Forrest: Forrest Coleman, lead pastor here at Multiply.
Forrest: If I've not met you, welcome.
Forrest: If you're new with us here today, we are glad that you are here joining us this morning as we are in our series moving forward.
Forrest: And myself, my family, about a hundred other people helped to launch Multiply Church almost two years ago.
Forrest: And excited that you're here today if you're new with us.
Forrest: This morning, we're jumping into a passage of scripture and into a sermon that I'm calling Framework Church.
Forrest: And I have right here the plans for the new building that we will be moving to very soon.
Forrest: Can you believe next Sunday is our last time here in the movie theater?
Forrest: I cannot believe it.
Forrest: I'm excited for next Sunday as we move out of this place and pack up everything after service and love for you to be a part of that and helping us make that move.
Forrest: But these plans, the last time I held these plans up was in July of last year.
Forrest: And at that point, when I held up these plans, they were just paper.
Forrest: And nothing that was a part of the plans for the change of this new building had actually been done.
Forrest: But now, after months and months and months of work, what's on these pages of his plan is now a reality.
Forrest: And it's a reality because of the power of our God, for the work of his people, for the sacrifice that's been made.
Forrest: And I think about the vision that we started with so long ago.
Forrest: That for us, what kind of church were we gonna be?
Forrest: What was it gonna look like?
Forrest: How would Frankfurt be different?
Forrest: How could we love and care for Kentucky State University?
Forrest: And even just the question of gosh, how do you go about starting a church?
Forrest: How do you even do that?
Forrest: How's that even happen?
Forrest: And thankfully, then we had a framework that we could look at, a plan.
Forrest: We had the foundation of what it looked like for us to be a church that serves Jesus, loves Jesus, and does the mission and the calling that Jesus has called us to.
Forrest: And thankfully, we're not just making it up as we go, but instead we have a plan and a foundation in God's word.
Forrest: See, here's the thing.
Forrest: We have a description, and we've been in this series of moving forward.
Forrest: We're looking at different moments, miracles, and movements in the book of Acts as we see the earliest of the church, the earliest version, the very beginnings, and how it exploded onto the scene because of them seeing the way that Jesus did his ministry and modeling their lives after the way Jesus did his ministry in life.
Forrest: And for us here today, there even right now and in the weeks to come, whether we've been in a movie theater or when we go into a permanent space, the enemy wants nothing more than us to abandon the plan.
Forrest: The enemy wants nothing more than for us to look at each other and say, you know what?
Forrest: Hey, we did it.
Forrest: Hey, we're moving to space, like, wow, amazing.
Forrest: We're done.
Forrest: Or for us to fall into a place of comfort and say, you know what, well, it's all right, like we can uh we can abort mission now.
Forrest: But instead, what we know is that God has a plan, a calling, and a purpose for our church and for your life.
Forrest: For our church and your life.
Forrest: And the the that plan and purpose in God's church, it does not include fear.
Forrest: It really probably doesn't even uh include at times a carefree life or a life that's filled with comfort.
Forrest: It certainly doesn't include a me, me, me, me, me kind of mentality when we come as a body of believers and people walking out our faith in Christ.
Forrest: Instead, for us to have a mentality of loving God and seeing an outpouring and overflow to the people around us in the love and the light of Christ.
Forrest: See, we can't abandon the plan.
Forrest: We can't abandon the mission.
Forrest: And the enemy wants nothing more than to hold us back and keep us from walking out the faith that we've been entrusted with and the way that's been modeled by Jesus and his disciples.
Forrest: See, at some pivotal points in our church, we've recentered around the passage of scripture that we're going to go through today.
Forrest: And it's this description of the earliest iteration of the Christian church, and it's something that we've looked at over and over and over again.
Forrest: I remember the first time we walked through this passage, uh, this was years ago now, probably close to almost three years ago, in Liberty's House.
Forrest: There's a circle of us, about, I don't know, 12, 15 of us, walking through this book and this section of Acts, and looking at what the early church was doing and looking at what the disciples were doing, and multiplied church.
