Well, good morning, Destination. My name is Josh.

I'm the lead pastor here. If we haven't gotten the chance to meet and want to also just tag on to announcements, too. After service today, we're going to continue hanging out here.

We got pizza for everyone. And so, if you want to hang out for pizza, we're doing this thing called Future of the Church. Where we just kind of kind of talk about where we're at as a church and talk about where we're going in the future. And if you're like, "Hey, that's too much for me. That sounds like I you know, I don't even like pizza.

" Which if you don't, like what the heck. But if if that's you, if I want to invite you back next week cuz we do this thing called a 10-minute tour, and it's for new people. It's not a tour of the building, but it's a tour of who we are as Destination Church.

So, if you're new and just kind of checking us out, , and and you don't want to commit to something like the the pizza launch, like come back next week. It'll take 10 minutes of your time after service. , but for today, oh man, we are kicking off a brand new message series. And, , I am I'm pumped for this one.

This is like one of my favorite things in the Bible to , talk about. But first, it's Minnesota and it's June. If you, you know, can feel it, it's June. , I need to know, is there anybody in here who, , plants a garden. You plant a garden.

Raise your hand if you plant a garden. I want to know who I can ask for fruits and vegetables later. , the cool thing is all of you guys that are here today can say that you are planters.

And I don't mean in the sense of a garden. I mean in the sense of a church plant. This is what this is called. This is a church plant.

A church plant is just a way of saying we are starting something that is brand new and we are nourishing it and praying that God continues to bring growth to this thing, right. And for me, I am a church planter cuz I'm planting destination. We're a brand new church. And we it's kind of funny because when I was telling people I was a church planter, they didn't get that explanation. And so I actually got somebody who said, "So you're going into full-time landscaping for churches.

" And they legitimately thought like that was the business that I was starting, which I don't think that would be a violent business, but so I said, "No, it it is it is quite literally starting something from scratch and and watching God grow it. " And so I'm a church planter, but I also have a garden. I have been planting things on and off every year for the last like six years and trying things and failing at them and then trying out other things and succeeding at them.

Everybody is now judging me as a church planter. Now this is different. Okay, we've moved on from that.

We're on to gardening. And for me it's like 50/50. Sometimes it grows and it's fruitful and sometimes it's dead.

It's just death. And I feel like that is a lot of seasons for me in my faith. And I feel like that is a lot of seasons for us in our faith. There are some seasons that feel super fruitful that feel like we're growing or maybe something's clicking and we're understanding some of this whole God thing. And then there's some seasons where it feels so dry and so dark that we're questioning, is God even real.

Because the reality is that a lot of people want this spiritual growth. They want to know Jesus in this way, but we don't understand fully the process of spiritual growth. And so we'll say things like, "Man, I want to grow spiritually, but I'm stuck. " Or, "Why do I keep struggling with the same things over and over again. " or why does faith just sometimes feel good in one season go bad in another.

So this series is called grading season. You guys ready for it. >> Okay, >> let's try again.

You guys ready for it. >> So this is the goal again of this series is to help you plant a faith that survives, that grows, that deepens, and produces fruit. And the Bible, all throughout the Bible, they're they give these kind of agricultural illustrations.

And the best one in my opinion is in Matthew chapter 13. So that's where we're going to be for the next four weeks is Matthew 13. It's on page 838.

By the way, if you don't have a Bible, please take this one home with you. It is our gift to you. My only ask you take the Bible is that you open it.

Open it as much as you can and see what the word of God has to say to transform your life. That's where we go for all of these big questions that we have in life. , and so what Jesus is doing here is he's going to tell a parable. I'm going to explain what a parable is in a second, but I want you to just listen to this. So, this is verse 1-9.

So, just hear this. That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got in the boat and sat in it while all the people stood on shore.

You can still be motan. You can still go to the lake and you can still hear from Jesus. It's right here. It's right here.

And so the fish don't bite before church is over anyway. So, all right. Then he told them many things and parables, saying, "A farmer went out to sew a seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came up and ate it. Some fell in rocky places where it did not have much soil.

