Victory By Vision - Part 3 (Protecting The Seed)

The Book of Life Series (Part 1): Born of the Book, Sons of the Scroll Pastor John Shane Vaughn — First Harvest Ministries International — 4/19/25 ________________ 1 While he yet talked to the people behold his mother and his brothers were outside the church or wherever he was speaking and they wanted to talk with him then one said to him behold your mama and your family desires to speak with you and he answered and said unto them who is my mother who is my family right and then he stretched his forth hand to his disciples and said behold my family; hallelujah; he said who is my mother and who is my brothers, he stretched forth his hands and said behold my mother and my brethren. 2 Right here he pointed to somebody, maybe it was Mary Magdalene, somebody like Pat that was just standing there, and he said behold my mother, behold my brother; for whosoever does the will of My Father which is in heaven that is my brother and my sister and my mother; hallelujah; now do you see why it was a sad day when the church quit calling one another brother and sister; all the modern churches have quit doing it. 3 But there is a family, there's a there's a family in this building and you are not just miss all to me, you are my sister; call Sister Pat, sister Justina; we don't just say that to sound religious, it's a relationship term, it's not religion; I call on everyone in First Harvest to never not refer to someone in this family as literally, instead of just saying brother Ricky you're saying you're my brother Ricky, you're my brother, you're my sister; and that's why I call Mama Dot my mama, you're my mama; that's what Jesus said, he said these are my family. 4 Let's continue; Chapter 13 Verse 1; now before we read the parable that we're about to read you've got to understand that one line that we just read, those that do the will of my father; and the question is what is the will of Yahweh and that is something you need to know; everyone wants to know God's will for my life; there is one will that God has for you, he wants you to die so that he can live in you; that's all he wants. 5 He don't want you to do nothing but die; to get your head cut off, your mind cut off, your way of thinking, your stinking thinking, get it all cut off, yes sir, so that he can reproduce himself in you; somebody say Yahweh is reproducing himself in me; I want you to think about what you just said; the creator of the universe, Sister Charlotte, is re-creating himself in you; in you; praise God. 6 Chapter 13 verse 1; the same day went Jesus out of the house and sat by the seaside, he still hadn't went and chased his mama or his brothers; on the same day he leaves the house and goes to the seaside, sir, and great multitudes were gathered together unto him so that he went into a ship and sat down and the whole multitude stood on the shore and he spake many things to the multitudes and he did it in what? Parables; he said behold a sower went forth to sow; you may be seated tonight, amen. 7 I'm going to read this Parable and then we're going to try to break it down for you; and when he sowed some seed fell by the wayside and the birds came and devoured them up; some fell on stony places where they had not much earth and forthwith they sprang up because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was up they were scorched because they had no root, they withered away; some fell among thorns and the thorns sprung up and choked them; but others fell into good ground and brought forth fruit some hundredfold some 60 fold some 30 fold. 8 And that's the end of the story and Yesua is done with that story; but the disciples came to him and said, hold on a minute, they said, why do you speak to them in parables? He answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the secrets of the Kingdom but to them it is not given; they know the gospel but they don't know the secrets of the Kingdom; it's not given to them. 9 Yua and Yahweh conceal their plans in the word; I want to explain something to you; the parable is the word, Yahweh hides his plan in the Bible, in the parables, in the stories, in the prophecies, he hides it; he conceals in parables and then reveals what he concealed to those to whom it's been given, the revelation; yes sir; amen; truth is concealed in parables. 10 Right when he got through teaching them that story do you know what he did, Elder Connelly, he took the disciples and said now this is what I was really saying; why didn't he tell everybody that? Because it wasn't for them; all he gave to them was a good sermon; but there is a group of people in the earth today that it's his pleasure to give you the sermon behind the sermon, to give you the message behind the sermon; he conceals his truth in parables. 11 Few days ago I went out, you'll have to bear with me tonight, I'm not going to be able to get much out; I went the other day, I was perplexed and there's something that I have asked the Lord about for a couple of years now and that question has never really been answered for me until the other day; I went to the ranch and I'd asked the Lord how can people walk away from this message, this beautiful fellowship, you'll never find a greater group of people on the whole earth ever, and this end time work, and it has troubled me. 12 They've all sat and heard what you've sat and heard, same message; and as I was standing at the ranch the father began to teach me through a parable as I stood on that holy ground; I looked out across the prayer cove; last year Sister Baker, Sister Lori, I believe Sister Maxine, we all went out there and I spent hundreds of dollars on wildflower seeds and these ladies and myself we scattered more seeds all over the ground than I could count; there's no way there was so many seed everywhere. 13 And during the summer and late fall I noticed there wasn't but about a handful of little wild flowers here and there and I asked the Lord, I said where's the wild flowers; he said they're exactly where the believers are that have left; and he began to reveal this message to me and he began to show me the danger of the scattered seed; that the problem we had, Elder Morgan, is we didn't till the ground; we just threw seed on hard ground, ground that was filled with grass already, roots that would not make room for the seed. 14 The grass was robbing the nutrition out of the ground and so I went and studied this year how to get that seed to grow and I found out it was real simple; you go buy you a disc and put it on your tractor and you ride over that ground; you're not trying to break the grass up, you're trying to break the old root system up; you're trying to break up that old Babylonian way of thinking; you're trying to break up the root systems that are depriving the seed, because the seed cannot get a chance because even though the seed is good the mind is bad, right. 