Forrest: That was it.
Forrest: One living room.
Forrest: And then there was a time where we looked at this passage in a very weird part of our history when we were in the office space next to the treasury.
Forrest: Yep.
Forrest: Some of y'all came to multiply at that point, or in the very beginnings, you're and you walked out thinking, like, I don't know about this.
Forrest: This is kind of weird.
Forrest: We looked at this passage of scripture together in September of 2022, six months into the life of our church here in the movie theater, and now two weeks out before moving into the permanent space, we're going to look at this passage again.
Forrest: And the enemy wants nothing more than for us to turn off our minds, turn off our hearts, turn off our intellect, turn off our focus, and to let the passage today and the centering passage for it to just go in one ear, out the other ear, because it may not be the most comfortable thing.
Forrest: It may not be the most comfortable version of church that maybe we grew up in, or maybe we have seen from afar, or maybe that you're used to.
Forrest: And ultimately, the enemy wants to put all kinds of excuses in your mind about how we couldn't do that.
Forrest: Oh gosh, I can never be part of a small group.
Forrest: Are you kidding me?
Forrest: Go to somebody's house that I don't know.
Forrest: They're gonna open the Bible.
Forrest: I don't know any of the answers.
Forrest: Are they gonna ask me a question?
Forrest: I don't know what to say.
Forrest: When my life is not cleaned up enough to go and to talk with other people about God, I couldn't possibly put myself in that situation.
Forrest: The enemy wants to stop us, hold us back, cut us off.
Forrest: So here's here's here, let me set the scene for the passage.
Forrest: It's Acts 2, 42 through 47.
Forrest: Ahead of this passage, what's happened is the Holy Spirit has fallen onto the church.
Forrest: The Holy Spirit that Jesus promised after his death, his resurrection, he's ascended to heaven and he's promised the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Forrest: And so we see in the very beginning of Acts that the Holy Spirit descends on this day of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit is unleashed on the earth through believers.
Forrest: And it's this gathering at Pentecost of this multinational, multi-ethnic group of people, and it blew the doors off of the great commission that Jesus gave to the disciples in Matthew 28 to say, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I've commanded you.
Forrest: And law be with you always to the very end of the age.
Forrest: And then it fulfills the promise that he gave to them in Acts chapter 1, verse 8.
Forrest: When Jesus spoke to the disciples, and he said, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
Forrest: And these promises and this command from Christ, all of a sudden, just the doors get blown off.
Forrest: The day of Pentecost, and then this was their response to that holy moment that we'll talk more about next week.
Forrest: But in Acts chapter 2, verse 42, this is what they did in response.
Forrest: 3,000 some believers have come now new to the faith.
Forrest: What are we going to do with all these new believers in Jesus now?
Forrest: And what they did was this in verse 42.
Forrest: All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, the sharing of meals, including the Lord's Supper, and to prayer.
Forrest: Verse 43.
Forrest: A deep sense of awe came over them all.
Forrest: And the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders.
Forrest: And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything that they had.
Forrest: They sold their property and possessions, they shared money with those in need, and they worshipped together at the movie theater each day.
Forrest: No, they should the temple each day and met in homes for the Lord's Supper and shared their meals with great joy and generosity, and all while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people.
Forrest: And each day, the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.
Forrest: We, as a body, we get to walk in unity together and need to follow the framework set before us.
Forrest: So, you know, we're gonna move into this nice, shiny, uh, uh, uh new permanent facility in a couple weeks, but it wasn't that long ago that it looked like this.
Forrest: Got a picture somewhere.
Forrest: Just frames.
Forrest: And there's people whose their whole job is just to show up and do the frames, and then somebody else comes later and does the drywall.
Forrest: But at one point, all it was was just some metal studs and an open room, and there was a framework.
Forrest: And built on that framework, we're going to get to enjoy the blessing of the Lord in the new space that we're gonna have.
Forrest: But it didn't get there without it being, it didn't get here without it being there at one point, and in the same way, we get to step forward with the framework, with the blueprint of what the local church should be and follow the framework that we see in unity, and we need to do that.