It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seeds fell among thorns, which grew up and showed the plants. Still others fell fell on good soil where they produced a crop 100, 60 or 30 times what was sown. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.

Okay, so this is the parable. And what is a parable. A parable is a literal truth that illustrates a spiritual one. And so, , it it is the equivalent of of what a lot of pastors will do up here. They'll tell you something spiritual, but they'll tell it to tell it to you in a way that is relatable.

And we don't do this just to make it up or to be entertaining. But this is how Jesus taught is he gives a literal truth about a seed and its outcomes to illustrate a deeper spiritual truth. Now, can I get really like Bible nerdy for a second.

This is my favorite parable chapter. And the reason is is because what Jesus will typically do is he'll tell one of these parables and he'll kind of just like mic drop it. It's like here's the parable, figure it out.

But in Matthew 13, Jesus intentionally explains each of these parables, which is good for people like me who don't always catch on on the first time. Okay, maybe you're like me in that way. So, what happens is is Jesus starts to tell all the people that are listening why he speaks in parables and then he he turns and he starts to explain what this parable means. So, kind of follow the numbers down to 18 and he's going to describe what this means. He says, "Hear then what the parable of the swer is.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what has been sown along the path. And for what was sown on the rocky ground, this is for the one that hears the word immediately receives it with joy, yet has no root in himself, but endures for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises on the account of the word word, immediately he falls away.

As for the one who as for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and proves unfruitful. As for the one who was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word, understands it, and he indeed bears fruit and yields in one case 100, in one case 60, in one case 30. If I still lost you and if you are a visual learner, I'm gonna make it really easy.

Everybody pray right now that the screen holds up. Okay, visual learning. All right, this is what this parable teaches is there is this seed and this seed represents the kingdom of God. This seed represents when you open this Bible. This seed represents as you are sitting here today and listening to the word.

This seed represents when Jesus is trying to get your attention. And for us, we are this ground. And the way that we receive what Jesus is is giving to us has four different outcomes.

And the four different outcomes is either this seed gets snatched up by a bird or scorched out by the sun or choked up by thorns or it falls on good soil. Okay, so there's four outcomes of this seed. Here's the question that all of you in here need to answer in your heart. What is the condition of your soil.

How are you receiving the things that Jesus is trying to speak to you. Okay, my heart and my hope for you is that you would check the condition of your soil so that way we can move to this side and be aware of some of these other things. Okay, so let's look at them.

All four of these things. The first one is the bird. Okay, the bird is in verse 19. And it says, "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. " This is the one that was sown on the path.

So the birds come and they take the the kingdom. And what scripture is teaching us here is that the the bird represents in this illustration the evil one. That is Satan, the devil, whatever you want to say, right.

That comes and snatches something away. It's almost like when I tried to plant spinach in my garden, okay, for two years in a row, I was completely unsuccessful. The first year, the seeds just got straight up taken out of the garden bed.

The second year, okay, something ate them. I have no idea what, but they weren't there and I didn't get to enjoy them. They got snatched away.

And that is often times what will happen with us in our walks with Jesus is we will try to start something good, maybe a good habit, or we'll try to break a bad habit and it it just doesn't end up working. It almost feels like we're putting effort into it, but it's being literally stolen from us. And the reality that we have to face is that sometimes there is a spiritual war happening that is trying to snatch away the good things that God is trying to put in our lives.

And so you might think, well Josh, how do I not allow that kind of warfare to happen. How do I allow the bird not to snatch away what Jesus is trying to speak to me. Okay, three reasons.

I don't have them on the screen, but you might want to write these down at some point. Three reasons. The first one is to be into God's presence.

This is how to overcome some of the the birds that come and snatch away is to stay in God's presence. You see, I grow now spinach and lettuce every year. You want to know where I don't grow them.

In my garden bed. You want to know where I do grow them. On a very tall or on a taller table that is next to our sliding glass door.

Nothing has messed with it. Hopefully I don't didn't just jinx it. Some of you need to bring some of your battles higher. See what I did there.

You following me. Some of you need to bring your battles to God and just say, "Lord, I am struggling with this and I need you. I need you to come here. I need you to break these chains. I need you to intervene.

