SPEAKER_00: Good morning, multiply.
SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say good morning, bluegrass.
SPEAKER_00: But uh, where is bluegrass community church right now?
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, good good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Pastor Forrest, I'm gonna keep your pulpit warm this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you'll have my boy uh Grant uh preaching about three weeks ago, and uh I talked to him the day before he was gonna preach here.
SPEAKER_00: He was very excited to be with you guys.
SPEAKER_00: So, Grant and I um we're part of the same church planting organization called the Crate Collective.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we focus on planting churches in black and brown uh overlook, neglected communities.
SPEAKER_00: So the area of town where we are planting our church in Lexington is Cardinal Valley within the 11th district.
SPEAKER_00: Um for the last two years, God has been faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Um, he's been good to us, right?
SPEAKER_00: For the last four years, that uh when our uh founding pastor moved here, but uh it wasn't until two years ago that we moved to that area of town.
SPEAKER_00: And it took a lot of faith to do that.
SPEAKER_00: For the last two years, we've been able to see God's faithfulness, uh, God's hand move in many, many ways.
SPEAKER_00: But uh I'll share a little bit more about the stuff that we're doing as a church uh in the Cardinal Valley area.
SPEAKER_00: But before I do that, if you are able, I'm gonna ask you to stand up with me for the reading of God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Today's uh text comes from Numbers chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we have a tradition at our church that after I'm done reading the text, uh the church says, uh, thanks be to God, after I say this is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So once I'm done reading the text, I'm gonna say this is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And if you agree with everything that I have said, you will say, Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_00: So Numbers chapter 13, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we're gonna we're gonna read a few verses from chapter 13, but uh uh we're gonna start with verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: It says, The Lord spoke to Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Repeat with me, the Lord spoke to Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Send men to scout out the land of Canaan, I am giving to the Israelites.
SPEAKER_00: Send one man who is a leader among them from each of their ancestral tribes.
SPEAKER_00: Moses sent them from the wilderness of Peren to the Lord's command.
SPEAKER_00: All the men were leaders in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna read the whole uh all the leaders, but these were uh Shemuas, Kalev, Agal, Hoshea, uh Palti, Gadiel, Gari, Amiel, Sithur, Nabi, and Gwel.
SPEAKER_00: Then verse uh 17.
SPEAKER_00: When Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, Go up this way to the Negev, then go up into the into the hill country.
SPEAKER_00: See what the land, say with me, the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, say the people.
SPEAKER_00: Few or many.
SPEAKER_00: Is the land they live in good or is the live is the land they live in good or bad?
SPEAKER_00: Are the cities they live in uh encampments or fortifications?
SPEAKER_00: Is the land fertile or unproductive?
SPEAKER_00: Are there trees in it or not?
SPEAKER_00: Be courageous, say with me, be courageous.
SPEAKER_00: Bring back some fruit from the land.
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 25 says, At the end of the 40 days they return from scouting out the land.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You might be seated.
SPEAKER_00: So uh, as I said before, uh as for Pastor Forrest said, uh, my wife Han and I, we have three kids, uh Sam, Stella, and Lucia.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, they are probably terrorizing right now your kids' ministry, your kids' ministry uh leaders there.
SPEAKER_00: But uh uh the Lord has blessed us with three beautiful kids.
SPEAKER_00: Sam is eight, Stella is four, Lucia is two.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, if you if you were to meet Sam, he's the most free-spirited kid that I've ever met.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Stella is a rule follower.
SPEAKER_00: And Lucia, well, Lucia's Lou, right?
SPEAKER_00: She's a baby and she knows that.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but Stella, as a rule follower, she has discovered that there are two very powerful words that she can say to her brother and sister when she wants them to do something.
SPEAKER_00: Or when she sees them doing something that they are not supposed to, she only has to say, Dad is it, right?
SPEAKER_00: As soon as she says that is it, uh the other two know that they have to follow through, right?
SPEAKER_00: And uh so you will hear her say that all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Her grandparents are here, and they probably have heard her say that as well.
SPEAKER_00: And uh she knows that because when daddy says, Hey, we're gonna have tacos for dinner, guess what we're gonna have for dinner, right?
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna eat tacos.
