Church Functions - Week 4: Multiplication

Amen.

Amen, as you give, I pray you keep that same

spirit of worship.

We're getting pretty good at that. That was nice and smooth.

I've ruined it by pointing it out, but I want

you to know that we do care about making it

nice and smooth because I believe we should do it

in such a way that we have as few distractions

as possible. There's enough out there, right, there's enough out

there that keep us distracted.

So in here we try to keep it tight.

Not because I'm a not because I'm a stickler, although

I am. I know we all are all thinking, well,

I don't preach for Sundays in a row. I know

what you're thinking, although I am, But we really believe

in doing things in an excellent way so that people

can experience God. And so man, it's this is one

of those Sundays that I feel like we've already had

church and and and that's wonderful.

But I I feel very.

Encouraged by what God has done throughout this week, and

what he's done already today, and what I've seen Him

do in you and and and all those things Pastor

just mentioned, showing up and doing those other church functions

outside of the four walls of the sanctuary.

I'm proud of you.

I'm proud of you because and I'm proud of us

because I believe that to get where we're going, we've

got to be able to do that.

We've got to master that.

And I believe God is going to open up the

windows of heaven and it's going to shower out and

we're going to be able to do more in this

community and beyond than we ever have before. And I

believe it's all tied to what we're talking about today

in week four here of church functions, we're wrapping it up.

I told somebody I'm putting a bow on it today.

That's that fun thing to say when you're you're finishing

a series. I want you to know I've never finished

a series before, so this is my first time wrapping

a bow. But I want to tell you this, This

bow glows with power of the Holy Spirit. And I

couldn't figure out a better way for us to end

this series than right here with the glue. If you will,

that makes the last three weeks possible. I want to

distill just quickly, if you haven't been here with us,

or maybe you haven't caught up online and maybe you're

wondering where the podcast uploads are. The Stickler did not

has not gotten it done yet, but it will get

done this week. So if you're looking to catch up,

all of them are going to be available this week,

but I want to quickly catch you up.

In week one, we dealt with the church function.

I'm just putting words to him now in retrospect. Identification

was week one. The church is built on the foundation,

continues to draw upon the truth that Jesus is the

son of the Living God. Upon the rock of that

truth he builds his church. Nothing can stop us because

we're built.

On that rock.

In week two, we spent time talking about what I

call the primary function of the church, which is reconciliation, going,

making disciples, going, and preaching from the rock of that truth,

telling that story, that carrying that word of reconciliation so

that the world may know we can't save them, but

God gave us the responsibility to tell them that he can,

and if we don't, we're missing out on that primary function.

And then last week we turned that outward reconciliation. We

turned it inward and we talked about how we're supposed

to take care of each other, that the Body of Christ,

as God's people, we have to maintain unity and health

because we've got to be able to function out there,

and a healthy body can't an unhealthy body can't do

the work. So we got to stay healthy by caring

for one another. We have to deal with sin because

it's real and it must be dealt with because it's

that serious, because it threatens the unity of the body.

And we talked about how shame and humiliation are not

the way to do it, but through relationship, real life

together is how we deal with those things and maintain

that unity to.

Gain our brothers and sisters back.

Gathering is coming together, but unity is staying together, not

just physically, but in heart, in mission, in mind.

And now week four.

I told you last week when we close that if

all of that fell overwhelming and impossible, that it's kind

of supposed to that doesn't surprise God either, and that

that's not even to mention that we had four weeks

of church functions now, But that's not an exhaustive list.

There are tons of things, as Pastor just mentioned, showing

up and being there for other families, baby dedications, baptism,

all these other functions that we do, and that I

mean the list is very long.

Because I believe.

That God's really calling us to do more than we

have been doing, not just Cornerstone, but abroad. I think

there are lots of church functions that have gotten lost

in the attempt to make it.

Clear and simple.

And for I believe there's just a lot of things

that God wants us to do as his people. There's

certainly more than four. So how can this be done?

