John 8:32 – “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

I. Life Feels Out of Control When the Cause Seems Invisible

• You cannot govern what you think is accidental.

Hosea 4:6 – My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

II. God Built All Human Life on the Law of Connection

• Your outcomes are attached to your actions by design.

Galatians 6:7-8 – 7Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

I. You Have to Clear the Launchpad

• Nothing launches until something is removed.

Hebrews 12:1 – Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

WHAT IS STILL BOLTED TO YOUR LIFE THAT GOD ALREADY TOLD YOU TO REMOVE?

Remember: Launch is not about effort—it’s about release.

II. You Need Thrust, and Thrust Has a Cost

• Nothing lifts without force, and force is never comfortable.

Acts 1:8 – “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and tothe end of the earth.”

I. Every successful future is built on an honest assessment of the present

Luke 14:28–32 . . . For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace.

II. You never inherit what you’re unwilling to prepare for

Joshua 1:9–11 . . . Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous; do not be

frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” 10

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, 11 “Pass through the camp and

command the people: ‘Prepare your provisions, for in three days you are to cross over the Jordan, to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”

III. Faith that refuses Self-Examination eventually becomes Self-Deception

2 Corinthians 13:5 . . . Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

QUESTION 1 - “How much of your Responsibility had to be covered by someone else this year?”

John 8:44 – You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want

to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth,

because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own

resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

Genesis 3:4-5 – 4Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5For

God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will

be like God, knowing good and evil.”

I. The Consequence of the Lie – Shame, Fear, and Hiding

Genesis 3:8-10 – 8And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in

the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of

the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9Then the LORD God called to

Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10So he said, “I heard Your voice in the

garden, and I was AFRAID because I was NAKED; and I HID MYSELF.”

• God’s presence did not change; Man’s condition did.

• The Two Shackles of the Fall – They direct and determine our thinking and life.

- Shame – “Something is wrong with me, I am unaccepted.”

- Fear –“I am no longer safe.”

Mark 4:28 –

“For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after

that the full grain in the head.”

Matthew 5:13-16 – 13“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how

shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and

trampled underfoot by men. 14You are the light of the world. A city that is set on

a hill cannot be hidden. 15Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but

on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16Let your light so

shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in

heaven.”

Genesis 3:1 – Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which

the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You

shall not EAT of every tree of the garden?’”

Luke 4:1-4 – 1Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan

and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2being tempted for forty days by

the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had

ended, HE WAS HUNGRY. 3And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God,

command this stone to become bread.” 4But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is

written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”

8 ESSENTIAL TRUTHS ABOUT APPETITE

1. The Body Has Only Four Appetites – Everything else is biological and autonomic.

I. Thanksgiving began with a Church, not a Country.

II. Thanksgiving was born out of Suffering, not Abundance.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 – In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

III. Thanksgiving was a display of God’s Providence.

Isaiah 65:24 – “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.”

I. REPRESENTATION – Your Body displays God “TO” His Creation

• God has Dominion over His Creation – Displayed by Us

Genesis 1:26–27 . . . Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have DOMINION over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (We are higher than the animals)

• God seeks to Redeem everyone – Displayed by Us

2 Corinthians 5:20 . . . Now then, we are Ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, “BE RECONCILED” to God.

1. They Represent the King, Not Themselves

2. They Carry the Culture of Their Kingdom

3. They Establish Their Kingdom’s Interests in Foreign Territory

4. They Are Not Controlled by the Culture They Are Sent Into

5. Their Provision Comes From Their Kingdom, Not Their Environment

• God seeks to do Good to everyone– Displayed by Us

I. Emotion – God’s design and Satan’s distortion - God has a Divine Order

Mark 4:28 . . . For the earth yields crops by itself: FIRST the blade, THEN the head,

AFTER THAT the full grain in the head.

Genesis 3:6 . . . So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was

pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and

ate.

• Emotion was created to serve truth, not shape it

- The SPIRIT received truth from God.

- The MIND translated that truth into understanding.

- The EMOTIONS gave that understanding energy and expression.

- And the BODY carries it out in the world.

Romans 12:2 – And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

I. Your thoughts are not the problem. Your thinking is.

• Thoughts are the fruit; Thinking is the root.

Ephesians 4:23c – and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

• You interpret truth through the lens of your mindset.

Mark 4:28 – For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.

I. God's Order Requires Structure Before Substance

Genesis 1:1-3—In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was WITHOUT FORM, AND VOID; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Genesis 2:7 – And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

• Building Structure Is Slow Work

Mark 4:28 – For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.

I. God's Order Requires Structure Before Substance

Genesis 1:1-3—In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was WITHOUT FORM, AND VOID; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Genesis 2:7 – And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

• Building Structure Is Slow Work

"Breaking the Surface: The Law of the Seed" discusses biblical principles from Matthew 5:13-16, Mark 4:26-29, Genesis 1:11-12, Galatians 6:7, and other verses. It introduces the "Law of the Seed," stating that everything reproduces according to its kind, and every result is the harvest of a sown seed. This law eliminates randomness and operates automatically according to God's fixed laws and principles. It also determines a divine order of growth, with stages from the blade to the full grain, emphasizing emergence and the new environment of exposure that challenges potential.

I. Full Potential Demands Being Rooted and Grounded in the Good Soil

• GROUNDED – Founded upon for the purpose of carrying the weight.

• ROOTED – Integrated into the soil for the purpose of connecting us to the ground and drawing the nutrients from it.

II. The True Nature of God’s Love

I. YOU Must Shed the Old Man

Ephesians 4:22 — that “YOU PUT OFF,” concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (apotithēmi)

• If YOU don’t, it won’t.