15 And as you disc the ground up you've only got about six or seven days to get that seed in the ground; if not, guess what will begin to happen again, them roots will begin to connect back together, that old way of thinking will begin to take back over the mind; without a constant tilling of that ground when you get the seed in the ground then you've got to go behind it and bring something over that ground to stomp that seed into the ground; now you don't want it to go too deep, you just need enough for it to catch a root, just enough for it to find a way to grow. 16 And then the next thing you have to do if there's not a rain coming you got to water it; oh hallelujah; and as you begin to do these things the seed will find a way to grow more than the grass; you have to constantly till that ground; and the other day whenever we were ready to plant wild flowers again I grabbed a rake and we began to rake on the flower beds; why? Because in them beds from last year grass is already growing; we had to break that ground open. 17 Why is that? Because we're going to scatter seed this time in good ground; hallelujah; in good ground; and as soon as we did we came back over with the backside of the rake and slid dirt over those seed and then we watered those seed; and I come to preach to you tonight that you've got to hold on to the word, you've got to hold on to the word; you've got to, it's your job; it's not God's job to protect the message; it is your job to protect the message that he's planted in your mind; amen, hallelujah. 18 No matter how great the message is or how anointed the messenger is, it will never take root; because here's what the Bible said, the Bible said that there's four types of soil; amen; four; let's look at those four again; some seed verse four just fell by the wayside and what happened, the birds; I want you tonight not to be a bird brain; what I mean by bird brain, I'm not talking about Nicki Haley, I'm talking about bird brains. 19 Here's what a bird brain is; the Bible said that the man of God takes a message that'll change your life and throws it and it lands in your mind; your mind is the garden; but the Bible said when that message lands in your mind it falls on ground that's hard; and now here's the next thing that happens; a lot of those seed that we threw on top of that grass, what happened was the birds, they come grab that, that's what they eat for the living is seed; it's on top of the ground. 20 Listen to me, if you don't take this message when you hear it; Thy word oh God have I hidden in my heart, in my mind, so I won't sin against you; you've got to take this message and hide it from the birds; yes sir; who is the birds? Every negative word that comes against it, every gossiping tongue, every lying spirit are the birds of the air, they're unclean birds; right, yes sir; and they will take what could have changed your life. 21 And they will literally, when they're done with you, they'll pick every bit of it out; they'll come and destroy what God even got; they can do what God can't do; that's right; oh I'm serious; they can do what God can't do; one thing God cannot do is develop your character; God cannot turn you into a truth teller; God cannot do that to you; you have to choose to protect that word and do it yourself; God cannot overpower the birds; why? Because he feeds the birds; them birds feed off that seed. 22 It's your job to hide the seed; when you hear this message every time someone comes to you with a negative word what will happen is if you take their negative word they'll take your seed; right; it's just a swap, just an exchange; see, they're dropping seed while they're picking up seed; you understand? Oh yeah, them birds are dropping while they're picking up; and when they come to you to destroy your faith in your brothers and your sisters, when they come to destroy your faith in the message, when they come to destroy your faith in the messenger, what they do is they take the seed and replace it with doubt. 23 Yes sir; you won't survive; I said you won't survive; why? You didn't hide the seed; right, right; you didn't put a watch on it, you didn't put a guard on it, you didn't cover it up with prayer, you didn't cover it up with the moving of the spirit of God; you allowed the birds to get your seed; same message. 24 Have you ever wondered, Sister Chelsea, have you ever wondered when you look across the national church I look sometimes and I'm like all of them love it, same church, same message, and then you got that little handful, you're like same everything; but God spoke to me and said it's not the same mind; if you have roots of destruction you will be a destroyer no matter the message you hear; it's in your root system; it's in your root system. 25 If your root system is drama then even this message cannot change you; oh, you've got to get rid of the root system; you've got to plow it up and let God's word plow it up out of you; if your roots are rebellion, that's okay, we can get them up, but you got to let us plow, baby, plow; you got to be able to get cut and offended by the word of God. 26 Has anybody in this ministry ever felt that plow come over you? Anybody in that former Jezebel Club here tonight? Hallelujah; have you felt the plow, sir? Amen; and you wanted to get mad at me but it was in your Bible; hallelujah; nothing you could do about it; hallelujah; oh, if it ain't in the words you can get mad at me, but if it's in the word it ain't me you getting mad at; and that plow will break up your fallow ground; that's why the Bible said the word of God is sharper than a sword; it cuts the root system. 27 Everyone in this room, Sister Carolyn, was born with a root system of rebellion; it's in our minds; when I was a little boy I stole a chocolate bunny rabbit from Winn Dixie; I remember it's Easter time, you know them chocolate bunnies; and my mama Temple, the lady that raised me in the foster system, wouldn't let me have one; and I waited for that little old lady to go to the car and I snuck back in that store and got me a chocolate bunny rabbit; who taught me how to do that? Where did that come from? 28 That root system; you're born with that root system in your mind that nobody's going to tell you what to do; you're going to get what you want; that's where addictions come from, you're going to get what you want when you want it however you got to get it; that mind and this message won't go together; it just won't happen; that mind that says you know, me and God we got our own thing going, we don't need nobody telling us what to do; that's a root system that you need to get rid of. 29 It's stopping; I look at people that could have been in this ministry; some I was this close to making an elder; it's what they could have been for God; now they're out there doing their nearly will thing, drifting all around; why? Because the root system; God wants to plow it up, he wants to break your fallow ground; yes sir; why? If you don't, two people can hear this message, one the Bible said is the wayside, it don't absorb it into the soil; but that's the first group of people. 30 There's another group and they've all been in this ministry; let's read about that next one; some fell in stony places where there wasn't much dirt and quickly they sprang up because they had no depth of earth and when the sun was up they were scorched because they had no root, they withered away; who are these people? These are the people that this is the greatest message they've ever heard, ready to help us put their hand to the plow, ready to jump; ah, I ain't never heard nothing like this; you're right, right. 31 This is oh my God I'm in, brother, I've been looking for this my whole life; and they grow real fast, they're ready to become an apostle; oh yeah, they're ready to be ordained; oh yeah; they're ready to be everything, right, because they believe this message; and I watch them, I watch a long time; here's why; my grandmother told me it's normally the loudest wheel that has to get greased. 