I need you to be here with me as I'm trying to to overcome these battles. You need that presence in your life. The second one is scripture.

We need God's word in our life. And so if you've tried to plant maybe a bigger garden and you have critters that are coming in and stealing stuff away, what are you going to put around that garden. A fence, right. And that is how the word of God acts and operates in your life. It becomes your main source of offense and defense against the attacks of the enemy.

If you want more on this, go back and listen to the message from last week. We talked about how Jesus overcame temptation by saying, "It is written. " It is written. He knew scripture as his main source of defense and offense against the enemy.

So God's presence, God's word, and lastly, God's people. You see, nothing messes with the garden when myself or my kids or somebody is present in the backyard. No one's going to do it because they're going to get scared off. And the same is true for you.

When you are in fellowship with other believers, they can stand with you through some of those battles. Okay, let me tell you the truth here. Sometimes when we're in these battles, our go-to is isolation.

And all three of these things, getting into God's presence, God's word, and around God's people are the opposite. You see how that spiritual battle happens. And so when you do these things, when you're in these things, they protect you from the enemy so that your roots can grow deep in Jesus.

But there's still a danger of having shallow roots. So look at verse 20. Let's move on to the next one. It says, "As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is for the one that hears the word, receives it with joy, yet has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

" I think when I read this every single time, , I get this feeling just in the pit of my stomach about how I have to come up here and and talk about destination and share with you the church and all the news about the church. , but I also have to present Jesus in a way that is real and tangible to you. And what I mean by that is because so many people can fall into falling in love with Christian culture instead of Jesus as savior.

And I've experienced this not only in my walk but in the walk that I've walked with others where they will be in one season what seems to be completely on fire for Jesus and then all of a sudden they have completely walked away from faith and they said that they never believed in the first place. They'll say, "Well, I I was I I I used to believe. " Or they'll say, "Well, I was brought up in this way, but I I don't believe any of that anymore.

" Or, "I'm a Christian, but I don't need to go to church. " Which is like saying you have a car that you don't put gas in. Like, it doesn't it doesn't make sense.

And so, what happens is a is for a lot of us, or let me just put it like this. I I don't want to go on a bunny trail here. Let me put it like this.

My hope is that if this all disappeared tomorrow that you would be so in love with Jesus and that you would want to walk with Jesus and that you would want to fight with Jesus whether this was here or not. And so that is why our mission statement is to not just help people find Jesus is to help people find and follow Jesus. And so we grow deep roots by learning what it means to be a follower of Jesus. But look at this verse again.

It says, "The one who can't grow deep roots, the reason for that is because the sun scorches it out. It burns it out. " This is going to be something that is is going to speak to someone in this room.

I I really feel like that. And I it's been speaking to me all week that this seed is scorched out by being burnt out. And I feel like that is where as a culture we find ourselves quite often.

Have you ever heard this phrase before. I'm burnt out. You ever heard this. What's interesting about this phrase is this phrase is not in the Bible anywhere. You don't ever hear anybody say, "I'm burnt out.

" But you do see characters who are experiencing signs of what we would call in 2026 is burnout. So burnout is very real. But I want you to hear me, and this is not me coming after anybody here.

This is me just pastoral heart for you, okay. If you are burnt out, if you are dealing with some of that stuff, it is not because you are reading your Bible. It is not because you are praying.

It is not because you are coming to church or serving at church or leading at church or doing anything like that because Jesus came to bring life, not burnout. Okay, some of you need to hear that today. So, I'm going to say it again.

Jesus came to bring life and not burnout. And so some of the burnout feelings that you are feeling are not necessarily feelings that are coming from Jesus, but they are warning lights to you that you need to be careful of the things of this world that are trying to burn you out, that are trying to deprive you of all of the things that you need. Because deep roots in Jesus won't burn out in dark and dry seasons. And so as you grow deep, you can endure some of these seasons because of the faith that you have in Jesus and not fall off during dark and dry seasons.

Does that mean you're never going to have them. You're gonna have them. Does that mean you can never take a break from church or reading your Bible or miss or do anything. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is the source of your burnout is not coming from Jesus.

