The Outpour - 03/23/2025

I'm glad to be able to share with you today, and it's been a great week because Thursday was actually Multipli's third birthday on Thursday, and I've been feeling very grateful this week of all those that have been pouring out and serving and loving and caring for three years, and man, praise the Lord.

And we're gonna return today to our outpour series that we did at the end of this last year as we trusted God as we poured out for God to fill us up, and that's exactly what He's been doing, church.

The seeds that we planted in the end of last year are coming to fruition.

Um, in no short order, the fact that we've had 50 first-time guests just this month alone.

50 new folks.

So if you're new with us, welcome.

I'm glad you're here.

I'm Forrest Lee Pastor.

We welcome you.

We're glad that you're in the house.

You are not alone and being new in this place.

There's lots who are new, and also y'all are gonna love this.

Y'all are gonna love this.

Uh normally outpour message has sent around finances, and I'm happy to report that it's finances going great.

And part of that is because, and mainly because of your all's generosity, giving, serving, and people taking steps and leaps of faith.

This is cool, y'all.

You're gonna love this.

Six people this month have trusted God with their finances for the first time and have given for the very first time.

And we need to hide, we need to put our hands together for the faith of those six who have taken the step to cross the line and believe in faith that God is going to uh they're going to receive in the way that God allows them to be able to give and that they're going to be able to see the blessings of God overflow to them.

And I'm I'm just I'm excited by the fact that we've got new people in the house, and we're gonna be talking today about that outpour, but in the context of what it looks like for us to outpour as we are connected to God in this big church word that is abide.

Turn to your neighbor and say, Abide.

The title of my message today is Abide to Outpour.

And um, I grew up in a church, and maybe you grew up in a church like this, and I love the church that I grew up in, I love them.

Uh, but there were some folks in the church, they felt like that the meaner you looked, the more spiritual you were.

Like this, the face, say that every Sunday, you know, we were seeing the plat pace, the plates would pass, and then we'd say, Praise God from whom all blessings.

Am I the only one who grew up in that church, I guess, anyway?

But it was like the meaner that you looked while you sang the song, it meant more to the Lord.

Um, but uh uh I actually um you know that the fruit of the spirit is not seriousness, the fruit of the spirit is joy.

The fruit of the spirit is joy.

And today, as we dive into what it looks like to outpour and to overflow as we're connected to the vine, uh, we have to be reminded by the fact that we're not the frozen chosen.

Okay?

But God is active and God wants to pour out in us a joy and a love that touches people who are close to us and that they can see and receive the joy that comes straight from the Lord and that it's flowing out of us.

Anyone hear me?

See, there are many Christians that need to tell their face that they are forgiven and redeemed.

They need to let their smile know that the fact that they have the joy of the Lord in their heart.

See, because when it comes to our outpour and our overflow and us serving God, oftentimes, and I think primarily, that God cares more about your heart than your hands when you're serving Him.

And what the posture is of your heart and what you're pouring out with the Lord.

There's a very simple verse that has been very profound to me over the last couple of weeks that I've been just thinking about and has uh been something I've just been meditating on, and it's just two very simple sentences.

It's this this is Psalms 100, verse 2.

Psalms 100:2

Serve the Lord with gladness, come into his presence with singing.

And when we think about what it looks like to serve the Lord, specifically serving the Lord with gladness, something that happens oftentimes, it's a mistake that's made in churches, is when we think about serving God, we're only talking about serving God within the four walls of the church.

But that's not what I'm talking about today.

When the church talks about your purpose, it's only within the four walls of the church.

And I know, and you also know, that God has called us not just to serve him in here, but for us to serve him outside of the walls.

So it's not just the fact that we serve the body, but there's also an overflow as we serve our Lord in our job, in our workplaces, in our homes, with our families, with our kids, with our neighbors.

And there is a serving of God that we should be doing with gladness that isn't just contained in this place.

Now, in a room this size, I I know that if we're honest, there's some in the room that aren't serving the Lord at all.