32 Listen to me, listen carefully; there are some that have heard this message and they've gotten so excited about it; but the Bible said they had no depth; and when the sun came out, or in other words when hell got hot, when the message went past their lips into their belly, the Bible said it was sweet to the lips but bitter to the belly; and the Bible said that the sun comes up and scorches that person; and you look around and say, well I wonder where brother so and so went; they've withered away. 33 Does it make them bad people? No, no, no, no; does it make them evil? No; they just withered because they didn't take the depth and stay with it; God's given you a message that has stickability to it; you got to stay with this message and this message will stay with you; there's a third group of people; another mind; somebody say another mind; this is not soil, this is minds, sir. 34 Number three, verse 7, some fell among thorns and the thorns sprung up and choked them; doesn't mean they didn't hear the message; doesn't mean they didn't receive it; but it means that they like playing around with thorns; they like playing around with thorns; they like being there with the thorns and the Bible said before you know it they've become what they hang around. 35 But there's a fourth kind of mind that I love; but others fell into a good mind; and how do we know? They brought forth fruit; they brought forth fruit; now they didn't all bring forth the same, some hundredfold, some 60 fold, and some 30 fold; and then I love what Yesua said; now everything I just told you he said don't listen to a word of it because it ain't got nothing to do with what I'm trying to tell you; what you think I just said is not what I said; what you think you read is not what you read; he said he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit is saying. 36 Hallelujah; hallelujah; let him hear; verse 10, and the disciples came and said unto him, why speakest thou unto them in parables? Let's read Psalm 78; I'm going to show you why God speaks in parables; Psalm 78 verse 1 and two; Elder Morgan, there's a reason that Yahweh speaks in parables; amen; give ear oh my people to my law, incline your ears to the words of my mouth; I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old. 37 Here's what he said, I'm going to speak in a parable but my people I need you to incline your ear; he said I'm fixing to open my mouth in a parable; I'm going to conceal from the ones that I'm speaking to; I'm going to speak to them but not speak to them; I'm really seeing to, I'm really looking to see who will incline their ear, and that'll be my people, sir; everybody else will listen to the parable but my people will incline, they'll lean in. 38 That you ever heard, you know when your mom and daddy was talking behind the door? Well you're not supposed to get behind the door and listen, well then don't do that; but I'm in the Lord's door and he told me to come listen; brothers and sisters he said incline your ear; what does that mean? Lean in, sir; read it again; listen, it's so important that we know why he's speaking in parable; because only the ones that are listening are identified as my people; that's right. 39 Read, give an ear, give me an ear oh my people and see; see, only my people, that's now; I'm going to speak in a parable; that's right; in a dark saying, yes, which is what a prophecy; I'm going to hide my word in a prophecy; wow; I'm going to hide my message in a parable; a parable, yes sir; but my people are going to say, uh, what'd you say, give an ear; that's right; hallelujah. 40 I know you ain't talking about no seed; what'd you say; I know you ain't talking about no mustard seed; what, my people are always showing up for Bible study; yes sir; the church shows up for camp meetings, the church shows up for music conferences; but my people show up for Bible study; that's where my people show up; when you see them inclining their ear and they're saying hold on now, what's coming next, they're so hungry for it, sir. 41 Read Elder, what it said; to my law incline your ears to the words of my mouth; I will open my mouth in a parable; I'm going to open my mouth but don't listen to a word I'm saying; wow; did anybody hear that? He said I'm going to open my mouth and talk about valleys, dry bones, valley full of bones; yes sir; but don't listen to a word that I'm saying; yes; hallelujah; listen to the words that I'm not saying; hallelujah; because that's the message of the hour, is the one you can't hear. 42 Hallelujah; this ministry will help you hear what he didn't say; glory; even though that's really what he said; come on now; only my people dig in; if you want to know if you're an Israelite, listen to me carefully; if you could go to church without one song, if you could go to church without one skit or one drama, if you could go to church only for the word, you might be an Israelite; because when I was growing up we went to church praying the preacher wouldn't preach hours; oh we was hoping Sister Livy Jane would get us all shouting, wouldn't be no preaching. 43 That's the church we grew up in; but I'm telling you God's people hunger, they incline their ear to hear what he's really saying; amen; let's go back to verse 11 of Matthew 13; now he answered and said unto them it is given unto you to know the secrets of the Kingdom; what did he just say? Every parable, everybody wake up if you can, I'm almost done; he said every parable is giving you the secrets to the kingdom over and over and over again; every parable is pointing you to the kingdom. 44 There wasn't a nobleman that went to a far country; he said I'm giving you the secret; I can't tell the church because they don't desire the kingdom, they all go into hell or heaven; but I'm going to give the secrets of the kingdom to the 144,000, to the overcomer; I'm teaching you secrets to the kingdom of God; every parable; for example, all my life I heard about the woman that lost 10 coins or that had 10 coins, right; I never knew that was the 10 tribes of Israel pointing to the kingdom. 45 I heard about the prodigal son; I didn't know that wasn't about a backslider, that's about the lost tribes that went and lived among the Gentiles; I didn't know that every parable was pointing to the kingdom; I didn't even know what the kingdom was; the parable of Lazarus in hell, the rich man in hell, has nothing to do with Lazarus or hell; it's all pointing to Israel replacing Judah; and they had, I don't have time to teach it but every parable is the secrets of the kingdom. 46 When you go to the valley of dry bones, when you go to the Potter's wheel, for example Jeremiah, the Bible said he went to the Potter's house; the potter was working on the wheel and he took a piece of pottery and it wouldn't mold right; he broke it down but he didn't destroy it, he broke it down and then just began to reshape it; that was the house of Israel, yes sir; he broke the house of Israel down to reshape it into one new man; but that second piece of pottery, the house of Judah, he destroyed it; I won't go there tonight; every parable is the secrets of the kingdom; hallelujah. 47 They're concealed in the parables; why are these secrets? Here's why, we'll read it; verse 12, for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; whoever has what? The secrets of the kingdom; he'll have more; have you ever wondered how every time I preach we can get more? You know why don't you? Because he that hath the secrets of the kingdom, now every time he reads a scripture in the Bible he'll see the kingdom and he'll get more and then he'll give him more and then he'll give him more; because you have to love the secrets of the kingdom of God. 48 I can read that Bible and see what's not written there; why? Because I know the kingdom; I understand the kingdom message; everything Yesua came to do was not to bring you to heaven, it was to prepare you for the kingdom; glory, hallelujah; more will be given; why does he make them secrets? Here's why, to keep people who do not care for truth from being given truth. 