It is healed by Jesus. And so for whatever that's worth, I I think I think what we need what we need to do then is to say, well, where does this feeling of burnout come from. And Jesus goes on to talk about the thorns. And the thorns have like a very similar feel to what he's saying here about the the shallow roots. Look at verse 22.

It says, "As for what was sown among thorns, this is for the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful. So often times when burnout happens, it's because the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches are in our life. They are what we become more entrenched with than with Jesus. This is interesting. And man, I'm going to tell you, I've been studying this scripture for a very, very long time.

So if you want like the extended version, we can talk sometime. But do you know how thorns work. Like, have you ever learned how thorns work.

I I just went on a deep dive of like how thorns attack plants. This is what they do is they look for plants that are in energy starvation. They look for those plants that are lacking nutrients and they redirect the plant by putting shade in certain areas where it's getting nutrients from the sun. And they redirect and restrict the flow of water and nutrients causing it to die branch by branch.

Do you take that in. Do you know that thorns work the same in our spiritual lives. That Jesus says that the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke up the word that is from God.

They don't remove God from our lives, but they simply compete with him until there's no room left for us to grow. And so there are cares and there are riches in your life right now that are competing for your time, your attention, your money, whatever you want to say there. All of those things that are competing are trying to say, "Look, care about me more. Look, put more time and attention and money into me more.

And when we go that route, as we've learned by looking at life after life, culture after culture, celebrity after celebrity, none of those things bring true comfort. None of those things really care like Jesus care. And so what Jesus is saying in this is he's saying look the cares and the riches of this world can choke what I'm trying to give to you. What I'm trying to give and put in your life and nobody or nothing cares for you like Jesus does. And that's why we are listening to his leading.

That's why we need to have good soil which is the fourth one. You guys with me for one more. >> All right, cuz this is where the good news comes in.

Okay, I came at you for a little while. Let's get to the good part. As for the one as for what was sewn on the good soil, this is for the one that hears the word and understands it.

He indeed bears fruit that yields in one case and60 and 30. So my goal as your pastor is to help you understand God's word so that you can live in God's way. And as you do that, as you start to understand or as you start to have these ears to hear, as Jesus puts it, you start to change how you view or how you read this book or how you listen to the message or how you listen to your growth group leader or whatever it is.

Okay, here's what I I I'll say it like this. There's two types of people if you've been in any kind of conversation or if you've had a kid. Okay, I've covered probably the whole room. All right, you have two types of people. You have the one person who is having the conversation and they are listening to you, right.

And then you have the other type of person. Who knows the other type of person. The type of person who is just waiting for their turn to talk, right.

You can just see it on their face where it's just like as soon as I finish the subject's changing and it's going to them, right. And this is sometimes what we do with God is we'll listen and we'll try to almost complete the sentence and say, "Yeah, but God," and that's not the way that Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying here that we listen humbly is what he's trying to say. We listen with this humble heart that is ready to listen and understand. You see, the reason that Jesus spoke in these parables is because he wanted people to think, to reflect, to really build their lives on what what do you think Jesus meant when he said this.

He wants us to hear but beyond hearing he wants us to seek to understand so that we grow in wisdom and understanding and so that we multiply. He says that the benefit of doing this is going to cause your life to multiply. This is a good thing.

Do you know what the first command in the Bible is. It's not from the ten commandments. The first commandment is what. Anybody know it.

You think it's that one. What's the first thing that God says for a human to do. Oh, somebody said it.

Be fruitful and multiply. Not so much as a command, but he says, "Be fruitful and multiply. " And a lot of us, what we think is that means have kids. It's so much more than that because you could have kids but still multiply terrible things into the world.

Okay, I'm not saying anything. I'm not coming after anyone. Okay, don't take that. Don't take it like that.

But what I am saying is that it goes beyond your son or your daughter. It goes into how you are investing into the world. How are you telling the world of your faith in Jesus. How are you passing on your faith.

Because that faith is going to continue to multiply as you hear and really understand this word that God is so desperately trying to help you understand. When you do that, it's going to multiply blessing in your life. It is going to multiply the things that God wants to do in and through your life and your legacy.

