WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:00.719 Amen. 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:01.199 Good morning. 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:03.759 I'm Forrest Coleman, Lee Pastor here at Multiply. 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:13.039 My family, along with a bunch of others, now uh well over a year ago, um, seemed to to launch Multiply Church, and I'm glad to meet you. 00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:15.359 If I've not met you, welcome, glad that you're here. 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:17.600 Um, I've got something right here. 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:19.839 This is a set of blueprints. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:21.839 Mm-hmm. 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:33.039 These blueprints uh represent uh a year and a half worth of hours and work and the Lord's provision. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:39.520 I told you guys a couple of weeks ago that we got our building permits to start construction. 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:41.119 Praise the Lord. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:51.920 And I'm happy to announce today that in less than a week's time, construction is scheduled to begin for the future home of multiplied church. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:54.560 And I'm just so excited for what the Lord is doing. 00:00:54.719 --> 00:01:10.400 I'm so excited for us to be able to step into a space that we can make and call our own and for the Lord to do all the work that he's gonna do so that we can uh do more ministry, serve our city better because of what he's gonna provide and is providing for us right now. 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:13.359 Now, when we get into this space, it's gonna be bare bones. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:16.319 If you're expecting it to be a retirement home, it's not gonna be. 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:18.640 We're not retiring there, we're moving forward. 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:29.359 If you want it to look like something like that, if you think it's gonna be all the carpet and nice and all that, no, that's not, it's gonna be a forward operating base for us to do the work of the Lord together. 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:32.319 It's gonna be a place for us to see our children trained. 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:34.959 It's gonna be a space for, I'm gonna start, I need to stop. 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:40.799 It's gonna be a place for us to see God move powerfully among us. 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:43.040 And it's not our destination. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:46.480 The old Save a lot is not our savior. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:49.120 We are builders, not a building. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:02:11.840 When we think about construction, uh last year, Emily and I, we did a little renovation project at our home at our home with some help of some friends of ours, and there's an attic space that we had, and uh our our uh baby magnolia was on the way and we needed some more space, and so we're like, let's transform this little attic area and we can transform that into a nursery room. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:19.599 And so we started the process of the we started the process of renovation, and we had different contractors and folks who were coming in and out. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:50.960 If you've gone through any kind of renovation or done any kind of construction like that, you know there's people that are in and out all the time, and there was a uh an HVAC guy that was up there, and we were standing in this attic space and this explode exposed plank floor, and this guy looked down on the ground, this uh contractor, and he saw what looked like a little metal knob on the floor with the floorboards, and he bent down there and he picked it up the knob, this little thing that he thought was a knob, and he's like, Oh man, I thought that was a knob, that was a trapdoor. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:53.120 I thought there was gonna be a million dollars in there. 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:54.560 You'd split it with me, wouldn't you? 00:02:54.719 --> 00:03:00.400 I'm like, uh, this is my house, so you might get a finder's fee, but I'm definitely not splitting it with you. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:03.280 Uh there was no trapdoor, there was none of that. 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:11.120 But you know, when you're getting into uh building project and renovation, as you peel back the layers, you don't know what you're gonna find. 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:14.719 You don't know what's going to come forward. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:20.719 And I don't know about you, but does anybody in the room feel like today that your life is always under construction? 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:22.000 Yes. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:26.879 Like that you should be going around with a sign around your neck that says, excuse our mess. 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:29.199 Construction being done. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:30.560 I feel that way. 00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:35.599 Any of y'all in the room, do you want to be a better version of yourself tomorrow than you are today? 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:47.759 I feel like there's there's there's a lot of people who are in that place that they want to improve, they want to be better, they want to grow, they want to be in a better place than they were, that tomorrow would be a brighter future than the day before. 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:54.080 But there are also some of us in the room that are so arrogant that we think that we don't need to change. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:04:13.280 That we don't need to improve, that everyone around us should just acquiesce and accept us exactly how we are, versus us knowing that we need to step forward to make our life look, feel, smell, talk, act more like Jesus. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:19.360 And that our life should be continually under construction. 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:30.800 John speaks to our motivations about a life that should be under construction. 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:34.720 Briefly in 1 John 2, 15. 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:43.519 If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them. 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:51.600 For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, comes not from the Father, but from the world. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:54.800 The world and its desires pass away. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:58.160 But whoever does the will of the Lord lives what? 00:04:58.720 --> 00:04:59.439 Forever. 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:13.279 Some of us in the room today that aren't recognizing the fact that, you know what, we we should be under construction, that the walk and the process of us following Jesus is that we're never fully perfect. 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:16.560 There's only one perfect man, and that's Jesus. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:37.759 That was we submit ourselves to him, that it's an ever-growing process for us to grow more in Christ, and that there are desires, and the world is just at our doorstep waiting for us to give in to the lust of the flesh, the eyes, the pride of life, the flesh. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:43.920 Those desires that are not gonna lead to our flourishing but our destruction. 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:54.800 The lust of the eyes, our selfish ambitions, the pride of life, believing that our way is better than God's way, and turning away from his word. 00:05:55.439 --> 00:06:03.439 Now we're not gonna dive into each of those today, but in the coming weeks we are gonna dive into those more. 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:16.000 But the fact that we need to seek desires that are not of the world but are of the Lord, that us have desires in alignment with God and what he's calling us to do. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:25.439 Jesus speaks to us very clearly about what and how we should be praying for and what we are going to receive from the Lord. 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:27.680 Not the world, but from the Lord. 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:30.000 In Matthew chapter 7. 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:38.000 Jesus says this keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:41.439 Keep on seeking and you will find. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:44.800 Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:47.199 For everyone who asks receives. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:49.519 Everyone who seeks finds. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:53.519 To everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:55.759 You parents, I love this. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:56.879 You parents. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:00.959 If your children ask for a loaf of bread, would you give them a stone instead? 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:02.959 That's the words of Jesus. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:06.560 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:08.000 Of course not. 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:15.839 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more? 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:17.360 How much more? 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:18.800 How much more? 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:23.439 Will your Heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask them? 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:36.240 I love my daughters. 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:40.319 And I want to give them good gifts. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:50.319 And there are times where for me, even I have to do things like take things away from them because they're calling their mom stupid or they're acting up and they're doing the wrong thing. 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:57.360 And so there are times I have to take a doll and put it up on the mantle and say, you can't have that for a day or two, even a negative consequence. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:01.279 But when I do that negative consequence, it's not because I don't love them. 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:06.800 It's not that I don't love her, it's because I'm giving her discipline. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:12.079 God wants to give good gifts to his children. 00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:17.040 You ask for bread, and are you gonna get stoned? 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:17.680 No. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:24.639 And we're ever in this process of us aligning ourselves with God's will for our life. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:31.199 When Jesus says this in this passage and says, hey, what you if you ask, you shall receive. 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:36.240 That's in alignment in accordance with what God's good and perfect will is for your life. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:42.159 Just because you ask for a Maserati doesn't mean that it's God's good and perfect will for your life. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:44.879 It may be for somebody's, it may not be for you. 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:51.440 That's between you and the Lord and the perfect plan that God is in the story He is writing in your life for you. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:09:03.679 That when you ask, that you're asking for you to come in alignment and to receive from God what He has lined out for you as a good gift that's going to prosper you and move you forward in life. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:05.360 He's gonna give you the good. 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:08.960 The goodness of God. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:11.120 The goodness of God. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:16.480 That is when you seek him, then you'll find him. 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:23.279 And then God is good to his kids and loving kindness. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:38.320 See, I'm gonna I'm gonna share a passage with you this morning that you probably you maybe you have heard it before, maybe you haven't, but this is a transformational scripture that that coincides with Jesus and his statement right now that God wants to give his kids good gifts. 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:41.120 And it this is in Romans 2, verse 4. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:46.960 If you don't have this passage memorized or marked down, this is one to highlight in your Bible. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:54.799 The scripture says this, or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience? 00:09:55.039 --> 00:10:01.759 Not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance. 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:04.799 Now let me break it down. 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:08.639 This word repentance at the end, this big$10 church word. 