Multipliers - Final Results

Father, we praise you.

We worship you in the good times and in the bad.

God, we raise a hallelujah to you this morning.

Turning our eyes and our attention towards you, God.

Lord, we worship you.

God, we come collectively into this room right now.

God, to lift up your name and to recognize you, Jesus, seated on the throne in heaven.

And we know it's not much.

But we bring to you today a sacrifice of praise.

We bring to you this morning a heart that God wants to be changed and known and made into likeness of Jesus.

So, Father, now, as we collectively learn from your word, as we collectively invite you into not only this room, but into our hearts and our minds, Father, teach us, make us, change us by the power of your Holy Spirit, by the teaching of your word.

We pray this, we worship you today.

In Jesus' name, everybody said, Amen.

As you grab your seat, we finished up this multiplier series over the last few weeks that we have been together, and we take a pause for a moment to look back to our outpour series that we had at the end of the year, and we have had a lot to celebrate over the last few weeks.

And today I just I'm in the mindset of worship and of celebration and thanksgiving.

And the reason why is because I believe that God is doing something in this place and in this church that we couldn't ask for or imagine.

And the reason why I believe that is because I believe in you, and I believe in what God is doing in and through you, and what we've been able to see over even the last few weeks of time.

And you know what else?

I also believe in myself.

I believe in me as well, as we together are taking steps to see God's kingdom come, his will be done here in our city, and not just in our city, but beyond these walls, and as we step out to be multipliers together, and that's what we walked through the last few weeks of what it looks for us, looks like for us to be multipliers, to meet with God and to multiply his goodness into this world.

And I'm excited for us to take a moment and to reflect and think about all that's happened.

And so the title of my message today is Final Results.

Everybody turn to your neighbor and say final results.

See, things have gone really great over the last few weeks, but I I wonder, I wonder, what do you do when things aren't going great in your life?

When there's frustration, when you feel like your wheels are spinning, when you feel like you're doing everything that you can do and it's just not working out and you're frustrated.

I know I've felt this way many times, especially in the life and work and ministry.

Uh my wife and I have led groups for a number of years now, and uh a few years ago, well, if you lead groups long enough, what you discover is that there's some point where you're leading a small group, and for some odd reason the train just gets off the tracks and the whole thing falls apart, and then it rises back out of the ashes like a phoenix back into health somehow.

It's just, I don't know, it's just part of growth.

And one of those times were happening a few years ago, and we had this young couple that was coming to group, and uh we it was like they were there, but they weren't actually there.

They were there, but they weren't sharing, they weren't saying anything, and the group was just kind of like sputtering along, and it all came to a head to a head one night when we were leading the group and opening God's word and studying and talking and discussing together, and I heard this noise coming from the couch, and I didn't know what it was, and I I looked over, and the young man was on the couch and was snoring in the middle of a small group.

And um, it caused me some frustration because uh there's nothing that will make you want to quit more than somebody seven feet away from you falling asleep while you're trying to see them grow spiritually.

I mean, we're in the same room, and literally like this this close to one another.

And I I think about that time and I think about what it means to be trying to follow God and especially to be a multiplier, and sometimes it feels like two steps forward, one step back.

It feels like that there's frustrations and there's friction.

And it may not just be in your life and spiritual life, but it also may be at your workplace.

You feel frustrations are happening because things aren't going the way that you want them to go, or maybe it's in your family relationships, there's friction and there's strife.

And what happens is if you let those frustrations mount and mount and mount, eventually what could happen is that you fall into despair.

You fall into depression, you fall into an anxiety.

You're trying to do the right things and trying to ask God to help you, and maybe you've been in this place.

You prayed and you didn't get the job.

You gave, but the bills are still tight.

You trusted God, but he didn't come through for your family.

And there's a lie that the enemy wants to tell you and wants to speak into your ear for you to believe it, something that's not true, something that will hold you back, and it's it's this lie that God's given up on you.

But we know our God's never forsaken us.

He doesn't give up on us.

See, that the enemy wants in your frustration for you to turn your focus just inward to yourself, your problems, your pain, your past.

But let me tell you this.

Let me tell you this.

What you focus on in frustration will shape your future.

See, we're gonna take a look today at a wild passage of scripture.

Miracles.

It's like uh one of those amazing stories.

