 Last week I had the privilege of having lunch with one of the men in our church me and my husband with Jose some of you guys know we went to his house with him and his wife and it was an awesome time just so you know Jose can throw down so if he invites you for lunch say yes so we were talking with him and he was sharing us the story of his salvation and how he came to Christ and it was a really awesome story and he told me Brittany when I came to Jesus Christ I gave my heart to the Lord in this brand new church and I decided I wanted to get close to the pastor so as soon as I gave my life to God I went up to the pastor and I said pastor I have one question for you yes Jose what's next he said Jose the next step is now that you've been saved you need to get water baptized so Jose immediately signed up for the next water baptism and along with about 40 other people he got water baptized in front of the whole church and so he then went up to his church and he said pastor I have one question for you and he said yes Jose and he said what's next and his pastor said now that you've been water baptized you need to pray and ask God to baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire through the evidence of speaking in tongues and Jose said all right pastor and he began to pray and seek God and ask him Lord baptize me in your Holy Spirit and fire so that I may speak in tongues and he said that this process took a couple of months but finally on one fateful day on a on a church service he was praying and the spirit of God touched him so mightily and he began speaking in other tongues and after this happened Jose went up to his pastor he's the pastor yes Jose what's next and I believe that many of us can relate to this story we've now been on this series this break free series and we have been equipped with the knowledge and practical advice on how to get free and stay free and some of us are asking ourselves this question what's next our life especially our Christian life our walk with God is in stages and we may be asking ourselves what next and God gives us illustrations through nature to help us answer this question I believe that Jesus was able to speak in parables I believe that he was able to speak in parables because the answers to life are all around us we simply have to take a deeper look amen tell your neighbor take a deeper look if you can open up with me to Psalms chapter 92 verse 12 we're gonna start off the message in this scripture Psalms chapter 92 verse 12 through 14 let's just ask and invite Holy Spirit Holy Spirit we invite you in this place we pray God that you will speak to our hearts today God that you will help us to walk in our journey with you give us the practical steps on how to follow you speak to our hearts today let your word be planted in our spirit causing us to grow in Jesus name amen Psalms chapter 92 verse 12 it says this the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon those who are planted somebody say planted in the house of the Lord say the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God they shall still bear fruit in old age say bear fruit they shall be fresh and flourishing hallelujah I want you to hold on to that scripture right now we're gonna go to the second scripture so we're gonna go to Psalms chapter 1 verse 3 so you're in the middle of the Psalms right now go all the way back to the beginning Psalms chapter 1 and verse 3 it says this he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper amen the Bible says that we should be like a tree remember I said that God gives us illustrations through nature to answer some of life's questions because the answer to life's question is all around us and today we're gonna take a deeper look amen the Bible says that we should be like a tree and that brings me to the title of my message today called seeds and seasons somebody say seeds and seasons I want you to notice something about a tree a tree does not begin tall and majestic it's really easy when we look at a tree physically we see all that it is and we marvel at its beauty but today we're gonna take a deeper look because the tree did not start off that way it came from somewhere it started from somewhere and there are six significant stages of a tree and how it goes from a seed to a mature tree and we're gonna talk about those stages today and how they were representative of our Christian walk with God so the very first step to becoming a tree is a seed every single one of us we start as a seed and the significance of a seed is that a seed must be planted amen this is representative of salvation we must come to Jesus Christ and give our lives to him the next step is water baptism getting connected to a home group getting planted like it said in Psalms chapter 92 getting planted in the house of the Lord as a seed it is simply a shell full of potential it is a shell that is full of life but the life-giving potential cannot come out of the shell until it is first buried into the ground until it is first planted in the house of the Lord some of us here we have a misconception about church and we oftentimes block ourselves from getting planted into the church because some of us have been a little bit hurt by the church I want to tell you something very significant about a seed when a seed is planted into the soil it doesn't mind that the soil is dirty it doesn't mind that it's a little bit dirty because while the soil may be dirty it is also fertile amen whatever is stopping you from giving your life to Jesus Christ maybe you've been hurt by the church maybe there's been some things that have happened you're like I don't want to go there I don't think that this is right for me giving my life to Jesus Christ don't back down because the soil is a little bit dirty understand that if you are to become who God wants you to be you must first be planted when a seed gets planted into the ground it has to die that means when you give your life to Jesus Christ he puts an end to your past gives birth to a few new future and rewrites your history amen all those hurts and burdens that you have from the past God wants to put an end to that today in Jesus name may the Spirit of the Lord touch your heart this morning or this afternoon number two is the sprout for a seed to become a sprout the significance of it is that it breaks free from its outer shell it breaks free from its outer shell and starts developing roots this is representative of deliverance and right now we're in the break free series and we've been talking for about nine or ten weeks on this particular step of deliverance and breaking free getting out of the shell in order for it to break out of its shell at first has to be planted just like we talked about and and I want us to understand something very significant about this particular process of breaking free we've been talking about deliverance and I want to share the significance between about deliverance deliverance comes from breaking the chains but freedom comes from fighting your enemy so you as a seed you are