Forrest: Christmas season's finally here.
Forrest: And I don't know if you got out and did your Black Friday shopping.
Forrest: Um, but I don't know.
Forrest: Black Friday is just it's not the same as it used to be, right?
Forrest: You know, we were like, you know, everybody was running to get a Furby or uh uh some of these uh tickle me Elmo parents punching each other over these things.
Forrest: You know what I'm talking about?
Forrest: The 90s it was different, the uh early 2000s before the Black Friday.
Forrest: But it's the Black Friday's kind of changed because of online shopping, right?
Forrest: Now everybody's getting all their presents that are coming to the house and doing all their shopping for those around.
Forrest: But that starts and has uh birthed a different problem, and uh that's what's been deemed porch pirates.
Forrest: Okay, and I don't know if you know what this is or not, but these are people who will drive around neighborhoods searching for packages on people's doorsteps, Amazon, knowing that it's probably some nice gift for Christmas, they hop out of the car, run and go, snatch and grab the uh package and steal it and take it for themselves.
Forrest: Well, there was uh this one guy who's an engineer on YouTube that he decided that he was going to uh do something about this and combat this uh this epidemic of porch pirates.
Forrest: And so a couple years ago, what uh this uh engineer on YouTube did, he created this thing called the the glitter box bomb.
Forrest: Now, what it looks like is it looks like an expensive pair of headphones that's inside of this box, but really when you open up the box, what happens is uh an engineered mechanism tosses a ton of glitter that cannot ever get up off of wherever they open it, the with vacuum or a ton of glitter out, and not only that, but a hidden camera inside that's wireless to pick up what happens when these thieves would grab the box, open it up, and this is uh uh one of these porch pirates here.
Forrest: His face is uh has been you know uh blocked out so that we won't see who it is.
Forrest: But all that look at all that glitter all over their house.
Forrest: They think they're getting some uh some new fancy headphones, but instead what they got uh was a face full of glitter.
Forrest: And uh I'll tell you this that uh I think they deserve it, honestly.
Forrest: I think they deserve it because they're out there trying to get something that's not theirs, they're trying to take something that is not theirs at all.
Forrest: And in a similar fashion as today, we talk about what it means in this series that we're talking about being a bricklayer.
Forrest: We talked last week about generosity, this week we're talking about bringing of a tithe, giving to the Lord.
Forrest: And I learned that that language recently in the last few years of there being a distinction between the fact that we bring the tithe and what the Bible says and is taught us.
Forrest: And if you're new to faith or new to Christianity or new to the Bible, uh the Lord has instructed us now over millennia for us as He has given us a gift and given us everything that we need in our life.
Forrest: He asks for us to bring to him as a sacrifice of worship a tenth of what we have or what we bring in or what our income is or what we produce.
Forrest: And this has happened from way in the Old Testament all the way through in the words of Christ that we would be giving to the Lord.
Forrest: And the big the beginning of that is for us to tithe, to bring that temper scent.
Forrest: And so we bring the tithe, but then we give of offerings.
Forrest: And the reason there's a difference between the language there of bringing the tithe or returning the tithe is because you cannot give what's not yours.
Forrest: See, for us, we've many of us have been extremely blessed, or we have God's hand in favor in our life, and for many of us in our journey of faith and being faithful to the Lord and following his instructions, many of us would rather be in control of all of our income than give to bring the tithe, to give back to the Lord and be blessed.
Forrest: We'd rather control 100% of what comes in versus us being blessed with 90% of what comes in.
Forrest: And I'm coming in hot today, but I'm coming in hot because I feel like today that there's somebody in the room that God's gonna transform their thinking on this.
Forrest: That you've come into the room today for whatever reason, the what you've thought about and what it means to give to the Lord, to sacrifice to him, especially in the area of finances, this is incredibly personal.
Forrest: That today that you're gonna take a step of faith in the Lord as you begin to realize that you cannot have what's not yours.
Forrest: And that if you will step out in faith and walk in obedience, that you'll then be walking in blessing.
Forrest: And so we bring the tie, but then we give an offering to the Lord that's over and above this.
Forrest: And that's what's going to be happening here next Sunday, is we have what we've called our Giving Sunday.
Forrest: And for the last three years, we've had a year in offering that we collectively as a church pray together about what the Lord would have us to give as an offering to him over and above for us to be able to take steps of progress and expansion for the kingdom of God.
Forrest: And I'm excited about what the Lord's going to do next week.
Forrest: And ahead of it, I want to just address this fact that in the area of our giving, in the area of the gifts that we bring to the Lord and the sacrifices that we bring unto him, you have an enemy that wants so much for you to be disobedient and inconsistent in the area of bringing your giving to the Lord.
Forrest: You know, Satan is going to bring opposition and obstacles in your path.
Forrest: Satan's going to try to stop God's plan for your life.
