Forrest: Well, welcome this morning.
Forrest: Glad that you're here.
Forrest: You know, the real ones come to church in October during full fall break.
Forrest: Am I right?
Forrest: Can I get amen to that?
Forrest: You're the real ones.
Forrest: All the way through October, man.
Forrest: Fall break.
Forrest: For some reason, moved to a town where there's apparently three weeks of fall break.
Forrest: Um, yeah, that's different.
Forrest: But I'm glad that you're here during fall break this week.
Forrest: Uh excited for you to be in the house as we are finishing up uh our series that's called Here to Stay, where we've been talking about going deep, having deep roots here at Multiply.
Forrest: And I'm excited about this week to come and what's coming up.
Forrest: I'm really excited about what's happening Saturday with the hurricane relief and be able to pitch in and help with that.
Forrest: Our uh told you all last Sunday, our very own Marcus, who dropped a truck, has gotten a truck and is going to be receiving those items and then the same day driving them to Tennessee.
Forrest: And I just love that he stepped up.
Forrest: We're partnering with another church and just excited to see what we do, but also the fact that Marcus stepped up to do that.
Forrest: Isn't that awesome?
Forrest: Can we give it up for Marcus right now?
Forrest: Them stepping up.
Forrest: Obviously, we can't not help with every natural disaster.
Forrest: Uh we just can't do that.
Forrest: But thankful that we get to serve our neighbors in Tennessee uh this week.
Forrest: The the title of my message today is We Bring Our Best.
Forrest: Everybody say we bring our best.
Forrest: This is the last of the 10 values that we're going to be looking at during this series, and I'm excited for us to dig down into it today.
Forrest: Uh Elon Musk blew our minds again this week when uh he unveiled the at-home robot Optimus at an event that they had where this robot was talking with people, serving party favors, serving drinks.
Forrest: There's videos out of this uh all over the internet of these robots that now are gonna be mass-produced.
Forrest: Elon said that he thinks that this is gonna be the biggest product ever.
Forrest: And I don't know about you, but I've seen this sequel.
Forrest: It's called Terminator.
Forrest: Um I don't know where really this is all going.
Forrest: But um I do know that there are about to be these robots that you can use in your house for the same price as a new Kia, you can have a robot.
Forrest: $20,000 or$30,000 is what the price tag is going to be on one of these robots that can help you with your housework and you can talk to.
Forrest: What's crazy is you could have gotten this robot for$100.
Forrest: And that would be by way of if you had bought$100 of Tesla stock when it went onto the market in 2010, those same shares of stock would now be worth over$20,000 today.
Forrest: That's what compound interest is.
Forrest: Einstein said it's the eighth wonder of the world, compounding interest, whether it works for you or against you, it stacks up.
Forrest: Now, what I know is of the things that compound in our life, also in a spiritual life, these things also stack up.
Forrest: So when you read God's word every day, it stacks.
Forrest: When you show up for your kids, for your family, for your friends, it stacks.
Forrest: When you have integrity at your work, in your relationships, at your school, at your job, it stacks.
Forrest: And as we focus in on what it looks like for us to bring our best and what that looks like in the life of Multiply Church, we dig down and we focus into it today because we know that as we bring our best to the Lord, it stacks.
Forrest: And there's a compounding effect that comes from us bringing our best to God.
Forrest: Now, do I have any uh fellow procrastinators in the house this morning?
Forrest: Any procrastinators yet?
Forrest: Why in the world do we do that?
Forrest: I don't know why we do it.
Forrest: Is it laziness?
Forrest: Is it fear of failure?
Forrest: Is it low motivation?
Forrest: Maybe so.
Forrest: What I do know is true is this is that there is there is an endless amount of obstacles that are trying to get in our way from bringing our best.
Forrest: What does it mean to bring our best?
Forrest: Well, it means that you do the most with what you have.
Forrest: And that's what we're striving to do here at Multiply together.
Forrest: Do the best of what we have, what we have.
Forrest: Here's what it means.
Forrest: We bring our best.
Forrest: We have an attitude of gratitude because Jesus deserves our best.
Forrest: We get to bring our best to God because he brought his best to us.
Forrest: We do our best with a little, knowing that God will provide a lot.
Forrest: We bring our best to be ready for guests, and we will be good stewards of the blessing the Lord has given us to see others be blessed in return.
