Pastor Rory's sermon centers on the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds (Matthew 13:24–30), challenging the assumption that spiritual growth requires perfect conditions. Instead, Jesus teaches that God's kingdom advances in an imperfect world where good and evil exist side by side, and believers are called to grow where God has planted them rather than spend their lives chasing ideal circumstances.

Good Things Grow Here

Matthew 13:24–30

We spend a surprising amount of time trying to improve our environment.

We convince ourselves that if we could just find the right job, the right city, the right relationships, or the right season of life, everything would finally click. Our culture reinforces that idea, investing billions of dollars designing environments that promise better outcomes. But while changing our surroundings can be helpful, it can never solve the deeper issues of the heart.

Jesus addressed this mindset through the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds.

He described a farmer who planted good seed in his field. While everyone slept, an enemy secretly sowed weeds among the wheat. When the servants discovered the problem, they immediately wanted to pull the weeds. Surprisingly, the master told them to leave them alone. Removing the weeds too early would damage the wheat because their roots had become intertwined. Instead, both would grow together until the harvest, when everything would be sorted out.

This parable reminds us that God's kingdom does not exist in perfect conditions. It exists in a broken world where good and evil grow alongside one another. While we wait for Christ to make all things right, we are called to remain faithful where He has planted us.

1. Not Every Struggle Is a Consequence

One of the first questions the servants asked was, "Where did these weeds come from?"

Sometimes the difficult situations we face are the result of our own choices. Scripture teaches that we reap what we sow. But Jesus also reminds us that sometimes the enemy is at work. Not every hardship is punishment from God. Some battles are spiritual attacks or simply the result of living in a fallen world.

Knowing the difference matters. It keeps us from carrying unnecessary shame and reminds us that God is still with us even when life feels unfair.

2. Your Job Isn't to Fix the Field

The servants wanted to remove every weed immediately.

Many believers make the same mistake today. We become consumed with fixing everything happening around us—the culture, politics, social media, the latest controversy, or even every problem in our personal lives. In doing so, we can lose sight of what God is trying to grow within us.

Jesus wasn't teaching His followers to ignore evil. He was teaching them to trust God with ultimate justice while remaining focused on spiritual growth. The enemy would love nothing more than to distract us from becoming who God created us to be.

Our calling is not to become field fixers.

Our calling is to become faithful wheat.

3. You Can Grow Through What You're Going Through

Perhaps the greatest encouragement in this parable is that difficult conditions do not prevent growth.

Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly develops His people in uncomfortable places. Joseph's years of betrayal and imprisonment weren't wasted—they became the very environment God used to prepare him for leadership. What looked like delay was actually development.

The same is true today.

Your current circumstances may not be what you would have chosen, but God can still produce something beautiful in them. The adversity you're facing may become the very soil where your faith deepens, your character matures, and your testimony is formed.

Good things really do grow in bad places.

Final Thoughts

We all have weeds in our field—circumstances we didn't choose, pain we didn't create, and battles we didn't ask for. But those weeds do not determine the outcome of our lives.

The enemy may be working, but God is working too.

Your purpose is not determined by perfect conditions. It is determined by God's faithfulness.

So stay planted. Stay rooted. Keep growing.

Because nothing the enemy has planted has the power to stop what God is growing in you.