like I said, when I say there's soil all around us, I'm talking about the people, the places, and the spaces that we find ourselves. I'm talking about the things that we touch, the causes that we're a part of.

I'm talking about the interactions that we have, whether it's with strangers or people that we know well. I'm talking about the places where I'm physically at the most. In those places, that's what I'm wanting to focus on. And here's something that I find fascinating.

We are hardwired to bring those spaces into a place of shalom. We've talked about this before, right? Chaos to shalom. Let's look together for a moment at Genesis, right at the beginning, creation story, OK?

Creation story, where we read about God. Man, Genesis is such a window into who God is and who we are and how he wants to interact with us. It's this beautiful picture of what's actually happening in this dynamic. Why am I on the planet?

Some of our largest philosophical questions, you look at Genesis and there are answers there. And so God, if you know the story, he creates all this stuff and then he makes man on the sixth day as he's kind of crowning like this is the pinnacle. And it says he puts man in a garden. What's that garden called?

Eden, right. When we picture Eden, even in common vernacular, when someone says it's Eden, we think of like paradise, right? We think of it like it's perfect. If I picture the garden, because of either the way that it was taught or the way that the pictures were shown on the flammograph in Sunday school or whatever, I picture like this perfect vacation.

Eden is this like there's no work, there's no tension, there's no pain. I'm just with God and there's no problems. That's how we picture the garden of Eden. And then we say, yeah, then sin came and screwed it up.

But hold on, there are some things in Genesis 2 that if you're just basing your picture of the garden of Eden based on what you saw in pop culture or in your Sunday school class, look a little closer. In Genesis 2, we see that Eden had geographic boundaries. There was a place called Eden that was on the earth. It says that God took man, placed him in that garden to work and to keep it.

From moment one, he's saying, we get to work together. We get to make things that are broken whole again. We get to work the ground and see life come up. We get to invest our time and our energy into seeing this place be maintained in its beauty.

There's a job description. It's not just kicking back in a lawn chair. Like there's a job description. And I love that God puts them in a garden and says, this is our place of connection.

I want there to be a home base. I want there to be a place that feels safe. God's valuing that. But then what's his command to Adam and Eve on like the grand highest level command to man when he makes them.

It's not just about Eden. He says, fill the earth, be fruitful and multiply. Birds, fish, animals, plants. You have dominion.

Go make it a garden. Moment one, it's not like they're free of anything outside of themselves. And so sometimes we get so offended when there's things that need to be fixed. When there's people that are difficult.

When there's problems, we get offended. We're kind of like, okay, I'll put in my time now. But then when I get to glory, I'm out. No, it's you are designed to partner with God in the rest of all things.

From moment one, pre-sin, pre-fall. In a job description. And he says, this is awesome, isn't it? Look out there though.

Thorns, weeds, the wild west out there. Go make it a garden. And there's an invitation in moment one to partner with God in stepping out of the garden to things that aren't currently the way they should be and bringing restoration. Make it a garden.

Note that right now, like when I started talking about out and we're going to have to be a witness for Jesus to bring the kingdom, 99% of us thought evangelism. We're not even there yet. Right now God's talking about literal earth, literal soil. Hey, the planet.

I want you to go and make it right. I want you to make it a garden. Man, this breathes so much of value into the little things in our life. If you're at a gas station pumping a car full of gas and a receipt starts to blow by your feet, you stop, you pick that up, you put it in the trash, it looks a little more like a garden.

You go home and there's some stuff on your floor and you start vacuuming. Garden time. This place is going to be a garden. You look at a sink full of dishes and you can either be offended and frustrated.

God, man, I thought we agreed we were going to clean up our... Whatever, never mind. We can go that route or we can go... Okay, I'll switch along, baby.

And we step in and we can actually take... We can hear me on this. We can actually create a sense of worship and go, this is what I was made for. When there's problems that arise at work, difficult things, don't get mad at the problem.

Don't resent the fact there's a problem. This is your opportunity to make it a garden. I want to share a story with you. My wife, Candy, she's amazing.

She's one of the worship leaders up here today. A couple weeks ago, probably about a month ago, we were here in the service and there was one of those moments where it's just like, wow, we are really connecting with God right now. Just one of those moments where the room felt like we're locked in. And I was up here and she was standing here and I looked over and she was in this zone.