Forrest: And you may walk into the room today, and there may be lots of reasons of how you think about giving and how you think about what it should look like for you to sacrifice to the Lord and your relationship with him.
Forrest: But today I want us to come in alignment with God's word and that and also look at the example of someone who was obedient and consistent in the scriptures, Nehemiah, who we've been talking about this series.
Forrest: An ordinary man, Nehemiah was, but he made an extraordinary impact.
Forrest: And I want to see for each of us, and for myself included, to have a chance and to be helped, to be obedient and consistently blessed.
Forrest: Who wants to be consistently blessed?
Forrest: I do.
Forrest: I want to be consistently blessed, and so in doing so, that's gonna call us to do some things not unlike what happened in the life of Nehemiah.
Forrest: See, Nehemiah was this regular ordinary guy.
Forrest: He actually had a very unique, interesting job.
Forrest: He was a cupbearer of a king, but he wasn't a priest, he wasn't a prophet, uh, he he he wasn't a leader of a nation, so to speak, at the beginning.
Forrest: But what happens and what's happening in the story of the scripture in the book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament is that the people of God, Israel, had just gone through this massive split and civil war as a country and split into two different nations, Israel and Judah.
Forrest: They had sinned against God, and their sin against God then ultimately led for the Babylonians that were to the north to come and to take captivity of them, to overtake them, oppress them.
Forrest: And in 586 BC, Kim Nebuchadnezzar destroyed and demolished Jerusalem, the city of God.
Forrest: And for over 140 years, the city of Jerusalem, it lay in rubble.
Forrest: And the book before Nehemiah, Ezra, the priest, years and years and years later, the king, Artaxerxes, and let some of the Jewish people return to their homeland in order to rebuild.
Forrest: And so the book of Ezra talks about the people of God and some of the Jews heading back to rebuild the temple, but the walls of Jerusalem, the houses, they still lay in rubble.
Forrest: And Nehemiah, who wasn't able to return, but was stuck back in Babylon, gets word from some of his family that the state of the city of Jerusalem is not well.
Forrest: It's not good, it's in disgrace.
Forrest: And it broke Nehemiah's heart.
Forrest: He got on his knees and he prayed for four months.
Forrest: And then he took action.
Forrest: And this book of Nehemiah is it's it's an account of his life and what he did.
Forrest: We talked about last week the fact that he prayed.
Forrest: And when he he prayed to the Lord, and then God opened a door for him to ask the king to bring uh to be able to supply all the materials that they needed for the building and protection as they headed back.
Forrest: And so at the very end of the message last week, we ended with Nehemiah because he was inspiring, inspiring the people of God, the Jews, for them to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Forrest: And that's what they did.
Forrest: Nehemiah said, Come, let us rebuild.
Forrest: And the people of God began to do so.
Forrest: But you know what?
Forrest: As soon as they began to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, guess what happened?
Forrest: They had some haters come out.
Forrest: These two guys, Tobiah and Symbalat, leaders of enemy groups that were outside the walls, began to throw some criticism, some opposition their way, saying things like, What is this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they're doing?
Forrest: They think they can build a wall in a single day just by offering a few sacrifices.
Forrest: Do they actually think that they can make something of stones from a rubber from a rubble heap and charred ones at that?
Forrest: Tobias said that stone wall would collapse even if a fox walked across the top of it.
Forrest: Just mocking their work.
Forrest: Saying, what you're doing is a waste of time.
Forrest: And Nehemiah, what he did, in the face of the haters, he did what he did each time.
Forrest: He had some opposition.
Forrest: He prayed.
Forrest: And he prayed a prayer that wasn't very Christian.
Forrest: You know, this was Old Testament times.
Forrest: This is pre-Jesus.
Forrest: He prayed things over them.
Forrest: Like, God, put their scoffing back on their heads.
Forrest: Let them become captives of a foreign land.
Forrest: Ignore their guilt.
Forrest: Don't blot out their sins.
Forrest: Don't forgive these guys.
Forrest: It's not a very Christian prayer.
Forrest: But Nehemiah and the people of God eventually completed the wall to half the height around the entire city, and they did so because they worked with enthusiasm in light of opposition.
Forrest: Here's the thing.
Forrest: As soon as you begin to think about your sacrificing, your giving, your bringing to the Lord, and you begin to take action on it, let me tell you, you're probably going to get some haters.
Forrest: And what should you do?
Forrest: Let God handle the haters.
Forrest: You know, as soon as you begin to build something up, there's always somebody there wanting to tear it down, isn't there?
Forrest: You're wanting to build your family?
Forrest: You're wanting to build your future?
Forrest: You're wanting to build the home that you live in.
Forrest: There's always some opposition.
Forrest: There's always some person, some family member, some friend, somebody out there that says, Man, what you're doing is a waste.
Forrest: Are you going to that movie theater church?
Forrest: Can you believe it?