SPEAKER_00: When daddy says, We're gonna go fishing this weekend, that's what we do that weekend, right?
SPEAKER_00: So she knows that my words are always followed by an action.
SPEAKER_00: In her five years of life, she has gotten to know her daddy as a constant provider and as a source of protection.
SPEAKER_00: And when daddy says something, she knows that actions will always follow my words.
SPEAKER_00: So when she says daddy says, she knows that the power of those two words reside not on the words per se, but on the source of those words.
SPEAKER_00: In today's text, we will read the story about a time when God spoke through Moses to his children, the nation of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Moses went to the Israelites, and just like Estella goes to Sam and Lucia and tells them, Daddy said this, Moses did the same.
SPEAKER_00: Moses went to the nation of Israel and he told them, Daddy said, Daddy spoke.
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, as we will see in today's text, they failed to trust in God's words.
SPEAKER_00: They failed to trust in what Daddy had said.
SPEAKER_00: They had forgotten that this God who had spoken the world into existence, the same God that had split the ocean so that they could have gone through.
SPEAKER_00: They forgot that this was the same God who was spoken speaking.
SPEAKER_00: This was the same God who had delivered them from the oppression, the bondage of slavery in Egypt, the same God who carried them through the wilderness as a man carries his children.
SPEAKER_00: As a result of their unbelief, they could not enter the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: A land flowing with milk and honey.
SPEAKER_00: Neither hardship, poverty, oppression, or misery was the ruin of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: It was unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: It was hopelessness.
SPEAKER_00: As my brother John Abuchekwa says, uh, tragedy has never ruined a person or a community.
SPEAKER_00: Hopelessness has.
SPEAKER_00: So today's text teaches us and warns us about the the danger, the costly mistake of unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: And why am I talking to you about about unbelief this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Because as a church that will go out and serve the city, you will encounter many people, you will encounter places where it will be hard to believe that the people you will be trying to reach, the people you will be sharing the hope of Christ with, you might be tempted to believe that they are beyond the Lord's reach.
SPEAKER_00: You might be tempted to think when you see somebody that is struggling with addiction, when you see somebody that is in prostitution, when you see somebody that has been in drugs for many years, when you see a family that has been affected by gun violence, by domestic violence, you might be you might feel tempted to believe that that the situation in which that person is, or the place where that person stands, is beyond reach.
SPEAKER_00: So this morning, our main idea for today's text is that good and faithful servants rest in God's faithfulness and promises.
SPEAKER_00: Multiply as you kick off with this week, serve the city.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that trust in God's faithfulness and his promises are not just necessary but essential.
SPEAKER_00: As you engage in a full week of service in your city, remember that before you pray for resources, for wisdom, for strategy, for a good way to reach those that haven't been reached by the gospel, before you pray for any of that, for strength, for protection, you must pray for faith.
SPEAKER_00: You must pray for for belief, for the capacity to believe in the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: Those who commit to a life of service to the Lord know the importance of praying for faith.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not, I'm not referring to saving faith.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not referring to the faith that you that you that you must have to believe in the Lord, I'm referring to the faith that you will need when you encounter these difficult situations, the faith that will push you to keep moving forward, even when things seem so impossible.
SPEAKER_00: So pray with me this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Padre, te damos gracias por tu palabra.
SPEAKER_00: Te damos gracias porque tu palabra is fiel and confiar in ella.
SPEAKER_00: Te damos gracias porque sabemos que in tu nombre hay poder, Señor.
SPEAKER_00: Te damos gracias porque sabemos que a través de nuestras vidas tú nos has ayudado.
SPEAKER_00: You have never forsaken us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, there might be a lot of places in this city, neighborhoods, and areas within the city that the church has forsaken, but we know that they have never been forsaken by you.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father, we pray this morning, we pray for multiply.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray that you will keep me faithful to the text, that you will allow me to preach this text with boldness.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, that people this morning uh that they won't live uh just learning about what bluegrass is doing or what what what I'm doing, but that they will live knowing who God is.
SPEAKER_00: That they will live knowing, having a better picture of the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you, and we ask you that your Holy Spirit can be here with us.
SPEAKER_00: It's in the name of Jesus we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna split the sermon in three different sections.
SPEAKER_00: And uh do I have how much do I how much time do I have?