I mean, some of you are serving, but you're not serving with gladness.

And it's that's easy to have happen because there's this tensions, there's tensions that we live in as we're serving the Lord.

And oftentimes, and I know for me, we can get to a place where you just feel like, you know what, I'm just too tired for all this.

I'm too tired, you know, I'm overwhelmed, I don't even know where to start.

And we get into a place that is avoidance of what God has called us to do and for us to overflow and to pour out.

And eventually that avoidance it leads to an apathy.

Or maybe you're on the complete opposite side of the coin.

You're on the complete opposite side of the fact that you've been pouring out and you've been serving and you've been serving the Lord, and you feel like that you're giving everything and you're doing everything that you can, but it's draining you.

And you're on the edge of feeling burned out.

And what we know is that at the edge of being burned out, that easily falls over into bitterness.

And the serving it just doesn't feel like a joy.

But Jesus is going today to give us the secret of what it looks like for us to be able to serve the Lord with gladness and to do that continually and to have an outpour and an overflow, and we're gonna look directly at his word, and he's gonna tell us the secret, and he does it in this analogy that he uses of the vine and branches.

And he gives us some instructions of what it looks like that for us to serve, and that sometimes there's things in our life that need to be cut out.

And Jesus is telling his disciples this analogy, and he gives us the secret.

And do you want to hear it today?

We're in John chapter 15, and Jesus looks at his disciples, and he gives them this word, an analogy, and he says, I am the true grapevine, and my father is the gardener.

John 15 · chapter mention

He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit, so they will produce even more.

You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.

Remain in me, and I will remain in you.

For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine.

And you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

Yes, I am the vine, you are the branches.

Those who remain in me, and I in them will produce much fruit.

For apart from me, you can do nothing.

I have, and then skip down to verse nine, I have loved you even as my father has loved me.

Remain in my love.

When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my father's commandments, and I remain in his love.

In verse 11, I have told you these things, so that you will be filled with my what?

Joy.

Yes, your joy will overflow.

Jesus gives this example and this analogy of a vine and branches.

And he says that he is the vine, that God is the gardener, he's the vine dresser and keeper, and that we are the branches that produce fruit.

And as he gives this example, probably what the disciples would have had in mind would be these grape vines that were growing all over the land of Israel.

And it's something that they would see all the time, that would be tended and that would be gardened and that would be used to create wine.

And they would have this thought in their mind as he's saying, You are the branches, and they would think about the fact that they would be the ones that actually produce the fruit.

But Jesus in this passage, he says, Apart from me, you can do nothing.

And maybe some of you are already thinking, like, all right, Forrest, there's plenty of people out here that are doing stuff.

That don't know Jesus, like they can do something.

But Jesus is, he's not just talking about the to-do list, he's talking about the eternal glory of God.

He's talking about things that actually last beyond just the here and now, beyond what is seen.

He's saying, You with without me, you cannot do anything that has divine purpose without being attached to me.

And if you remain in me, then you're gonna have the gift of being able to bear this fruit.

Because Jesus isn't just wanting just religious output from us, but he's inviting us into this joyful overflow of serving with him.

One translation even says that your joy will be complete.

There's a completeness that comes.

The joy, the joy that Jesus is inviting you into that as you are connected with him and abiding in him, that what's gonna overflow out of you is a supernatural joy.

And verse 4, Jesus says, Abide in me and I in you.

And probably some of you are like me, that there are times in your life where you have been trying to serve the Lord, but whatever happens that's going on, and you feel beat up, and sometimes it leads to you not showing up.

And for me, well, I I'm a pastor, so I I I have to show up physically, but sometimes not show up emotionally or spiritually.

And maybe you all have maybe there's somebody in the room even right now that you've already kind of felt like that you're drifting away and as you're serving the Lord inside and outside of this place, that you're beginning to feel empty and even unmotivated.

And what we know is true is that the absence from the connection to the vine, what ultimately that's going to lead to is atrophy and apathy.

