The David Alliance

The David Alliance

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Garth Heckman

PAIN REVEALS WHAT IS INSIDE US!

When you are attacked,

Embarrassed

Mistreated

Diseased

Falsely accused

Persecuted

Afflicted

THIS IS HEAT TO SEE WHAT YOU ARE MADE OF… IT IS THE ONLY THING THAT CAN PROVE YOU! 

There is a well known story… that is probably more myth than fact but proves a great point. The greeks would carve out statues… if they cracked or chipped they would cover them up with marble dust and wax… the problem was when it got to hot the wax would melt and you might end up with a grotesque looking statue….

how many people have been in that situation. They looked great until the heat came… and then.  Ugly! 

Point 3: 

Pain Builds What Only Struggle Can Build

Greek: ὑπομονή (hupomone) — not passive waiting, but active endurance — literally "remaining under." It's the word for a marathon runner in the middle miles, not the person sitting quietly in a waiting room.

You choose to go through the pain.

 -  Abraham is told to sacrifice Isaac. He gets up early in the morning to do this. Are you willing to get up early for pain? 

  -  Can God trust you with pain? 

God may call you to do something and you know it will cost you pain.

  -  Can God trust you with pain?

The David Alliance

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Garth Heckman

SHAD SHACK BENNY 

You may not understand the pressure… but you can trust God to use it to produce something amazing.

THE GREATEST STATEMENT OF FAITH UNDER PRESSURE WAS DAN. 3:18 - 

Oh King our God can save us… but even if He doesn’t we will not bow… TO THE PAIN

Point 2

Pain Proves What's Genuine

Greek: δοκίμιον (dokimion) — James 1:3 says "the testing (dokimion) of your faith produces perseverance." The word comes from the world of metalworking: when a shopkeeper "proofs" gold, he's establishing whether it's genuine — not creating value, but revealing value already present, or exposing what was fake.

Illustration: Stradivarius violins are prized in part because of the dense, slow-growth wood used to build them — wood that grew during an unusually cold, harsh period in Italian and Bavarian Alps. Trees that struggled through decades of brutal winters produced tighter growth rings and denser wood, which is part of why those violins carry a tone modern instruments still can't replicate. The hardship in the wood's history is literally inside the sound.

THE SOUND THE VIOLIN MAKES PROVES THAT IT HAS BEEN THROUGH THE PRESSURE AND STRESS!

When you are looking for a true friend, mentor, marriage partner etc… ask them what pain have you been through? What did you learn… and if it is about the situation, or the person who caused it… be careful. BUT IF THEY TELL YOU WHAT THEY LEARNED ABOUT THEMSELVES… THAT MEANS THE PAIN WAS GOOD FOR THEM. 

The David Alliance

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Garth Heckman

 OUR WORLD IS BUILT ON ONE PREMISE AND ONE PREMISE ALONE: HOW TO AVOID PAIN!

EVERY ADVERTISEMENT, POST, SPEECH, BLURB, NEWSCAST… Bottom line its about avoiding pain. 

A life without pain is not joy… it is numb. 

"We think the goal is a life with no pain. But a life with no pain isn't joy — it's just numbness wearing a smile.”

When I busted my toe… went in to the doctor joking… 

When they started stabbing my toe with a red hot needle I was quiet… the nurse said “well it must not hurt that much for you”. 

My wife quickly replied “oh no, it hurts… when my husband is in pain he doesn’t say anything”. 

IS THAT YOU TODAY? When I’m in pain I don’t say much.

  -  How long has this been going on? 

Well your friend with their fancy persuasion Don’t admit that its part of the scheme

I Can’t help but have my suspicions 

Cuz I aint quite as dumb as I seen

  -  When Ryan was born I almost lost Kim and Ryan… just nights before on a Sunday I was at the altar giving God everything… no matter what - even my unborn son… that night in the hospital I went out in the hallway and prayed… God I didn’t really mean it. 

Pain isn't just endured — it's productive, when surrendered to God.

Big Idea

Pain is not evidence God has abandoned you — it's often the very mechanism He uses to complete you.