a life you have life inside of the shell but in order for that life to be something and grow into something it has to break outside of the shell when the seed is planted into the ground it breaks free out of the shell and God wants to help you to do that so that you can flourish into all that you are to become like what Jania said up here on the stage she said I don't understand how people do this alone you can't that's why you have to be planted in the house of the Lord you can't do it alone you need people to help you to break out of the tree you need people to be like soil around you to give you that fertile ground so that you can have the energy and the strength to break free out of your outer shell so that the person that you are meant to be the life spirit that is inside of you can break through and break free and become what God wants you to be deliverance comes amen let's get up for Jesus deliverance comes from breaking the chains but freedom comes from fighting your enemy the moment that that root begins to break free out of its shell it has to continue to fight its way down so that its roots can grow down deep because the deeper you go the higher you grow amen the third stage in the development of a tree is it becomes a seedling and in order for it to become a seedling this is the stage when it becomes visible above the ground now everybody likes this stage because when you're in that process of deliverance you're closed in everything is all about you but finally you get to break free above the ground and suddenly people begin to notice you this stage is representative of gifts and talents God wants to give you a dream God wants to develop your gifts and talents and suddenly as you begin to break free people will begin to notice you as you come up above the ground here is where this stage gets really dangerous because while you become visible above the ground this is the stage in which you are the most or which a seed is most susceptible to disease and infection so when God is elevating you be careful of the disease of the enemy which is pride jealousy anger and here's another one resentment of somebody else's growth when God is developing your gift there's a few mindsets that is really easy to develop because when people start noticing you it starts to feel pretty darn good oh you have a great talent you can speak you're an awesome singer you have a talent for this and a talent for that and it's easy to now get infected by this disease because we're start to look around and when you become above when you get above the ground you start to notice other people you start to notice their growth and where they're at in their stage and in their season and sometimes we start to compare ourselves to others don't fall into the trap of comparing yourselves to others when it comes to your gift and your talent in the dream that God has placed in your heart often times we can say well I'm not good enough because I'm just barely getting above the ground and we can be down on ourselves and here's another one that's just as dangerous if not more we can look around and say well I'm better than that person my gift is better than theirs I'm taller than they are and that's a very very dangerous place to be in in this stage of life let God speak to you let God develop you let the Holy Spirit raise you up when you are being elevated beware of the disease of the enemy number four the fourth stage in development is the sapling the sapling this is when the tree grows taller and it begins to develop an outer layer called bark another significant part of this stage is that a sapling does not yet bear fruit this stage of a tree is very representative of character development in the life of the Christian as a Christian you must develop thick skin amen you must develop thick skin many times we go through these phases and we get to the point where we we are we have the dream inside and we begin to get a little bit more focused we kind of understand where we're going God is teaching us to focus in on ourselves right down the vision make it plain and go in that direction but then there's going to be times as you're growing that certain things are going to happen and people are certainly going to have something to say about your growth people are going to have something to say or maybe circumstances are hitting you in life maybe things happen maybe you got kicked out of school or maybe you lost your job or things begin to happen that seem to contradict your dream but God wants you to develop thick skin the purpose of a sapling during that season of life is to grow the outer layer so that it has bark what bark does is it blocks out other things it blocks out the weather it blocks out all all of the disease that might be in the air so that it can protect what's on the inside this is significant in our character development as a Christian you have to develop thick skin and God will take you through seasons or God will take you through this stage because if you are to be elevated you've got to be stable our relationship with God must be based on something more stable than our emotions growing up it's we are taught to be led by our emotions I feel this way this is what's happening to me and let me tell you something a couple years ago and for the majority of my life I was one of those people very much led by my emotions talk to anybody around here who knows me and you know that I was the biggest crybaby oh my God the biggest crybaby any little thing offended me every little thing hurt my feelings and I could not take criticism worth nothing anybody wanted to correct me and it was the end of my world and it made me feel so bad and God brought me through a season of my life where I some of you know I spent about a year and a half in Lagos Nigeria and it was during that season where God began to take me through this character development growth in my life and let me just say this while I was there I was spanked into into right thinking in a season in that season of my life I had to learn to do the things that I didn't want to do or that were hard to do for example going to bed at three o'clock in the morning waking up at six a.m. having every single hour of the day be devoted to somebody else's benefit and not my own it's really easy to get disappointed or feel down on yourselves in a season like that where you feel like you're not going anywhere and you're constantly serving you're constantly helping somebody else's vision grow you're constantly doing doing doing doing but you're not receiving any of the benefit and the challenge for you today is sometimes in that season you have to learn to do the things that you don't want to do and do it with a good attitude this will develop you this is an important season of life because this is how you will develop thick skin while it was there you know it wasn't just you know doing all of that I also was constantly getting in trouble for being a big fat crybaby why because anytime I did something wrong people would tell on me we have tattletales there a lot of