And that leads us to today. I believe we find

the answer of how this can be done in our

fourth function here, the function of multiplication. So we had identification, reconciliation, unification, multiplication. Now,

for those of you that like notes and words and

maybe that helps you remember that's the big four here, multiplication.

Turn with me to chapter nine of the Book of Acts,

the Book of Acts, chapter nine, and we're going to

start and end in verse thirty one. The Word of

the Lord, Acts, Chapter nine, Verse thirty one. So the

Church through all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria had peace

and was being built up. Catch it here and walking

in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort

of the Holy Spirit.

It multiplied. Let's pray, Father, I.

Thank you for your word, even in a few sentences,

even one verse. God, you are speaking life and power

and truth and God, I pray that you help us to.

Receive all of it today and leave.

Boldly declaring that you are who you say you are

in the way that we speak, in the way that

we live. Speak to us Lord today, reveal more about

who we are as your church, that we might be

your church, that you might build us into a truly

unstoppable force. Thank you for choosing us, and thank you

for continuing to help us. In Jesus name, we pray Amen.

You see this verse thirty one of Acts, chapter nine,

here is tucked in between lots of action. There are

a lot of things going on in the Book of Acts,

and that's why it's called Acts.

It's the acts of the Apostles. It's all this action.

There's all these things happening, and then we have this

verse thirty one. It's just kind of stuck in there,

kind of oddly. If you're just reading through the chapter,

you're like, oh, okay, I'm not sure that I needed

that summary. It feels like a summary, It feels like

an added piece to help us understand what's going on

before and after.

It can be.

Easy to gloss over it, and it almost feels unnecessary,

like we've almost feels like an unnecessary restating of the

reality that the church started.

And is spreading.

And yet Luke, the author of Acts, has placed this

here on purpose, and it signals it's a significant shift

in the story. Something major is shifting right here in

chapter nine, and I think it also profoundly explains today's

church function. You see, up to this point in the

Book of Acts, the Church have been rapidly growing from

a fledgling group of apostles, not yet apostles, disciples waiting

because Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem when he ascended.

But by this point in Acts, there's structure and there's leadership.

We see that the church has not only grown, but

it has matured some. It has established into an institution.

And if you notice too, just from this verse, the

gospel has spread in that exact order that Jesus told

them it would, you will be my witnesses. And it

starts in Jerusalem, and then it spreads to Judea, Samaria

Jewish areas where the church was born, and begins to

blossom and the entirety of chapter nine up to verse

thirty one has really been about the conversion of Saul,

a Jew by his own words, a Jew of Jews

who was converted by the gospel. Jesus hit him on

the road to Damascus and changed him entirely. And that's

what this whole chapter has been about. And we get

right here. We know that Saul eventually is called Paul,

who becomes the Apostle of apostles and takes the word

of reconciliation beyond the Jewish areas into the entire known

world at the time. See God's word, and this is important.

God's Word is not just telling us that the church

is supposed to multiply. It is illustrating that truth in

the narrative. God's word doesn't say tons of things. It

says lots of things pointedly, but there's a lot of

things that we wish it said more clearly, more forward,

and it actually is if we notice the illustration. So

we see here in acts this multiplication is happening, and

it's supposed to. And then what Luke adds to this

is it reads like a formula. Oh my wife is

a math teacher. I'm not a big fan of math.

But formulas have parts, equals and a result. Right it

reads like a formula, and it's not often in scripture

that we get anything close to a formula. A lot

of times we've got to do some soul searching and

some praying and let the Holy Spirit help us see

the narrative and see what God iss been doing. And

we have to put some a lot of pieces together

to get to the bottom line.

But right here it reads like a.

Formula, and it's concerning church function. And I want us

to remember before we go any further, this is all

about people. From the very beginning Week one, we talked

about when we get the keys of the kingdom, when

we're binding and loosing, that's about people. That's about opening

the way, letting Heaven come forth and giving people access

to the Kingdom of God through the church. It's who

we are. And people are messy. I am messy. You

are messy online, so are you. Relationships are messy unless

there be any doubt you think, and Patrick Clay, I

don't think I'm messy. I don't think relationship it's easy

to me. It's all gravy. Maybe I don't know. If

you go before the Book of Matthew. There's a bunch

of books in here that illustrate very clearly that we

are a messy bunch.