Forrest: So, what is it that we need to do?
Forrest: What is it that we need to do?
Forrest: What is it that you need to do?
Forrest: Well, the first thing that we need to do and what they did is to meet together.
Forrest: Meet together in one place, meet together in homes, fellowship with meals and prayer and teaching.
Forrest: See, this is a little education for just a second on the early days of our church.
Forrest: Before there ever was a service or one song sung at Multiply, we began with small groups.
Forrest: Our church started with meeting in a living room and sharing a meal, not just because I love Taco Night, because the disciples did it too.
Forrest: And the new believers, they did it as well.
Forrest: They shared meals together.
Forrest: And Emily and I were the very first group leaders.
Forrest: The very first of our church.
Forrest: And a few weeks ago, the Tony Small Group, anybody in Tony Small Group, get your shout out right now.
Forrest: The Tony Small Group multiplied a few weeks ago.
Forrest: And right now, in just a couple of short years in the life of our church, Emily now, Emily and I now are great grandparent group leaders of the multiplication that's happened in the work of multiply church.
Forrest: And just a couple short years.
Forrest: And that's, don't miss this.
Forrest: That's disciples who are making new disciples.
Forrest: Who are now making new disciples.
Forrest: Where's it gonna be years from I I don't know, but we're just Emily and I just gonna keep getting older.
Forrest: More generations.
Forrest: And we've seen people making life-changing decisions in living rooms across the city.
Forrest: And I know that there's gonna be more.
Forrest: I believe it.
Forrest: See, because just like what the apostles and what these early believers were doing and gathering in homes, why were they doing that?
Forrest: Because they were in relationship with one another.
Forrest: Caring for one another, loving for loving one another.
Forrest: And so that the new space that we're gonna move into is gonna be a space of worship and of serving.
Forrest: But discipleship is gonna happen like the early church in homes around our community and communities beyond here.
Forrest: Sharing of meals, talking about the scripture, learning from the apostles' teaching, growing as disciples and those who make other disciples.
Forrest: Ironically enough, today is the launch back of our small groups.
Forrest: There's some of you who've been coming to our church or have come new in the last month.
Forrest: We haven't had our groups rolling with our Christmas break, but they're back now, and we would love for you to jump in and to be a part of one.
Forrest: You've got a card there in your seat, and we'll talk more about it.
Forrest: But we're gonna meet together in one place and in homes.
Forrest: The next thing we're gonna do is we're gonna through the power of the Holy Spirit and God's power, we're gonna see miracles manifest.
Forrest: We're gonna manifest miracles in the power of God.
Forrest: Last time I talked about this passage, I told this story that's very near to me.
Forrest: My friend in college, his name's Brad Bell.
Forrest: And years and years ago, when we were in college, Brad felt a call to go to the mission field and to be a missionary, and ultimately ended up going to Ethiopia for three years.
Forrest: But before he could get onto the mission field and could be approved, he had a health issue that was going on in his life that was keeping him from being able to step onto the mission field.
Forrest: And what it was was that he had whatever it's called, I'm not a doctor, but the condition where you have a small hole in your heart.
Forrest: And Brad's country church in Monticello, Kentucky, years ago, for him to be able to go on the mission field, they brought Brad uh in together and they all laid hands on Brad and they prayed for his healing, and he went back to the doctor, and the hole in his heart was gone.
Forrest: And he spent three years on the mission field, and he's recently pastored a church in Louisville for some time, and now is teaching other people to be missionaries, and God did a mighty work.
Forrest: I told that story the last time I shared this passage in September of 2022.
Forrest: And last year in our church, Sally Stanley, who you may know, who's on our staff and team and her family, last year she went to the doctor and they told her that she had a hole in her heart.
Forrest: And so we prayed for her, and she went back to the doctor and they did the scan, and they said, We we don't know how to explain this.
Forrest: We actually have not seen this before, but the hole in your heart is gone, it's not there anymore.
Forrest: We can't see it on the scans anymore.
