Plenty - Plenty of Grace

Hey, I'm Pastor Forrest, and welcome to the Multiply Church Podcast.

Each week we open God's word together to help you meet God and multiply God in your everyday life.

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Now, let's dive into this week's sermon.

Grabbing your seat.

We're jumping into this new series called Plenty.

And I'm excited about what God's gonna do over the next few weeks, but I want to start off with just a moment of honesty right now from you all, a show of hands.

Who of you have already decorated for Christmas?

I'm gonna ask you to please repent right now for skipping my favorite holiday, which is Thanksgiving.

Some of you can't understand why that's my favorite holiday, but it's got my favorite things: family, fall, food, and football in Jesus' name.

This season of gratitude that we're walking into.

You gotta have the gratitude before you have the season of gift giving.

And the title of my message today is Plenty of Grace as we've stepped into this new series called Plenty.

Now, here's the thing: if we don't have the right mindset, as we're entering into this season of generosity and of joy at this time of year, we'll enter into this season, the most anxious of mindsets.

And what we need to do is instead align ourselves with God and his mentality.

My three-year-old, Miss Magnolia, she a couple of weeks ago, unprompted, learned the word plenty.

It's out of nowhere.

Now we have plenty of everything in her mindset.

We have plenty of forks, we got plenty of toys in the house.

We definitely have plenty of candy from Trick or Treat a couple of weeks ago.

If you don't know, we got to partner two weeks ago with the Frankfurt Police Department to do Truck or Treat with thousands of pieces of candy.

We got to invite over 1,500 people to church two weeks ago.

And got to serve our city.

And that night, got to take my girls out trick-or-treating.

And uh somehow we uh did not worship the devil at all as we were out trick-or-treating.

The girls had superhero costumes on.

We went out there and did trick-or-treat.

But what my girls began to learn about very at a very young age is the government in taxes because she had to, the girls had to have what's called the mom tax and the dad tax on the candy, okay?

See, because they wouldn't even made it to trick-or-treating if it hadn't been for mom or dad.

And so they got their bucket and would bring a piece of candy to their mom and I.

And then as they've gotten their bucket more throughout the week and eaten their candy, they just know that they just need to bring a piece of candy to me.

And they've even brought it with a smile and starting to recognize in the gratitude.

Here's where we're going today.

Today we're gonna recognize the enormity of what God has done and what you have been given by Jesus Christ, and seek to have a plenty mindset instead of a scarcity mindset that flows from gratitude at all times.

That's where we're going today.

Because we have a command, we have a mandate from the scripture for us to have a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving.

Colossians 3.15 says, and let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts.

As for members of one body, you are called to live in peace and always be thankful.

The scripture talks continually about having gratitude and having a thankful heart.

And for us that we're called as believers, that we would always be thankful, that we would always be giving thanksgiving.

But here's the problem: there are so many things that want to steal our gratitude in life.

Just very simply, comparison.

If you spend five minutes scrolling on social media, you feel like you don't have enough.

Because you're sitting at work on a random Tuesday afternoon and you're comparing yourself to your friend's special vacation to Greece that they just took.

But what happens when you do that is that you you measure your progress in life by somebody else's purpose and calling.

And you just open up your phone to try to relax, and then instead you feel behind in life.

Or maybe for you, what steals gratitude is that you're taking things for granted.

You're now complaining about the blessings that you prayed for last year.

And what God provided to you in a miracle, now you're irritated and complaining about the maintenance of it.

Having a heart that isn't grateful, or maybe for you it comes down to fear.

You can't enjoy today because you're so afraid what's gonna happen tomorrow.

A lot of times that sounds like this.

Well, I just don't want to get my hopes up.

Anyone ever said that before?

Or I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

That's not wisdom, that's fear stealing your gratitude.

And what we're gonna do today is we're going to look at a passage, a scripture, a story that's been meaningful to our church and important to our church over the last few years as we've moved into this series during this season of gratitude and generosity.

And we're gonna walk through this story together that tells us about a widow, a widow who's a prophet's wife, she has two sons, and she's in a fearful situation.

She's out of time, she's out of resources, and God does a miracle in her life.