Forrest: Romans 12 1.
Forrest: Here's what Romans 12.1 says.
Forrest: It says, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, this is your true and proper worship.
Forrest: That's how it looks in the NLT.
Forrest: It is so uh so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.
Forrest: Then let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind that he finds acceptable.
Forrest: This is truly the way to worship him.
Forrest: Paul pleads, pleads that we would give unto God because he has given unto us, that we would return back to God and that we would give him our all because of what God has done for you and for you and for you and for me, that in return of that that we would then bring to God ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice presented before God as we bring our best to him because he has blessed us so richly.
Forrest: The more time got close to him entering into Jerusalem, the more and more blunt Jesus became.
Forrest: The more and more clear he became with the people who were his detractors, people who were against him, people who rejected him, the Pharisees, the religious leaders who didn't understand what he was doing, who were coming against him, were trying to stamp out his ministry.
Forrest: And as he goes to Jerusalem, these detractors, these people who were against him, they were already beginning to plot his murder.
Forrest: And Jesus is telling stories, these parables, and these parables are getting more and more intense.
Forrest: They're becoming more sharp, they're becoming more offensive.
Forrest: Because he's trying to get his point across.
Forrest: Now, what is a parable?
Forrest: Jesus spoke in parables basically in this time.
Forrest: They would speak in these stories, and a parable is a small story with a big truth.
Forrest: But what Jesus is trying to accomplish by speaking these parables is that he is trying to show people and to give them insight into the upside-down reality of the kingdom of God through a story.
Forrest: And so Jesus is heading into Jerusalem eventually to be crucified, and he gives a story that symbolizes how Israel and how the Pharisees have fumbled the kingdom of God.
Forrest: Now, I'm going to push you all a little bit this morning.
Forrest: Is that okay?
Forrest: It's okay for me to push you a little bit today.
Forrest: Are you interested in hearing this blunt parable that Jesus told these Pharisees right before he headed into Jerusalem?
Forrest: This is what he said.
Forrest: This is Matthew 25, verse 14.
Forrest: For the kingdom of heaven is he speaking about, says, For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted them with his property.
Forrest: To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability, and then he went away.
Forrest: He who received the five talents went at once and traded with them.
Forrest: And he made five talents more.
Forrest: Verse 17.
Forrest: So also he who had the two talents made two more talents, two talents more.
Forrest: But he who received one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.
Forrest: Now, Jesus is telling a story and giving us a uh a business analogy.
Forrest: He's talking about these servants that were given a talent.
Forrest: And what this talent was was a bag of gold.
Forrest: It actually was a very high amount of money.
Forrest: Just one talent would have been equal to 20 years of wages for a common laborer, just for one.
Forrest: Now, we get an added benefit by the fact that this word talent also brings to mind the things other than finances in our life.
Forrest: The giftings God given us, the talents, the things, the skills that we have.
Forrest: And Jesus is beginning to give this story, and there's more going on to the story than even he's letting on, but the master returns home in the story to have a look at his accounts.
Forrest: And in verse 20, the servant in whom he entrusted five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.
Forrest: The master was full of praise.
Forrest: Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Forrest: You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities.
Forrest: Let's celebrate together.
Forrest: And the same thing happened with the servant that had the two bags of silver came forward, and he had then made it into four, and the master celebrated him.
Forrest: And then the third servant in verse 24.
Forrest: And the servant who had one bag of silver came and said, Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn't plant, gathering crops you didn't cultivate.
Forrest: I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth.
Forrest: Look, here's your money back.
Forrest: Verse 26.
Forrest: But the master replied, You wicked and lazy servant, if you knew I harvested crops I didn't plant and gathered crops I didn't cultivate, why didn't you deposit my money in the bank?
Forrest: At least I would have gotten some interest on it.
Forrest: And verse 28.
Forrest: Then he ordered, Take the money from this servant and give it to the one that has ten bags of silver.
Forrest: To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance.
Forrest: But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.
Forrest: Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Forrest: Jesus gives us a business lesson, a lesson in investing.
Forrest: But there's more to the parable that meets the eye, because these parables of Jesus, they have a surface meaning, the principle that is shared, but then there's also a secondary meaning as well.
Forrest: There's something under the surface.
Forrest: So yes, this story, this parable that Jesus is teaching us, it shows us that there's a principle of us being good stewards of what we have, to bring our best effort to God, yes.