Point 1: Pain is Pressure, Not Punishment

Rom. 5:3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Pile of leaves at the cottage… 

“Eddy call the fire department”

Greek: θλῖψις (thlipsis) — translated tribulation, trouble, affliction, anguish, persecution, burdened — the word literally carries the image of being pressed or squeezed under weight.

Paul uses this exact word in Romans 5:3 — "we also exult in our tribulations (thlipsis), knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance." Thlipsis isn't God's disappointment in you; it's pressure applied toward something, not punishment for something.

Illustration: Diamonds form under extreme pressure and heat, deep in the earth, over millions of years — carbon that never faced that pressure stays soft graphite, useful for pencils, never for jewelry. The pressure isn't the interruption of the diamond's story. It is the diamond's story.

**No girl swoons over a boy kneeling down and proposing with a pencil. 

The David Alliance

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Garth Heckman

Insight C: The Necessity of Falling and Dying (Kokkos)

In John 12:24, Jesus states: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain (kokkos) of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

WE HAVE A DREAM - a seed - we don’t just let it die… we understand the process.

In the real world, we get the seed, we find fertile ground, we dig a hole, we bury it, we water it, we expose it so sun, we keep bugs away, we fertilize it…  but in that process is still death - it has to die!

The seed surrenders unto death - it must die.

We must die to ourselves. We must be willing to say “ok God I have done everything I can, plant, water, fertilize, weed… but I also trust you to do whatever you want… if it dies, I trust you”.  

Deep inside the Arctic Circle, carved into a frozen mountain on a remote Norwegian island, sits the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. It is built to withstand earthquakes, nuclear war, and rising sea levels. Inside, there are over a million seed samples from every corner of the earth. They are kept in airtight, triple-ply foil packets at a constant temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius. Why? To keep them perfectly safe. To keep them from changing. To keep them from dying.

It is a masterpiece of human preservation. But here is the paradox of a seed: As long as a seed is kept safe, dry, and preserved, it is completely useless.

A seed is not designed for a high-tech vault. It is designed to be thrown into the dirt, rained on, broken open, and utterly destroyed. Its safety is its starvation; its burial is its birth.

The Transition:

"Many of us live our lives like spiritual seed vaults. We spend all our energy keeping ourselves safe, comfortable, and controlled. We avoid the dirt of sacrifice, the darkness of suffering, and the pain of breaking. But Jesus did not call us to be preserved; He called us to be planted. Today, we are going to look at why God often takes what we love most and buries it—not to destroy it, but to unlock its true potential..."

You can’t just simply hang on to a seed, a dream, a goal, a vision and just expect God to use it. You have to take a step of faith, plant it and hope it dies so that only God can make it grow! 

The David Alliance 

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Garth Heckman

The Singular Seed of Promise (Sperma)

In Galatians 3:16, Paul makes a massive grammatical and theological argument based on a singular noun:

"The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say 'and to seeds,' meaning many people, but 'and to your seed,' meaning one person, who is Christ."

ONE PERSON - ONE SEED - ONE DEATH - “ONE MULTIPLICATION” = FOR ALL

The Hook:

If you’ve ever stood at the base of a Giant Sequoia in California, you know it is a humbling experience. These trees can grow to be nearly 300 feet tall, 30 feet wide, and can live for over 3,000 years. They are absolute titans—so massive that a single branch can be larger than the trunk of a standard city tree.

But if you were to hold the seed of a Giant Sequoia in your hand, you would be shocked. It looks like a tiny, papery flake of oatmeal. It is about a quarter of an inch long, and it weighs a fraction of a gram. It is almost weightless.

If you dropped it on the ground, you would never find it. Yet, wrapped inside that microscopic, fragile speck of dust is the genetic blueprint for a giant that can withstand wildfires, outlast empires, and tower over the landscape.

The Transition:

"The Kingdom of God works on the exact same principle. God loves to hide massive, landscape-changing futures inside microscopic, easily overlooked packages. Today, you might feel small, unnoticed, or insignificant. But you need to understand that the power of your future is not determined by the size of your current starting point, but by the design of the Seed inside you..."

The David Alliance

Garth Heckman

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In the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8) and the lesser-known Parable of the Growing Seed (Mark 4:26-29), Jesus uses sporos.

Some seed was eaten, some burned up, some choked out, some on good soil.