Forrest: I cannot believe you're going to church in a movie theater.
Forrest: What a waste.
Forrest: You're a part of a brand new church?
Forrest: We don't need any more churches.
Forrest: Look, there's churches everywhere, on every corner.
Forrest: They don't need a new church in town.
Forrest: Why are you even doing that?
Forrest: What do you mean?
Forrest: What do you mean, give 10%?
Forrest: Are you kidding me?
Forrest: No way.
Forrest: No.
Forrest: That's no way.
Forrest: I'll tell you this.
Forrest: When you're walking in God's way, Satan will try to get in the way.
Forrest: When you begin to think about your giving unto the Lord and what you're bringing to him and sacrifices, especially in the area of finances, you don't think that Satan's going to try to throw some opposition your way?
Forrest: How about the unexpected bill?
Forrest: People's opinions.
Forrest: The debt that's keeping you from walking in the blessing.
Forrest: And you feeling like, oh, you know, I just have so much debt, I can't give anything else.
Forrest: Couldn't possibly give to the Lord.
Forrest: Look at everything that's going on.
Forrest: Have an opposition for you walking in obedience and consistency with the Lord.
Forrest: What happened in Nehemiah's case is that the mockery that he was experiencing from a few, it turned into threats of murder.
Forrest: The enemies of the Jews didn't just lay down and go away while they were trying to rebuild.
Forrest: Instead, they began to threaten that they were going to come and attack.
Forrest: Nehemiah 4 12 says, The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again, they will come from all directions and attack us.
Forrest: So I placed armed guards behind the lowest part of the wall in the exposed areas.
Forrest: I stationed the people to stand guard by families armed with swords, spears, and bows.
Forrest: What did Nehemiah do?
Forrest: He build a battle plan.
Forrest: And that's what we need to do.
Forrest: We need to build the battle plan.
Forrest: We think about us walking in obedience with the Lord and his ways.
Forrest: The enemy trying to get in our way.
Forrest: We got to have a plan, right?
Forrest: We got to have a plan of attack.
Forrest: Because we know that the attack is going to come.
Forrest: And it's not just a plan, but it's also taking action on that plan.
Forrest: And Nehemiah said, okay, we've got enemies that are going to planning to attack.
Forrest: They're going to come after us.
Forrest: So here's what we're going to do.
Forrest: We're going to set up individuals and they're going to begin to stand guard, each family.
Forrest: They're going to arm themselves.
Forrest: And he puts a plan in place so that they can continue the work.
Forrest: But it's not just a plan, right?
Forrest: That helps us.
Forrest: It's taking action on that plan.
Forrest: The theologian Mike Tyson, he once said, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
Forrest: We build a black battle plan together, but then we walk that plan out.
Forrest: To be blessed, you need to be building a godly plan of what it looks like for you to be obedient and walk in obedience with the Lord.
Forrest: And so what does that look like?
Forrest: That looks like that plan of just starting somewhere.
Forrest: Emily and I, we have had our own journey of giving for years and years and years and giving to the Lord and being faithful in the tithe and being giving over and above.
Forrest: And we have experienced God's blessing over and over and over again.
Forrest: And I could stand here and I could tell you story after story after story about God's blessing in my life, but I'm not going to do that because all of you would say, Well, you're the pastor.
Forrest: He's supposed to do that.
Forrest: It's almost like it doesn't count.
Forrest: Like you look at my life and you don't think I'm a person too.
Forrest: I'm a person too.
Forrest: We have a household, we have an income, we have kids, and we've been walking this out for years and years and years.
Forrest: So I'm not going to tell you story and story over my life today.
Forrest: But what I am going to tell you is that if I could encourage you to do anything, is just to start somewhere with the Lord.
Forrest: You know what I'm really excited about next week?
Forrest: Obviously, I'm excited about the Lord bringing provision for us to continue in expansion and for us to take ground and to build the kingdom.
Forrest: But as I said last week, I'm excited that next Sunday, somebody is going to give to the Lord for the very first time.
Forrest: And they're going to step into a faithfulness and to take a step over this line, this barrier that the enemy has held you captive in, of you giving your whole life over to God, finances included, and has been holding you back from walking the blessed life that He wants for you to have.
Forrest: And so can I just encourage you with the battle plan to begin?
Forrest: Just start somewhere.
Forrest: If it's not like, oh, I can't imagine right now starting to give the Lord 10%.
Forrest: How could in the world could I return that or bring that to the Lord?
Forrest: Just start somewhere.
Forrest: Could you begin by saying, you know what, next year, I'm going to give 1%.
Forrest: I'm going to give 2%.
Forrest: I'm going to start somewhere.
Forrest: I'm going to build from there.
Forrest: I'm just going to start.
Forrest: Where in the world could we start as a family?
Forrest: See Nehemiah had a battle plan, but then they worked the plan out.
