Forrest: Hey, I'm Pastor Forrest, and welcome to the Multiple Church Podcast.
Forrest: Each week we open God's word together to help you meet God and multiply good in your everyday life.
Forrest: We're so glad that you've taken time to join us for this week's sermon.
Forrest: And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe and follow us on social media so you never miss a message.
Forrest: Now, let's dive into this week's sermon.
Forrest: As we head into this last installment of our Plenty series, we have been talking about generosity as a church, and this is leading up to next Sunday, December the 7th, when we collectively in faith together, as we are going to give to the Lord an over and above offering next Sunday, collectively together, and exercise faith together, jumping into this last installment that's called Plenty of Trust.
Forrest: The last few weeks we've talked about opening up our eyes and our hands, and now this morning we're talking about opening up our hearts to our God and generosity.
Forrest: And before we get into it, I want to show you a couple things.
Forrest: One of which is this beautiful plaque that was given to Multiply Church, a resolution honoring Multiply Church by Kentucky State University a few weeks ago, honoring our efforts during the flood relief back at the beginning of this year.
Forrest: And a few weeks ago at the homecoming convocation, our church and two other churches were recognized for the efforts during that time.
Forrest: And so if you showed up, if you served, if you gave during that time, super grateful.
Forrest: And also after the presentation, we got connected with some of the administration.
Forrest: They actually asked us the next week how could Multiply partner more with the university, which, if you know, for the last four years, we have been sowing seeds and planting seeds, and so you know how significant that is for them to ask for more partnership.
Forrest: And amen.
Forrest: Praise God.
Forrest: But ultimately, what this is, ultimately, what this is, this is a witness of Christ.
Forrest: It's a witness of Christ.
Forrest: And also last week, we uh were presented with a thank you of support for Multiplied Church from the Wanda Joyce Robinson Foundation and the Wanda Joyce Robinson Foundation that helps kids and teens who are impacted by incarceration.
Forrest: And it came with a letter, and it was a thank you of support.
Forrest: Some of y'all know the beginning of this year, we gave$10,000 to Wanda Joyce Robinson, and we've invested tens of thousands with them over the last few years.
Forrest: And along with it came a letter thanking us for our help with them right now serving and helping 400 children and youth in our community this year.
Forrest: 150 of those that are in one-on-one mentorship, also an intervention program that they started at Franklin County Juvenile Court, and also opening doors to the boys and girls of uh club of Frankfurt for the very first time a few weeks ago.
Forrest: All of that that they are saying, thank you for the investment, and that's what God has done through you.
Forrest: So, can y'all just celebrate right now the Lord and what God's done with the faithfulness of our God and us being able to serve and ultimately, like I said, this is a witness of Christ.
Forrest: This is us being able to say, here we are, being in the hands and feet of Christ, wanting to show our city and those in our community who are in need that we love them and that we love our God.
Forrest: And the reality is that none of that happens without the worship of tithes and offerings.
Forrest: And today, as we talk about what it means for us to bring our tithes, our tithes to the Lord, bringing back to the Lord what's already his and 10%, and then also giving over and above in offerings like we're gonna do next Sunday in December 7th collectively together, we are looking to our Lord and knowing that whatever we bring in our hands, even if we feel like it's not enough, heaven calls it plenty.
Forrest: And then the Lord's the one who's gonna be able to multiply it for his good.
Forrest: And where we're going today is this big idea that we should, with the Lord's help, bring first, bring first, bring our best and first to the Lord because we trust the one who gave it to us in the first place.
Forrest: And so all of us are on a generosity journey as followers of Jesus.
Forrest: We're called to be generous.
Forrest: And so last week I said just start where you are.
Forrest: So to start giving at a percentage that feels like faith to you, and let that beginning start to then move into a strategy for generosity for you and your life or your family.
Forrest: And as you start to give in a systematic way, that that eventually will turn into sacrificial giving, is what we're called to from the Word of God, from the beginning through the end.
Forrest: And it this is this sacrificial giving is is what we're called into more than just this random giving.
Forrest: I'll put it to you this way.