We're like, oh, it looks like the Lord's saying something to her. That's awesome. And that goes on and she takes the kids home and puts them to bed and I clean up around here and head home and sit around the kitchen table. And I said, how was your night?

And she goes, the Lord really spoke to me. I was like, I think I saw that. I can tell you what's going on. Okay, pause for that story.

For some context. We have a golden retriever named Pogo, P-O-D-O. He's almost three and he's the most lovable idiot you've ever met. He's a golden retriever.

What he lacks in intelligence and social awareness he makes up for and being cute and social and just wants to be your friend. When we got Pogo, it became very evident very quickly, like, oh, he's like, he's my dog. Like, we got him as a puppy and I was like, I want to take him on walks and there's all that fun stuff. And so he's always kind of gravitated towards me.

And I get the privilege, as a lot of us dads do, of like, I'm gone during the day, I come home and then it's fun time and I get to play. My wife has had a slightly different experience being a dog owner because she's home and it's like he needs to go out again. He needs to go outside again. I'm going to know something about a let the dog out.

And the dog runs out and makes a mess. She goes, OK. And then she goes and cleans up the mess. And she lets the dog back in the house and his paws were muddy.

Of course. So now we've got to clean up that and then dry his feet off. Kids, get off the dog. Why are we wrestling with the dog?

Bark, bark. Kids are yelling. Go back outside. And he's muddy again.

And that's kind of been her experience as a dog owner. And then I come home and it's a party. And I've ran this by her. She's OK with me sharing this.

She got to a point, I don't know, maybe a year ago, after all this work going, no, you can take care of him. Like, I'm out. This is, I'm so glad that you have a dog. And I'm looking forward to the day when we don't have a dog.

Because this is just so much work. So back to our story. I'm sitting at the kitchen table with my wife. And what did the Lord say?

And she said, I was just asking the Lord, what do you want to say? I was in this place of worship. And I heard him say, I don't think Poto's in nuisance. And she was like that must be God.

And she's saying they're going, OK, Lord, like, what? And she gets these pictures in her mind of Father God. Walking our golden retriever with a little smile on his face. And then the scene changes in her mind.

And she gets this picture of Jesus, like, getting into the years, like, good boy. Good boy. And just loving our golden. And so Candy's sharing this with me.

And I can feel the Lord on him. I'm like, that's for sure the Lord. But in my mind, I'm going. So he used that picture as like a way to help you grow.

And you're like, your patience or you're nurturing. Or there would. And I'm just kind of thinking through like, OK, what does that mean? And I said something to that effect of like, what do you think that God's saying to you through that?

And she said, no, that's it. He loves Poto. He loves our dog. And then Candy sits at our table and she starts tearing up going, like, God just loves the earth.

God, it makes him so happy when water falls. Fall. He loves it. And then she started to research like, what kind of plants do butterflies like?

Then we need to plant the garden in our backyard. We need to take God loves this place. And she got a window into God's affection for creation. Friends, this is not like an environmentalist message or anything.

But I'm just saying, like, there's a place of, that changes our perspective when it's time to let the dog out. That changes our perspective when it's time to mow the lawn. That changes our perspective when we drive away and drive through our neighborhood. Because we're looking around going, hey, God loves this place.

And we start taking responsibility and going, well, have you loved it, then I want to love it. How do I make it a garden? A few days ago, I was reading this book on prayer. And I'm reading this beautiful book on prayer.

And it's all about like, beholding God and how it should be the central point of our life. And I'm reading it. And I'm finding myself in this kind of state of dualism where I'm longing for it. I'm going, this is so good.

This is what I want. And there's this other thing in the back of my head that's just attacking me going, yeah, but you've read stuff like this before and like, look at your schedule. Like if you actually cared, you'd probably prioritize this more, wouldn't you? You know what I mean?

Like, we could talk about it all the time, but if you're not actually doing it, I don't think you even really care. And there's this traffic going on where I'm trying to engage in this, and I'm feeling frustrated. And I put the book down and I just put my head back. And I'm like, I need to connect with the Lord.

So I'm actually sitting by myself, but I'm feeling some traffic right now. And so I just put the book down. And Poda walks over to me and lays his head on my lap. And what Candi had said came flashing back to my mind.

And I said, this is how I can worship you right now? And I rubbed his ears and called him a good boy, and just sat with my dog and just loved my dog. And I felt the heaviness lift, and I felt the pleasure of the Lord over me. How much more would we be able to receive the love of God if we called every act of stewardship worship?