Y'all, y'all, y'all remember the uh the old saying, um, you know, uh absence makes the heart grow fonder in relationships, romance.

That doesn't apply in your relationship with God.

Your absence from Him, your absence from closeness with Him, whether that be in your worship and your serving of Him, that only leads to a wedge and disconnect and ultimately apathy.

And so, but it's our abiding and our connection, that's what's going to lead to outpour.

You know, people will say, especially if you're serving and you're serving a lot, it's like, well, you know, does it even really matter that you're doing that?

Like, maybe you've had this thought of like, man, I don't just I just don't really have time to do that.

I got a lot of stuff I gotta take care of for myself.

It's not worth all the hassle to be serving God.

And as that avoidance grows, there's a wedge that grows, and the outpour that God has promised to you, it is cut off, and you're not flowing out joy and flowing from his spirit.

See, there's a a completeness that comes from connection to the vine.

And as you return to be connected to the vine, that's where you're gonna see joy flow.

One of my favorite things about our church is that we have people in our church who are brand new to faith, who are just getting going, who are just learning.

That's why uh we celebrated 36 baptisms last year.

We got to celebrate another this morning, our nine o'clock service, praise God, which is amazing.

And I also love the fact, I also love the fact about our church that there are plenty of people in our church who have been away from church for quite some time that have returned back to the Lord.

And it makes it very fun to see people who re-engage.

Some some close friends of ours who are in the church who's serving so much, they're out of church for 15 years and now they're plugged in and serving, and it's like every time I see them, they're just uh a smile ear to ear, and I can just see the joy overflowing out of their heart.

And I think about, and maybe even they think about what was missed in that time of being disconnected from the vine.

See, because as we abide in him, joy overflows.

This word abide, it's the Greek word menno, and it means to remain, to stay, to dwell, to continue, to be present, to remain as one, to endure, to persist.

Jesus uses this term and it's used throughout the scripture of closeness, of dwelling with what with someone, and to be close to them.

And it's this Greek word minnow.

Turn to your neighbor and say minnow.

Now I've lost all my guys because they're thinking about bait and tackle right now instead of this message.

But that's not even how we say minnow in Kentucky anyway.

We say minner.

Give me a minnow.

You know, you have a minor on my rod.

Anyway, this Greek word minnow, it means to remain, it means to be present, it means to persist and dwell.

And it's when we're walking with Jesus that he does something that's very peculiar as we're walking with him and staying connected to the vine.

He begins to prune us.

In verse 2, it says that he prunes us so that we would bear more fruit.

See, the vine dresser and and and and the one who is tending the vine will cut off the dead things that's holding the vine back from producing even more fruit.

And there are times when we are walking with God where you run into dead things that are holding on to you and holding on to your life that God has to cut off of you.

Not to hurt you, but that you would see even more.

Everybody say more.

There's a pruning process that happens as you're walking with him.

And sometimes these aren't just like, you know, all kinds of bad stuff.

You've you've heard it before.

If the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy.

Sometimes it's just that you're like doing so much.

All the schoolwork, all the job, all the demands that are going on, the youth sports leagues.

Why in the world do they take so much time?

I have no idea.

But youth sports taking all this time.

I'm like, I'm doing all of this stuff, I'm doing all of this stuff, and it doesn't feel like that I'm making a difference.

And maybe there may even be some of you in the room that at one point you were giving of your time and you're giving of the talents that God has given you, but now you've kind of gotten this mindset where you've asked God to use you, but now you feel used and you're upset about it.

Even though you asked him to use you.

See, we know that as you get closer to this burnout, that it breeds bitterness in our hearts.

But the pruning is what brings purpose to us.

People that just say, you know what?

Well, I mean, does it even really matter that I'm like showing up to church, that I'm serving on a team, that I'm doing stuff with Frankfurt Ford, that I'm being a light in my workplace, at the job, at the school?

Does it even really even matter?

Because like I don't really feel like I'm not getting any recognition, like nobody's even really seeing what I'm doing.

Like, is this even actually worth it?