SPEAKER_00: Because you you might you yeah, like you know, like Latino pastors are just like black pastors.
SPEAKER_00: You we I'll keep going.
SPEAKER_00: Um okay, so I was told 35 minutes, but I didn't see what time I started.
SPEAKER_00: So 35 minutes from now.
SPEAKER_00: Um, all right, so we're gonna split the sermon in three different sections.
SPEAKER_00: Um the first section is gonna be called That is Said, and we're gonna be exploring Numbers uh 13, verse 1 through 3.
SPEAKER_00: The second section will be belief, don't be afraid or discouraged.
SPEAKER_00: The third section will be good and faithful servant, covering the last verse of today's text, verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: So, that is said about 43 years before the Israelites um reached the promised land, God had spoken to Moses while he was shepherding his father-in-law's flock.
SPEAKER_00: Moses by then had already left Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: So Moses was in the desert, he was in Mount Horeb, also known as the mountain of God, and he came across a burning bush.
SPEAKER_00: This burning bush was on fire, but was not being consumed.
SPEAKER_00: And don't even try to get a handle of that because you you can't we can our human brains can comprehend that.
SPEAKER_00: The burning bush speaks of the self-sufficiency of God, the fact that the fact that God is the supply of his own demand, the fact that God is the supply of his own demand.
SPEAKER_00: In Exodus chapter 3 is the first time in the Bible that we come across this promise.
SPEAKER_00: The promise of the land where milk and honey were overflowing.
SPEAKER_00: In Exodus chapter 3, verse 4 through 8, we read that when the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush.
SPEAKER_00: Moses, Moses, here I am, he answered.
SPEAKER_00: Do not come closer, he said.
SPEAKER_00: Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
SPEAKER_00: Say with me, holy ground.
SPEAKER_00: Then he continued, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.
SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord said, I have observed the misery, say the misery of my people in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: And I have heard the cry out.
SPEAKER_00: I have heard them cry out, crying out because of their oppressors.
SPEAKER_00: I know about their sufferings, say with me, sufferings.
SPEAKER_00: And I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from the land, from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
SPEAKER_00: Between the time when the Israelites were standing at the gates of the promised land, Canaan, from the time when they had when Moses had heard for the very first time about this promise, 43 years had gone by.
SPEAKER_00: For those of us who are under the age of 40, that means that you uh were holding on to a promise that had hasn't been even given to you.
SPEAKER_00: A promise that had been given to your parents.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine living a life holding on to a promise that was first spoken to your parents?
SPEAKER_00: A promise that you were seeing, you were hearing being repeated constantly among the people of God, but that was not spoken directly to you or your generation.
SPEAKER_00: Misery, poverty, suffering, and oppression describe the lives of the Israelites as they were in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: Their promised land didn't just mean land for the Israelites, it wasn't just land where they could build homes, where they could farm.
SPEAKER_00: The promised land was a representation, represented a place where they would be able to thrive, a place where they would be able to rest, a place where they would be able to exist with dignity and respect and purpose and meaning.
SPEAKER_00: That was a promised land.
SPEAKER_00: So, brothers and sisters, what kind of tragedy has hit your life?
SPEAKER_00: What kind of tragedy has hit your city or your neighborhoods as you prepare to go and serve out in the wilderness?
SPEAKER_00: What kind of tragedy has hit the places where you will be going to?
SPEAKER_00: He said, um abandonment, losing a loved one, addiction, financial hardship, feeling unaccomplished, lack of purpose or meaning in life, discrimination, poverty, rejection, or an incurable medical condition when it comes to the city, he said unemployment, gun violence, domestic violence, addiction, broken families, racism, poverty.
SPEAKER_00: The only reason why the Israelites held on to the promise of the land of milk and honey where milk and honey were flowing was because God had said that, because daddy had spoken.
SPEAKER_00: Thousands of years before God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, in that desert, in that mountain, there was another burning bush.
SPEAKER_00: Another time when God spoke things into existence, another time when God was the supply of his own demand.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 1, verse 1 through 3 might be the most important text in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: If you believe Genesis 1 1 through 3, you have to believe the entirety of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, say with me, in the beginning, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Now the earth was formless and empty.