Forrest: I told that story in 22.
Forrest: That happened in 23.
Forrest: You know what else?
Forrest: In the last year, I know of at least four people who were prayed for by leaders and people in our church or a part of church, our church, who were told that they did or likely had cancer, whose scans came back and said otherwise in the last year.
Forrest: Now, I don't know if that was, I don't know if that was because of our prayer.
Forrest: I don't, I don't know.
Forrest: I can't say, oh, that was because our prayers or maybe somebody else's prayers, but I know this that we can celebrate and see the fact that the Holy Spirit is moving in a miraculous way in our midst.
Forrest: And I want to see more of it.
Forrest: And I know you do too.
Forrest: Some of the ones who those that scan and that happened are sitting here right now in this room.
Forrest: We're meeting together, we're fellowshipping, we're sharing meals, we're praying together, we're we're we're seeing the teaching and learning the teaching from God's word.
Forrest: We're seeking God's power, asking him to move and to manifest miracles among us.
Forrest: He's going to continue to do it.
Forrest: And the next thing that they did together in the early church is they shared.
Forrest: They shared with one another.
Forrest: They shared meals and money.
Forrest: In homes with the poor, giving of their lives.
Forrest: You all know how important it is to me that Multiply Church be a generous church.
Forrest: From the very early days, we said, hey, we are going to be generous.
Forrest: We're going to continue to be generous.
Forrest: And that generosity has not just stayed in year and giving and different initiatives that we've done, but that generosity has gone throughout our church.
Forrest: The individuals who are in our church that have loved, cared for one another, when people have lost jobs, when people have had major crises, when things have had uh challenges.
Forrest: There are people in our midst, in our church, in small groups and otherwise, that have stepped up with the heart of generosity to share with others.
Forrest: Can we meet every single need in our community?
Forrest: No, we can't.
Forrest: Can we pay everybody's electric bill?
Forrest: Can we do it?
Forrest: No, we can't do all that.
Forrest: But we can do for one person what we wish we could do for everyone.
Forrest: See, we can make a difference collectively is that if each one of us decides, you know what, I'm gonna help one person.
Forrest: I'm gonna be generous and I'm gonna help one.
Forrest: And there may be something that comes up along the way that we can't do it for everybody, but we're gonna do it this for this one somebody for the glory of God.
Forrest: We're gonna help in this one situation.
Forrest: We're gonna help this one family, we're gonna help this one organization, we're gonna do this one thing, and collectively, us together and the sharing of meals and our giving, that we have a heart of generosity.
Forrest: And I can say with full confidence that that heart of generosity is not just something that we say, it's not just something listed on a website somewhere or something that's just a tagline.
Forrest: It truly is what we're walking out as a church.
Forrest: And we're gonna continue.
Forrest: Can you believe it?
Forrest: Can you believe?
Forrest: I still this I still can't believe it.
Forrest: I don't even want to go too hard in the paint on this because we're gonna be talking about this more, but in a couple of weeks, we're moving into this permanent space with zero debt.
Forrest: Completely paid for.
Forrest: Get in step and in alignment with His will for us, as individuals, as our homes, as single people, or collectively as a church.
Forrest: And I'm not saying, you know, it's the end of the world for us to have debt in the future.
Forrest: I'm just saying that this is what God's done in response for us now.
Forrest: And I genuinely believe this.
Forrest: Because somebody said it to me a few weeks ago in the midst of all the giving and everything.
Forrest: And as they were giving, they said, the fact that you are doing this the way that you've done it is going to mean and going to be able to allow you to be that much more generous in the community.
Forrest: Because you don't have a banknote to pay off.
Forrest: We can step into this new space with the heart of generosity that God has implanted in us and continue to move it forward.
Forrest: We're going to continue to do it.
Forrest: We're going to continue to share these meals and share money.
Forrest: And the next thing that they did that we need to do and align ourselves with is multiply new disciples.
Forrest: Why even start a church?
Forrest: Are there like enough churches around?
Forrest: Why are we even doing this?