49 Let me tell you who don't get truth; people that tell you when you start discussing the scriptures, now I don't get involved in doctrine; okay, I got it, you know truth, you just care about spirit, you just want to get throwed out in the floor; I got you; come back up the same way you went down; another words, he said the reason I don't give truth to everybody is because I don't give my pearls to swine; that's right; amen; that's it, precious; if you don't love truth you won't stay around here; that's for sure. 50 That's right; but the reason this ministry fills up with people that are rock solid is because they love truth; oh, no, contrary to what you think they don't love Shane Von; I don't care what you think, that ain't what this is about; they love truth and I just happen to be the man serving the meal; amen; when I go to Waffle House at 2 in the morning, sneak out the house, my wife's asleep, go down there to get a waffle, put pecans in it, I love that waitress as much as I do that waffle cuz I can't get the waffle without the waitress. 51 I can't say hey waffle, come over here; oh yeah, that's why I tip her; that's why y'all tithe to me, pastor, I'm just the waitress, sir; all I'm doing is, hey, I saw another revelation, here you go; why? Because those that love truth will get truth; those that protect truth will be given more truth; it's just like special little gifts; let's say you've got an heirloom; are you going to give that just anybody? No sir. 52 You know which one; and even your kids, you know which ones really ain't going to take care of it; but you know you want to give it to those that will preserve it; my grandmother when she died, there were three records left that she had out of the thousands that she sold; there were three; everybody else was there to get the money she had left in the bank, everybody else was there to get the car and the oh; all I wanted was the records. 53 Why? I would preserve them; I would preserve them; I would make my children listen to them when they didn't want to; I'd let the grandkids hear their great grandmother; I would preserve the message; God knows who to give truth to; Yahweh knows who to give it to, those that will preserve it and hide it from the birds; he wants you to hide his word in your heart so that nothing can take it away from you; nothing in the whole world; hallelujah. 54 Great treasures require those who give it great care; did you hear me? Great treasures; why do we give them to a museum? Museums have curators; them curators, Elder loots, they put on gloves before they touch it; it's so precious to them; I'm telling you there's some curators in this ministry; they handle the truth with care; they love the truth. 55 Whenever you meet someone that says now I don't want to argue doctrine, what they're telling you is I don't care about truth; that's what they're saying; now I they may be; here's the problem; if you care about truth, I crave people to talk to me about doctrine; I crave it, yes sir; why? Because if I'm wrong you're fixing to prove me wrong; yes sir; I don't want to be wrong, I want to be right; I don't run away from debate; people say I don't debate, that's a copout; right, yes sir; the Bible demands you to defend this gospel; it demands you to be ready to give an answer for every man that asks you; it's not a debate to fight, it's a debate to find out if you're wrong or right. 56 Love doctrine; any church that's not built on doctrine is not a church, it is just a social club; doctrine; it's the pearls of God; he gives them to you and says now if you care for this one I'll give you another one, I'll give you another one; we had a lady in our church when I was a little boy, Granny Pace; she would cook after church and we'd go to her house; and if you acted like you liked her cooking she would stand at the table over you with her apron; do you love it, do you love it, son? And I'm trying to get at it; do you love it? Yeah granny I love it; well here, let me get you some more baby, you need some; see that's the way God is; do you love it? Do you love it? Then I'll get you some more; I said I'll get you some more; I'll give you truth; he that hungers and thirsts after truth shall be filled. 57 I wish I could preach tonight, wish my voice would let me preach the devil out of this cuz I want truth; the day that truth no longer means everything is the day it no longer means anything; truth matters; you know what kills me about these Patriots and I love them all, they all want the truth of RFK and JFK and every alien ship out there; they want to know the truth; we're truth seekers, we're truthers; but they won't listen to God's truth that I've preached for one minute; it's not just truth you need, God's truth. 58 They'd rather listen to somebody lie to them and call it; you got more liars in podcasting on the right than you do the left; wow; oh yeah; I know him; I know him; I talked to one of them one night, he had a man on there, killed the audio for about two seconds; not on here, but hear the lie than the truth. 59 I'll never forget the day after the election in 2020; I came and I remember looking at the camera and everyone was inboxing me, emailing me, that there was going to be another inauguration on March, I think the 17th, if I remember correctly, that Trump was the president of the Confederacy or whatever it was called, and he was going to be inaugurated; and I told him no, he's not, never going to happen; I lost thousands and thousands and thousands of followers; but I said that day, Roar 24, and that's exactly how it's turned out; here's why, God's word is true and I know the prophecy; I read that Jeroboam would have to war for his throne; you got to love truth; you got to get an ear for truth; don't have an itching ear, get an ear for truth. 60 Verse 12, he will be given more and he'll have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even what he has; what does that mean, hath not? What does he not have? He don't have an understanding of the kingdom; that's what he don't have; what did the others have? An understanding of the kingdom; right; he said the Christian that does not have an understanding of the kingdom, even what he had will be taken away; what did he have? A dominion mandate; what did he have? The potential to rule and reign with Christ; he was given that promise but it'll be taken away from him; not his salvation, no; but the understanding of why he was born, sir; wow. 61 You'll get no inheritance in the government if you don't understand the government; it'll be taken away from you; that's what the 30 minutes in heaven in silence will be; read verse 13; he said therefore I speak to them, who? The ones that don't have an understanding of the kingdom; that's right; all the others, I speak to them in parables because they see not; as a matter of fact they won't go to your church pastor Von, cuz they want to go to a church that teaches them the parables. 62 They want to go, I've heard, I've had people tell me, do you ever just you know teach the parables? I'm like no; why? Because what the parables say ain't what the parables say; but we do preach you the understanding of the kingdom which is what the parables are pointing to; hallelujah; hallelujah; therefore I speak to them in parables because they see but they see not; all they see is red letters; they see but they see not and they hear but they hear not, neither do they understand. 