Forrest: In verse 16, he said, But from then on, only half of the men worked, while the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail.
Forrest: The leader stationed themselves behind the people of Judah who were building the wall.
Forrest: The laborers carried uh carried on their work with one hand supporting their load and one hand holding a weapon.
Forrest: They already have this humongous task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem that have been demolished, burned, and now they're having to be both on offense and defense.
Forrest: Do you think it's any different for our spiritual lives?
Forrest: See, for each of us, we there's an offense and defense when it comes to our spiritual wall.
Forrest: And it kind of goes like this.
Forrest: What is it that you need to start doing to walk closely with the Lord?
Forrest: And what is it that you need to stop doing in order to walk closely with the Lord?
Forrest: And we're always, as a people of God and as believers walking with God, we're always in attention of saying, okay, what is it that I need to start doing in my walk with the Lord?
Forrest: What are the things, the sin things, the habits, the hangouts, the things that are going on in my life that I need to stop in order to walk more closely with the Lord and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit?
Forrest: There's an offense, there's a defense component.
Forrest: And we see the people of God here trying to rebuild the walls.
Forrest: They've got this mission that they're supposed to do, but even in doing that, now they're having to hold a sword in one hand and they're having to lay bricks with the other hand because the enemy is at their door trying to attack.
Forrest: Don't be confused and think that that's not the same thing that's happening to you in your home.
Forrest: Now it gets even more intense.
Forrest: Because they're doing the work.
Forrest: And as you can imagine, laying a brick with one hand and holding a sword in the other hand, and half the of a group being on defense at one point and half on offense, and they're switching back and forth, and they're trying to build the wall.
Forrest: And over time that gets very, very tiresome.
Forrest: The days and days and days.
Forrest: And there are other things that are happening in their personal lives that come and bubble up to the top.
Forrest: In chapter five, about this time, some of the men and their wives raised a cry of protest against their fellow Jews.
Forrest: They're saying, We have such large families, we need more food to survive.
Forrest: Others said, We've mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and homes to get food during the famine.
Forrest: Remember, not only are they in Jerusalem, they're trying to rebuild, they have enemies trying to attack, but there's also a famine going on in the land.
Forrest: There are so many obstacles in their path right now.
Forrest: And some of these families have gotten into debt and mortgaged their homes and mortgaged their fields and their vineyards to the point that now they are in such massive debt that they're having to sell their children into slavery.
Forrest: The most tragic part of this whole situation is that in the Old Testament, in God's law in Deuteronomy, multiple times God tells Jews, do not charge interest on a loan to another Jew.
Forrest: See, the people of God, the way that God set up the Old Testament and the laws was all in an effect to make the people of God of Israel a set-apart people, different than the rest of the world.
Forrest: So then when people looked at them from the outside and they said, Why are they doing all these things?
Forrest: They don't even charge each other interest.
Forrest: But what had happened was sin had entered the land and they began to take advantage of one another.
Forrest: And they mortgaged their lives in their vineyards.
Forrest: And now they're in a place that they're having to sell their children, their cells into indentured servanthood.
Forrest: And now not only are they experiencing opposition from external forces, but also obstacles in their path.
Forrest: Famine, food, uh, food prices too high.
Forrest: High interest rates, large debt.
Forrest: Sounds like 2023 to me.
Forrest: Food going up, interest rates going up, large debts.
Forrest: Sounds like right now, and this was Nehemiah's response.
Forrest: I love this.
Forrest: Verse 6.
Forrest: When I heard their complaints, I was very angry.
Forrest: And in verse 9, he pressed further.
Forrest: Then I pressed further.
Forrest: What you're doing is not right.
Forrest: Charging interest to one another, falling into this large debt.
Forrest: Should you not walk in the fear of our God in order to avoid being mocked by enemy nations?
Forrest: Nehemiah didn't come to them when they were crying and weeping.
Forrest: He didn't say, It's okay.
Forrest: Come over here.
Forrest: Let me put your head on my shoulder.
Forrest: Let me dry your tears.
Forrest: Let me give you a tissue.
Forrest: No, he was angry.
Forrest: Because he knew that their lives were out of order.
Forrest: He knew that the people of God had sin, and now that they'd had years and decades and decades and over a century that they had been in Babylonian captivity, that sin had entered their lifestyle.
Forrest: And so he came to them and he said, Hey, what you're doing's not right.
Forrest: Stop charging interest on one another, taking advantage of one another.
Forrest: Don't you fear the Lord.
Forrest: How are we going to overcome opposition and obstacles in our life?
Forrest: It's with obedience.
Forrest: Obedience to the Lord.
Forrest: Do the right thing.
Forrest: We don't want to think about that word sometimes, obedience.
Forrest: But we know that the scripture tells us that if we walk in righteousness, if we walk in God's way.