The Old Testament is valuable, you should read it.

And the story of Christ is told across generations of

people that were not by any stretch perfect.

They were messy.

And as much as we wish there was an easy

formula to righteous living, there's not.

It must be lived.

But when it comes to this church function, Luke writes

verse thirty one, and it comes across like this, walking

in the fear of the Lord plus comfort of the

Holy Spirit equals multiplication.

So we have a very clear picture.

And I don't mean to lay this out, and I

don't think Luke intended to lay it out so that

it would communicate ease. That's a simple formula, but that

is not easy. There's a lot of stuff going on

in those two pieces. What I believe the Lord is

doing is giving us a simple reminder to ground us

when the action is moving quickly. Oh, I came to preach.

I don't know that this could have fallen on any

other week. I believe it is God's sovereignty that has

led us right here. The action that Pastor just talked

about the last two weeks, all the things that have happened.

And it hasn't just been funerals and floods. There are

so many other stories that you and I are not

even aware of.

Totally.

Things have been happening in this body and to the

people of God. The action is crazy. That's not even

to mention globally. We are not going there. November is coming,

and Pastor is going to handle it unless he tells

me to preach, and then I'm going to handle it.

The action just like an axe.

Right here in the midst of the action, the Lord

is giving us a simple reminder. In all the changes

of the seasons, in all the growth, in all the wonderful,

in all the tragic, He's making sure that his church

remembers these vital fundamentals, the fear of the Lord and

the comfort of the Holy Spirit. In fact, if we

went back to that Old Testament and looked all the

way through Salvation history, it's these two things that undergird

every move of God, the fear of the Lord and

the comfort of the Holy Spirit, all of them. This

is happening, and I want us to remember that fear

of the Lord is not fear in the common sense.

It is reverence.

It's awe, it's wonder, it's recognition that the one true

Living God is both infinitely mighty, infinitely mighty, and intimately close.

The Book of Acts is filled with church leaders telling

and retelling how God brought his people, the things he said,

and the things he did. Peter's first sermon back in

chapter two of Acts, he retells what God did and

what God said. Peter's sermon in three he does it again,

and he gets arrested along with John, and then they

testify before the Sanhedrin, before the Jewish Council, and they

retell God's deeds and his words.

Stephen just before this chapter.

Stephen's entire story is him filled with the Holy Spirit,

retelling God's deeds in God's words, and it gets him

killed all the way to this verse, and it keeps

going afterward. And in all of these examples, there's a

constant call for people to acknowledge who God is and

what God has done. And the reminders that Peter gives

about Christ are fresh reminders.

It just happened.

This is not long after he ascended, but they are

connected with those.

Prophecies of old.

That's why I had to start in these Jewish areas,

because it's all connected.

This God, the God Yahweh. Quick time out.

I am really sick of seeing the debate and the

discussion online and abroad about all the gods could be.

The same God.

No, it cannot, really, I know you know that I'm

doing this for the I want this to be on

the internet. Yahweh, the God of Israel is the only God. Jesus,

who is the Christ, is his only son. And only

when Jesus ascended could he sin and the Holy Spirit.

I really didn't do that so y'all would clap and

I would feel better. I just really felt like it

was bubbling in me. I'm just really, I'm really tired

of seeing it.

Yahweh.

All of these things time back in, sorry time in

all of these things leading up to this verse and afterward.

Yahweh has been speaking and working since the beginning. He

makes plans and they come to pass. He is the

Lord who sent the Lord, and he is still active.

And we should notice that people are reminded to fear

the Lord, to have the fear of the Lord.

In each example when they're reminded of that.