That happened to me this week.

This week I did something for somebody that was kind.

And I told Emily later that week, I said, Can you believe they didn't say thank you?

Can you believe that they didn't say thank you?

And it was literally something that I did for them that was for the kingdom, that was for the Lord.

And you're looking and this this getting close in that mindset where you're disconnected from the vine, that burnout, it will, it will eventually break you, but the pruning process, it grows you.

So staying connected to the vine, because here's the thing: God isn't pruning you out of punishment, he's pruning you in preparation of the purposes that he has for you.

It's a preparation for the purpose that God has implanted in you and the fruit that he is counting on you to walk in and that he's given you as a gift.

You know, sometimes even for guys, we just think about like serving others, and it just kind of feels like this, I don't know, weak thing.

I don't know how many of you are like me, but whenever I meet somebody who says that they're a veteran or in the in the service, I I immediately just say, Thank you for your service.

Anybody else say that?

I try to say it every single time.

And you know, those those men and women who serve, the warriors who are serving to protect us while we sleep, they're called servicemen.

There's a there's they're in an act of service because they're doing something that has a greater purpose behind it.

To protect you and me.

And they're a part of a mission, and it doesn't matter if it's a Navy SEAL or somebody who's first year in the military, I'm gonna say to them, thank you for your service.

Because what they're doing is not lesser than by serving, they're doing something that's filled with purpose.

And in this same way with God.

All throughout the Old Testament, God is called the Lord of heaven's armies.

We are the ones that God has entrusted the work to and the fruit to grow from us, week after week after week.

And Jesus gives us this promise in the last verse.

As we're connected to Him, that we're gonna be filled with joy, and that the joy is gonna overflow from us.

And sometimes, as I'm serving the Lord, it feels like a chore.

And I feel like I'm doing it because I have to, not just because I want to, and it's easy to get into that mindset.

I'll put it to you like this: one of the burdens that I have to bear in life is that my wife's favorite holiday is Valentine's Day.

Which, you know, she could have chosen any of them, but that's the one that she chose.

And so basically what that means for me is that as soon as Christmas is over, I have to start planning for Valentine's Day.

Okay?

I have to start thinking about what I'm gonna do.

And not only that, but she has this note on her phone that lists out like the last 18 years of Valentine's Day and what it is that we did, and so then I have to come up with like creative things to do and do stuff a little bit different because she's tracking it, okay?

And so I have to always plan something like a you know, a nice dinner out or some fun thing for us to do, or an overnight stay.

And on Valentine's, you know what would absolutely crush that?

It's during the middle of whatever I planned to do, she looked at me and said, Oh, I'm so grateful.

This is so great.

And I just looked at her and said, Well, you asked me to do it.

Or I looked at her and said, Well, you know, it's my duty as a husband.

No, what I look at her and I say, you know what?

I say, I love you.

Because it's a it's an overflow of the love that I have for her.

And it's easy for us to get into a mindset, and maybe you're there where you get into a mindset of your serving, and then you're starting to serve, and then it starts to be driven by this guilty feeling and not from joy.

And what Jesus tells you is you're connected to the vine, then joy is gonna overflow.

As you are remaining in his love, his love is then gonna be flowing out from you.

And you're not just serving out of duty, you're serving out of love.

It's an overflow.

And oftentimes, you know, I just think, especially when you're serving the Lord, sometimes it can feel like a grind.

It can feel like a grind.

But it's not actually a grind, it's actually a gift.

That we get to partner with him, that we get to stay connected to God, that he wants to use us and bear fruit through us.

And that as we get to serve God, we get to serve God with gladness because he's the one who's filling us up with joy.

Somebody who's been so incredibly encouraging to me over the last few years is a friend of mine, Mark Peru.

Mark is uh retirement age, and he served as the missions pastor at Southland for the last few years.

And when Emily and I hit the ground in Frankfurt, he just immediately just wanted to show love to me, and he'd call me and say, Forrest, let's go talk, let's hang out.