And so if you're ready to receive it, let's turn to 2 Kings chapter 4, the first seven verses.

2 Kings 4 · chapter mention

If you've got your Bible, please turn there.

If you've got your phone, pull it up.

Find 2 Kings.

It's in the Old Testament, it's after 1 Kings.

Find it, highlight these seven verses so you can go back to it.

It's also going to be on the screen for you as well in NLT.

This is the story.

One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, My husband who served you is dead, and you know that he feared the Lord.

And now a creditor has come threatening to take my two sons as slaves.

What can I do to help you?

Elisha asked.

Nothing at all except a flask of olive oil, she replied.

And Elisha said, Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors.

Then go to your house with your sons and shut the door behind you.

Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.

And she did as she was told.

Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another.

Soon every container was full to the brim.

Bring me another jar, she said to one of her sons.

There aren't any more.

He told her, and then the olive oil stopped flowing.

And when she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what's left over.

You know, I struggle a lot of times of seeing just what's right in front of me.

It's so easy for me to overlook what I have and what I have been given in this life because I just feel like it's too small to even matter.

What that is, is having a nothing at all mentality.

Nothing at all mentality of taking everything for granted, a scarcity mindset, but that's not what the widow said.

The widow said, I've got nothing at all except.

And I want for all of us to be in the mindset of the nothing at all except I've got Jesus.

I've got the savior of the world.

I've got the one who hung the stars on my son.

I've got the creator of the universe that has bought and paid for my salvation with me.

I have a hope.

I've got nothing at all except for I've got everything in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

And maybe for you, you're struggling with the same thing of just being able to see what's in front of you.

Instead, you're noticing what's missing and you're ignoring what's already in your hand.

You've got the oil, but all you're seeing is empty shelves.

What we need to do collectively to have a mindset of gratitude is that we all collectively, you need to look at what you have.

See, because plenty doesn't start with full jars, it starts with open eyes.

And maybe for you're in a situation, you don't necessarily need more blessings, you just need better vision.

That you would have God help you to see, and for you to say, I will see what I have, Lord, in my hands.

See, my three-year-old daughter, Magnolia, she's already figuring this out.

We have plenty of the simplest things.

We got plenty of forks, we got plenty of toys, got plenty of candy.

That's because as a child, she's noticing the abundance that the adults overlook.

Gosh, we've seen God move so powerfully this year.

And we've seen what happens when we have a church that is in gratitude and thankful to the Lord.

If you are not excited about the fact that there have been four baptisms in the last two weeks, that means you have forgotten the joy of your salvation.

That means that you've forgotten what it was like for you before Christ.

Before you got into those baptism waters, before you had the Savior of the world save you, change you, God's poured out.

You know, we've already celebrated 20 baptisms this year.

Praise God.

And you know, you don't know me, that's not a number, that's stories.

That's our friends, that's our children.

That's new followers of Jesus.

Any of our kids walking in purpose.

You know this?

You're gonna love this.

You know, right now, we have 11 teenagers that are serving in the kids' ministry right now.

Not attending, serving.

I I remember when Multiply had no teenagers.

And now there's 11 not just coming and involved, but they're actually serving.

Yo, Adam Frankfurt took notice of the difference pouring out of this house during the flood.

We were able to bring a jar filled with oil.

It wasn't a jar, it was a couple of semi-truckloads of supplies.

See, that that's that's a flow of gratitude.

And you can't program that.

That's just that's just gratitude growing in generosity, and generosity open up the doors for more opportunities, which leads to more gratitude, and it's just this loop.

It's not only a loop, it's it's a lens.

It's a lens that we see see through.

See, most of y'all don't know that I wear eyeglasses.

I am super blind, okay?

If if I didn't have my contact lenses in right now, I would not be able to see any of your faces, even on the front row.

If you were to hold up a couple fingers and say, you know, how many fingers I'm holding on?

I would have no idea at all.

But because I have contact lenses, I can actually see.

Gratitude is the lens in which we see.

It's the lens that we put on.

So that what we see of what God's done, we our question is not, well, do I have enough?

The question is, do I see what I've already been given?

This lens to see the abundance that we have in and through Christ, and not just seeing scarcity.

See, when you're looking through that lens, even the smallest things like a widow's jar.