Forrest: But also, he's also telling us what it should look like for us to receive and multiply the blessings of the kingdom of God as well.
Forrest: That he is desperately wanting to entrust to us, that these Pharisees refused to receive, but instead rejected.
Forrest: Rejected him all the way to murdering him.
Forrest: And Jesus speaks so plainly of the one that rejects and the one that is lazy in the story is cast out into outer darkness.
Forrest: But Jesus is wanting to entrust us with his kingdom.
Forrest: I don't know if you're like me, but I feel like a lot of the times that I'm like one of those people in the circus spinning all those plates around up in the air.
Forrest: You know what I'm talking about?
Forrest: And you're spinning the plates and you're trying to keep them all going, and you're you know that if one more comes into the performance, it's all gonna fall down and crash.
Forrest: But I know I'm the only one who ever gets overwhelmed in here, right?
Forrest: I'm the only one who has a full calendar, a full plate, a full schedule.
Forrest: No, we all at times have felt that way.
Forrest: You may be feeling that way right now with all the responsibilities and the roles and all the things that you have to do.
Forrest: But the question that God is asking us, despite all of those things that try to distract us, is can you be entrusted?
Forrest: Can he trust you?
Forrest: If God wanted to get a blessing to you, could he trust you to multiply it?
Forrest: Or have you found yourself being unfaithful with a few things?
Forrest: Maybe God wants to give you a financial blessing, but can he trust you to be generous?
Forrest: Maybe God wants to give you leadership, but can he trust you to serve?
Forrest: Maybe he wants to give you a wife or a husband, but can he trust you to be unselfish?
Forrest: See, God wants to give us things, but he wants to also know that if he can give it to us, can he get it through us to be a blessing to others?
Forrest: And the voice in our mind all the time just we get into that mindset of I can't handle any more.
Forrest: No more.
Forrest: I can't add one more thing to my plate.
Forrest: But I wonder if the plates that you're spinning, they are my plates, they're your plates.
Forrest: Things that you've put up in your life and made a priority when God wants to slide a real blessing over to you and you can't even receive it because you're not able to handle it.
Forrest: But here's the thing, here's the thing God knows you better than you know you.
Forrest: And he knows what you are able to handle and what he can entrust to you.
Forrest: And so as he slides things over to you, you be one who is able to be trustworthy.
Forrest: Here, here, here's an example.
Forrest: This is one of my favorite stories.
Forrest: When I was in the fourth grade, I was using this mechanical pencil like we all did.
Forrest: I don't know why we wanted to use a pencil that you had to get lead and put it into a mechanical pencil when there's a regular pencil that has both the lead and the pencil together that you just go sharpen.
Forrest: But for some reason we wanted to use these mechanical pencils, and I found myself one day and uh I had run out of lead for my pencil.
Forrest: And Matt, who was sitting next to me in class, I saw that he had his little package with lots of lead in his package, and I said to Matt, I said, Matt, can I have a piece of lead from you, please?
Forrest: And he said, No.
Forrest: And I had all this work to do and all this stuff for the day.
Forrest: I didn't have any lead, and I was mad.
Forrest: What do you mean, no?
Forrest: You got all those pieces of lead.
Forrest: When Matt got up to go and do something in the class, I reached into his desk and I grabbed one of those pieces of lead and I put it into my pencil because I was like, you know what?
Forrest: I need this piece of lead more than he does.
Forrest: And then Matt got back to his seat and he pulled out his little container of lead and he started counting every single piece of lead individually.
Forrest: And then he said, I'm missing a piece of lead.
Forrest: Somebody stole my piece of lead.
Forrest: And he went and told the teacher.
Forrest: And she said, Forrest, did you steal a piece of lead?
Forrest: I said, He didn't need it.
Forrest: I needed to use one.
Forrest: And she said, I'm calling your parents.
Forrest: And I'm like, wow, this escalated really quickly.
Forrest: So now call my parents like, please don't call my parents.
Forrest: Please don't do that.
Forrest: And she said, I'll never forget it, Miss White.
Forrest: She said, Forrest, this is how a life of crime begins.
Forrest: And they did call my parents.
Forrest: And you know what?
Forrest: If it hadn't been for that, I don't know where I would have ended up in this life.
Forrest: I might have ended up under the jail or something.