Forrest: I I went to the gym really consistently for like the first few months of the year, and during the summertime, I just kind of slacked off.
Forrest: And for some reason, right now I'm not ripped.
Forrest: And I don't know why.
Forrest: And maybe for you, maybe you you started to give, but along the way you've given up, and now you're wondering why there isn't breakthrough happening.
Forrest: Or maybe for you, you're you're wanting God-sized blessings on a when I feel like it kind of faith.
Forrest: And so today what we're talking about is ultimately we're talking about trusting our God and trusting him with our whole lives and our whole hearts and our pressing in because oftentimes when we're trying to grasp for control, especially in this area when it comes to finances, then it leads to us not stepping into the trust that God's calling us to.
Forrest: Now, what we're gonna look at today is Jesus in several quotes of his of talking about and about him when it comes to money and finances.
Forrest: And if you've if if you know the word, you know that Jesus talks about money and finances more than he talks about heaven and hell.
Forrest: And that I think that's because Jesus knows how personal this is to us, and he also knows that this is a matter of discipleship.
Forrest: So today is less about dollar and cents, and it's more about us being disciples of Jesus and making disciples of Jesus.
Forrest: And we're gonna look at a passage and start in a passage where Jesus is criticizing the religious leaders, he's criticizing them in the chapter before for the way that they're treating people, they're devouring widows, and he sees in Mark chapter 12 this widow, act in a generous way that it exposes to us the way that Jesus thinks about generosity.
Forrest: And I want us to dive into it.
Forrest: So if you have your Bible, turn to Mark chapter 12.
Forrest: If you've got your phone, pull it out and go to your Bible app.
Forrest: Mark chapter 12.
Forrest: It's just three verses to start here, and each of these passages are just going to be a couple of verses each.
Forrest: But starting in Mark chapter 12, verse 41, it also will be on the screen for you as we dive in.
Forrest: You guys ready?
Forrest: All right, let's dive in.
Forrest: Mark chapter 12, verse 41.
Forrest: Jesus sat down near the collection box in the temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money.
Forrest: Many rich people put in large amounts.
Forrest: Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins.
Forrest: Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions.
Forrest: For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.
Forrest: So what does giving actually look like?
Forrest: I know for me, I oftentimes I can get tripped up on the financial plan around giving.
Forrest: I told you all last week that my wife and I, we made the decision to give 11% this year so that we're giving and then we're being generous all year long.
Forrest: And for me, it's easy for me to get focused on uh the financial plan of that.
Forrest: But what Jesus is really looking for from me is for me to walk in faith.
Forrest: And for me to get tripped up, and I it's easy for me to get tripped, or maybe maybe for you, you've gotten tripped up because you've gotten to this mode of, well, I'll I'll give when I feel like it, type faith.
Forrest: And then you're wondering why then you're not being feeling filled with faith.
Forrest: And it's because what God is calling us to, Jesus is calling us to, is he's in this passage, this this poor widow comes and gives more in Jesus' view than the rich.
Forrest: And then Jesus says to his boys, hey, hey bros, come over here.
Forrest: Let me tell you something.
Forrest: Let me show you something.
Forrest: Let me tell you some truth.
Forrest: This woman gave even more than the ones that gave out of their surplus.
Forrest: Because what we're called to is we're called to, and my first point is we're called to sacrificial over the superficial.
Forrest: Because here's the thing Jesus is counting our trust in him, not the totals.
Forrest: Heaven is counting the trust that we have in God, not about the specific amounts.
Forrest: And as we bring to him, we're bringing to him in a way that is sacrificial and not just a sometimes or whatever I feel like it type of mentality.
Forrest: I'll put it to you this way.
Forrest: Um, I had a really good Thanksgiving.
Forrest: It was so great.
Forrest: Hope you did too.
Forrest: But I bet, and maybe some of y'all are in it aren't into Thanksgiving and didn't do Thanksgiving, but I but I'm just gonna guess that probably what didn't happen at Thanksgiving, if you were hosting people in your home, you probably didn't go to your fridge and pull out all the leftovers from this week and throw them in the microwave and then throw them out on the table.
Forrest: Why is that?