them Rickard was one of them I love you and here's the thing like I said I used to get offended by every little thing and on top of that then I would get in double trouble because I would cry about it let me tell you in a place like that you learn to develop really thick skin and now it's really hard to say something that's gonna make me cry because I have heard it all my friends and I know who I am and who I certainly am not in Romans chapter 5 verse 3 through 5 says this but we also glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance produces character and character produces hope now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us amen persevere build that character develop thick skin so that you can become who God has created you to be let's move on to the fifth stage this stage of growth is called sequoia I actually put it in parentheses for mature tree because it really is mature tree in the stages of development but I felt like come on now everything starts with an S mature tree SS SS M so I took liberty and I'm calling it sequoia sequoia is a tall majestic tree and I thought it was fitting for this message a tree a mature tree starts producing fruit and this is also the most productive season or a most productive stage I should say of a tree and this is representative of our destiny at this point you've been planted into the church you're you're developing God is setting you free delivering you from from the outer shell and letting you break free God gives you a dream a gift and a talent and he helps to build your character so that you'll be strong enough to hold what God wants to do in your life and that you will have thick skin so that what people say to you may hit you but it can't get in you and now it's time to bear fruit now it's time to do what God has called you to do remember that gift and that dream that you got as a seedling God wants to bear that fruit now amen whatever God has placed in your heart it is up to you to now bear that fruit in this season or in this stage you will be your most productive but what I want to mention about this stage is that even as you're walking in your destiny even when you're walking in the divine calling of God Almighty on your life you will still experience seasons because as sure as it is spring next time it will be summer after that it will be fall after that it will be winter and when the winter is finished it will go right back to spring and we know we can take a look into nature to understand that there are seasons in life no matter if you are a strong tree planted deep growing high and bearing fruit you will still experience the vicissitudes of life that means that life will go up and down you'll experience calamities you will experience things that seem to contradict where you're going but you are a tree planted by the rivers of water it says that you will still bear fruit in old age that you will be fresh and you will be something the Bible doesn't you should be like a flower reason it says that you should be like a many people who come to the to church and they look real good because they look like a flower but I want to tell you the difference between a flower and a tree a flower grows in outward beauty really fast and there's a lot of flowers in this church but you know what the Bible says that the flowers are here today and they're gone tomorrow and they can't withstand the seasons of life the Bible doesn't say that you should be a flower it says that you should be a tree rooted down deep so that you can serve God Almighty be a tree that can weather any storm and stand the test of time amen and lastly there's one last stage in development of a tree and it's called the snag I didn't make that up that's that's really what it's called and I'm sorry for everybody who's in this stage of life the snag is a decaying tree and it no longer bears fruit but at this season of or that stage of a tree is when the tree becomes it's most useful to the environment around it you want to know why because the tree provides shelter for other living organisms because the tree provides food for for the other living organisms around it and this stage of life is representative of endurance second Timothy 4 verse 6 through 8 says for I am already being poured out as a drink offering this is Paul and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought the good fight I have finished the race I have kept the faith finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will give me on that day and not to me only but also to all who have loved his appearing many of us we want to skip through the stages and jump straight to being a mature tree but you have to go through every single season of life in the University of God no matter how brilliant you are you will never be given double promotion because you have to take every course because every course serves a purpose in your life so don't get down if you're in a season of life that's your that you don't like trust God through it all and I want to end on this I want to speak to every single one of you in here today who you might be in one of these different stages of life in stages in your journey with God I want to first talk to the seed maybe you haven't given your life to Jesus Christ my encouragement to you is the Bible says that today is the day of salvation and tomorrow is not promised to anyone to those of you who are sprouts and you've been listening to this break free message and you're in the process of deliverance I want to tell you that the Bible says Jesus says this to you I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy and I want to talk to the seedlings right now that God has given you vision God has given you your gifts and your talents I want to I want to encourage you with Jeremiah 29 11 he says for I know the thoughts that I think towards you says the Lord they are thoughts to prosper you and not to harm you to give you a hope and a future hold on to the hope of your future in this season I want to talk to the saplings you are growing thick skin and it feels a little bit hard because this even season is one of the toughest of life because everything inside of you is being challenged I want to tell you what it says in John chapter 14 verse 27 Jesus says peace I give unto you not as the world gives you do not let your heart be troubled amen and I want to talk to the sequoias those of you who are walking in your divine destiny remember this what it says in Ecclesiastes chapter three to everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven and lastly I want to talk to those of you few of you who might feel that you are in the stage of the snag that you are a decaying tree and maybe you think I have born that I can bear and there's nothing left that I can do I want to remind you what it says in the Word of God in Acts chapter 2 verse 17 he says in the last days I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and old man will see visions I want to tell you this morning that your time has not expired and the best is always yet to come amen