Forrest: Well, for one thing, I found out in coming to Frankfurt and moving back to Kentucky that pre-COVID, the number was in Franklin County, 87% of people do not go to church.
Forrest: Pre-COVID, it was 13.6% of people are committed to a church.
Forrest: 87%, that was before COVID.
Forrest: 87% of our neighbors are not connected anywhere.
Forrest: Not regularly going, not invested in God's mission and in the goodness that comes from being a part of his body.
Forrest: They may say, oh yeah, well, I've got my grandma's church or something, but not actually rooted, being a part, seeing the fruit, walking it out in relationship with Jesus and others.
Forrest: And we know that new works reach new people.
Forrest: And that a new work and a fresh wind and what we've gotten to be a part of that it brings a fresh wind into our community and hopefully brings encouragement to other churches here locally.
Forrest: See, because we're very clear here about what our competition is.
Forrest: It is not other churches, it's the enemy, it's evil, it's Satan, and it's his plans to destroy our community and destroy homes and families and lives and individuals here.
Forrest: That's our enemy.
Forrest: Our enemy that we're going to attack is a way that Satan wants to steal, kill, and destroy.
Forrest: Listen to me.
Forrest: This was said to me years ago.
Forrest: And I've and I've seen it be true.
Forrest: If you make disciples, then you'll make a church.
Forrest: If we focus on making new disciples of Jesus that are walking with him, we're going to see the overflowing, multiplying, full of peace and grace be multiplied to you life that we know so many people in our lives, in our midst need to have, that are missing out on, that haven't yet received it, that haven't yet been walking it out.
Forrest: And for us to multiply new disciples, to see God move and manifest miracles and our meeting and our commitment there together, and for us to step forward and to see God use our giftings in the local church to serve others.
Forrest: The only thing we say around here is find your X factor.
Forrest: What does that mean?
Forrest: That means that each one of you in this room is gifted in some way.
Forrest: If you're a follower of Jesus, if you have been saved, if you have been redeemed, if you have been restored, then part of the Holy Spirit's gift to you is that He gifts you a specific gift of the Holy Spirit for you to walk out for God's purpose.
Forrest: Everybody say, I'm gifted.
Forrest: You are gifted.
Forrest: Some of you, you may just have one gift, and others have other, have more than one according to your word, to God's word.
Forrest: But each one of us have a gift from the Holy Spirit.
Forrest: And we get to uncover that and find out what that gifting is, not just for your own benefit and your family and your children, but for the benefit of others in the kingdom of God.
Forrest: For you to walk out your purpose and calling, and for you to walk out the way that God has uniquely made and built you to be gifted for his kingdom.
Forrest: Very quickly, here's some of those specific spiritual gifts of leadership in Romans 12:8, and administration in 1 Corinthians 12 and 28.
Forrest: Teaching, knowledge, wisdom, prophecy in Romans 12.6, discernment, exhortation, shepherding, faith, evangelism, apostleship, serving and helps in Romans 12.7, mercy, giving, hospitality in 1 Peter 4:9.
Forrest: There are specific gifts that are given to us by the Holy Spirit.
Forrest: If you are following Jesus and you get to uncover what that gifting is and walk it out in your life for God's glory.
Forrest: And we get to do it together as we make new disciples, and people receive the gift that God's given to them.
Forrest: And Jesus is asking him very plainly, well, who do you say that I am, Peter?
Forrest: Jesus kind of does a DTR.
Forrest: He kind of defined the relationship between him and Peter.
Forrest: What are you thinking right now, Peter?
Forrest: Who do you say that I am?
Forrest: And Peter kind of snaps back and says, Well, you know, some people are saying that you're John the Baptist, some people say that you're Elijah, others say that you're Jeremiah, that you're some other prophet that has returned, and he says, But who do you say that I am?
Forrest: And really nails him down.
Forrest: And Simon Peter in verse 16 answered, You're the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
Forrest: And Jesus replied, You're blessed, Simon, son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you.
Forrest: You did not learn this from any human being.
Forrest: Now I say to you, I say that you are Peter, which means rock, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.