You know what happens either right before or right after

they're filled with the Holy Spirit. So then the Holy

Spirit feels and baptizes and empowers and strengthens and encourages.

All those things are in that word comfort. This is

the same God, the one who brought Israel out of Egypt,

the same one that sent Christ to the cross, and

now he sends his very spirit to work in and

through his church. That's us and all our church functions

beyond this series, they really boil down to this. We

do the things that we do to further lead people

to fear Yahweh. And when we do it, it's promised.

When we do that, it gives his Holy Spirit room

to do what he was sent to do, and we

need him to do what he does so we can

do our part.

Turn with me to John chapter sixteen.

Jesus tells us rather plainly, I think again, another place

in scripture where there's a lot of action. All of

this right here at the end of John is right

before the cross.

There's been so much happening.

There's been the Passover, there's been the Last Supper, There's

all these things, and Jesus takes the time to really

plainly state the things that before he was saying in parables,

before he was teaching, and they were mysteries to the hearers.

But he speaks to his closest brothers and friends, the

people he knows are going to go through the Book

of Acts and establish his church. He says this in

John chapter sixteen.

Verse seven.

But I tell you the truth, it is to your

advantage that I am leaving, for if I do not leave,

the Helper will not come to you. But if I go,

I will send him to you, and he the Spirit,

when he comes, will convict the world regarding sin and

righteousness and judgment. Regarding sin because they do not believe

in me. And regarding righteousness because I am going to

the Father and you are no longer going to see

me in verse eleven. And regarding judgment because the ruler

of this world has been judged. If you've really been

locked in on this series, alarm bell should be going

off in your brain because everything Jesus just said leads

us to what we've been talking about. Convict the world

regarding sin equals binding and loosing you hold the keys

of the kingdom. Convicting the world regarding righteousness equals maintaining

unity in the church. Since Christ is not present, face

to face convict the world. Regarding judgment equals the gates

of hell can not prevail. The enemy gets what he deserves.

You see the encouragement, the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

It's not simply good job, guys, great service man, y'all

sure did suck up a lot of water out that annex.

I was pat on the back. I know you're sore,

Pastor Clay, but you'll be all right. It's not keep

it up church. That's a lot of times the way

we encourage each other, and that's fine, But the encouragement

of the Holy Spirit is deep. And although he does

graciously encourage our hearts and minds when we need it,

the Holy Spirit's function is intrinsically tied to the church functions.

He's not just doing it in us, He's doing it

through us. Another way to put it is God Yahweh

is literally doing it with us. I think a lot

of times we, just like Pastor was saying about, we

feel weird about asking God, I need this and saying

things like you are my God and my Savior. Because

we rage against the individualistic society that we live in,

and that is real. I mean, there's no more. The

people on the earth have never been more selfish than

they are in twenty twenty six. But well, I think

a lot of times we get caught up going, Lord

just use me, just go right through me, as though

we are a window pane for him to shine through.

We maybe we've used that example.

We have a beautiful window up there, so the sun

shines through, and it touches me when I'm in here

and I look at it, especially when it's quiet and dark,

and I I can feel the presence of the Lord.

But a window doesn't move, a window doesn't act. A

window just the best thing it can do is be clear.

God does shine through you like a window. But you're

not a window. You're supposed to move, you're supposed to act,

You're supposed.

To be the church. We I shouldn't say you we.

So I don't want us to get caught up thinking, well,

I'm just gonna be available and I'll just be out

of the way. You're in the way because God's doing

it with you. I don't mean we distract. I don't

mean we met, and I'm not trying to chase this rabbit.

I just want us to understand. Church is not passive.

It's active because God is active and he wants to

do it with us, not just through us.

With us.

Look at verses thirteen and fourteen, same place Chapter sixteen

of John. Verse thirteen, Jesus says, but when he the

Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all

the truth.

For he will not speak on his own.

But whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will

disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify me,

for he will take from mine and will disclose it

to you. Now that is loaded encouragement. Holy Spirit takes

from what belongs to Christ, and Christ, remember has all

that belongs to the Father.