SPEAKER_00: Darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
SPEAKER_00: Then that is said, then God said, Let there be light.
SPEAKER_00: Because when God said, Let there be light, what happened?
SPEAKER_00: There was light.
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, there was nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Based on the Maseratzi text, that's the Hebrew text, to understand this piece of scripture, to understand this text is to know that in the beginning there was nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Everything was emptiness, everything was darkness.
SPEAKER_00: But just like in the burning bush in Exodus, in the beginning, God was the supply of his own demand.
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, God stood on nothing, he looked at nothing, he spoke at nothing, and nothing heard his voice.
SPEAKER_00: And when he said, Let there be light, there was light.
SPEAKER_00: God was there before was God was there.
SPEAKER_00: See, we can understand this because everything that we create with our hands comes from something that was already made.
SPEAKER_00: Everything that we do comes from things that already existed.
SPEAKER_00: The only one that can create something from nothing is God.
SPEAKER_00: He is a supply of his own demand.
SPEAKER_00: So when God speaks, things happen.
SPEAKER_00: This is why God's words are trustworthy.
SPEAKER_00: They must be believed.
SPEAKER_00: This is why unbelief is a sin.
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, right when the Israelites were about to walk into Canaan, into the promised land, they failed to trust God.
SPEAKER_00: So this takes us to our second point.
SPEAKER_00: Believe and don't be afraid or discourage.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 3 16 through 19 says, For who heard and revelled?
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't it all who came out of Egypt under Moses?
SPEAKER_00: With whom was God angry?
SPEAKER_00: With whom was God angry for 40 years?
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
SPEAKER_00: And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed.
SPEAKER_00: So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: Unbelief is not passive, it is intentional.
SPEAKER_00: It is an act of rebellion in which someone makes a personal and intentional decision to not trust in who God is and what he has said.
SPEAKER_00: The only reason why God commanded Moses to send men to scout out the land of Canaan, the promised land, was because of their unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: We know this from Deuteronomy chapter 1, verse 21 through 26.
SPEAKER_00: Moses said, See, the Lord your God has set the land before you.
SPEAKER_00: But then tw verse twenty two says, Then all of you approached me and said, Let's send men ahead of us, so that they might explore the land for us, and bring us back a report about the the route that we should go up to, and the cities that we will come to.
SPEAKER_00: The plan seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men from among you, one man from each tribe.
SPEAKER_00: They left and went up to uh went up into the hill country and came to Skullba the Skull Valley, scouting the land.
SPEAKER_00: They took some of the fruit from the land and their in their hands, they carried this fruit down with them and brought us back a report.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, The land the Lord our God is giving us is good, but you were not willing to go up.
SPEAKER_00: You rebelled against the command of the Lord your God.
SPEAKER_00: Unbelief, unbelief damages the life of the Christian just like water damages a house.
SPEAKER_00: Slowly and silently.
SPEAKER_00: If you talk to anyone who knows anything about construction, they will tell you the dangers of water.
SPEAKER_00: We're seeing it here this morning, right?
SPEAKER_00: In the men's bathroom.
SPEAKER_00: This is why the author of Hebrews warns believers against unbelief when she says, Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won't be any of any of you an evil spirit, an evil uh so that there won't be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God, but encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin's deception.
SPEAKER_00: For we have become participants in Christ, if we hold firmly, say hold firmly until the end, the reality that we had at the start.
SPEAKER_00: Because of their unbelief, the Israelites approached Moses and asked if they could send spies.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted to make sure that the land God had already given them, the land that God had said 43 years ago that was good, that was spacious, where they would thrive and enter his rest, they wanted to make sure that land was good.
SPEAKER_00: And that the people that they would encounter were people that they could defeat in combat.
SPEAKER_00: They had forgotten that God was the one fighting for them.
SPEAKER_00: The instructions given to the spies before they headed out are a clear proof of the Israelites' unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: Going back to Numbers chapter 13, we see that when Moses sent them out to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, Go up this way to the Negev.
SPEAKER_00: Then go up into the hill country.
SPEAKER_00: See what the land is like.
SPEAKER_00: See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many?
SPEAKER_00: Is the land they live good or bad?
SPEAKER_00: Are the cities they live in in encampments or fortifications?