How much more present would we be to the reality of God everywhere? If every act of stewardship was an opportunity to go, you love it, so I love it too. Now we're in partnership. I'm going to make it a garden.

When we're talking about looking out, like I said, so many of us just think about evangelism. I'm saying, let's start just even further back and go, it doesn't have to be a shame-based thing to keep your house clean. What if you go, this is the space that I'm in? This is where I've been, Lord, I want to make it a garden.

This changes things for me. But in that space, there's not a ton of risk, and there's not a ton of faith. It's just like me being present. I love that.

But when people get involved, that's where this gets complicated for most of us, right? In spite of the muddy paws and the messes, it's pretty easy to love a golden tree. All things considered. When we're talking about people, that's where things get really messy.

That's where things get difficult. But I want to challenge us. What if rather than see people as obstacles or nuisances or projects, what if we said, as much as I'm able in this relationship, I'm going to make it a garden? I'm looking at the soil of that person's heart and going, man, it's been so compacted with bitterness.

Father, could I have any part to play in tilling that soil a little bit for you? Look at their life, there's these giant rocks, there's these conditions, it's choking them out, so that they can't have any sense of growth in you. God, can I move one of those rocks? Holy Spirit, there's so many thorns, and I can see it and they can't, but they're getting choked out.

Could I participate in some way and clearing the ground so that you could have your good will in your work and their soil? It's stewardship of everything around us, including people. We think about advancing the kingdom, right? We think about being a witness for Jesus, and we go, most of the time that's telling someone that doesn't know Jesus about Jesus, or that's like book of Acts, signs of wonder stuff.

100%, that fits into this paradigm, right? If someone has no gates around their garden and they're just getting punked all day long by everything that's going on, because they have no foundation, they have no hope, Father, I want to make that a garden, and I can't do that, but you can and I step in. If someone is experiencing physical pain in their body, and we know that God is the God who heals, and has the ability to take that broken, twisted branch, and there's a way that thing can be healed, Holy Spirit, can I step into that, please? What an incredible way to take this land and make it more beautiful.

What an incredible way to partner with your heart for this person's garden. And there's a holistic way where we take our out value, out of just the realm of evangelism and go, no, every relationship I'm in is going to flourish, because that's who God made me to be. There's a grace on my life, not because I'm special, but because I'm a creature that he made. It's part of the design of every human being, me included, I walk into places, I walk into spaces, and I walk towards people, and I make it look a little more beautiful and a little more like a garden.

Turn to Matthew 13. This is the parallel of the psalar, right? Matthew 13, turn there with me, please. I just had us turn there because I wanted to see how close we are in proximity to everything Jesus just said about soil and gardening and all of that.

In Matthew 14, so now if you turn the page and go to Matthew 14, Matthew 14 is where I think that the Lord in his kindness gives us a window into what this looks like. Jesus was a man, right? He's dealing with men. He's dealing with people.

He's on the planet. This isn't just creator God saying, let there be this and let there be this, and here's your command. He's going, no, now I'm one of them. Now Jesus, who's on the planet, fully man, is modeling what it looks like to make it a garden.

Jesus walks everywhere, and you see healing all over the place, right? You see this wisdom he's imparting, and I believe that Matthew 14 gives us this beautiful, holistic look at how Jesus, the gardener, steps into the spaces and places and people in his life, and sees growth, and he makes it a garden. The first thing that I want us to notice is the first 11 verses in Matthew 14 talk about the death of John the Baptist. This is an important context, okay?

So who was John the Baptist? There's a bunch of things, but if we're trying to get some context into how this applies, let's first start with the fact that he's Jesus' cousin. He's a family. He's the one that was there at the inauguration of the Messiah's ministry, the first one who said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the one that Jesus called the greatest prophet born of man, that John the Baptist.

He's got disciples Jesus does who were previously with John the Baptist. There's connection, it's familial, they're ministry partners, they're family, they're friends. Verse 12, and John's disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. What's, just pause and think what's that moment like for Jesus and his disciples when word comes?

John's gone. John was taken and he was beheaded. There's grief, right? I would have to imagine there's like grief, there's mourning, there's confusion on the parts of his disciples going, I thought he was the guy.

Didn't you say he was the guy? So there's the grief and the sadness. Jesus just lost his cousin and then there's also the reality of the fear setting in going, oh, so they're killing prophets now. This just took a turn.