Forrest: I don't know where I would have ended up if that hadn't happened.
Forrest: This is.
Forrest: Can you be faithful with a few things?
Forrest: Can you have integrity with your life right now?
Forrest: See, I think oftentimes that God wants to entrust things to us that He has planned for us, but we're too busy worried about what everybody else has.
Forrest: Looking at everybody else.
Forrest: Jealous, covetous of the life that we wish that we had or we think and deserve that we should have.
Forrest: And out of this, that that type of comparison, it kills.
Forrest: It kills our capability.
Forrest: It kills our joy.
Forrest: It kills our motivations.
Forrest: And I don't know about you, but for me and probably you too, a lot of times that starts with this, the scroll.
Forrest: That person got?
Forrest: Oh man, I really wish I had that.
Forrest: Do you see that new house that they just bought?
Forrest: Did you see that trip that that person just took?
Forrest: With the pastor, it's like, you see all those people in that picture of that church and that service?
Forrest: When did they start?
Forrest: What child when did that church start?
Forrest: How many people they got coming?
Forrest: And that comparison, it kills your joy.
Forrest: And it kills your capacity.
Forrest: Jesus put it this way in Luke 10, Luke 16, 10.
Forrest: He said, Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.
Forrest: And whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
Forrest: Paul puts it another way in Philippians 1.27.
Forrest: I'll push you a little bit more here.
Forrest: Whatever happens, whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Forrest: Then whether you come, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.
Forrest: Conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Forrest: The gospel, the redemption of this world.
Forrest: The gospel, the truth that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and the power that He walked out of the grave.
Forrest: The gospel message that split time in two.
Forrest: The gospel that we know and that we are set free by, the scripture says that we should be living in a manner worthy of the gospel for whatever happens.
Forrest: The words that come out of our mouth, the things that we do, and so what that means is that we must be faithful with a few.
Forrest: We must be faithful with a few.
Forrest: Now, I don't know if this was the case, but I could imagine that third servant that got the one bag of silver could have been looking over at the one who got the five bags of silver and thinking to himself, well, what am I supposed to do with just one bag of silver?
Forrest: This first servant, they got five bags of silver, and now he's got ten.
Forrest: What in the world can I even do with one bag?
Forrest: What can I even do with this one bag of silver?
Forrest: What can I invest in?
Forrest: What can I do?
Forrest: You know what?
Forrest: I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna bury it in the ground.
Forrest: And maybe he was looking over that way, maybe he wasn't, but I do know this is that God doesn't want somebody else's best from you, he wants your best.
Forrest: We can spend so much time looking at other people and thinking about all the things that we don't have.
Forrest: Well, I don't have the education.
Forrest: I don't have the credentials.
Forrest: I don't have the resume.
Forrest: I don't have the finances.
Forrest: I don't have the account.
Forrest: We don't have the ability.
Forrest: I don't have this.
Forrest: I don't have that.
Forrest: On and on and on and focus on all the things that you don't have instead of being aware of the blessing that God has placed into your hands to see you multiply it.
unknown: Amen.
Forrest: Y'all have seen this video before, maybe I've seen it a number of times.
Forrest: There's a guy that's in a bicycle race, and he's got all the bicycle stuff on, and this thousands of dollars bicycle, and they're just a few yards away from the finish line, and there's another biker that's coming up behind the guy who's in first.
Forrest: And as they're getting closer to the finish line, it's the very end of the race, the guy that's in first place keeps looking backward at the guy that's gaining on him.
Forrest: And he looks backward a couple of times, and when he does, his handlebars start to wobble, and his bike just flips over in a crash, and the guy that was right behind him zooms past him to win the race.
Forrest: What I'm saying is run your race.
Forrest: Run your race.
Forrest: Don't spend time looking around at other people, who's behind you, who's beside you, that you're missing out on what God is leading you to forward in your life.
Forrest: In my home, my five-year-old gets frustrated a lot.
Forrest: At like the smallest of tasks.
Forrest: You know, you ask her to clean a room, she gets overwhelmed.
Forrest: Now I know as Dan that she's capable of that.
Forrest: And my wife Emily has been working with our five-year-old with cleaning her room or taking her plate to the sink, all the different things, and they have been saying together, I am capable.
Forrest: I've been working on saying, I am capable.