Forrest: That with us walking in his way, that we're going to be blessed on this side of eternity and the next.
Forrest: That if we walk closely with God, if we do the right thing, if we set ourselves and our life up to have God first in our priorities, then everything else is going to be added to us.
Forrest: See, it's obedience to bring the tithe.
Forrest: It's obedience to bring the tithe.
Forrest: And my charge and my my call to you is again to begin somewhere, but for us to do the right thing.
Forrest: And not just in the area of tithing, but also in the way that we have our lives set up and in seeking first the kingdom.
Forrest: Remember last week, the words of Jesus, Matthew 6, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things be given to you as well.
Forrest: So how in the world should you do it?
Forrest: How in the world should you tithe?
Forrest: Well, you've heard it said first things first, but what the Bible teaches us is first fruits first.
Forrest: This is a very new concept in my life and in our family.
Forrest: Was for our giving to the Lord, for us to be giving in a way that is giving of the first fruits.
Forrest: And what that essentially means is that what takes more faith when you get your check or when you get your income, what takes more faith for you to give the first hundred dollars or the last hundred dollars?
Forrest: What takes more faith for you to give as soon as that buddy comes in and gives to the Lord of the first to seek him first, or wait until the end of the month and you're trying to figure out, well, you know, gonna do some math and my savings and my checking and moving around, and well, I have enough to give to the Lord.
Forrest: And that was my life for a long time.
Forrest: Giving and we gave consistently, and and there were many times where you know I was about to hit enter on the the the the keyboard or on the phone to give or uh and giving the check and say, oh, hey God, like you know, all right, like is there gonna be enough?
Forrest: And waiting to the end of the month and trying to figure out what are we gonna do and enter being introduced to this concept of giving first fruits, I can tell you for the last couple of years, we have been uh practicing that as soon as we get our income for the first thing for us to do is give to the Lord and give the tithe, and it is so much more fun.
Forrest: It's so much more joyful because I know it's gonna be there, and I know that as I put God first in my life, that the rest of the month it's gonna work out.
Forrest: This concept of first fruits in the scripture, it's all throughout.
Forrest: I couldn't go through all the passages, but the concept of first fruits giving, it's in Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Numbers, First Chronicles, 2nd Chronicles, 2 Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Proverbs, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, 2 Thessalonians, James, and more.
Forrest: All the way back to the story in Genesis with Cain and Abel and the first offerings that they gave to the Lord and the first fruits.
Forrest: And for us to bring to God first and do it gladly.
Forrest: And why in the world do we do that?
Forrest: Because we bring our first fruits to the Lord, because he did that for us.
Forrest: Look at what 1 Corinthians 15 23 says.
Forrest: But each in turn, Christ the what?
Forrest: First fruits then when he comes, those who belong to him.
Forrest: Christ himself is mentioned as the first fruits.
Forrest: God gave to us, his only son.
Forrest: That we should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Forrest: And I think about what in the world we're doing when we say, okay, God, seek first the kingdom and his righteousness.
Forrest: Do what's right, and all these things will be added unto you.
Forrest: And I believe the words of Jesus.
Forrest: And we've been walking this out, and I'm telling you, it's so much more fun.
Forrest: It is so much fun in giving.
Forrest: It's like uh the there's a joy, there's a cheerfulness in our giving now, because it's like, okay, first thing, boom, to the Lord.
Forrest: Everything else I know is going to be added to us.
Forrest: We're gonna be okay, and we have been.
Forrest: And we're gonna continue to be because the Lord is providing for us.
Forrest: And for us to seek first his kingdom, for us to build the kingdom of God together.
Forrest: Yeah, I cannot tell you um how excited I am about Frankfurt Forward.
Forrest: This initiative in our church.
Forrest: I've talked about it for the last few weeks.
Forrest: The missions and outreach aspect of our church that we've been walking in now for a long time.
Forrest: For us to be able to connect and be a connector in the community to be able to connect with local nonprofits, connecting volunteers to help with different nonprofits across the city.
Forrest: I hope that one day, even with what we're doing with Frankfurt Forward and the dis different events and initiatives and things that we're doing, just like we had a couple of weeks ago with our partnership with the Academy, the alternative school, and we're gonna have Christmas joy that's gonna come.
Forrest: But there's gonna be so many things that we've already done so much, and there's so much more to do.
Forrest: But can you believe this?
Forrest: That the first time that I sat down and talked about the idea of Frankfurt Forward with another local pastor, you know what he said to me?
Forrest: That's a waste of time.
Forrest: Emily's laughing because she remembers.
Forrest: It was like over a year ago.
Forrest: I was pitching this idea of like, man, what would it look like for us to see Frankfurt move forward economically, relationally, and and and spiritually?
Forrest: And I said, you know, even it who knows, maybe even there'll be other churches who want to get involved.