Or like a church that started in a movie theater that's now pouring oil into a city.

You begin to have a lens of gratitude.

Now I'm gonna pick on some people like me right now.

Where are my type A people in the house?

Got some type A people?

I see y'all shaking your hands, heads, raising them hands.

Type A people.

For me, I'm one of these type A people.

I want to get 1% better every single day.

Y'all do too.

I know those type A people.

They want everything better to get better around you.

And you're you're thinking about how can I 10x my life?

Y'all know who you are.

Y'all in the gym, getting getting wild.

You want everything to optimize?

Can I tell you that you need to have a heart of gratitude before you begin to be critical?

You can operate in a mindset of critique and having a critical mindset and miss the lens of gratitude that God wants you to have over your whole life.

So why don't you start with gratitude?

Let God reveal to you things that need to be changed, but not walk in a spirit of critique and criticism.

I'm I'm I'm guilty as as as much as anybody in this.

I just want things to get better.

Even better than you found them.

But let's start with gratitude.

See, I I when I'm in that mindset, what what I'm thinking about and thinking about criticism, I'm thinking about everything that I already have in my hands that God can use for his glory.

And I'm certainly not thinking about or remembering how much has been poured into my life in grace and forgiveness and friendship and provision.

And maybe you found yourself in that same mindset.

Now I know like I said, some of you are walking into the room, you've had a terrible week.

You lost a relationship, you've lost a loved one, you've got bad news at work.

And it's very easy for us when we go through those valleys and hard times to miss how much has been poured into our lives.

Or maybe it's just because life's just going so fast for you.

And to just take a second and just be grateful is a challenge.

And you need to look at what you have been given in this life as well.

Now I know there's some man out there right now that's thinking, I haven't been given anything in this life.

Nobody gave me anything.

Well, you probably didn't feed yourself when you're a baby, okay, brother?

You probably also didn't teach yourself math.

I'm gonna guarantee you didn't do that.

So you have been given some things in life.

All of us have.

All of us have been given things.

And as we take inventory of what we have in our hands, and we also take inventory of what's flown, flowed into our life from God's grace and his mercy and people that God has put into our path, when we have that gratitude in our heart, it's like seeing God's fingerprints on your life.

What you been given?

See the the widow didn't see much.

She said, I've got nothing at all except this flask of oil.

And this tiny gift, this tiny amount began to overflow, began to grow, began to be a blessing.

And maybe for you, you struggle to recognize at times that your life can be a blessing or that God could use you at all.

Can I tell you, if you're in the house right now and you don't think that God can use you, you need the Lord, you need the Lord to correct you and tell you, He loves you so much.

He died for you.

Right now, if you're in the house and there's shame and there's guilt about what's happened in your past life, can I tell you God loves you, He's forgiven you, He died on the cross in your place, so then you could then walk in the purpose that He has outlined for you from the beginning of time that you could walk in His good way.

Don't be bound by your past, by the shame, by the guilt.

Jesus wants to set you free.

If you feel like I've I've sinned too much, I've gone too far, you cannot sin more than God is capable to give you grace.

Have you even read the scripture?

Do you know how messed up the people were in the scripture that God used?

Murderers and adulterers.

God picked them up, brushed them off, forgave them, and put them back on the past so they can be used for his glory.

The tiniest gift.

God can multiply it for his glory.

But maybe you're struggling to recognize you know what?

God can use me.

The truth is this that someone's someone else's life would have more oil if you would just be obedient.

What do I mean by that?

The widow, she had this small amount of oil.

But she wasn't the only one that participated in the miracle.

Her friends and her neighbors brought to her empty jars that allowed for the oil to keep flowing because as soon as the jars stopped, the oil stopped.

But the fact that she had enough jars to supply for her family, that meant that she had enough to sell so that her sons would be saved and set free and not go into slavery.

And her neighbors got to be a part of that blessing.

Her neighbors got to be a part of that whole miracle.

The third thing we need to do is look at what you've given to others.

These neighbors, they were a part of this miracle.

And it led to her sons being set free.

You know, the enemy wants you to think, and the world wants you to think, well, I'll just wait until it feels like I have plenty to share.