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:12.480 You hear it all the time, or maybe you hear it when you're at church, and what does it actually mean? 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:14.159 It's the Greek word meta-oe. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:15.519 Everybody say meta-oe. 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:19.440 It's a Greek word, it's actually a military term. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:27.039 It's akin to where you would see a drill sergeant say about face, and all the soldiers turn around and begin to march the other direction. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:36.480 That Paul is instructing us and he's telling us, don't you know that it's God's kindness that's gonna lead you to change your life? 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:46.159 Don't you know that it's God's kindness that he loves you and his goodness, that he wants to give you good gifts that's gonna be the motivator for you to step forward to change? 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:50.320 Maybe I uh tell it to you like this. 00:10:50.480 --> 00:11:04.720 Um, when my family used to drive down all the time to Alabama to see my grandparents on I-65 on the way down, there was a sign that we would pass, and uh it looks like this. 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:11.279 I don't know if you have ever seen it before there, uh, but it says, go to church or the devil's gonna get you. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:18.320 And so every time we would drive down to Alabama, there's this sign on the side of the road on I-65. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:23.200 It's still there, and this beautiful sign that's made and everything, and the message is clear. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:25.600 Go to church or the devil's gonna get you. 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:32.080 I saw this as a kid all the time driving down there, and I just think, oh man, I better go to church or the devil's gonna get me. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:34.000 He's gonna come after me. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:59.600 My friend Heather, who grew up in a uh kind of a backwoods church, and she's uh when she was young, evangelists came through and was giving the gospel message and talking about following Jesus, and he must have given an illustration, uh, which, you know, I can understand the sentiment, but he was talking to a group of children, and he said, If the if the floor, if an earthquake was happening, the floor was gonna open up right now, which of you would fall down into hell? 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:09.840 And so Heather, out of fear that the floor was gonna open up and she was gonna fall down into hell, accepting Christ as her Lord and Savior. 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:22.320 And now Heather's amazing, she's a wonderful woman of God, but even now she recognizes the fact that as it's good, obviously, to be aware of eternity and the end of our life. 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:35.120 That here's the thing it's not God's judgment that leads us to repentance, it's not God's anger that leads us to repentance, it's God's kindness. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:47.120 Some of you walked in today, and you may be a church for the first time in a very long time, and your perception of God is that he's this big cosmic cop that's just waiting for you to mess up so he can slap the cuffs on you. 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:53.120 But instead, we have a God above who's looking at you and saying, I want to give you a good gift. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:58.320 I want to be good to you, I want to love you, I want to show you what the right path is. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:08.080 Yeah, the life, your your world, it's not gonna, it's gonna have troubles, and there may be some discipline involved along the way, but God is good and he's for your good. 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:15.120 And the motivator us coming to God is not out of fear, but out of loving-kindness. 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:25.360 Maybe today you're coming to this place, and maybe you grew up in an environment like that where God is just, you perceive that God is just angry at you. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:27.919 Can I tell you that God is not mad at you? 00:13:28.559 --> 00:13:30.240 He's not mad at you today. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:31.840 He loves you. 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:35.919 He wants you to change, he wants you to repent, he wants you to meta oe. 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:40.799 He wants you to move forward into the flourishing that God has called over your life. 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:44.559 But he's not burning with anger at you and wrath. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:45.360 You want to know why? 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:49.039 Because that wrath was satisfied on the cross of Jesus Christ. 00:13:50.320 --> 00:14:07.519 When Jesus was hanging on that cross 2,000 years ago, the wrath, the full judgment of God poured out onto his back, and it was satisfied in the death, the burial, and the resurrection of the perfect Lamb, Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, the sinless one. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:13.039 And so, because of that for us, are there things that we do that displease the Lord? 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:19.679 Yes, but his response to us is I want to be kind to you, so please come and change. 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:23.440 Please come to me and let me help you. 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:27.519 Uh, anybody know this couple? 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:29.679 Chip and Joanna Gaines? 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:32.000 Anybody seen them? 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:34.879 Hit show, fixer upper. 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:36.399 I like that show. 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:39.039 I like that show. 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:40.879 It's been going on for a long time. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:43.039 You've probably seen an episode at a time or another. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:48.240 Now they have a whole absolute empire, the Magnolia Empire, Waco, Texas, you go down to the silos. 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:58.799 Some of y'all probably have taken your pilgrimage down there to the silos to see the magnolia wares and go to the bakery and do all the stuff, or you're wanting to, you're putting back money to go. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:00.080 They got a whole empire. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:24.320 But you've probably seen the show before, and it's this hit show, and it kind of follows the same pattern that when uh a couple is wanting to look for a home that they want to buy and renovate and to be a fixer-upper and to make beautiful, and Chip and Joanna is this force of a team together that do the renovations, and she does the design, and Chip's the one who gets out there and does most of the renovation work. 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:33.519 And so they're going and they're searching, and they present three different homes to the potential buyers, and they say, we want to find the worst home in the best neighborhood. 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:40.000 So they're going to find one that so they can maximize their profits, maximize their equity in the place. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:42.639 And so they go through the process of looking through. 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:45.039 I've always thought, like, we're going to choose one of these houses. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:48.080 I don't know why we're going through this whole process of looking at two others you didn't choose. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:50.000 Like, let's just start with the one that you're going to do. 00:15:50.080 --> 00:16:24.000 But anyway, they go through three houses and then they choose which one they're going to go with, and then Joanna, and then she uh builds a a uh a plan for them with blueprints, and then they start to work through a process of doing the renovations, and as they go from plan to process in the in the process portion of the show, inevitably in the middle of it, something goes wrong. 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:27.360 Something goes wrong in the renovation every time. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:47.039 It's really the drama is super high because these people they're putting their money in, and Chip's gotta get on the phone and gotta call them and say, There's water damage here, this wall, the the cabinets won't fit, whatever the the problem is, and they say it's gonna be ten thousand more dollars, and these people are just like, okay. 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:48.480 I'm like, who are these people? 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:51.759 Who it's just like, yeah, we're gonna do this extra, okay. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:53.440 Well, I guess we're gonna have to do that. 00:16:53.519 --> 00:16:54.720 It's like, who are these people? 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:55.919 Where do they come from? 00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:04.559 Um and something goes wrong, and they have to overcome that, and and then finally they they they end with the final product. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:29.599 That what they have, what what the the production of it all in the ends where they've got the big picture up of what the house used to look like, and they say, Welcome home, and it opens up, and then they go through the walkthrough of this new renovated house, and every time somebody's tearing up and crying, and they end with them handing them the keys, and it's just a beautiful 30 minutes of life. 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:48.240 Every time, you know what's gonna happen, and they go through this process, this this planning out of what God may have for them, the process of going through it, and then ending with the final product. 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:58.160 And Jesus has already told us in the passage before that we also have a process that we go through. 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:05.200 The process is that we ask, then we seek, and then we find. 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:22.240 This process that we go through of the plan, the process and the final product coincides in our mind with the fact that we're asked to ask God in accordance with his will. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:26.079 Ask him for what you're wanting to receive. 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:36.559 And if you're what you're wanting to receive, if it is in alignment with God's will, that is you continue, that you knock on the door and you continue to seek. 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:44.880 Jesus is the one that says, seek first the kingdom of God and righteousness, and all of these things will be added unto you. 00:18:46.480 --> 00:19:02.720 That as we ask God, ask to receive Him, ask for God to give us good gifts, that there's then a process for us to go through of where we are seeking first the kingdom of God, and we have to ask ourselves, is God first in my life? 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:05.759 Is me seeking after God? 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:10.480 Is that the number one aim of my day, of my hour, of my life? 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:14.160 Am I truly seeking God's kingdom and his righteousness? 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:18.640 Because if I do those two things, then all the things will be added unto me. 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:22.000 But am I seeking first? 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:31.200 Am I knocking so that the door will be opened to me, and then ultimately you get to find God's will. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.000 You get to find God's will for your life. 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:36.559 You get to find God's blessing. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:47.839 Jesus gives us this clear instruction that we are to align ourselves with his will. 00:19:50.480 --> 00:20:02.000 And as you ask and you ask and you ask, eventually what you're asking for, it's going to coincide with what God wants for your life and what he wants you to be asking for. 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:14.079 And as you knock and you seek him and you seek his righteousness, then all the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, the flesh, those things will go away. 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:22.160 I don't know if you ever try to kick a habit, but if you just focus on kicking the habit, you have to replace a bad habit with a good habit, okay? 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:28.400 You got to replace the bad habit with something that is better or something that you can focus on. 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:32.880 Because if you just focus on the bad thing, then you're just focused on the bad thing. 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:35.759 But Jesus tells us, seek first Him. 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:44.240 Seek first the kingdom, and He's gonna help you walk through a plan, a process, the final product. 