00:00Hello everyone, it's William Chambers again. It is a pleasure to be here with you all.
00:04Today, I want to talk to us all about how faithfulness, not feedback, is the measure
00:12of obedience. Oh, let me say that one more time. Faithfulness, not feedback, is the measure of
00:18obedience. What I mean by that is we are not to measure our obedience by how people respond,
00:26but we are to measure our obedience by if we stay faithful or not. Did I stay faithful to the
00:33task
00:34God called me to do? That's what Paul will be talking about in the text right here and right now.
00:38Let us dive into the text. The Bible says, but I have planted Apollo's water, but God gave the
00:44increase. So neither is he that planted anything, neither he that waters, but God that giveth the
00:51increase. This message speaks to all believers. God has given us all something to do, whether it's
00:58something in ministry, whether it's something in your family, whether it's a business. God has given
01:03you something to do, some work to do, and he's calling you to plant and water that thing, nurture
01:09that thing, build that thing. What are you building for God? All believers have something to build for
01:17God. Let me get down to the text though. Paul said, I have planted. So when we look at Paul,
01:22he was planting the word in the hearts of many. He was building churches all over the place with the
01:28help of God, but he was just planting the seed. And then he said, Apollos had watered and Apollos was
01:34coming behind him, what he was basically saying, and watering it. And when we're talking about watering
01:39the seed, we're talking about maintenance, sustaining the seed, keeping it alive. Oh goodness. Paul
01:46planted the seed, Apollos watered the seed, but it goes on to say, but God gave the increase. The chief
01:54center figure is God. He is the one that helps to grow. Oh goodness, help us. This right here, this
02:03right
02:04here is a blessing. The reason why it's a blessing is because it is not up to you and I
02:09to grow
02:10anything. Paul planted Apollos water. We're called the plant and water seed, but only God can create
02:16the conditions where that seed grows. Help us God. So the planter and the water, no matter what you're
02:24watering, no matter what you're planting, the results and the outcomes are in God's hand and we have to
02:31trust God. Oh, that takes pressure off of me. No matter if they're responding or not, I'm still
02:37depleting. No matter if they're liking me on, on social media or not, no matter if they're commenting
02:43or not, I'm still to water. No matter if they talk to me or not, no matter if they say
02:48anything to me
02:49or not, I'm still to water. Oh goodness. It takes the pressure off of me. It says God is the
02:55one that
02:55gives the increase. It takes the pressure off of you. God is the one that gives the increase. This
03:01text humbles us it says the planner is not anything
03:03nor the water is anything but god uh humble yourself it is not on it's not
03:10up to you to make something grow when we try to force growth and lord
03:14knows i have tried to do this you cannot force anything to grow oh that
03:20comes out and turns out bad we are nothing the bible says the only
03:24person that's important here is god that gives the increase so it's
03:28not up to you and i to make things happen uh i used to think that
03:32in my early walk with christ my earlier walk with christ
03:34and really messed up it's not up to me it's up to god leave the results to god
03:41oh no matter what happens out the bible this text is telling us
03:44to do our part i'm called to just do my part and leave the rest in god's hands
03:50i place it in god's hands i place that in god's hands
03:54because when you this this this right here will keep you from having to worry
03:58and stress out because when you try to control things you're trying to manipulate
04:02things you are taking on stress and worry that
04:06you have stepped into god's domain and you're trying to do things that god
04:10never called you to do we're supposed to plant
04:12and water leave the rest of god god that is
04:16your work oh goodness it's your work god it's not it's not
04:22mine it's for you god i i'm not what we are called to do is our part
04:27and let and leave the rest under god i'm supposed to have a faithful
04:31presence in the way god told me to have a faithful presence in the situation
04:35i'm to keep on showing up keep on speaking the truth
04:39keep on loving will keep on doing what god has assigned me to do
04:43even when there is no promise of results i'm just to keep on showing up and
04:47being obedient that is my task it might not feel impactful it might not feel
04:52powerful i that's not my thing i'm not to be
04:54worried about that that is for that's to be left to god
04:58so the believer is not to abandon the word see
05:01we can abandon the work because we look at it and say
05:04i tried but it wasn't turning out like i thought i put forth effort and effort
05:10effort but it didn't turn out like i thought so i quit
05:12all because you wasn't leaving the results under god
05:17we are to keep on showing up never abandon the work
05:20because the results are not ours if we take this text right here we will
05:25always keep showing up it is for god i'm just to do my part
05:28the rest is for god praise be under god some seeds take days to sprout up some
05:34take weeks some take months take some take years
05:36sprouting is unpredictable we never know what god is doing in the
05:43hearts of men just like some seeds in the ground take a
05:46while to come up the when you plant something in the
05:48hearts of men it takes a while sometimes to come up
05:52meaning you don't know what only god can give the right conditions some
05:56seeds need the right conditions sometimes you plant seed in the ground
05:58but it's still in the ground it's alive but it doesn't have the right
06:02conditions it doesn't have the right climate the right soil texture
06:05the right whatever it needs sometimes a seed is in the ground
06:09that's in the hearts of men but god is waiting for the right conditions
06:13for that thing to sprout sometimes things sprout up when certain life
06:17situations hit us oh with certain crisis hit us there's been
06:20times where i would not obey god i knew somebody planted the seed in me
06:23i knew what the right thing was but i would not do it until the
06:26consequences hit me then i thought i said okay god i'll never do that again
06:29okay god i'm listening now sometimes it takes the right condition i got
06:33you got my attention now for me to obey god so when you plant the seed
06:38leave it up to god to bring the right conditions
06:41for it to grow in the heart i'm just to be faithful i'm just going to obey god
06:45and plant this seed and god you do whatever it is you are going to do
06:50help us to have that kind of attitude in jesus name i pray and say amen
06:59amen
06:59you
06:59you
07:00you
07:01you
07:02you
07:03you
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