Forrest: And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Forrest: He tells Peter.
Forrest: This has been revealed to you from heaven.
Forrest: This is the truth.
Forrest: The proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah, the one that was saved.
Forrest: The one sent to redeem.
Forrest: The true Son of God.
Forrest: And his response is to say, Peter, you're right.
Forrest: This has been revealed to you by the Lord.
Forrest: And I'm going to build my church on you and the rest of the apostles.
Forrest: And give you the keys to the kingdom.
Forrest: And the gates of hell will not overcome it.
Forrest: The powers of hell, the gates of hell.
Forrest: Cannot conquer it.
Forrest: We follow the plan.
Forrest: Follow the plan.
Forrest: What we get to do is push back the darkness.
Forrest: Everybody say push.
Forrest: Jesus looks at Peter.
Forrest: And he says, I'm going to give you the blueprint.
Forrest: I'm going to give you the framework.
Forrest: I'm going to build my church.
Forrest: And the gates of hell are not going to prevail.
Forrest: And you're going to be used by my power to push back evil and to push back the plans of the enemy.
Forrest: And push back the darkness that wants to overtake not just them 2,000 years ago, but right now, today, here in our community, in our homes, in people all throughout our community, that we would be part of this church that not we're building.
Forrest: Jesus said, I will build my church.
Forrest: Jesus is building it.
Forrest: He's the one doing the work.
Forrest: He's the one with the power.
Forrest: And in doing so, he's going to allow us to join him in pushing back the darkness.
Forrest: The true enemy.
Forrest: Can you imagine with me for a second?
Forrest: Can you imagine with me?
Forrest: And I've imagined this many times.
Forrest: Can you imagine when we have a small group of outposts studying God's word in every neighborhood in Franklin County?
Forrest: How about when we have a small group that's meeting in Shelbyville?
Forrest: Right now we have one that's in Lawrenceburg.
Forrest: What about one that's in Owington?
Forrest: Maybe even Scott County.
Forrest: The last time I preached this message, I said, can you imagine when small groups could meet on Kentucky State's campus?
Forrest: And all this last semester, we had a Bible study every Thursday with athletes for the very first time on K-State's campus in the field house, studying God's word with young people, it's come to fruition in just one year's time.
Forrest: How much more is God gonna do?
Forrest: How much more does he want to do?
Forrest: How many more outposts is he going to put into the streets and into our communities and into our schools?
Forrest: I gotta share this with you.
Forrest: And I'm uh giving some dap to somebody this morning.
Forrest: She doesn't know I'm gonna say this, she's probably gonna be mad at me for saying it, but Dana Dickerson, who's in our church, got baptized a couple years ago at Multiply.
Forrest: And this last week, we got a picture of the FCA meeting with 20 students.
Forrest: They're meeting at 2nd Street School where she's a teacher.
Forrest: She's in the purple right there in the back.
Forrest: Helping to see a group of students studying and learning God's word in a school here in our community that wasn't happening the last time I preached this message.
Forrest: It wasn't happening just months ago.
Forrest: But of her faithfulness and others to step up and say, you know what?
Forrest: Yeah, I'm gonna step forward, I'm gonna push back the darkness, I'm gonna bring the truth of God's word, and I'm gonna bring it into our community, and I'm not gonna back down.
Forrest: And God's doing some great things in her life.
Forrest: And there's others among us.
Forrest: Just imagine it with me.
Forrest: Imagine it with me.
Forrest: The new space that we're gonna be in.
Forrest: At some point I have no idea, but it being full.
Forrest: Don't know when that's gonna happen.
Forrest: But then it doesn't just stay there on Sundays, but it goes out.
Forrest: Goes out from there into outposts and schools and nonprofits and in living rooms all across our community.
Forrest: That we're walking in God's power to push back the gates of hell, and God wants to use you to do it.
Forrest: He wants to use me to do it.
Forrest: And so you may be here today, and you may be not even knowing about God.
Forrest: You don't even know what's going on.