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:50.880 I've seen this in a powerful way over the last couple of years. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:52.720 Can I share something with you real quick? 00:20:53.119 --> 00:21:06.640 I saw this picture this last week, and I don't talk about this part of our story very much, but I want to show you uh multiply church Easter 2021 two years ago. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:11.279 This was multiply church two years ago. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:15.119 In Emily and I's living room at the Deepwood house, we don't even live there anymore. 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:16.559 That's not even my living room anymore. 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:26.319 There are a couple of families that aren't represented, but on the Sunday evening of Easter 2021, we didn't have anything in the morning. 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:31.599 We said, hey, we're gonna get together, a few of us, for uh Easter evening. 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:32.799 We're just gonna hang out. 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:34.880 We hadn't even had our first event yet. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:36.799 This was April the 4th, 2021. 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:44.079 Our first event for the church was April the 18th, 2021, where 12 people joined the launch team that first, this is before that. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:48.720 This is just walking in faith. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:59.759 This is just a bunch of people sitting around and saying, hey, wouldn't it be crazy if one day we got to serve people in a jail and help them move their life? 00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:07.200 Could you imagine what it would be like if we had like a worship service on Sunday mornings where anybody could come? 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:08.799 We don't even know where it'd be held. 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:11.759 Maybe it'd be held at a school, maybe held at a movie theater. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:13.200 We don't know where it's gonna be. 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:18.480 What could you could you imagine? 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:32.160 Could you imagine what it would be like if we had a church and a whole bunch of people that were able to serve and love people near the hands and feet of Jesus here in our town, in our community? 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:36.880 This is so early, we're barely this is this is not even strategic. 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:42.000 Math multiplied church with just a a dream, just a whisper, just a nothing. 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:45.680 Just a just a step of faith. 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:06.400 Each person who walks into the room now, you are taking up the mantle of the faith of the people who were in this room. 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:08.319 No different or better than you. 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:10.079 They just got there before you. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:20.160 But for you who are walking in the room today, you're invited into a faith of asking God, will you do it? 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:22.559 Will you do it? 00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:24.240 Do you want to? 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:26.720 God, will you give me that good gift? 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:31.519 Will you bless my marriage? 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:33.920 Will you bless my kids? 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:38.319 Will you use me for your kingdom? 00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:51.839 Listen to the words. 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:54.240 Psalm twenty-three. 00:23:55.279 --> 00:23:57.039 The Lord is my shepherd. 00:23:57.279 --> 00:23:58.559 I shall not want. 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:03.119 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters. 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:05.279 He restores my soul. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:10.400 He leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:16.400 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:19.920 Your rod and your staff, they come from me. 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:24.720 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. 00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:27.440 You anoint my head with oil. 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:30.079 My cup runs over. 00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:36.880 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:41.200 And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:49.920 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. 00:24:56.799 --> 00:25:04.079 As we talk about us being fixer-uppers, we're starting with the perspective that we need to trust the fixer. 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:11.359 That we gotta fix our eyes on the fixer. 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:24.480 And the motivation behind us growing in our faith is not out of judgment or for us all just to feel bad about ourselves or feel guilty. 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:29.680 But instead for us to receive the kindness of God. 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:32.720 Receive his kindness. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:36.240 To say, step forward with me. 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:44.880 Put sin to death in my name, in your life, for your family, for your future, for your kids. 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:49.200 Let me come alongside you and help you. 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:51.839 Because we can't do it ourselves, can we? 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:55.039 We can't fix ourselves. 00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:00.000 We have to have the Holy Spirit's power. 00:26:01.759 --> 00:26:08.640 For us as a church, as we walk forward, we cannot do it on our own, let me tell you. 00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:12.079 We haven't been able to do it the whole time on our own. 00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:29.440 But instead to fix our face, fix our eyes on Jesus and say, God, you you build the path, you make the plan, you walk us through the process, you help us, God, to receive the good gifts that you have for us. 00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:38.799 And today you may have come into the room right now and you haven't yet trusted the fixer who is Jesus. 