SPEAKER_00: Is the land fertile or unproductive?
SPEAKER_00: Are there trees in it or not?
SPEAKER_00: Be courageous, he told them.
SPEAKER_00: Bring back some fruit from the land.
SPEAKER_00: This is not because Moses was doubting what God had said, but because the Israelites were doubting about the God that was calling them into that land.
SPEAKER_00: They were not willing to take God's word uh for it, that it was in good a good land, and that he would without fail put him into possession of it.
SPEAKER_00: They weren't willing to thrust the pillar of cloud and fire to show them the way of it, but believed that they had a better plan than God's wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: They thought that their wisdom was better than God's wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: They were walking by sight and not by faith.
SPEAKER_00: They acted as if the witness and the wisdom of man was greater than the witness and wisdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: And at the bottom of it, there was unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: They had two concerns, two things that they wanted to make sure they they knew for sure that were good.
SPEAKER_00: One was the land, the state of the land, and the other one was the people.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why am I telling you this?
SPEAKER_00: Um I didn't select this text, Pastor Forrest did.
SPEAKER_00: But there is a there there, as I serve as a pastor in a community and along with our people, in a community where tragedy is so visible, everybody here could tell you that the most important thing that we have to hold on to are the promises of God.
SPEAKER_00: You see, when we when when if it was up to us and if we were like, okay, God, you're sending us to Cardinal Valley.
SPEAKER_00: But God, this land doesn't seem that fruitful.
SPEAKER_00: You go through my block and you see prostitutes.
SPEAKER_00: You see homeless.
SPEAKER_00: There is probably no other street in the city of Lexington where you will see more homeless people than the street where we live, Devonport Drive.
SPEAKER_00: What are the places where God has placed you?
SPEAKER_00: What are the neighborhoods that God is calling you to go to?
SPEAKER_00: As you think of this, I can assure you that you will feel the temptation to try to make sense of why God is calling you to those places.
SPEAKER_00: You will encounter the temptation to believe and think, God, like, you know, I'll go to this place because this is within my means.
SPEAKER_00: I think that I can change this place.
SPEAKER_00: Or I think I can I can pray for this person because their problem is small.
SPEAKER_00: And our culture has taught us.
SPEAKER_00: It has trained us to seek instant reward.
SPEAKER_00: But the places where God will be calling you to, the people that God will be calling you to to go and minister, it might take years before you see what you are expecting to see, which is change.
SPEAKER_00: God has called me many times to go to places that I am afraid of.
SPEAKER_00: From places uh that gang members are targeting uh homes that are being targeted by gang members in the city to places of tension where we like just this week uh we lost a young man in our neighborhood, a Latino boy, 16 years old.
SPEAKER_00: And on Wednesday, July 5th, at 2.05, there was a shooting in a park in Lexington called Pine Meadows.
SPEAKER_00: Three Latino boys, 15 two were 16, one was 15, um, were shot at.
SPEAKER_00: One of them died.
SPEAKER_00: His funeral will be held tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't have to die.
SPEAKER_00: He was not involved in gangs.
SPEAKER_00: You might think that the role of the church can only go as far as providing help to the family, which we will.
SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't stop there.
SPEAKER_00: What if God is calling you to work or function as a mediator?
SPEAKER_00: To seek those who are running these gangs that are getting into conflict.
SPEAKER_00: So in a few weeks, that is the place of tension where I will find myself, functioning as a mediator between two gangs that exist in the city.
SPEAKER_00: And when I'm in those places of tension, I also tend to have the temptation to believe that the problem is too big for God to resolve it.
SPEAKER_00: This is why I'm preaching about this to you today.
SPEAKER_00: When the the author of Hebrews referred to this text, the main teaching that she got from it was the dangers of unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: See, when these guys came, these twelve uh spies came back, they uh ten of them brought back a report, and there were two of them that said that they could in fact go and get get possession of the land, Caliph and Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't because they thought that they could overtake the land, that they could defeat these giants.
SPEAKER_00: It was because they knew what Daddy had said.
SPEAKER_00: In the same way, they also wanted to know if the people that lived in the land were weak or strong.
SPEAKER_00: I often find also myself asking these questions.