Forrest: You're you're you're you're you're at the point where Jesus is looking at you and saying, Hey, who do you say that I am?
Forrest: Do you believe?
Forrest: Will you receive the fact that I'm the Son of God?
Forrest: That Jesus is the is the true Messiah, the Son of God, He is the true God, and then His death on the cross purchased life for you, that you could walk out of darkness and into the glorious light of God's salvation, and one day that you'll not be separated from God in a place filled with anguish called hell, but instead that you'll step into a heaven, into heaven, that your last breath on earth will be your next breath in the arms of the Father and of Jesus Himself, covered by his blood, because you can't save yourself, you can't forgive yourself, but through Jesus' death on the cross in your place, he purchased life for you.
Forrest: That you could walk in his power, but you've got to receive it, you've got to accept it, you've got to ask for that forgiveness, and you've got to, by the power of the Holy Spirit, step forward to repent and to change and to move a different direction, to turn around and to walk towards him.
Forrest: And maybe you're in the room today and you've already done that, and maybe it was years ago, and God wants to see someone else to receive that truth and power through the work of your life, through the work of your family, through the work of your children, through the work of your hands in your living room, and your mouth, and somebody else could receive the hope that you get to walk in.
Forrest: And us collectively together, we're gonna move forward in faith and in power and love and God's grace.
Forrest: Where are we gonna be the next time I preach this passage?
Forrest: What are the what's what's gonna what's it gonna look like?
Forrest: What's what's gonna change for the better?
Forrest: What's what new lives are gonna be restored?
Forrest: What new people will have received him?
Forrest: What new works who have begun?
Forrest: What new neighborhoods will have a gathering and a meeting of the truth.
Forrest: Will you join me as we pray for that right now?
Forrest: Let's pray for it right now together, church.
Forrest: Father, we thank you, Lord.
Forrest: We thank you for your goodness.
Forrest: We thank you for your mercy.
Forrest: We thank you for how powerful you are, and you allow us to get to walk with you and in community and in fellowship with you, God.
Forrest: Father, I thank you for all the things that we've gotten to see even over this last year.
Forrest: Things that we can't even explain, but God, we know that we can explain them through your power and your might.
Forrest: Father, I pray right now, all across this place.
Forrest: Lord, that we would be people who receive your mission, we walk it out in love for those that are around us.
Forrest: And that God, we get to be people who push back the darkness.
Forrest: So, Father, I pray right now, all across this room, if there's anybody in this place who has not received you as their Savior, that has not asked for your forgiveness, has not received your perfect sacrifice on the cross and the resurrection power of you walking out of the grave so that they could have new life and follow you, that today would be the day of their salvation, that they would believe you, Jesus, and believe in you, Jesus, and believe on you, Jesus, for now and into eternity.
Forrest: And if you that's you right now in this room, you can receive Christ today by praying to him, asking him to save you through prayer.
Forrest: You can do it right now, your mind and heart are from a genuine place.
Forrest: Say something like this Jesus, save me.
Forrest: I believe that you're the Son of God, that you died on the cross for my sins, and that you're alive.
Forrest: Forgive me, cleanse me, so that I might be in heaven with you one day.
Forrest: I give you my life as you gave yours for mine.
Forrest: Transform me.
Forrest: In Jesus' name.
Forrest: No one looking around today, you prayed that prayer for you to receive the finished work of Jesus, for you to be saved, for you to ask for forgiveness.
Forrest: I'm gonna ask you in just a moment so that I can pray for you that that you just raise your hand up as a sign, not not just to me, but to the Lord at the count of three.
Forrest: One, two, three.
Forrest: Anybody in the room today pray that Father, we thank you.
Forrest: We thank you, Lord, for the work that you're doing in and among us.
Forrest: Father, we pray, God, for not only ourselves as we follow you, but for more people and new disciples to follow you, to be saved, to receive you as Savior.
Forrest: We thank you, we praise you.
Forrest: In the strong name of Jesus.
Forrest: Everybody said, Amen.
Forrest: Church, stand to your feet as we close in worship.