Forrest: And I wonder if at times God's looking at us like a kid.
Forrest: Knowing full and well what your potential is, what you're able to do, and you're frustrated, and you're overwhelmed with the task that he has equipped you for already.
Forrest: You are capable in Christ.
Forrest: You are.
Forrest: If you're with me, say I'm capable in Christ.
Forrest: We are capable.
Forrest: And though we may be capable, we have to give our best effort.
Forrest: We have to show up.
Forrest: It's a choice whether we bring our best.
Forrest: It's a choice whether we give our best.
Forrest: It's a choice for us to show up and to give the effort.
Forrest: I can go to the gym.
Forrest: I can sit on all the machines.
Forrest: I can look in the mirror at all the gym clothes I bought.
Forrest: I can flex my muscles, talk to other people about supplements and nutrition.
Forrest: But unless you're willing to give the effort, you will never grow.
Forrest: You can be in this place, you can be in church, you can show up and you can be in the right spot, but still not willing to give the effort because you're being held back.
Forrest: You're right there.
Forrest: And it's a decision that you make.
Forrest: Paul tells us this in the context of finances in 2 Corinthians 7 9.
Forrest: He says, Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Forrest: That you make the decision.
Forrest: Okay, God, I'm going to bring you my best, my best effort and my finances and my talents, and I'm going to allow you to flow through me for your glory.
Forrest: And I'm going to be faithful with what you've given me, and I'm not going to bury it in the ground.
Forrest: Don't bury your best.
Forrest: I don't have time.
Forrest: I've got too much going on.
Forrest: You mean, Forrest, you want me to come to church on Sundays and go to a small group during the week?
Forrest: Are you crazy?
Forrest: Could you, Forrest, don't you know my schedule?
Forrest: Don't you know what I've got going on?
Forrest: I'm not able to do that.
Forrest: What do you mean you want me to show up early on Sundays and serve at church?
Forrest: Like, are you serious, Forrest?
Forrest: You can't possibly be asking me to do that.
Forrest: But God has something in you that isn't just for you.
Forrest: It's for him.
Forrest: And it's for others.
Forrest: And don't dig a hole in the ground and bury it.
Forrest: You want to know why?
Forrest: Listen to me.
Forrest: Listen to me close.
Forrest: God cannot multiply what you refuse to give him.
unknown: Go ahead now.
unknown: Go ahead.
Forrest: He won't.
Forrest: He can't.
Forrest: You have to be willing to be someone that God can trust to invest your best.
Forrest: If you're with me, say, I'm going to invest my best.
Forrest: A few weeks ago, my friend Trey, who I love, he's on the K-State football team.
Forrest: Got two sacks yesterday, by the way.
Forrest: And K-State won, by the way.
Forrest: Go Breads.
Forrest: Trey's been in the church for some time and served on the Usher and worship team or Usher and prayer team.
Forrest: And Trey is a man of few words.
Forrest: Okay.
Forrest: He's introverted.
Forrest: He doesn't say a lot, especially in crowds.
Forrest: That's not his context.
Forrest: He's going to be so mad that I'm talking about him right now.
Forrest: Okay.
Forrest: But a few weeks ago, well, let me just say this.
Forrest: Trey on the Usher team and on the prayer team, he has prayed for multiple of his friends, even some of the players who gave their life to Christ back in April.
Forrest: He was the one to pray with them.
Forrest: And a few weeks ago, I asked Trey if he would pray at FCA that we have in the field house with the team and with other teams now on campus a few weeks ago.
Forrest: And I asked him, hey, would you pray to open things up in front of everybody?
Forrest: And I knew that he did not want to do that.
Forrest: He did not want to do that.
Forrest: But you know what he did?
Forrest: He got up there in front of everybody and he prayed a powerful prayer and he sat down.
Forrest: And probably a lot of people in the room didn't think anything of it, but I knew, I knew that Trey knows how to pray.
Forrest: He knows how to pray.
Forrest: And so he stepped through the uncomfortable and stepped up and prayed in front of everybody.
Forrest: And other people weren't thinking about that, but I was thinking about it because I knew that that was a step of faith.
Forrest: And I I just was so encouraged by him doing that.
Forrest: To take that step let's just recap for a second.
Forrest: Can you be trusted with what God's given you?
Forrest: Will you be faithful even with the little things?
Forrest: Will you avoid the temptation to bury your gifts in the ground?