63 Do you know why you came to First Harvest Ministries? Because it finally all made sense for you; you understood; this ministry is an understanding ministry; as a matter of fact Sister Angel do you have those study guides for me; we have two brand new, or one at least, we have; okay, thank you; okay this one here, Preparation for Passover study guide, it will help you to understand Passover; I want every member of the church, zoom in on this, son. 64 I want every member of the church, you're required to read this before you come to the table, sir, on Passover; so make sure you get this; so this ministry, by the time you get through reading it, every morning when you do your Bible study take a few lines, read this, and get ready for Passover; why? We don't want you taking Passover, we want you understanding Passover; because if you just take Passover it's nothing but a religious ritual but you got to understand it; understanding. 65 And then we have another one out, Spiritual Authority, the numbers of your destiny, 30 60 100 fold; this is the most important lesson in this ministry; those three numbers will change your life, brother; y'all need to bring some to y'all's meeting this weekend, Elder loots, for the people, especially these Passover ones; now why do we make these? The layers of the law have been sitting on that table for at least 3 or 4 weeks; if you are not here to be a student of the scriptures you're in the wrong church; go ahead and lose a few more, it ain't going to hurt me. 66 Now we're done down to whatever; all right, you need to be in these when you wake up in the morning, yes sir; why? As you begin to understand it; and look, they're not difficult, they're the transcriptions of the sermon; every they're easy to read and you need to read them when you read your Bible; why? Understanding, sir, sir. 67 Let me tell you who will never leave this ministry; those that I'm going to say a mouthful, stay with me, listen carefully; those that understand the kingdom, you'll never leave; you'll take your beatings, you'll take the plow, you'll take the whipping, you'll take it all; why? Because you understand what God's doing in your life; you understand the breaking; the kingdom; when the pastor looks at you and preaches against doing something on the Sabbath, you will learn to submit to the word, not to the man, but the word; I have no authority; none; Bishop Kendrick has no authority until we open the word; the authority is the word. 68 And when we come into line with that and preach it we have all authority with that word; and brothers and sisters, we make these, give them away free; they cost $10 for me to make these, well not, well I don't give these away; but the other booklets we give away; why do we do it? We want you to understand; because if you ever get to understanding, your feet will be planted on a rock; you have to understand the kingdom; you have to understand the kingdom. 69 The parables are used in verse 14, and in them, who is them? Those that don't understand the kingdom; is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says by hearing you hear and you shall not understand; did anybody ever grow up in a church where you heard but you didn't understand? That's what Isaiah prophesied; you would hear but you would not understand; seeing you shall see but you will not perceive; we're living in a church world that fulfills that prophecy; they hear, they see, but there's no understanding at all of what it's all about. 70 You don't just need to read the word, you must understand it; and this ministry will cause you to understand, yes sir; and like it or not, Yahweh uses men to help you understand; I got to say something now; we are living in a church world that people seem to think that God's going to teach them directly; that's why they're all so messed up; if God is going to teach you directly, that's why when I teach on what happens to the dead I have some of the most brilliant people tell me, well now God told me something different; I said, no he didn't; I don't care what you think, no he didn't; cuz it is written, it is written. 71 Here's the problem; now I'm fixing to say something; I don't need a man to teach me, they say; they say the Bible says you have no need of a man; it does not say that; and I'm not going to get into it tonight; but when Yesua was going to his father in heaven the Bible said that he turned around and gave gifts to the church and those gifts was the pastor, the prophet, the evangelist, the teacher, and what did I miss? The apostle; five fingers; that's the hand of God; those five fingers is the hand of God; they will shape you, they will break you, they will rebuild you; that's the hand of God. 72 Brothers and sisters listen to me, I want you to understand something tonight; the message that I preach, I didn't get 80% of this message from God, but yet I did; I need to explain to you something tonight because there's somebody sending out a little text to everybody that I got this message from Torah to the tribes; everybody's getting a little T; that's not his message, he stole; you can't steal the word of God, you dummy, right; but anyway, hallelujah; I'm not super special; God was giving this message to men way before I ever came along; amen; you understand, yes sir. 73 It's here a little, there a little, there a little; that's right; I didn't know about Torah to the tribes till a year ago; what was I preaching nine years before that? I'm telling you, God used Herbert Armstrong to teach me about the Sabbath day; God used my grandmother to teach me about Jesus name baptism; God uses men to bring you truth; hallelujah; and yes, oh they, dummy face knows who I'm talking about; she said, uh, he, we found his source; baby, you can't find my source; you don't know where my source is; it's God that leads me here and leads me there, leads me there and leads me there; my source is the Holy Ghost and he points me where to go. 74 This ain't my message; I've never said it was; this is his message; he happened to let me clue in on it; here a little, there a little; oh, so so why don't you tell your sources? Here's why; here's why I'm going to tell you why; if I send you the Torah to the tribes, me and him agree on one thing, the two houses of Israel; come on; but he believes in incarnation, no, he believes in pre-incarnation of Christ; he got the wrong godhead, the wrong baptism; everything else is wrong; some of you can't handle going there, it'll mess your head up. 75 I can't send you to Herbert Armstrong either; that's right; why? Herbert believed in two Gods; yeah, he believed the father and the son was at creation; I can't send you there; he don't believe in the baptism of the Holy Ghost; I can't send you there; he believes in the Sabbath, we built this message; that's right; and nowhere have I ever found where it is perfect from cover to cover, no matter what other ministry I've been to; hallelujah; hallelujah; they'll have you worshiping a man; come on. 76 I could send you, let's see, I love Mama Hicks, y'all don't miss that source, go check her out, yes sir; I got a thousand books in my library, that's all my sources too, go read them all; but I can't say for example, I'm going to give you an example; there's a place I made a mistake a few weeks ago; I shared something; there's a reason I don't credit everything; I shared something about the lost tribes of Israel, a group that is great for that subject, and I normally would have copied and pasted without, but I shared the group and of course everybody went and joined it; they don't believe Jesus is the Messiah; wow. 77 So I can't send you there; we built you a safe place right here; we built you a safe place right here; our source is the Holy Ghost; hallelujah; thank you; I send you there, they put you on the wrong calendar; God's put something together; he has shown me now; there's many things that I teach; the Third Temple, that came directly from the Holy Ghost; there's many things; 30 60 and 100, you'll never hear that anywhere, came directly from the Holy Ghost. 