Mark, he uh has been to 85 countries on mission.

And the God is just filled with joy, and it's been such a blessing.

He's like, Forrest, let's go out, you know, let's go down to Goodwood, let's sit next to the river, like let's talk.

And he just is one of those people that just has the joy of the Lord that flows out from him.

And uh about a year and a half ago, um Mark was diagnosed with brain cancer.

And he's no longer serving in his role at Southland, in retirement, and he's been battling this cancer.

And I remember the first thing that he told me when he got the brain cancer, he said, Forrest, I'm asking the Lord that I won't lose my joy.

I talked to him on the phone just a couple of weeks ago.

Guess what?

He's still full of joy.

We can get into a place where we feel like that what we're doing for the Lord and as we're serving, that it's just like out of this obligation.

But that feeling of obligation, that's what drains us.

But the overflow of the Holy Spirit through us, that's what remains.

As we're flowing out, as we're serving.

I was with another friend of mine this week who he, when we got out of college, went overseas and served in a country where he couldn't tell people where he was going to serve.

I found out where he was going to serve, by the way.

He was he went and served as a missionary for a couple of years in a country that, as he was there, this is one of those countries where if and when he led somebody to Christ and baptized, that their following Jesus and being baptized meant that there were going to be people who wanted to then kill them and murder them and fire them from the job and starve their families because they've given their life to Christ.

And this buddy of mine, I was with him this week, and he's one of those guys who just has this joy about him.

And in those two years, I think about the joy that was overflowing from him in this very difficult climate and circumstance.

Not only that, but halfway through his two years in this country, his partner who was there on the mission field with him, he his father died and he left him, and then he was there alone in this country for a year by himself.

And what flowed out of him was that people were accepting Christ and being saved, and even now today, he's someone who has a joy that overflows out of him.

And I get annoyed at serving God over here.

I get annoyed at ministry and think it's a grind here.

See, we're not just in this grind.

We're walking with God to grow, to grow, to grow and to overflow with a joy that touches others, that they see the love and joy of Christ written all over our faces and our hearts, that even in the grind and the difficulties of life, that we still have the Holy Spirit and an attitude of joy deep within us, even when we're in trying circumstances, even when we feel tapped out and we feel alone or we feel discouraged, but it's the Holy Spirit that as we're connected to the vine and connected to Christ and flowing love into us, and then a joy that overflows and pours out to others.

That's what happens.

Doesn't mean that we're immune to having hard times or bad days, but while we're in it, we have our Lord and his joy sustaining us.

And we have the process of pruning that's cutting off these dead places in our life and sin so that we can produce even more, so that we can love even more, that we can have even more joy and even more grace for others.

And so I I wonder today, for those that are in the house, and maybe you're not serving, I can I encourage you to step in, to step in, to serve the Lord with gladness.

And that means like there's a there's a card on your chair that talks about our teams here, like jump on a team, serve the body and serve here, but also jumping in what we're doing with Frank Ford and stuff that's outside of the walls, but also for you to show up with a mindset of love and joy in whatever spaces and places that you're in.

For you to have the joy of the Lord as your strength, for you to have a joy that overflows.

And how in the world do you do it?

You stay connected to the vine, you stay connected to God's word, you stay connected to him in prayer.

Like when you're out at your job and you're walking into that meeting with all those idiots, and you just take a second and say, God, help me right now, in this situation, to have joy.

Because sometimes we just the scripture tells us that we should be praying without ceasing, that we should have this connectedness to the vine that's going off throughout our day.

If you learn that the way that you pray is like, you know, well, you gotta fold your hands like this, say that's not in the Bible.

You gotta like close your eyes, that's not in the Bible.

Like God's wanting you to have this connectedness to Him in the vine that's flowing through you through your day.

And so you gotta send up a shotgun prayer, Lord, help me right now with these kids ask me for one minute snack.

Lord, I'm about to lose it when you're driving down the road, and the day all is just replaying in your mind.

Take a moment and you're talking with God about what's going on.