This is good news. Not only is it going to do things for your life, but it's going to bring glory to him, which is the ultimate goal here. So, bringing people to faith, helping them follow, helping them understand, all of these things are signs that we have good soil. And if you're like, Josh, that sounds too overwhelming. I can't do that.

I'm not a good person. You know, I'm not I don't feel good enough. I don't feel smart enough. I don't feel like, you know, I never open this. I never do whatever it is.

Check the condition of your soil and just have ears to hear and then just plant one day at a time. I want to end with this story. During the Great Depression, there was a man named Azie Edwards.

He looked at this 40 acres of worn out farmland that he had and he made a simple decision. He would plant one tree every day of his life. Not two trees, not a whole forest, one tree every day of his life.

He never went back on that promise. Even when people started to make fun of him and say you can't grow anything, even in seasons of droughts, in floods, in seasons where nobody was noticing, Azie just kept planting. He just kept planting seed after seed.

By the time he died, he had planted over 10,000 trees. And you're like, did he live to be 10,000. Because what happens is the type of trees that he was planting bear seeds. Those seeds spread and plant more trees. People now enjoy this whole oasis of 40 acres of shade and farm and fruit from these trees that they never worked for.

That they never saw all of the seeds that Azie swed. You see, he didn't set out to build a forest. He just planted trees one day at a time. And this is how multiplication works. Nobody builds a thriving church overnight.

Nobody builds a godly family overnight. Nobody builds a lasting legacy overnight. Nobody understands this overnight.

It is one tree at a time planted in your heart, in your mind, in your actions, and lived out just like Azie did. And as you do those little acts of faithfulness, you'll start to see God multiplying blessings and different things within your life. And maybe you're here and you're thinking to yourself, "Yeah, that's great. " but the things that I've planted in my life have not produced good fruit or the things that I planted in my life are dead and it is a dry season.

Well, the good news for you is that Jesus makes dead things come alive, right. And so, we can look to Jesus and say, "Man, I've I've gotten some really bad past. I don't feel good enough.

I don't feel like I've I've hit the mark. " Jesus can turn that around. You just have to have the ears to hear what Jesus is speaking to you.

And the gospel reminds us that this real transformation doesn't start with trying harder or doing better. It starts with putting Jesus back at the center of your life, back at the center of your soil. And so that's what I want to invite you to do.

Put Jesus at the center of it all, of your worship, of your priorities, of your future. All of that is not just something to be put on a to-do list or a priority list or on a calendar. Jesus is the calendar. He is the priority list and he is what we build our lives around so that we can continue to grow in him and multiply through the dry seasons.

And so, , I just want to invite you at this time just close your eyes and bow your heads. This is something that we do at Destination every week. The world gets increasingly loud and I just want to give you a moment to connect with God. I'm going to invite the worship team up and we're going to close in worship here in a second.

But maybe for some of you, you're here today and and you haven't had ears to hear what Jesus has said in the past. But maybe he's speaking to you now. Maybe for the first time ever, you have ears that are open. And if those ears are open, I want you to hear this. No matter what the condition of your soul has been, Jesus loves you.

He loves you desperately. He loves you so much that he took every bad thing that you have done in your life and said, "I'm willing to die for that. I'm willing to hang on a cross for that. " And that is why we we come and we we get this relationship with Jesus where we get to be in and we get to we get to have this personal relationship with him so we can hear from him.

And maybe for you, you haven't been there before, but God's speaking to you now. If that's you, with everybody's eyes closed and heads bowed, would you just raise your hand so I can pray for you this morning, if you want to put your faith in Jesus, would you just so boldly raise your hand. Well, I'm going to pray over those of you who raised your hand, but for everybody else, I would just encourage you to continue to have good soil and ears to hear. Let me pray.

God, I thank you for for just being here and being present. And God, if for the people that have raised their hands or that are still just coming to coming to terms with this, God, that I pray that you would be real to them. That you would make yourself real to them.

That they would have ears to hear what you have to say. And that they would pray this. That they would pray that you would forgive them. That they would continue to walk with you.

And that they would profess you as Lord over their lives. We thank you for this. It's in Jesus name we pray.