See the SCRIPTURES for this message.

Also see Phil's article to keep on track with a related message.

The parable of the mustard seed talks about the mysterious power of God at work to grow the kingdom much like a tiny mustard seed grows into the huge bush. The growth is amazing and powerful — the mustard seed miracle. But, other parables talk about the problems and mess that come with this growth: hypocrisy, weakness, fake followers, unfruitfulness, falling away, disrespectful of grace, and living uncompassionate lives. If the mustard seed produces big bushes that the birds come to rest in, we also must recognize that all these birds are going to bring noise, crowding, and other problems!

When we open the book of Acts, we see both sides of this "mustard seed miracle" at work — see the scriptures page. The church grows rapidly, and it also discovers the problems of people who are weak and immature as well as people with all sorts of problems — persecution, hypocrisy, poverty, social prejudice, and racial prejudice, to just name a few!

So how did they overcome these issues? Even more, how did they overcome the issue of having problems every time they turned around? Read through Acts 1-11 and see how they did! We'll go over several solutions as well, but primarily, they believed Jesus' promise in 1:8!