Forrest: Because when you had guests come into your home or whoever you're with or bringing the dishes, you were bringing your best because you were serving them and loving them.
Forrest: And why would we serve leftovers to the Lord?
Forrest: See, we're asked, and we see in the scripture that we're called to bring to God our first and our best.
Forrest: And for me, my personal giving changed completely when I started to understand the concept from the scripture of first fruits.
Forrest: Everybody say first fruits.
Forrest: See, I used to scramble and be stressed, and then I was wanting to give, and when I was giving uh after paying all the bills, and then by the time the end of the month came and to make 10% out of everything that was left over.
Forrest: But when I learned this concept of first fruits, what then began to I understand is that as soon as income comes into the account, then I give from the very first.
Forrest: And so right now I just have this uh this kind of game with myself.
Forrest: I see how fast I can get online and give whenever income comes in before I spend one dollar from that check.
Forrest: And that's not to impress God, that's so that my heart is submitted to God.
Forrest: For me to bring to him first, this concept of first fruits goes all the way from Genesis when Cain and Abel brought gifts to the Lord.
Forrest: Abel brought his first and his best, and Cain just brought a portion, not his best, and envy and jealousy followed, and then murder.
Forrest: First recorded murder in the scriptures.
Forrest: See, tithes and offerings, what that looks like is just bringing 10% to the Lord and offerings, the generosity over and above that being offerings, and all of that predates the law.
Forrest: Now, there's some slick teachers out there, so-called teachers on TikTok, that want to talk about that the tithe is no more.
Forrest: You want to do that.
Forrest: That gets a lot of likes and clicks and shares, but that's not rooted in the scripture.
Forrest: Actually, giving, sacrificial giving, it actually predates the law, the Old Testament.
Forrest: It goes all the way back to Genesis where we see with Cain and Abel bringing their first fruits, and then and then Abraham bringing a tenth of his offering to Melchizedek.
Forrest: All of that is before the law of Moses.
Forrest: Do y'all, do you, do y'all, this is this is this is where it comes to, this is about worship.
Forrest: Because bringing sacrificial offerings to God, it predates singing and sermons by a long time.
Forrest: And all that, all that is just about the heart and the worship and submitting yourself to the Lord and being a part of the kingdom story that God is writing in and through your life and through the life of this body and the church globally and the God's economy and what he has already given to us.
Forrest: And nothing shows the heart of Jesus more than the words that he speaks about the tithe when he affirms this and then is criticizing the religious leaders even more in Matthew 23, verse 23 and 24, just two verses.
Forrest: Jesus is criticizing them, he's calling them hypocrites, he's calling them out.
Forrest: And in verse 23 and 24 of chapter 23, Jesus says, Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites, you give a tenth of your spices, mint, dill, and cumin, but you have neglected the more important matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
Forrest: You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former, you blind guides.
Forrest: You strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel.
Forrest: So, what is it that Jesus actually wants?
Forrest: Growing up in my life, I've been a part of four churches.
Forrest: From when I was a kid through being in ministry, and I've known a lot of people that have attended church and probably tithe, but were as mean as a snake.
Forrest: I'm just mean, just angry looking, going to church every Sunday, just mean, arms crossed, tore up, always got some complaint and something to say.
Forrest: Jesus is asking us for us to follow him with more than just our finances with our finances, but first to trust and submit to him that we would give him our whole heart, that we would pursue faithfulness and justice and mercy, and that we would not neglect those things, even if you're checking the box of I'm giving to the Lord.
Forrest: That we trust him with the whole heart.
Forrest: So, what does Jesus actually want?
Forrest: Well, Jesus wants our whole heart and for us not to be a hypocrite.
Forrest: That's my second point.
Forrest: Now, if you're in the room, all of us are a hypocrite in one way or another because we are a bunch of sinners who are saved by grace through faith in the name of Jesus.
Forrest: If you've come into this room today, there's not one of you who are perfect, including me who is standing up here on this platform.
Forrest: All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Forrest: But what is happening here is that Jesus, he's saying to them, hey, it just because you're giving, I'm asking you to submit your whole heart to me.