Now, please don't close your eyes while you're driving.

But talk to the Lord, have this running conversation with him, be in his word, be reading the gospels.

You don't know where to start.

Start in the book of John, start seeing what Jesus did and stay connected to the vine, and joy will overflow, and your serving of him won't be this like obligation, but it will be an outpour.

Be an outpour for those that are in the room and you've been serving faithfully, and you're like got so much going on, and you feel like you're on the edge of being burned out.

Listen to me, burned out people in the house.

Look at me, look at me.

Let God prune you.

Let Him prune you, let Him cut some things off of you.

Isn't it ironic when we get to that place where we're feeling overwhelmed?

It's like sometimes the first team we think is like, Well, I just need to stop serving at church, I need to cut this out and cut this out.

And it's like, hello, hello, stay connected to the vine.

Stay connected to what God wants to do and the purposes that He has for you.

Let Him prune you.

And there's I know that there's people in the room that you feel like that joy has just left you.

Can I just encourage you right now?

Rediscover it.

Rediscover it with Christ.

Jesus has it for you.

And what feels like a grind, he has the gift of you being connected to him.

So that he can flow out of you and outpour over you.

And there's some of you in the room that you're totally disconnected to the vine because you haven't even begun a relationship with Jesus.

You don't even realize that he wants you to be forgiven and free.

And today, he wants you to be connected to the vine, to life, so that you can be made alive.

Would you bow your heads with me?

Father, as I pray all across the room for those that are here.

No matter what camp they're falling in right now, Father, I pray right now, God, that we would overflow and we would pour out, God, your joy as we serve you.

God, that there would be a gladness, God, and the gift that we have to be able to walk with you in a life with you.

Father, I pray right now, God, that this would be a room that would be filled with branches that are connected to the vine, that are producing good fruit for their family and for their children, and for their children's children, and for the next generation, and for the people that are at their job and all the people that are around them, Father, that these would be a people that would be bearing fruit, God.

And Lord, that they'd be connected to the vine.

Father, I pray right now, God, for those in the house that are feeling burned out.

That God, that they would invite you to mold them, to prune them, to shape them, to remove things from their life, sin that entangles mindsets that are unhealthy.

So that Lord, that they would have your love flowing to and through them.

And God, I pray right now for anybody in this room who has not yet received you as Savior, and in doing so, they right now are connected, not connected to the vine.

But right now they're in spiritual death and they need to be raised to life.

So I pray right now, God, that if anybody in the room that needs that today, that they've not been saved and received your death on the cross in their place, that today would be their day of their salvation.

Today would be the day that they cross over from death to life.

That they would pray, Jesus, save me.

They would pray in their heart and mind, Jesus, save me.

I believe that you're the Son of God, that you died on the cross for my sins, that you're alive.

Forgive me.

Forgive me.

Wash me, cleanse me, so that I can be in right relationship with you.

I give you my life as you gave yours for mine.

Thank you for saving me.

Head bowed, nobody looking around.

If that was you today who prayed to receive Christ as your savior, prayed to be healed and forgiven by the power of the blood of Jesus and his cross and resurrection.

I'm gonna ask you to take a sign before heaven.

In a moment, I'm gonna count to three, and I want you to raise your hand towards heaven so I can pray for you, acknowledge you.

If that's you, today is the day of salvation for you at the count of three.

Raise your hand ready.

One, two, three.

Right here, I see you.

Right here, two right here in front.

Anybody else right here in the back?

Yes, I see you.

Anybody else right here in the back?

I see you.

Father, I thank you, Lord, that salvation has come to this house today.

Thank you, God, that you're the one who paved the way and paid the price for our sins, that we could be in relationship with you and that, God, we could be saved and set free, that we could be made complete.

So, Father, I thank you, Lord, for those today that are turning their heart and mind to you.

We pray, God, that we would be people that would be filled up with your joy and with your love.

In the strong name of Jesus.

Everybody said amen.

Church, will you stand to your feet now as we sing at the presence of the Lord and are singing.