Forrest: And and as we connect the the people of God inside the churches with what's happening on the ground, with the different nonprofits across our city, and begin to fuel the fire of the good that's going on in our town and be able to pour gasoline.
Forrest: And that pastor just said, Yeah, that's not gonna work.
Forrest: He said, It's actually a waste of time because those those organizations don't want to partner with you anyway.
Forrest: We just need to preach the gospel.
Forrest: We just need to, you know, keep the remnant.
Forrest: The world's not going to accept us as believers as time goes on because they're gonna look at us as hate haters and discrimination and blah blah blah blah blah.
Forrest: And I just listened and listened and listened.
Forrest: And you know what I did?
Forrest: I left that meeting and said, that is not right.
Forrest: We're gonna do this thing.
Forrest: When you when you're trying to build something up, there's always someone who's gonna want to tear it down.
Forrest: And I in a in the same way that Nehemiah's heart was broken for his city, Jerusalem.
Forrest: Our heart breaks for Frankfurt for this county, for Lawrenceburg, for Shelbyville, for Owington, for for Georgetown, the surrounding areas of wanting to see God move powerfully and for us to lay a foundation on Christ that we can continue to build his kingdom.
Forrest: Church, I I believe that we're going to continue to serve, we're gonna continue to serve well, and other people are going to join in on the mission.
Forrest: And there are gonna be other Christians and people of faith who are gonna jump in and say, you know what, yeah, that's really cool.
Forrest: I want to be a part of what's going on there.
Forrest: And as our heart continues to break for what God has called us to, and for us to lay a foundation of building, I don't want any of us to get discouraged.
Forrest: And I'll tell you this, church, a year ago when somebody said, Hey, that's a waste of time, guess what?
Forrest: I wasn't discouraged.
Forrest: I just said, hey, you know what?
Forrest: That's just, they're just wrong.
Forrest: We're gonna keep going.
Forrest: We're gonna keep doing this.
Forrest: We're going to keep building.
Forrest: And I think about Nehemiah and what he was doing, and I think about it in the same way as Pastor Chuck Swindah in his famous book wrote, I can just imagine Nehemiah standing there at the wall.
Forrest: And he's saying, Hand me another brick.
Forrest: Hand me another brick.
Forrest: There's opposition, there's obstacles, people are hurt, there's an enemy at the door, hand me another brick.
Forrest: People's lives here in our community are broken, their relationship with God is broken, hand me another brick.
Forrest: We got people whose faith and trust in the local church is broken, hand me another brick.
Forrest: We got kids who are impacted by incarceration that we're gonna come alongside and help them and be a blessing to them, hand me another brick.
Forrest: We got women who are in recovery and transition of a living going from recovery and trying to get back into the workplace, and with their fit with their kids and their family, hand me another brick.
Forrest: We have nonprofit avenues in our town protecting the unborn, hand me another brick.
Forrest: We've got vulnerable kids in our schools, hand me another brick.
Forrest: We got student athletes who need to know what it means for them to follow and win, not just on the field or on the court, but in life and then into eternity with Christ, hand me another brick.
Forrest: We got college students at KSU disconnected to the local church, hand me another brick.
Forrest: But it's not just me, it takes all of us in this room.
Forrest: Who in this room is gonna say hand me another brick?
Forrest: Who in here is gonna say, you know what, not just four, not just the pastor, not just the staff, not just the leaders, hand me another brick.
Forrest: Somebody hand me another brick.
Forrest: Let's keep building it, let's keep building it.
Forrest: There's an enemy at the door, there's opposition, there's people telling us what we're doing is a waste.
Forrest: Hand me another brick, let's do it.
Forrest: So, what are we gonna do?
Forrest: Well, next week, what we're gonna do is we're gonna collectively give together, and what we're gonna do is we're gonna have Christmas for a ton of children who are impacted by incarceration.
Forrest: It's gonna cost over$5,000.
Forrest: We're gonna do it, and we're gonna your more information will come next week as we do this with Christmas joy.
Forrest: We're gonna give a gift to Avenues, the Crisis Pregnancy Center, because they've had land donated to them and they're in the space of getting a new building, and so we're gonna sow a seed to them and help them in their journey to get a new building because guess what?
Forrest: The Lord's also doing that for us.
Forrest: And so we're gonna sow into what they're doing, and we're gonna do that through this next week, and we're gonna give into the the project and to what's happening, and for us to get into the space and for the construction to be completed for our new space.
Forrest: But in the middle of all that, don't you know that the enemy is going to try his best to discourage and distract us?
Forrest: Not only that, but to harm us.
Forrest: Look at what happened to Nehemiah.
Forrest: Nehemiah, they're building the wall.
Forrest: These same haters came to him and sent message to him four different times to try to get him to stop doing what he was doing and come to meet with him.
Forrest: Look at what happened.
Forrest: This is chapter six, verse three.
Forrest: And I sent messages to them saying, I am doing a great work and cannot come down.