That's verse fifteen.

We stopped, But if you keep going, he says, just

that the Father Yahweh, has given everything to Christ.

Christ gives it to the Holy Spirit, and we get it.

He takes what he disclosed, He takes this and he

discloses it to us the church. Paul says later on

in First Corinthians, and we're not reading it, but if

you go on in First Corinthians chapter two, I believe

that the spirit allows us to know the deep things

of God, that we might speak what he teaches us.

The more he encourages, the more our fear of the

Lord should increase, and that increase in reverence.

It fuels our passion to.

Do the functions, and then the Spirit will help us

do it. The bank can get ready. As we close today,

I want to return back to the formula because remember,

even though it's simple and laid out clearly.

Does it make it easy. And a big part of

this is surrender.

Jesus says all that the Father has his mind, and

all of that I give to you by way of

the Holy Spirit.

It is.

It is not easy, and for us to take what

we are given and do the right thing with it,

we must remember that it's not ours. We didn't come

up with this stuff. It's coming from the Father.

To us.

It's responsibility, it's authority, it's all these things we've talked about.

But there's a level of surrender there, Church, and I

think a lot of times we want to be able

to accomplish the mission without the full surrender, and then

it doesn't work, and we wonder why.

We don't get the breakthrough.

We don't see the miracle, we don't feel like our

prayers are getting past the ceiling. We wrestle with the

tensions of God. Said this, but this is happening instead.

And I wonder if maybe it's a surrender problem. Maybe

it's a yielding problem, that we've not really let the

Spirit of Truth do what he's supposed to do in us,

that we might be able to receive what He has

for us and function properly. Maybe today you're wondering, am

I functioning correctly? What a wonderful question. The fact that

you would even ask that question says a lot in

a good way. And I believe that's the beautiful thing

about this verse in Acts chapter nine. When we fear

the Lord, when we have the encouragement and the comfort

of the Holy Spirit, we will multiply.

It's illustrated.

It's not just God's plan Church, it is God's promise.

Those often overlap, and God's plans and promises always deal

with people. I was having a conversation this morning in

the foyer. We were talking about the responsibility of the church.

It's true, you.

Cannot save someone.

You can't do that.

Only the Holy Spirit can do that regenerative work in

the soul of mankind.

But I cannot help but notice.

That time after time, just like pastors, example, the money

could fall from the sky, what is that to God?

He's God? The miracle could happen without you being involved?

What is that to God? Easy? It's not just about results,

it's the process.

So when we pray those prayers and we believe for

those things and they don't come to pass the way

we think they should, and we have questions about the

scripture and we.

Start to doubt, when we start to be confused.

And we're wondering, the question I have is, Lord, what

are you trying to do to me? I know you're

trying to do something to me, because again, as corporate

and as big and as broad as the churches.

And the functions and all these things, He's.

Still intimately close everything you're involved in as God's people.

It's about the result, but it's about you along the

way too. Very very rarely, I'm not saying never, but

rarely are we involved in the process of a miracle

or a breakthrough, or really anything where God is not

trying to do something to us as well. I want

you to stand with me all over the room, and

I want to pray very intently today that God would

help us arrange our lives in such a way that

we really grasp the fear of the Lord, that we

really receive the encouragement of the Holy Spirit. And it

all starts with submission to his lordship. He is the

Lord regardless, but if we do not position our lives

in a way that we place Him where he belongs,

where he is in reality, but maybe he's not there

in our lives.

We've got to get that right.

It all begins with availability that I am not my

own I speak these things.

These are not my things.

These come from the Holy Spirit, comes from Christ, it

comes from the Father.

It's not my mission, it's his. But he wants to

do it with me.

And I think if we can get that right, I

believe we're going to see the church function of multiplication begin.

And happen at an accelerated rate.

Like I said at the beginning of this month, beginning

of the series, this spiritual momentum, and we've all been

feeling it.

I've talked to you, I've heard from you.