78 A lot of great things I believe, just like Paul; I believe in the Masoretic text, so does he, but I can't send you there for certain reasons; we got understanding; you got people with little brains that don't; God has put a message together here, here a little and there a little, and he's built a perfect house where you're safe from the craziness out there; be happy at home; hallelujah; the food is good; it's besides, if you go to Torah to the tribes that guy bore you to death, right; so my point is don't leave home; there's a reason I don't share things, there's a reason I don't give you links; there's some dangerous stuff out there. 79 I've been in this a long time; I've heard every doctrine out there, sir; and I've shuffled through; I'm about discernment of the Holy Ghost, how to protect First Harvest Church; we provide you material; you got a good home here; you know, Curious George, go right ahead, and you're going to wind up not believing they don't believe Paul is a real Apostle; do y'all know that? Here's what happens; let me tell y'all what happens; people that come to the Sabbath day, won't be long they'll start doubting the whole New Testament; won't be long they'll start; y'all don't believe me, go, it's all over the internet; Paul's not a real Apostle, he's sent by the devil. 80 And we got people that was in this ministry that believe that now cuz they wouldn't stay at home where the message is pure; and you go out there, and before you know it, before you know it, instead of understanding the kingdom you're more worried about what shape the earth is instead of understanding the kingdom; stay out of those places and get an understanding of the kingdom of God; I'm not against that, if you want to believe it that's fine, but you need an understanding of the kingdom; that is what we need; you get distracted; that's it; before long you won't pray no more, you won't even come to the church. 81 Why? Because you're so far gone; only because you didn't need a man to teach you and you was going to teach yourself; I'm going to tell you, I see some of y'all post things on Facebook and I see people respond and I'm like, my God, the world's in trouble; the church world is in trouble because God wants you to have an understanding of the kingdom. 82 Listen to me, we are not, and this is important, we are not a Sabbath keeping church; we are not a Masoretic text church; we are not a holy day church; we happen to believe all of that; we are a kingdom church; we believe in the coming kingdom of God and that's what we believe; and anything we preach will tie into that; we keep Sabbath because the kingdom is coming on the Sabbath day; everything we teach is kingdom; yes sir; you have to understand the kingdom. 83 Read for me Deuteronomy 11:13; Deuteronomy 4 and 6; I can, do you know why, amen, Elder Bets, that I can't send everybody even to a woman that I loved, Sister Ruth Hein; I loved her with all my heart but she got off into some things that I can't endorse scripturally; so why don't I send everybody there? I don't want you getting messed up; amen; and I loved sister Ruth; that's right; I loved her with all my heart but at the end she got out of the scriptures; wow; have you ever heard me say go listen to her preach? No; now you can listen to her sing; nobody can bring the glory in like she can; but I'm trying to protect the church, amen, from wolves; thank you, Pastor. 84 And I'm not talking about bad wolves but just the little foxes that's right that spoil the vine; amen; you're welcome; it's what I do, yes sir; and I feel like at First Harvest we have a balance of all of these beautiful truths; and you're welcome to believe what you want to; I've got people in this church that believe certain things; some pronounce the name different, some believe the earth is in a different shape, that's fine; but listen to me, you're welcome, we love you; that's fine; we really are not a cult; you're free to believe what you want to, just don't go talking about it all over the church; let us keep unity. 85 We had a sister here for Pentecost and it's what I love about this lady; when the ladies had their tea party this sister has very strong convictions about the Sabbath, stronger than I have, and she wouldn't go to the tea party because it was on the Sabbath; now I personally saw nothing wrong with it because of my understanding of the Sabbath; but I want to tell you it was a month later before I knew that's why she wasn't at the tea party. 86 You know why? She knows how to not talk it among the church and cause trouble; amen; amen; nobody knew why she wasn't there; she had a conviction; that's right; and she refrained, sir; and then when I asked her why wasn't she there, they were so kind and polite; well, we just didn't want to go on the Sabbath; oh, thank you; and nobody in the church heard you murmuring; that nobody heard you saying that; wow; you lived your conviction and left the church alone; you let me pastor the church and you kept your conviction; hallelujah; amen; that's how we do it; that's right; that's how we do it. 87 You have a conviction about a certain way of dressing? Do it, live it, but do not judge and condemn your brothers or sisters that may not have that tight a conviction; let me pastor the church and you live the way God has told you to live and don't give it up for nothing; amen; there are certain things that I will not do that might be perfectly legal; Paul said all things are lawful but they're not expedient; amen; there's a lot of things you can do and be fine with God; that's right, right; my God, David had a lot of wives, but it ain't expedient; amen; praise God; you can't afford it either; oh my God. 88 Deuteronomy, read for me 11:13; I want to show you our ministry and what God's called us to do; amen; take you wise men and understanding and known among your tribes and I will make them rulers over you; who is going to be the rulers over the rest of the church? Wise men, understanding men; that's right; read it again; I'm going to make these, that understand, what is he saying? He said out of all the church, out of Israel, that's right, understand, find the people that understand; amen; amen; and I'll make them the rulers; yes sir; amen; this ministry is trying to help you understand so that you can rule and reign with Christ; those that have understanding let them rule. 89 Deuteronomy 4:6 says, while I grab this you go grab 1st Chronicles 12:32; Deuteronomy 4:6, keep therefore and do them, talking about the commandments, for this is your understanding and the sight of the nations which shall hear of these statutes and say surely this great nation is an understanding people; God wants you to understand the kingdom. 90 Read 1st Chronicles 12:32; and of the children of Issachar which were men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were 200 and all their brethren were at their commandment; these were the sons of Issachar; do you know who the sons were? They were the ones in Israel that would not drink any alcohol; now evidently God allowed the rest of them to drink a little; they chose not to; that's right. 