Forrest: Why should I stop work while uh while I leave it and come down to you?
Forrest: And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner.
Forrest: See, these enemies were sending this message to Nehemiah to say, Hey, listen, what what we need to have a meeting.
Forrest: We need you to come, we need you to stop what you're doing, we want you to come over here and meet with us.
Forrest: But what the Lord had told him and what had shown him is that they actually were asking him to this meeting to harm him.
Forrest: They were they were they were trying to get him on the other side of the wall, and they were trying to, they were, they had intentions of harming him.
Forrest: So much so that they actually paid a false prophet to come to me at Nehemiah and tell him that he needed to go talk to them.
Forrest: And he found out that he was paid and that it was a scheme.
Forrest: And what was Nehemiah's response?
Forrest: He said, I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down.
Forrest: Church, all of us right now, we cannot come down from what God is doing here.
Forrest: The distractions that come, the enemy, what he's trying to do, trying to divide, trying to harm us.
Forrest: We cannot come down.
Forrest: We are doing a great work.
Forrest: Our church, our small new church, we are doing a great work, we cannot come down and be distracted by you.
Forrest: We cannot quit, we cannot give up, we cannot stop.
Forrest: Whatever the haters, the enemy, Satan is trying to throw in our path, we cannot come down.
Forrest: Everybody say we cannot come down.
Forrest: Say it again, we cannot come down.
Forrest: We are doing a great work, church, aren't we?
Forrest: It's the very beginnings.
Forrest: We're doing a great work, but we cannot come down.
Forrest: Nehemiah could not come down either.
Forrest: And in verse 15, on October the 2nd, the wall was finished.
Forrest: Just 52 days after we had begun.
Forrest: When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated.
Forrest: They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.
Forrest: Three years ago, when Multiply Church was just a wish and a prayer.
Forrest: And Emily and I had taken the step and moved from Charleston back to Kentucky to begin the work of Multiply.
Forrest: And there was this crazy couple, the Sandlins, Dave and Sally, you may know, that called Emily and FaceTimed us and they said, you know what, we're we're we're gonna move too.
Forrest: We were in Knoxville, Tennessee at the time, and uh great career things going, and they said, you know what, we see what's happening where the Lord has told us to come, but they had a big obstacle in the way.
Forrest: See their home down in in Knoxville, what had happened was that the the the back side of their house, there there had been some rain damage that got had gotten in uh between the the stone on the outside of the house and the interior wood uh on their their their back door going out, and there was uh there was water who that had gotten in and it had created mold, and they had had somebody come give a quote that was gonna be twenty thousand dollars to fix before they could put their house on the market.
Forrest: And they're like, Okay, God's told us to come.
Forrest: What in the world are we gonna do?
Forrest: Like, this is this is this is this is gonna be tough.
Forrest: They were saying, should we get like a construction loan to then fix it, to then put it on the market?
Forrest: And I do not understand how this happened.
Forrest: But a few weeks later, they had somebody come back out to the house to give them a second opinion on the work.
Forrest: And they pulled back the door frame and they looked and inspected all in it, and they said, There's no mold or damage here.
Forrest: Instead of them having to take a construction loan, instead they sold the house and made a huge profit on the house.
Forrest: And then they cheerfully gave a tithe off of that profit to help the beginnings of multiply.
Forrest: And they gave it with joy because you know why?
Forrest: They knew that God had helped them.
Forrest: It was unexplainable.
Forrest: But the work that Nehemiah and the people of God did led to the enemies and those surrounding.
Forrest: And in verse 16, they realized that the work had been done with the help of our God.
Forrest: Church, we're going to continue to walk in God's blessing.
Forrest: I want for your home to walk in God's blessing.
Forrest: And in doing so, be held by the hand of God.
Forrest: After 140 years, the wall was rebuilt in 52 days.
Forrest: And it was helped by the hand of God.
Forrest: I believe so passionately that what we're doing right now, there is no doubt in my mind that it's God's hand that is on us, leading us, and helping us.
Forrest: And I want the same exact thing for every home represented in this room.
Forrest: So what's that going to be like?
Forrest: Well, again, next weekend is an opportunity for you to step in obedience with the Lord.
Forrest: For you to say, okay, God, what in the world am I going to give?
Forrest: What in the world am I going to invest?
Forrest: For some of you, it's going to be a decision of like, okay, I'm going to give God for the very first time.
Forrest: And in your seats, you have a card.
Forrest: And I've got one up here, but you got it there.
Forrest: This card that's in your seat.
Forrest: It's in the cup holder.
Forrest: It says brick layers.
Forrest: And you got one last week.
Forrest: And then if you weren't here last week, you get one this week.
Forrest: And the back of it, it just simply has a place for your information.
Forrest: And then it says, hey, this is what I'm committing to give.