It's not just them telling us to stop and us saying, no, and then we see all this stuff, they killed a guy. So there's this place of deep grief and deep fear and that's where we step in to verse 13. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. Of course he did because he's grieving because his cousin was just murdered.

That makes sense. He needs space. Most of us, when we hear that, we're not shocked by that, we're going, no, that's the appropriate thing to do. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd. That's the moment where we could get offended by people. We can go, are you kidding me? Just for one day.

I've been serving, I've been loving, I've been doing all the things. Can I get one day? Jesus doesn't see the world like that. Jesus only does what he sees the Father doing.

And so it says that in the middle of his grieving, trying to get away, knowing that he needs some time to process, the crowd shows up and Jesus had compassion on them and healed their sick. It doesn't say Jesus moved by his obligation as the Messiah, healed their sick. It doesn't say Jesus motivated by a sense of responsibility because no one else is going to do it and these people really do need something. And so I guess I'm the one to step in.

It says he was moved with compassion. Very rarely do the scriptures give us a window into people's thought processes. I wish it did more. So often it's just here's what happened and we're left to fill in the gaps.

This is so critical that that detail was included because it's saying that there was something on the inside of him that goes, oh, but this is about you. Other tellings of the story and other gospels say he was moved with compassion because he saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd. He's just going, you don't have any hope. No one's taking care of you.

And so he signs up and it says that he had compassion on them and healed their sick. He wasn't alone in this. So Jesus has his crew within the whole time. He has his 12 disciples within this whole time.

They're grieving too. They're experiencing the fear of what's going to happen to us. They're feeling all those feels. And now Jesus just signed them up for an all day mystery then.

We know this because it goes all the way to evening. Verse 15, when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, this is a desolate place and the days over, please send the crowds away to go to the villages and buy food for themselves. We did it. We need a break.

This is so cool. A lot of healing. Super cool. It's getting late.

I think this is a good day's work. Send them home, Lord. Can we be done? But Jesus said, they need not go away.

You give them something to eat. Now a lot of us start to question Rabbi Jesus in that moment. We're like, listen, you're God. They're not.

Give a break. They're going through all this stuff. And now there's this hungry mob that's looking for food. They've made a fairly solid recommendation to say, hey, they should go home and get food.

And now Jesus leans in a little bit. We have the opportunity to be offended or we have the opportunity to go, you know something that I don't, Lord. Perfect Rabbi Jesus isn't saying this arbitrarily. It's not because he's ignorant of where they're at emotionally.

He's saying, I know what you need right now, just as much as I know what they need right now. I need you to step into something that's outside yourself. Don't worry. You don't have to do it alone.

Because this story, by the way, spoiler alert, this is that feeding of the 5,000 moment. It's the same day they find out that John, the Baptist was bedded. Same day. Steps into that space and goes, you go feed him.

He's encouraging him going, I know this doesn't make sense, but just pressing a little bit more. And then they get to be a part of one of the wildest stories in all scripture. Because they stepped, they followed his leadership and they stepped out and said, in spite of all of this, these people are hungry. And then they gathered the food.

The Lord still does the miracle, but they get to be a part of it. They get the memories for the rest of their life of passing out loads of bread and going, it's empty. Nope. There you did it again.

It's the memory forever. They're participating in one of the wildest stories that we have, one of the wildest miracles. It says 5,000 men. That means that there's probably at least 15,000 people.

If there's just a couple of families with a bunch of kids and a couple of people that brought their spouses, it's like that multiplies incredibly quickly. It's 10,000 people and they're front row seat witnesses to the miracle of God. That builds faith in their heart. I don't know if we're going to be okay.

Did you see what he just did? I mean, I'm feeling so much traffic because of the situation I'm in. There's all these desperate lonely people and I get to be a minister of good news to them. I get to feed them.

They have that memory forever. Check this out. Jesus is the absolute best. Go to verse 22.

So when all that's done, immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side. Well, he dismissed the crowds. He's so kind. I know it's been a long day, guys.

You go all lock up. I got it. I know. Thank you guys so much for pouring out.

What a day, huh? Lock the process. You guys get in the boat. I'll close up.

I got it. And then Jesus, the one who they're all clamoring, they still get more time with, takes responsibility and goes, I got this. Of course, it's going to be harder for him because everyone still want to talk to him. He's Jesus.