SPEAKER_00: Um the situation that these people are this person is going through, uh, just as you know, like just as our community was hit by tragedy this week, uh, we are also celebrating tomorrow that uh a sister from the church, uh she uh her daughter, this sister from the church came to uh to her church a few months ago.
SPEAKER_00: And when I met this sister, uh her life had been hit by big tragedy.
SPEAKER_00: Uh three years before she came to the US, her husband had passed.
SPEAKER_00: Two months after, uh, her oldest daughter had passed from an overdose.
SPEAKER_00: And the other daughter, the only daughter that was left, was now in prostitution and crack.
SPEAKER_00: So for the past few months, uh several people from our church have been loving on this sister on this sister.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, she's one of the most faithful sisters in the church.
SPEAKER_00: Um and uh tomorrow we're gonna be celebrating uh because her daughter, the one that was in prostitution and in crack for a little bit over two years, is getting out of uh uh recovery uh program.
SPEAKER_00: So she's been clean for almost two months.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm not gonna lie.
SPEAKER_00: When I first came across this sister, uh and when I I remember talking to my wife, uh one day I went to pick up this uh this sister.
SPEAKER_00: She's 67, she's a widow, right?
SPEAKER_00: And uh and she's here alone, she's from the Dominican Republic.
SPEAKER_00: Uh when I went to pick her up, uh I saw her daughter once.
SPEAKER_00: The first time that I saw her daughter, she was intoxicated.
SPEAKER_00: And when I saw her, it was impossible for me to believe that God would change her life.
SPEAKER_00: So multiply.
SPEAKER_00: As you go out for a full week of service, serving your city, you will encounter the temptation to think that the places you will be going to are too hard for God to change.
SPEAKER_00: You will find you will encounter the temptation to believe that the people that you're gonna be probably sharing the gospel with uh are beyond God's reach.
SPEAKER_00: And this is where you have to be found as a good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_00: Not a good, successful, small, wise, uh resourceful, knowledgeable servant, but as a good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_00: Numbers, uh, this is the last section of the sermon.
SPEAKER_00: Numbers 13 25 says, at the end of the 40 days they returned from scouting out the land.
SPEAKER_00: When these twelve men came back, they had a report to give.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, in Numbers 13, 27, 28, they they they bring this report and they said, They reported to Moses, we went into the land where you sent us.
SPEAKER_00: Indeed, it is flowing with milk and honey.
SPEAKER_00: And here is some of its fruit.
SPEAKER_00: However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified.
SPEAKER_00: But when but but then one of one of them named Caleph got up and calming the people of Israel, he said, Let's go up now and take possession, say, take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it.
SPEAKER_00: But the other spies responded, We can't attack the people because they are stronger than we are.
SPEAKER_00: So they gave a negative report.
SPEAKER_00: They had already said, This land is good.
SPEAKER_00: But they changed their minds.
SPEAKER_00: So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted.
SPEAKER_00: The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size.
SPEAKER_00: To ourselves, we seem like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same for them.
SPEAKER_00: As a result of their unbelief, the Israelites were not able to enter into God's rest.
SPEAKER_00: They were not able to enter the promised land, they had forgotten what God had said, they failed to trust in the Lord, the same God that had gone before them in the wilderness, the one that made himself known in the fire by night and the cloud by day, guiding them through the road.
SPEAKER_00: Tragedy, tragedy, and follow me on this.
SPEAKER_00: This is the cross of the pie.
SPEAKER_00: Tragedy didn't ruin them, hopelessness did.
SPEAKER_00: The Israelites forgot that this God that was giving them the promised land was the same God that had spoken the world, the world into existence.
SPEAKER_00: When you are out in the wilderness, when you are out there serving in the places where God has placed you, faith in God and the power of his word are not just necessary, they will be essential.
SPEAKER_00: Caleb and Joshua didn't trust in their strength or their size or their wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Their trust was in the fact that God had already spoken.
SPEAKER_00: When you think about the place and people that God is sending you to, you will also battle this temptation of unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: So as you go out to the wilderness and you serve your city for a full week, and I pray that this is not going to be just a one-week event or program, but that this will be an ongoing lifestyle for you, will you believe in the negative rumors that are being spread out by the news, by people in the community, maybe church members?