Forrest: I'm going to commit to begin to give in the time next next year.
Forrest: I'm going to give this to our year-end offering.
Forrest: And my ask to you is for you to pray genuinely for God to help you and what it looks like for you to take that step of obedience next week.
Forrest: And as you pray with your family and whoever's in your house about what it looks like for you to give and what step you need to take, I know that God's hand is going to be with you.
Forrest: His Holy Spirit's going to be guiding you as you walk towards Him.
Forrest: But I don't want you to think that there's not going to be opposition.
Forrest: As you're trying to build, the enemy's going to want to tear you down.
Forrest: And so for you to genuinely begin to pray, okay, God, what does that look like for me?
Forrest: And you know, I know that we're being helped by the hand of God.
Forrest: Because we've had this incredible relationship and partnership with our sending church, Southland.
Forrest: That have come alongside us and have invested with us and partnered with us in many ways.
Forrest: Last year they came alongside us and in a very significant way for our year and offering.
Forrest: So that they were going to help us and invest.
Forrest: And guess what?
Forrest: They're proud of all of us, what God's done through us, and they want to partner with us again next week.
Forrest: And so a few weeks ago, they let me know that they're going to match dollar for dollar again of our giving.
Forrest: Up to$90,000 next week.
Forrest: Come on, Lord.
Forrest: Up to$90,000 next week of match giving.
Forrest: Doubling.
Forrest: Again, this is not addition church.
Forrest: This is multiply church.
Forrest: And our year and offering again is going to be doubled.
Forrest: Dollar for dollar.
Forrest: Everything that you give, it's going to be matched for us to get to the completion of our building project, for us to invest in our community.
Forrest: And so my ask for coming in next Sunday is for you to pray about what it means for you to bring your best to the Lord.
Forrest: For you to pray like Nehemiah did.
Forrest: For you to fast.
Forrest: Ask the Lord what it looks like for you to invest in his kingdom, to build it together.
Forrest: And ultimately that you have a foundation on him and him alone.
Forrest: You may be in the room today, and your foundation is not yet on Christ.
Forrest: Everything that I've talked about today, you're like, man, I don't even understand what this guy's talking about.
Forrest: I'm just here because I know that life's just not going the right way, and I just need something different.
Forrest: Can I tell you that Jesus loves you and wants to meet you right where you are today?
Forrest: As we talk about giving to the Lord, we're only giving back because Jesus, He gave everything to us.
Forrest: He gave us His life.
Forrest: He died on our behalf on the cross 2,000 years ago.
Forrest: Today may be the day for you to trust in Jesus, to give your life to him, to begin to walk with him, and in doing so, be eternity with him.
Forrest: Every single one of us has steps of obedience.
Forrest: Things right now that we need to start, that we need to stop doing for us to walk closely with God.
Forrest: Maybe today for you it's the beginning of a relationship with him.
Forrest: I want to invite you to take that step and to follow Jesus.
Forrest: Will you join me in prayer right now?
Forrest: Father, all across the room, Lord.
Forrest: Father, I pray that we would be people that would say, hand me another brick.
Forrest: Help me, Lord, to continue to build your kingdom.
Forrest: In my home, under my roof, in our community and beyond.
Forrest: Father, help us to lay a foundation on you, Christ.
Forrest: And God, I pray all across the room today, God, if anybody in this room needs to follow you and to begin to lay a foundation on you, Christ, and to give their life and heart to you, Father, I pray that they would do that.
Forrest: That they would pray something like this: Jesus, save me in their heart and mind, genuinely.
Forrest: Jesus, save me.
Forrest: I believe that you're the Son of God.
Forrest: You died on the cross for my sins.
Forrest: Forgive me.
Forrest: Cleanse me so that I can be in heaven with you one day.
Forrest: Thank you for your forgiveness.
Forrest: I build my life on you.
Forrest: And I give you my life as you gave yours for mine.
Forrest: In the strong name of Jesus.
Forrest: Nobody looking around this morning, if today you prayed that prayer for you to put your foundation on Christ and in Him.
Forrest: And you prayed that at a genuine heart for God to save you, forgive you.
Forrest: If that's you today, I want to celebrate you.
Forrest: I want to not embarrass you, but just be able to pray for you.
Forrest: And so if that's you, nobody looking around, would you have a count of three?
Forrest: Just lift your hand and match eyes with mine or so that I can see you.
Forrest: If that's you today, that you accepted Christ, his forgiveness for you.
Forrest: Raise your hand on the count of three.
Forrest: One, two, three.
Forrest: Anybody in the room?
Forrest: Yep.
Forrest: I see you.
Forrest: Father, thank you, Lord.
Forrest: God, for hands raised to you today.
Forrest: That God, we would each one of us build our life on you.
Forrest: And specifically, God, those that are taking that step.
Forrest: God, that their life, God, would be forgiven, saved, redeemed, restored.