91 The sons of Issachar; you know why they had understanding? Understand, yes sir; they understood it would make a fool out of you, yes sir; they understood it would rob you of your ability to think straight; that's right; they understood it would turn you into a creature that God's trying to make you no longer be, sir; they understood; they didn't condemn the rest of them; but for the sons of Issachar, right, they understood the kingdom that they wanted to rule and reign; that's right. 92 Do you know Donald Trump has never drank a drop of alcohol? That's right; a billionaire has never drank a beer; amen; amen; he understood his destiny; yes he did; yes he did; animals have to do that; men with understanding they understand they were born not to be what they've always been; they were born to change; I don't care what you do but as for me in my house, sons of Issachar, wisdom and understanding. 93 Brothers and sisters, God's calling you to understand the times; amen; God wants you to be an understanding person; a ministry that'll shut all the music down and say now open your Bible, let's understand, let's understand what it's saying for our lives; Psalms 111 verse 10, read what David says about understanding; Psalms 111 verse 10, amen; the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do his commandments; oh yes; his praise endureth forever. 94 Yes; we don't keep commandments to get saved; we keep commandments to understand; we want to understand our God, his ways, his path, his holiness; good understanding have they that do the commandments; Psalms, I'll read it, 119 and verse 34; give me understanding and I will keep your law; yes sir; I shall observe it with my whole heart; if I have what? Understanding; if you don't have understanding, you know what they say? All I need is Jesus; that's dumbness, sir; that's dumbness. 95 You don't have understanding; you don't understand that Jesus gives you salvation; the commandments give you understanding; oh, you don't need these commandments for salvation; no, you get them because of salvation; and then you get understanding; yes sir; oh, we don't preach a works-based salvation; we preach a salvation that works; amen; that's what we preach; get it straight if you're going to lie on us. 96 Proverbs 4 and 7; hallelujah; straight from the word, sir; Proverbs 4 and 7; wisdom is the principal thing; somebody say wisdom is the main thing; the main thing; read, therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding; my, my, hallelujah; if you want to get anything, I want to get saved, okay good, but above all that get understanding; understand; get understanding; hallelujah. 97 Why? Because if you ever understand the kingdom you'll never ever leave God's church ever again; ever, ever; hallelujah; agree that? Hallelujah; let's go back to our parable so we can close; Matthew 13 again, verse 15; if you go to a church where they want the preacher to preach 30 minutes, you're in a church that don't understand; that's right; this understanding I'm giving you, it'll plant your feet on a rock; amen. 98 Let's read verse 15, Matthew; wait, what, where was we at? Matthew 11; all right; for the people's heart is waxed gross, their ears are dull of hearing, their eyes they have closed; he said I didn't close them, they closed them; and since they closed them I'm gonna keep them closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their mind; remember the word heart means mind; and should be converted; then I would heal them. 99 Notice what he says; they have grown dull; they're so used to hearing the word that they've grown dull; they no longer incline their ear to teaching; they want to fall out in the spirit, they want to just pray at the altar, as far as praise and worship, that's all they want to do; he said they have literally failed to incline their ear; it happened over time; there you go; and when you lose your desire to understand the word you're done; that's that's it. 100 Brother V, how do I know if I've lost that desire? I'm so glad you ask; how do I know I've lost my desire to understand the word? When you can be distracted by anything other than the word and it become more important than the message you're hearing from the word; that's when you have lost your desire for understanding; when you begin to find problems and find this and find that; let me ask you a question, take it all in two hands, tell me which one weighs out the most; if it's the word that you're hearing, don't lose your desire to understand it. 101 Verse 17; verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things that you see; they've never seen them; to hear the things that you hear and they've never heard them; verse 18, hear ye therefore the parable of the sower; now he already told the parable earlier, right? What does he say now? Hear it; and now he's going to break it down for them; now to the disciples only; the 12 disciples get the breakdown. 102 Verse number 19; here's what it means; when anyone hears the word of the kingdom, not the gospel about Christ, but when they hear the word of the kingdom and they don't understand what they heard, then comes the birds, the wicked one, and catches away that which was sown in the mind; this is he that received the seed by the wayside; who is that man? The man that hears it but they don't understand it. 103 Why do you think I teach for hours? I don't want you to be that man; I want you to understand what you're hearing; but he said there's some people that they'll hear the message and they'll think you're preaching this or that; oh we love the message pastor but we're going to go on, we don't, you know; no, no, then you didn't understand the message; part of the message is submission to the kingdom; the message; see, you thought the message was what happens to the dead; you thought the message was keep the Sabbath day holy; you thought the message was the commandments; and therefore you're going to come out of the government of the church and go do your own thing saying you love the message. 104 The reason you're doing that, you didn't understand it; it wasn't about any of that; it was about a government that we're preparing to rule and reign in; and to do that then we've got to submit now to the government of the church; that's right; right; well they heard that; they heard the motto; they bought the shirt; they got the shirt that says training for reigning, schooling for ruling; they got a bag of chips to go with it; they heard it but they didn't understand. 105 They didn't understand right that they really were training; amen; that's it; I believe it; they really were schooling; I believe for ruling; because if you understand that, Elder, you'll never ever ever ever; why? Because you can't go out here; oh I learned about the Masoretic text; so did you learn to submit to the man of God? You don't need a man of God, do you? I know you don't, because you're a thorn, yes sir; you're a thorn. 106 God sends you men to train you for the kingdom by the very thing they're doing in your life, right; that's right; the men of God make you look at yourself; that's what the men of God do; they make you understand that you need to submit your life to this work, right; they help you to understand that; why do you think somebody the other day was talking and they said something about brother Ricky and I said Elder Connelly; amen; why? I'm training you; amen; amen; I'm training you well; what does that have to do with my training? Honor is everything; yes sir; amen. 107 Pastor, he's no better than anybody in this room; amen; worse than some; amen; but it doesn't matter; we honor the authority that Yahweh has established in the house if we're going to be training for reigning; because in that kingdom, Sister Chelsea, you're going to be submitted to King David, Jeremiah, the apostles; and if you can't do it now you won't do it then; recognize and understand what you've learned here. 108 When Saturday rolls around and everybody wants you to do everything in the world with them, why God chose the day of the week that everybody does stuff on I don't know; that's right; they chose to do the wrong thing; now what is your job? To be the example of the right thing; why? You're training; brothers and sisters, my heart breaks; let me show you what the message is not; I'm leaving the ministry now, I'm taking the message with me; that ain't the message. 