Forrest: I I'm asking, I'm not just looking at the herbs and spices that you're giving me.
Forrest: I'm looking for your heart.
Forrest: We uh you heard earlier about how we're this year with our Frankfurt Ford initiative getting to do a Christmas drive.
Forrest: Again, we're gonna get to serve 49 families this year to get Christmas gifts for some folks that uh are in need.
Forrest: Different families across our community, and over the last four years, we've gotten to do this during Christmas time, and we've been able to serve now hundreds of families during this Christmas blessing.
Forrest: You know why we're doing that?
Forrest: It's because we want to be real.
Forrest: We want to be real, we want to be generous, we want to love those in our city that need love right now, the ones that are neglected, are overlooked, the ones that are poor, the ones that we now are able to step up and be able to serve and serve our city because this is listen to me.
Forrest: This is ultimately about the people that Jesus loves, which is all of us.
Forrest: And Jesus sees a loss and a broken world, and he wants us to experience a harvest.
Forrest: Jesus makes this statement about the harvestness, it's plentiful, and we've been in this plenty series now for a few weeks, and he talks about the plentiful harvest and talks about what it looks like for us to sow a seed and for it to go into the ground and what it produces.
Forrest: In John chapter 12, verse 24 to 26, Jesus says, I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone.
Forrest: But its death will produce many new kernels, a plentiful harvest of new lives.
Forrest: Those who love their life in this world will lose it.
Forrest: Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.
Forrest: Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me because my servants must be where I am, and the and the Father will honor anyone who serves me.
Forrest: You know, it's easy for me to forget why we're doing all this.
Forrest: The problems of life happen for me, or the problems of planting a church.
Forrest: I have to remind myself why we're doing what we're doing.
Forrest: Because it's so easy, and maybe it's easy for you at times to fall into loving yourself more than loving God.
Forrest: And Jesus is asking for us to serve Him and to care more about the harvest than we do about ourselves, for us to follow Him as Jesus is giving this example that this kernel, this seed, this kernel of wheat that would go into the ground and then the seed would die, but then it would produce a harvest just like Jesus is giving this analogy of him going into the grave and being raised from the dead so that you and I could walk in eternity, in power, and glory, and in faithfulness with our God.
Forrest: Because Jesus was willing to plant the seed.
Forrest: And so we have to be about the harvest more than a hard-heartedness, which is my third point.
Forrest: So we have to press into what God has for us and through us and not let the devil trick us into having hard hearts towards what pleases God.
Forrest: Because ultimately that which pleases God is faith, which is trust, and trust multiplies.
Forrest: And so, as we're bringing to God, we're bringing to the Lord not out of guilt, but of gratitude.
Forrest: And we're bringing to God, not of not out of pressure, but out of the plenty that He has shown us.
Forrest: Now I'm I'm really excited and looking forward to this next year in 2026.
Forrest: And some of y'all know that we've had plans of expansion here in this place for us to take over the space that's next door and the consignment shop.
Forrest: And earlier in the year during the floods, we opened up that space, uh, connected for it to be a shelter, and then ended up being FEMA in there serving our community for six months.
Forrest: But now they're gone and we're ready to expand in Jesus' name.
Forrest: And so plans are being drawn up and finalized, and it's gonna be a kid space for 250 kids and youth.
Forrest: Praise God for us to invest in the next generation, for us to invest in what God is doing, and so the lease is being battled out right now by lawyers.
Forrest: But I just wonder, you know, we're three years old.
Forrest: Can you imagine what God will have done after 30 years?
Forrest: I'll be 68 years old.
Forrest: And investing in the next generation, and the next church planners to send out, and our kids who are gonna be stepping into their life of faith, and we get to invest in the next generation and see more and more families, more kids, more teenagers come to Christ.
Forrest: And don't you want to see that church?
Forrest: I want to see it.
Forrest: And so, you know what?
Forrest: Let's just keep stepping out in faith and let the Lord do what he wants to do, which is bring a harvest of new lives, and also get an invest in church planning in capital cities and see that happen in the future.