Forrest: Now I'm gonna I'm gonna hit you with some ways for you to start small with this.
Forrest: Okay?
Forrest: So bear with me for a second.
Forrest: You can just start small by using your talents in small ways and gradually building up to bigger and bigger opportunities because each step that you take, no matter how small, they lead to your growth and you growing in your confidence in Christ.
Forrest: Amen?
Forrest: You can strengthen in prayer by asking God for his guidance to help you to overcome fear, to show you how you can use your talents for his glory, to trust him and his wisdom.
Forrest: You can shift your perspective from being a perspective that's stingy and filled with fear to an attitude of gratitude.
Forrest: You can step out in faith, that you take a step of faith and trust that God will equip you and the talents that he's given you so that you can take a step in the direction that God's leading you to.
Forrest: That means that there's probably somebody in the room today that you need to grab the card underneath your seat and you need to check the box baptism because you need to take a step towards him.
Forrest: You need to take that step.
Forrest: You need to surround yourself with supportive, saved people who can encourage you, who can speak into you, who can walk with you and encourage you, hold you accountable.
Forrest: And then be willing to receive and seek out feedback because there's people in the life of this church, leaders who in the life of this church who have stepped out and said, okay, God, I'm gonna let you, I'm gonna let you take what I have in my hands to see it be multiplied.
Forrest: And there are people in the life of our church that they're just, they would love for you to ask them, what way do you think I should be growing?
Forrest: What do you think is next for me in my journey of faith?
Forrest: Now, I want to end by saying this.
Forrest: Is it possible for us to bring our best every time, always?
Forrest: No way.
Forrest: We're not able to do it.
Forrest: But we're bringing our best effort to God.
Forrest: And it's Jesus and His power that's able to fill the gap between my imperfections and his glory, so that I'm stepping and able to be used on this side of heaven to see his kingdom come, his will be done, and through your life, and your family's life, and your children's life, and your children's children's life, so that you can be a very best effort, so that it can bless it, and so that it can be in a multiplied life, not by your own power because you're so great, but because God is so great, and because Jesus went to the cross 2,000 years ago to die in your place, to forgive you of every single sin, if you will just receive it, not hear it and bury it in the ground, but if you'll take hold of it and receive this free gift of salvation that can set you free.
Forrest: Or for you to bring your very best effort to him in the small thing that you think is small, but God has literally placed it in your hands and is waiting on you to trust him with it.
Forrest: Now, some of you may be in the room, and you're asking the question, can I trust God?
Forrest: I feel like God's not showed up for me.
Forrest: That person died when I didn't think they should have.
Forrest: I didn't get fill in the blank that I thought that I deserved.
Forrest: And Jesus who promised to us in this world we will have trouble.
Forrest: But take heart because he's overcome it.
Forrest: As he stepped out of the grave, the broken system that is in this world right now, because of the disease of sin, Jesus has the power to heal it and to turn it around.
Forrest: And when you have water rushing you on every side, you don't drown because Jesus delivers himself to you on the water.
Forrest: And when you're in the fire, he's beside you in the fire with his hand over you from this life into the next.
Forrest: So stand to your feet now as I pray over every single one of us.
Forrest: God, I thank you, Lord, for the amazing work and that you're doing in the life of our church.
Forrest: And God, I just want to just give you glory, honor, and praise, Father, for the way that we have seen you move powerfully in such a short amount of time.
Forrest: And God, I thank you, Lord, for using us as broken people, as imperfect people.
Forrest: God, to see your glory be made known and God to see your kingdom grow.
Forrest: Father, we pray, Lord, that you, Lord, would continue to do that in and through us.
Forrest: And Father, I pray, Lord, all across this room, for every home that's represented, every mother, every father, every student, every grandparent that's in this room right now, God, that we would be people that would bring our best to you because you've brought your best already to us.
Forrest: And so, Father, I pray right now, Lord, that all across this room, as we bring our broken pieces to you, God, that you would use them for your glory.
Forrest: So, God, I pray right now, Lord, over the generations to come.
Forrest: I pray over workplaces and schools and homes, God, that Father, your kingdom would invade those spaces because we're willing just to give you what's in our hands.
Forrest: We thank you, we praise you, we love you.
Forrest: In the strong name of Jesus, everybody said, Amen, amen, amen.