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:41.359 Can I tell you that Jesus loves you? 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:56.799 He died on a cross for you 2,000 years ago because of how much he loves you, and he wants nothing more than to be in the right relationship with you, to give you the good gift of forgiveness and salvation today. 00:26:57.839 --> 00:27:01.359 So that you can trust him and trust his goodness. 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:07.359 There's somebody in the room today you walked in, you don't know whether or not you can trust God. 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:13.599 Bad things have happened. 00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:20.880 You've been sinned against, you've been harmed, you've been hurt, and you are wondering, where is God? 00:27:23.839 --> 00:27:40.640 Can I tell you that we have an enemy, Satan and his demons, who want to destroy you, want to come against you, crouching like a roaring lion, wanting to devour you. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:57.519 And when you take up the shield of faith and say, Jesus, I'm going to trust you, when you do that, God's perfect plan, he's faithful. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:27:59.119 He's faithful. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:10.640 He's faithful to love you, to restore you, to redeem you, so that everybody on this planet will have the opportunity to. 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:38.960 But instead, he's giving us a chance for us to turn, for us to come in repentance to him, including the worst of the worst. 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:41.839 The apostle Paul was a murderer. 00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:44.880 Moses was a murderer. 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:52.319 And God put him on a path and a plan and a process for him to use them powerfully for his kingdom. 00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:58.319 None of you, none of you are too far gone for God to redeem. 00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:01.119 Me included. 00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:08.400 I need God's help and his fixing of me as much as anybody else in this room. 00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:10.319 And I want to pray that over you right now. 00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:12.000 You pray with me. 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:20.000 Father, it's by your power that we have breath in our lungs that we are able to live. 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:23.599 God, we thank you, Lord, for your goodness. 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:26.400 God, we thank you, Lord, for your mercy. 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:32.480 We thank you, Lord, for your power that you've given us access to by the blood of the Lamb. 00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:37.279 Father, I pray right now across this room, Lord. 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:40.480 I pray faith over this room, Father. 00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:42.240 Belief. 00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:45.279 God, I pray and trust in you, God. 00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:48.000 That your ways are higher than ours. 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:51.920 That God, your plan for our lives, that it's better than we could ever imagine. 00:29:52.720 --> 00:30:03.680 So, Father, right now, Lord, I pray all across the room that right now you would help each person here to imagine what it would be like for them to fully trust you. 00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:13.680 To allow you to fix those places that haven't yet been touched. 00:30:17.440 --> 00:30:26.319 Father, I pray, Lord, that every person across the room, Father, that Lord, today you would help us to trust in your goodness. 00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:34.319 That ultimately, God, even though this world will pass away, that God, we will live forever. 00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:36.240 That we'll never die. 00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:39.440 And be in eternity with you. 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:48.160 Father, in this place, across the room today, God, there may be somebody in this room who's not received you as Savior. 00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:56.319 Father, I pray right now, God, that they wouldn't let another day go by without making their life right with you. 00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:02.400 God, that right now they would pray in their mind and their heart, Jesus, save me. 00:31:03.039 --> 00:31:07.680 Believe that you're the Son of God, that you died on the cross for my sins. 00:31:11.039 --> 00:31:12.319 Forgive me. 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:18.160 Wash me so that I can be in heaven with you one day. 00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:20.720 Give you my life. 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:23.920 As you gave your life for mine. 00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:27.519 Thank you for saving me. 00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:29.839 In Jesus' name. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:31.519 Nobody looking around. 00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:42.480 Today, if you prayed that prayer to the Lord for him to save you, for you to receive his forgiveness on the cross, if you prayed that today, and I embarrass you. 00:31:42.559 --> 00:31:46.960 I just want to ask you if I can pray for you just to raise your hand across this room. 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:49.119 If you prayed that prayer today. 00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:54.079 Father, I pray over the room today, Father. 00:31:55.440 --> 00:32:01.440 Lord, any of those that are coming to you, make a decision, Father, to follow you. 00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:04.480 Lord, that you would seal it. 00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:10.559 God, I pray for those that are in our lives who don't yet know you, Father, our friends, our family. 00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:14.400 God, you would help to use us in your perfect plan. 00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:20.640 See them come to be made alive. 00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:22.480 We thank you, Lord. 00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:23.680 We praise you. 00:32:23.920 --> 00:32:25.440 In Jesus' name. 00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:26.400 Amen. 00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:29.599 Church, will you stand with me as we worship and sing?