I see it in your eyes, I see it in

the way you're talking to each other.

I see it.

This momentum is afforded to us, not just for enjoyment,

but for purpose.

Multiplication. God has been reminding us of who He is

and who we are. In light of that, He's been

bringing us together, and he's.

Been leading us to deal with the splintered parts of.

The body so that we stay unified.

And when His Church accepts the authority and responsibility of

functioning and reconciliation, multiplication is both promised and expected.

We are meant to grow. Hear me.

We're in the middle of this building for more campaign

because there's supposed to be more people here. I love y'all,

Pastor loves y'all, but there's supposed to be more people

here because what God has been doing in us is

for them too, and where we're gonna go, we're gonna

need them to the multiplication. Think about Think about who

was in that upper room. I mean, you already got

the heavy hitters. Peter's there leading the way. You already

got the guys who were there. And still he said

it must grow. You get to Paul. He has that experience.

Paul's prolific writer, apostle preacher, and still multiply and multiply

and multiply and multiply what we have is not enough.

Because we're meant to multiply.

And I want us to do it, and we cannot

do it without the Holy Spirit. So as our alter

team comes down. There are several calls today. One is

if you just do not know the Lord Jesus, I

want us to get that right today. You're online, there's

somebody there to pray with you. But if you do

not know the Lord and you're hearing this and there's

that feeling, that rumbling in your heart, it's a Holy

Spirit calling to you, and I want you to come

to the saving knowledge of Christ and live under His lordship.

It's the greatest thing you can ever do. And it's

not a.

It's not just the inside the church thing. It will

change everything. The second call, maybe you're also feeling that

rumbling in your heart.

And maybe you feel the gap between.

Well, I want to do it, but I don't feel

like I have the power to do what you're talking about, Pastor,

I don't think I have the power do that. The

whole Holy Spirit, the Baptism and the Holy Spirit could

be missing. And so if you want the Baptists in

the Holy Spirit, if you want that experience.

And it's not just an experience.

That overwhelming feeling and the tongues flowing and all those things.

That's just the beginning. You need the power to be

the church.

If you want the Baptists in the Holy Spirit, we're

prepared to pray for you. Lastly, I just feel that

this is not what I prepared. But I just feel

like there are many of us here maybe that just

need a refresh Maybe you've had the Baptist in the Holy Spirit.

Maybe you've already you've walked in that and walked in

that power.

You know what that's like.

But maybe you just need a little freshening up. Multiple

people have been commenting on my shirt and my change

in style.

Sometimes you just need to switch it up because it

makes you act different.

Let me tell you, the Holy Spirit can give you

a fresh out pouring. You think a new shirt feels good,

you think a new haircut feels good, you think it'll

make you act different, We will get a fresh out pouring,

get a fresh wind, get a fresh fire. I'm telling you, Church,

it's time for us to be refreshed, to be who

God has called us to be. As cornerstone as this body.

We gotta multiply and we need the Holy Spirit to

do it. So if any of those things, if you're

feeling it at all, I want you to find a

prayer partner. If you want me to pray with you,

I'll pray with you in my new shirt. Want pastor

or pray for you, he's available. I want us to

get it right and I want us to have the

best second half of the year we've ever seen. And

I'm telling you, I'm telling you, if Barry Cape were

sitting back there, nobody got it better than him. What

if there were a hundred of us that had Barry

Cape's understanding of the Holy Spirit. What if there were

a two hundred, What if there were a thousand? What

if God's calling us and reminding us of that that

we might press head.

We're gonna sing this song.

And it's reminding us of the great faithfulness of God.

He did it, then he can do it now. Yes,

he did it. Then he can do it now. He

did it, then he can do it now. If you're

stirred in your spirit.

Today, come find a prayer partner. If you're not coming down,

I want you to lift your hands, I want you

to lift your voice, and I want you to.

Praise the God of Ages because he's still moving.

Lord, have your way, Lord, have your way in us,

through us, with us.

In Jesus' name, Come on, we sing and