He's not saying, you just serve and serve and serve and serve and look out, look out, because that's what we do. We're just, you know, anytime that you're feeling down, you just got to keep pressing, kiddo, because there's things out there and someone's got to worse than you. That's not his heart. That is not God's heart.

He's saying, I know exactly what you need right now. You actually need to press through a little bit. You actually need to look outside of yourself. That's really healthy for you.

And then he says, you're incredible. Thank you so much. You need a little space and permits them to go well. Well, he posts up and closes up shop.

When he had dismissed the crowds, he went on the mountain by himself to pray because he's not abandoning his own soul either. Jesus isn't a slave to ministry where he's driven by obligation. He's going, I make gardens everywhere I go. In my disciples lives, I'm making a garden.

I'm tending to their soul. I'm pressing with him to be pressed. I'm maturing them with him to be matured and I'm getting arrested when they need it for all these people that are like sheep without a shepherd. I'm going to make it a garden.

You get to be a part of this story forever. And you caught me in a bit of a rough time. I'm going to be honest. But you know what?

Man, God sees you and he loves you. You get to experience physical healing. You get to experience being fed by this miracle story. And he goes to his own soul and goes, I just, I need you, Haba.

He goes and gets time. Jesus makes it his job to go to the places, the spaces and the people that I'm in. I'm going to make it a garden. Everyone wins in this story.

Everyone wins because he's going, I see all of it and I'm going to do what I can, which in Jesus his side of the world is quite a bit. And he's going, everyone gets an upgrade. Every garden got enhanced that day by the Lord. There's something about this for me.

I get that there's language used in the New Testament where it's talking about almost this conquest. I think that's appropriate. When we're seeing it in the lens of like, no, the world is under siege. Death got defeated.

Go take ground, son and daughter. I think that's appropriate. But in my life, I'm finding myself going, oh, if it's just my job description to make gardens and make things a little more beautiful and to invest in the places that I'm in, that feels life giving. For some reason, it just feels gentler and kinder to me.

And it motivates me to actually want to do it because I want to see this place made well. God seems to love gardens. He, at the beginning of the story, he builds this garden and goes, make the whole thing a garden. End of the story, there's a new heavens, new earth, guess what?

Gigantic tree in the middle of it all. Rivers flowing. He builds this new garden. In the middle of the story, empty tomb, right?

Empty tomb. He has risen. Mary doesn't know that. Mary is sitting by the empty tomb grieving.

And then Jesus shows up, resurrected from the dead. And she mistakes him for a gardener. I'm so willing to admit that that could just be a coincidence. She was in a space that was beautiful and needed to be manicured.

Maybe that was the time of day when the gardeners came through. I have no idea. But with the context that we have about his affinity for gardens, the fact that he's seen after resurrecting from the dead and is mistaken for a gardener makes me pause and wonder. What if it's just part of his nature?

What if he's the kind of guy that just goes into places and goes, I'm just going to make it beautiful? What if in every relationship that he's going, I'll do what it takes to make this flourish? I think it's the heart of God. And so for me, I'm finding myself, I'm just sharing my own story in hopes that it's helpful and provoking and encouraging to everyone else in my own story.

When I take on the mindset of, I'm a gardener. And everywhere that I go, I'm going to make it a garden. That makes my eyes get off myself in a way that actually feels motivating. And yeah, I might not be the one that gets the immediate benefit.

But if I'm going, I get to invest in your story, I mean your driveway, and in this over here where I'm organizing things, I'm just going to make it beautiful. I'm going to make it my business to make it a garden wherever I go. That changes things for me. And when I look at the people in my life that are difficult to love, when I look at the people that I'm in proximity with who don't know Jesus, and I see it through the lens of the Lord is calling me to invest in your garden and to pour into you and to do what I can to make this space beautiful, to make it a garden.

Suddenly that just feels like an invitation rather than an obligation. God's not up there with a checklist going, well, what'd you do today? Who'd you talk to bud? It's like everywhere that I went, I did what I knew how to do to make it a garden.

Stephen, you can come up please. I wrote down just a bunch of things here to try and give examples and context and things because I'm finding it difficult to articulate how broad this feels to me and how freeing that is. This is so much more than just, well, who's the person in your life who doesn't know Jesus? They absolutely should have a witness that stands in their place and goes, man, this thing could be a garden.