SPEAKER_00: Don't go into that area, don't engage with this person, you have to be also wise, you have to be wise, or will you believe in what God has said?
SPEAKER_00: When the people God has sent you to seem to be beyond God's help, will you believe that He has the power to transform and turn their lives around?
SPEAKER_00: The power to redeem their lives, to make them holy, to save them, or will you feel like uh the pro their problems are so big that they make you feel like a grasshopper next to them?
SPEAKER_00: Caleb and Joshua weren't found uh as strong, smart, skilled, successful, or knowledgeable servants, but as good and faithful servants.
SPEAKER_00: Good and faithful servants.
SPEAKER_00: Of the twelve that were sent, only these two lived because they believed.
SPEAKER_00: Numbers 14, 37, 38 says, Those men who spread the negative report about the land were struck down by the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Only Yahshua son of Nun and Caleb, son of uh uh Jephtunit, remain alive of those men who went to scout out the land.
SPEAKER_00: So as we get to our conclusion, multiply the day the Lord returns, he will also gather all of his people once again.
SPEAKER_00: In Matthew 28, we see that Jesus also sent his people out, and when he is back, when he comes back, he will gather all of his people again.
SPEAKER_00: And when you read this, uh the parable of the goat and sheep in Matthew 25, this is not speaking about unbelievers and believers.
SPEAKER_00: No, the goat and sheep are believers, they all believed in God.
SPEAKER_00: On that day, when Jesus comes back in his glory, along with all of his angels, all the nations will be gathered before him.
SPEAKER_00: That day, he will separate all who profess to be believers into two groups.
SPEAKER_00: He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left, and then the king, the king will say to those on his right, Come you whom my father blesses, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, and enter into my father's rest.
SPEAKER_00: And on what basis will they be judged?
SPEAKER_00: Based on the way that their faith was fleshed out.
SPEAKER_00: See, only faith saves, but faith that saves never comes alone.
SPEAKER_00: Only faith saves, but faith that saves never comes alone.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus will tell us.
SPEAKER_00: For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.
SPEAKER_00: I was a stranger, I was an immigrant.
SPEAKER_00: Undocumented, documented, doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: I was an immigrant, and you took me in.
SPEAKER_00: I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you took care of me.
SPEAKER_00: I was in prison and you visited me.
SPEAKER_00: Then the righteous will answer him, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: When did we see you hungry and fed you?
SPEAKER_00: Or thirsty and give you something to drink?
SPEAKER_00: When did we see you a stranger?
SPEAKER_00: They didn't even know that they had done it because it was a lifestyle, it wasn't a program, it was a lifestyle.
SPEAKER_00: When did we see you a stranger and take you in?
SPEAKER_00: Or without clothes and clothe you?
SPEAKER_00: When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?
SPEAKER_00: And the king, the king will answer them.
SPEAKER_00: Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the list of these, brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me.
SPEAKER_00: Multiply as you go out to serve the city of Frank of Frankfurt, remember what Daddy has said, especially when you feel like losing heart, because it will happen.
SPEAKER_00: Remember to believe, not to be afraid or discouraged, because God is with you.
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, remember that good and faithful servants rest in God's faithfulness and his promises, not in their own strength.
SPEAKER_00: Peace be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you.
SPEAKER_00: You for your word.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for knowing, having the assurance that you are a faithful God.
SPEAKER_00: We just have to go to Genesis 1 and read, in the beginning, in the beginning, God spoke.
SPEAKER_00: God said, Let there be light.
SPEAKER_00: And there was light.
SPEAKER_00: From the beginning, scripture speaks to us about the truthfulness of your words.
SPEAKER_00: And we know that these words are true because of the source of these words.
SPEAKER_00: We know that there is authority and power in your word, Father, in your message.
SPEAKER_00: Not because of the words, but because the place where these words are coming from.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father, as multiply, as this church goes out for a full week and serves their city, Father, we pray, we pray that they will believe, especially when they come across places of tension and people that might seem beyond reach, beyond your help, beyond your hope.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father we pray for multiply, we pray for the leaders of this church, we pray for Pastor Forrest and his wife, and we pray for those who will be touched through acts of kindness and generosity throughout this week in the city of Frankfurt.
SPEAKER_00: It is in the name of Jesus, Lord, that we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.