It’s not your job to choose which soil… its your job to plant. 

And point 2… 

THE DIRT DOESN’T CARE WHAT YOU PLANT.

In the 1960s, archaeologists excavating Masada—the ancient mountaintop fortress in Israel—discovered a small jar containing a handful of date palm seeds. Carbon dating revealed they were 2,000 years old. They had survived the Roman siege, the fall of Jerusalem, and two millennia of scorching desert heat. They looked like shriveled, dusty, dead pebbles.

In 2005, scientists decided to do an experiment. They took those ancient seeds, hydrated them, treated them with organic fertilizer, and planted them in the soil.

To the amazement of the scientific world, one of those seeds sprouted. Today, that plant—named "Methuselah"—is a thriving, fruit-bearing palm tree. For 2,000 years, the life inside that seed didn't rot, didn't evaporate, and didn't expire. It was just waiting for the right soil.

The Transition:

"When Peter says we are born of 'incorruptible seed' through the living and enduring Word of God, he is telling us that God’s truth has an eternal shelf life. It doesn't matter how dry your life feels, or how many years you think you’ve wasted. When the living Word of God finally hits the soil of a receptive heart, life willbreak through

Garth Heckman

The David Alliance

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The seed is the Process

Working for Harold Busse at Busse flowers… Hyacinths bulb… I did what he said and it actually grew. When I told him a few weeks later he looked at me as if I was the dumb kid! 

Harold Busse THERE IS ALWAYS A PROCESS YEAR AFTER YEAR

A process is simply a predictable, repeatable series of steps designed to achieve a specific outcome.

The Bible talks about processes… there is always a process behind biblical principles. 

But we can miss the idea behind process when we read scripture because it uses words like SEEDS.

SEEDS IN SCRIPTURE are seen as

The word of God - planted

Faith 

The Kingdom

Giving and Tithing

The Covenant of Christ body

Our personal body and spirit

AND THERE IS GOOD SEED AND BAD SEED

3 Types of Greek words used for Seed

Sporo - the actual physical seed

Sperma - the actual DNA of a seed as in the lineage

Koh-Kos - The single seed with massive potential 

2. Three Deep Theological Insights for Your Sermon

Insight A: The Mystery of Automatic Growth (Sporos)

18th and 19th centuries, wooden sailing ships left European ports to pick up heavy cargo (like tobacco, cotton, or sugar) from the Americas. To keep the empty ships stable on the journey to America, sailors filled the hulls with "ballast"—tons of local soil, gravel, and river stones dug up from European riverbanks.

When the ships arrived in ports like Philadelphia, Boston, or Portland, sailors dumped the ballast onto the waterfront to make room for the cargo. Hidden inside that soil were millions of European seeds.

TDA

The David Alliance

Garth Heckman

The transition to adulthood has changed dramatically. Between the rapid rise of digital technology—which often replaces face-to-face community with screens—and the shifting structures of family and labor, the traditional "scripts" for how to grow up as a man have largely been dismantled.

To build a healthy, successful, and purposeful life today, young men should focus on five critical areas of awareness, backed by sociology, psychology, and modern research.

1. Redefining Purpose Beyond the "Sole Provider" Role

For generations, the default script for masculinity was simple: be the primary financial provider and protector. As women have rightfully achieved rapid economic and educational progress, that old script has evolved. Many young men now struggle with feeling obsolete or "optional" when they are no longer expected to be the sole breadwinner.

Young men need to understand that their value in a family and in a relationship is deeply personal, emotional, and cooperative—not just a paycheck.

"The state of feeling unneeded is literally fatal. The best protector against despair is realizing that the world needs you."

— Richard Reeves, President of the American Institute for Boys and Men (AIBM)

Modern success means learning to be an equal, emotionally present partner and co-creator of a stable home, rather than holding onto an outdated, isolating provider model.

2. Transitioning from "Digital Retreat" to Real-World Agency

With the rise of smartphones, immersive video games, online pornography, and social media, it has never been easier to escape the discomfort of real life. Researchers note that while young women struggling with mental health often report higher rates of internal anxiety, young men are more prone to "checking out" entirely—retreating into virtual worlds where they feel a false sense of control.