Forrest: And there's two church planners we've been talking to in church in capital cities, and also got to invest in a church planning network called the Strategic Launch Network, who's planted 80 churches in the last 20 years across the country in hard to reach places with a 95% success rate, which is unbelievable.
Forrest: And so we started a relationship with them early this year that they've now connecting the dots with us with other planters that are in other capital cities that we can encourage and that we can spur on and maybe even one day be sending for other planters in other capital cities so that we can be sent out to see the harvest.
Forrest: And Jesus sends out the 72.
Forrest: And when Jesus sends out the 72, he talks about this plentiful harvest that we talked about in the first week of this series.
Forrest: And Jesus is sending out the 72 to go from town to town and begin to see God move and to tell the gospel and call people to be changed.
Forrest: And he's talking about a harvest that is plentiful.
Forrest: This isn't theoretical, this isn't poetry, this is a declaration by Jesus that there's more than meets the eye.
Forrest: That he's sending them out to see a harvest that would come.
Forrest: And in Luke chapter 10, verse 2.
Forrest: He told them the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
Forrest: Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest fields.
Forrest: Which is what we want to do.
Forrest: And then later in the epistles, Paul drops this truth bomb about Jesus himself, that Jesus himself is the first fruits, meaning that God didn't send us his leftovers.
Forrest: God didn't wait for humanity to deserve to be saved.
Forrest: He sent us his first and his best.
Forrest: In 1 Corinthians 15, 20, the scripture says, But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.
Forrest: See, we are bringing first fruits not to earn God's love, but to emulate what he's already done for us.
Forrest: So then we can be more like him.
Forrest: Jesus has come to us as first and best from the Father, the first fruits of all creation, so that we could walk in new life with him.
Forrest: That then we could see a harvest come and see God move.
Forrest: Could you imagine, just imagine with me, if every person, every family, every college student had a mentality that, you know what, I'm gonna start where I am, I'm gonna take a step of faith, I'm gonna give for the first time next Sunday, or I'm gonna commit to tithe in 2026 and give to the Lord and bring to the Lord, not random, not when I remember, not when I feel like it, but in a rhythmic, consistent, first and best type manner.
Forrest: So let your heart be open to the harvest.
Forrest: The harvest that God wants to bring to you and through you.
Forrest: When you head out today, you're gonna get this bag that has kernels of wheat.
Forrest: This is actually wheat seed.
Forrest: And it'll be at the doors and you can grab one of these and this is gonna be a reminder to you that seed has to go into the ground before the harvest can come.
Forrest: The seed has to be planted.
Forrest: So grab one of these and throw it on your dashboard or throw it on your desk at work to be a reminder to you that trust in the Lord multiplies.
Forrest: We collectively, as we're planting the seed, we're believing in faith that God's gonna use it.
Forrest: I know he's going to.
Forrest: And so uh over the last few weeks, you may have grabbed one of these plenty cards like this.
Forrest: If you haven't, you can grab one on the way out.
Forrest: And this is for you to take this week and to pray with your family, pray with your spouse, or with yourself to ask the Lord what does it look like for me to trust you, God?
Forrest: What's the strategy for generosity gonna be?
Forrest: For our home for our future.
Forrest: What we're gonna bring and give next Sunday as we collectively give during our service next Sunday, there'll be a time for us to all come and bring to the Lord and give an offering to him.
Forrest: But pray and ask about what God wants to do strategically in you to grow generosity and faith.
Forrest: Because we're responding to the first fruit that God gave to us in Christ.
Forrest: And maybe for you today, maybe your step is that you need to actually receive the first fruit that God gave to you.
Forrest: You've not yet accepted Christ as your Savior, but today is the day that you need to give your life to Jesus because you are bought with the price Jesus' blood poured out for you on the cross as the first fruits, the first and best to die in your place and to be buried in the ground and raised back to life.
Forrest: And Jesus is now calling you home for you to be in right relationship.
Sallie: We're so grateful you joined us for this week's message.
Sallie: At Multiply, we believe life was never meant to be lived alone.
Sallie: If today you made the decision to follow Jesus, we'd be honored to walk with you on this journey.
Sallie: Visit multiplyky.com to let us know.
Sallie: We love you and we'll see you again soon.