109 Just cuz you wearing a toed over there in your little home study group now, that's not the message; what are you connected to? What work are you helping to build? What work are you helping to build that's getting the message of the kingdom out to the world? What are you connected to? 110 Verse number 20; but he that receive the word, the message, into stony places is the same that heareth the word and with joy they receive it; oh yes they do; but you have no root; you endure for a little while, but when tribulation or persecution arises because of the message, you get offended; soon as you get over the introductory messages, what happened to the dead, everybody likes that one. 111 But as soon as you get over here to the song of the bride, sir, as soon as you start to hear 30 60 100, as soon as you begin to prepare for Passover and all of these things, what happens is you will get offended by the change it's making in your life; it begins to be a little too much, a little too involved; amen, sir; amen; praise Yahweh. 112 Verse 22; he also that receives seed among the thorns is he that hears the word, they love the message, but the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches chokes the word; do you know why some of you don't have no money? That's the only way God can keep you in the church; amen; I'm serious; soon as you get blessed, the cares of life; oh wait a minute, what could the cares of life do, that sports game on the Sabbath, the cares of life, uh, this thing, that, it's all getting in your way; now it chokes the word. 113 These people, Sister Lydia, received it, they loved it, they paid their tithe because they believed it; and then the next day the car got repossessed; the cares of life choked out what they'd been taught; I'd rather be broke living in a tent trusting in the Lord than being choked by the things of this life and the cares of this life; hallelujah; glory to God; ain't nobody in here going to go without; nobody; but the devil is sure going to make you think you are, right. 114 I want you to look back over your life; has he ever not brought you through? Has he ever, ever, not brought you through? He's the same yesterday, today, and forever; don't let him choke the word out of you; the word is growing, don't let him choke it; the cares of this life; hallelujah. 115 Verse number 23; but he that received the message into good ground is he that not only heard it, he understood it; what did Yesua say this word was? The secrets of the kingdom; he said, he said there's going to be somebody that's going to hear me preach a message about the kingdom and they're going to understand that God's got a job for them to do; they're going to get it, they're going to get it, and they're going to do what? They're going to bear fruit; they're going to bring forth some 30 60 and a hundredfold. 116 And then he gives them another parable; we're not going to read it but I encourage you to read it when you get home and see if you can't hear what he's saying without saying it; hallelujah; I'm going to close; I want to read to you Acts 17 and 11; honey come to the piano so they'll trust that I'm closing. 117 Acts 17 and 11; these were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with a ready mind and they searched the scriptures daily to see if what Paul was saying was true; this is the Bereans; they listened to Paul preach and they received it but they went and verified it; they went and searched it out; what does Paul call them? More noble than the other Christians, or more royal? More royal than the other Christians; much more royal than the other Christians. 118 Let's close out with 2 Peter 1:4-8; second Peter 1 4 through 8; what kind of mind do you have? Oh hallelujah; we need a ready mind; second Peter 1 4-8; whereby are given unto us precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped corruption that is in the world through lust. 119 And besides this give all diligence and add to your faith; somebody say add to your faith; you need more than faith, you got to start adding things; what do you have to add? Virtue; and then when you've added virtue you can't go off and say I've grown in the Lord; no, then you got to add something else; now you got to add understanding; and after you've added understanding you're not done; then you got to add temperance; then you got to add patience; then you got to add godliness; then you got to add brotherly kindness. 120 Verse 7; for if these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our savior; but he that lacks these things is blind and cannot see; brothers and sisters add to your faith knowledge and understanding and you'll never disappear; I've come to preach to you tonight you've got to understand the secrets of the kingdom; and they'll keep you. 121 For just one moment in God's kingdom will be worth it all; for just one moment, just one moment in God's kingdom, will be worth it all; for just one look on his face, just one view of that beautiful place; for just one moment in God's kingdom will be worth it all; sing it with me tonight; for just one moment and God's kingdom will be worth it all; for just one moment and God's kingdom will be worth it all; oh just one look on his face, just one view of that beautiful place, beautiful; just one moment in God's kingdom it'll be worth it all. 122 I've been through a lot of troubles and trials, I must confess, I must confess; I've run the race, sometimes I failed to pass the test, to pass the test; oh, when I get weary, when I get tired, I feel like stopping and stopping by the side; I remember that a moment in God's kingdom it'll be worth it all; for just one moment, then God's kingdom will be worth it all; for just one moment, just one moment in God's kingdom, in God's kingdom, will be worth it all; worth it all; for just one look, just one look on his face, just one view, just one view, beautiful place; for just one moment and God's kingdom will be worth it all. 123 It really will, children; it'll be worth every hard mile, every long trial; it'll be worth it all; amen; well thank you for bearing with us tonight; I pray you received the word of the Lord tonight in your spirit mind; amen; somebody say I'm not a bird brain; I'm not a bird brain; I'm going to cover that seed; hallelujah; glory; before you know it everything you've learned will be gone if you got birds in your brain; amen. 124 Come on Elder, I'm sorry I couldn't give it my all tonight; I'm a little low but I feel good in my soul; I know that; praise the Lord; we're fixing to go; thank you Elder; we're fixing to go eat next door; Father I pray you bless the food, bless the hands that have prepared it; we thank you for your presence here tonight; we thank you for your Sabbath day; we thank you that your kingdom is coming; we thank you Father that we have an understanding of that; help us to hold on to it; help us to hold on to it; in your name I pray; amen.