To combat this, young adults must cultivate a mindful, active relationship with technology. The Wise Use Tech Plandeveloped by mental health professionals suggests the Three T's for managing tech:

Success in the physical world requires stepping outside the screen, embracing the discomfort of real-world interactions, and taking active ownership of your daily life.

THE DAVID ALLIANCE

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Garth Heckman

CATCH THIS:

 Because the Holy Spirit indwells the believer, you become the mobile temple of God. The cosmic river of life no longer flows from a building in Jerusalem; it flows out of the deepest, most central part of your converted being.

Rheousin (ῥεύσουσιν) – "Will Flow"

The theology here is clear: Believers are not meant to be reservoirs that store up grace; we are meant to be pipelines that distribute it.

4. Practical Applications: Living the Outflow

If the koilia (the core) is filled with the Spirit, it must result in a rheousin (a gushing flow) into our everyday environments. Here is how that applies practically:

WHAT THIS MEANS

1. Shift from "Consuming" to "Overflowing"

2. Radical Environmental Transformation (The Ezekiel Effect) WHERE EVER WE GO THINGS ARE GONNA GET WET! 

3. Cultivating Emotional Integrity at the Core (Koilia)

Because the river flows from the koilia—the seat of our emotions and deepest hidden spaces—it means our inner world matters immensely. If our inner core is clogged with bitterness, unexpressed anger, or anxiety, the outflow gets restricted.

James 3:11,12 can bitterness and fresh water come 

Inconsistency reveals a problem - not with the source, but within the choice of which source to work from. 

Its all about control - not the source

The tongue… the mind - must be renewed.

The river of life …the inner being of a man. 

So we see two things at work in us…

We can block the River - choosing to not obey

We can poison the River - thought life

How to poison a river?

Satan can’t read your mind… 

I can… every time. - you are going to think about chocolate ice cream… 

NOW: I bet you are thinking about chocolate ice cream! 

THEN: I attack you for thinking of chocolate ice cream. That’s how satan works. 

Practical Application from Scripture

To keep the River flowing freely:

- Walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 25).

- Be filled with the Spirit continually (Ephesians 5:18).

- Obey His leading, pursue holiness, and fan into flame the gift of God (2 Timothy 1:6).

- Repent quickly when we grieve or quench Him.

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The David Alliance

Garth Heckman

The New Testament / Messianic Connection

In Christian theology, Jesus directly applies this imagery to himself and the Holy Spirit. In John 7:37-38, he stands up at the Feast of Tabernacles—a festival focused heavily on water rituals—and cries out: "Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." The ultimate fulfillment is seen as the Gospel and the Holy Spirit starting as a small movement in Jerusalem and swelling to bring spiritual life to the "dead" places of the entire world.

John 7:38 reads: “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

To fully capture the weight of this verse, we have to look at the explosive cultural context in which Jesus said it, the radical imagery of the original Greek, and what it actually looks like when this "living water" breaks out into daily life.

1. The Theological Context: The Water Libation Ritual

Jesus doesn’t whisper this statement in private; he shouts it on the final, greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles(Sukkot).

During this 7-day festival, the High Priest led a massive procession down to the Pool of Siloam, filled a golden pitcher with water, and marched back to the Temple. As the crowds waved palm branches and sang the Hallel (Psalms 113–118), the priest poured the water out onto the altar.

On the eighth day, the water pouring stopped—symbolizing that the desert wanderings were over and they had reached the Promised Land. It is precisely at this moment of silence, when the water ritual ends, that Jesus stands up and shouts that He is the true source of that water. He is claiming to be the rock in the desert, the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s temple, and the source of the prophetic river.

2. Deep Dive Into the Greek Text

Two specific words in the original Greek completely change how we visualize this verse.

Koilia (κοιλία) – "From Within Them"

IT WILL CHANGE YOU DEEPLY FROM THE INSIDE OUT… **The man who hit his thumb with a hammer who was filled with joy “I didn’t swear… I didn’t swear..! 

CATCH THIS:

 Because the Holy Spirit indwells the believer, you become the mobile temple of God. The cosmic river of life no longer flows from a building in Jerusalem; it flows out of the deepest, most central part of your converted being.