I'll just wait.

Even if what you have is an empty jar, God can bring it as a blessing to someone else.

It's just seeing what's in your hands.

Even if it's an empty jar, you bring it to God, and God can overflow and pour out into it.

Bringing it to Him.

And as you bring to God and you get to be a part of God's work and the miracle, you have a gratitude that wells up in your heart.

And when you're truly grateful, you can't stay quiet about it.

That's why when there's a favorite, new favorite restaurant, you're always telling somebody about it.

Or that new product that you got on Amazon that you think everybody needs, you're sharing it and sending it to everybody.

Or your playlist that you think is gonna bless the world.

You're sharing it with others.

Because gratitude, it naturally overflows into invitation, and it sounds like this.

You gotta try this.

You gotta try this.

That's why Thanksgiving meal was never meant to be eaten alone.

The table itself is this act of a witness of gratitude that is then welling up and that you want to share.

The opposite of gratitude, it isn't greed, it's what we've taken for granted.

Because fear puts us in this mindset of well, what if I run out?

But gratitude leads us to a place of look what I've already have.

And during this whole series, we're gonna be talking about what we're able to bring before God and for him to come with open hands so that we can live lives that are overflowing with gratitude and grace.

The word grace and the word gratitude share the same root word in Greek, charis.

And you if you have grace, that means that there's gratitude that's going to flow.

And you get to be a part of and give to others the amazing work of what Christ has done for us on the cross.

The grace.

The grace that we have received from Christ that overflows in the plenty because our Jesus is a Jesus of plenty.

The gospel of abundance.

As I've been preparing for this series, these three words have stuck out to me: Plentiful, bountiful, and abundantly.

One of those words is in Matthew chapter 9, verse 37, as Jesus is talking to his disciples.

Matthew 9:37

And Jesus says, Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.

The harvest is plentiful.

Everybody say plentiful.

And Jesus sees the plenty.

That's why this series is called plenty.

It's not because necessarily there's plenty of overflowing in your bank account, but because Jesus has poured out plenty of grace to us.

And that grace that we have gotten from Jesus, we then get to give as a gift to other people.

As hope, as love of Jesus' work for us on the cross.

Could you imagine, church?

Just imagine with me.

Just think with me for a second.

Imagine if we were a people that were marked by gratitude, marked by his grace, so much so that it was overflowing to other people because the harvest is plentiful.

The problem wasn't the harvest, the problem was not enough workers.

The problem was that there wasn't enough people who cared enough to see others come to know Christ.

The harvest is plentiful.

The workers are few.

Imagine this is Thanksgiving with your family, our church family.

You're walking in a mindset and a spirit of gratitude that was overflowing to others.

Here's the thing.

Gratitude, it begins with already seeing what's in our hands and what we have is our love of Christ, his finished work for us on the cross.

And as we walk into this series over the next few weeks, we're going to see that the gratitude that we have as it overflows.

As we think about all that God has given to us and his glorious riches, the generosity that's going to overflow from us as a church, it's going to feel like worship.

It's going to feel like walking in plenty.

And maybe for you, that needs to start in just as small ways.

Maybe this week you need to send three texts to people and just say, hey, I just want to say thank you.

Or maybe as you head home and you look at your own table, you look at your home, the car, the fridge, the friends, and realize I've been living in plenty all along.

Because gratitude doesn't start with having more, it starts with seeing more.

I'd love for you to take it home, begin to pray over it.

Pray what God would have for you to give generously.

We give collectively on December the 7th, Sunday morning.

As you let God well up gratitude in your heart, and then just ask the Lord, God, what do you want me to give that's generous?

And then allow God to use that, to overflow, to accelerate what he's doing inside this house and outside of this house.

And so take the card, put it somewhere for the next few weeks, pray about it, talk with your spouse about it, have a conversation, and then collectively we'll give together on December the 7th.

And all of that, as we think about a life of generosity and gratitude, it starts with us being grateful for the cross.

We're so grateful you joined us for this week's message.

At Multiply, we believe life was never meant to be lived to live.

If today you made the decision to follow Jesus, we'd be honored to walk with you on this journey.

Visit multiplyky.com to live.

We love you and we'll see you again soon.