But it's every interaction that I have. It's every person that I have. I have the opportunity to be a witness of the character of God and to build a garden. So if it helps you to hear things when you close your eyes, by all means do that.

If it's going to make you fall asleep, leave them open because what I wrote here is just hopefully going to start to fire off different things in your brain going, oh, it's like that. It's that. It's giving us permission to widen our view of what it means to be a witness for Jesus and go, it's holistic. It might look like multiplying food over there.

It might look like sending somebody off to take a break and I'll take your shift today. In every relationship, bring a meal to someone who just lost a loved one, then stay a while to be a comforting presence while they grieve. Tell the homeless woman that Jesus loves her and wants to be your savior. Be present and available to your younger co-workers who are just trying to learn.

Be the loudest one celebrating when your friends announce that they're pregnant. Help older folks unload their groceries. Offer the hope of Jesus to your Uber driver in every relationship. Make it a garden.

Tell your parents that you love them and apologize for the ways that you terrorize them when you're a teenager. Be fervent in intercession for those who need a miracle of provision and ask God what you can give to them to be a part of that plan. Take authority over your kids' sickness and declare the healing mercy of Jesus. Then give them a big hug.

And if they need it, some time they'll go. If you're married, refuse to let weeds and stones choke out the soil of your covenant. Take responsibility for the places you're in. Take responsibility for the spaces you find yourself in in every relationship.

Make it a garden. This message has to be general because I don't know that your life or the Lord does and I believe that He wants to give you specifics of places and people where He's going on. Would you partner with me? This is that Eden moment where He points out to the wild west and goes, He's giving you grace, He's giving you permission.

And I believe that by faith He's actually giving you excitement to go make it a garden. So I want to leave space right now where you could just communicate with the Lord and just say, Lord, maybe He's already brought things up but if He hasn't asked that question, how can I participate in making the places and spaces and people in my life a garden? And I believe that He's actually going to speak to you. So we're just going to take some time for that.

Stephen's going to keep on playing. Take a deep breath, connect with them and ask them how you can be a gardener just like He is. It's in their garden by just participating in the storyline of making things. But for me sometimes when there's not accountability, I had this moment with the Lord and that's awesome.

Sometimes it's just so easy to forget. Like I said when I started like there's this, the Lord will say something that's awesome that we just forget. I found that it really helps me to stay it out loud. It really helps lock it in for me to stay it out loud.

So for the last few minutes that we have, I actually want you to turn the people that you came with or if you didn't come with people just the people that aren't around you. And I want you to just share, hey here's what I felt the Lord said. Here's like the relation with the highlighter. Here's the place.

Just share that. Because here's the thing. I'm convinced that if the church in the west could have a proper motivation for reaching out, it would transform America in the span of a year. If the church just said I'm going to take responsibility and steward the relationships in my life and steward the places that I go, I think that in one year America would experience wild transformation if the church just got activated.

So I wanted to take this little baby's and just turn this someone next to us and say here's what I felt the Lord say and that's our seed. That's our first steps in making things garden. Turn the people next to you. One more minute as you're finishing, would you guys stand with me?

As you're wrapping up, would you guys stand? Every week we end our services by commissioning everyone out. We don't just end with a slew of updates and then hey thanks for being here. There's a commissioning that happens every week.

Like I said earlier, everything that I shared, it's not a new value here. It's chaos to Shalom. Johnny and Jenny Apple see it's going to seed to the gospel. It's all the same thing.

It's just different language, right? But the reason we commission is because we actually believe that you have the opportunity to go and make it a garden. You have the opportunity to be a witness for Jesus and to make things that are broken whole, to make things that are hideous, beautiful. You have the opportunity to partner in restoration.

So let's pray with faith in our hearts. Jesus, we receive grace to step out of these doors and actually do the things you put on our heart. Father, I'm so thankful for your leadership. I'm so thankful that there's a part of your heart that just loves beauty, that loves seeing things made whole.

And you shared that part of your heart with us just a little bit tonight. So I ask for grace as we step into the God for me and my friends. I'm asking that you would empower us to go and do wild things for love, to be motivated by love, to be moved with compassion, to be moved with this sense of going, oh, I get the chance to participate in bringing the kingdom today. Holy Spirit, I thank you for that.

And I send everyone out with faith in their hearts and smiles on their faces. In Jesus' name, Amen.