And in this passage and in this story, there's frustration that's redirected, and it's redirected, and then there was this miraculous result.

But there was a lot of frustration getting to that point, and so this is a long story, and we're gonna kind of weave through and go through the scripture together, and I want to show you then the result of what happened from this night and from this miracle, and then what happened years later, and so we're gonna go on a little journey together today, if that's okay with you.

So we enter into the book of Acts, the early church.

Jesus has died on the cross, been resurrected, ascended back to the Father, the early church, and the disciples explode onto the scene, and they're beginning to plant churches and see people come to Christ all over the known world.

And Paul, who is this like rock star, missionary apostle, and his buddy Silas have been crisscrossing these different countries and have been meeting people and leading them to the Lord and planting churches, and we find Paul and Silas in a place where they didn't see the fruit, but they had faith anyway.

They trusted God and they worshiped anyway.

See, they were in Macedonia, in Philippi, this city, and they had just led this wealthy woman named Lydia to Christ, and she opened up her home, and she began to, along with others, these seeds began to be planted of the church that would come alive there in that city one day.

And Paul and Silas, they're ministering in Philippi and they're going and talking to people, and something very strange happens.

This slave girl who is telling fortunes for people by a demonic power has been making a lot of money for her masters.

And she finds Paul and Silas and she begins to follow them, and she's yelling behind them for like multiple days, and she's yelling this.

This is what she's yelling.

These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.

Now, I imagine this is probably pretty frustrating for Paul and Silas who are trying to be missionaries, and then this girl is following you and just giving away the whole plot.

Like they want to like meet people, learn their names, talk to them about the gospel, and then there's this girl who's just following them and is just is like squashing the whole thing.

And this goes on for some time, and they're very patient until finally the frustration just builds up, and this is what happens in verse 18.

They went on day after day until Paul got exasperated and he turned and said to the demon within her, I command you in the name of Jesus to come out of her.

And instantly it left her.

Her master's hopes of wealth were now shattered.

And so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace.

The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews, they shouted to the city officials.

They are teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice.

In verse 22, a mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them to be stripped and beaten with wooden rods.

They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison.

The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape, and so the jailer put them in the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.

Then verse 25, around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.

Have you ever had those moments like me where you feel like you're just doing everything right, but nothing is working?

Maybe that's you.

Maybe you feel like you've been doing all the right things, you've been serving, you've been giving, you've been praying, but life's still throwing you curveballs.

Or maybe something has happened along the way in your spiritual life, and you're you're you're just maybe feeling like God didn't come through for you.

And so you're in the state of feeling like, you know what?

I'll trust God, but only if He shows me the plan first.

I'll give, but I need to make sure that I can still stay in control of everything.

I'll take a step of faith, but I need to know how it's gonna work out before I do.

See, Paul and Silas, they did a good thing.

They set this young woman free.

They set this young woman free from a demonic spirit that had her captive, and it landed them beaten and imprisoned.

Let's just look back at what happened with them in verse 22.

They they dragged them in the marketplace, then they stripped them, beat them with wooden rods, severely beaten, then they got thrown in jail, not just jail, but the inner dungeon.

Then they clamped their feet into stocks, and after all of that, their response was to worship and to focus on God.

Paul and Silas, they had no guarantee that that worship was going to lead to a miracle, but it did.

And what they did in that moment was they flipped the frustration of that moment into focusing on God.

Now, if this had happened to me, you know, I want to say that I might, you know, I've been tough, done the same thing.

But maybe what maybe along that way, you know, when I was getting beaten with rods, I might have been like, hey, I'm just playing, y'all.

I was just joking about his Jesus stuff.

Like, can we just like can we stop this?

Like, what is going on in the next town?

Like, we give up.

Like, Uncle, okay?

We've had enough.

But that's not what they did.

See, because frustration is not a dead end, it's an opportunity for a turning point in your life towards the Lord.

The frustrations that you're going through, it's actually an invitation for you to turn your heart and your focus towards God.

See, Paul and Silas, they could have, they could have focused on the pain, the injustice that they were going through, but instead what they did was they focused and they worshiped.

I'll never forget when I was a teenager and Mr.

Roger, who was uh he and his family was a good family friend of ours, and he was my Sunday school teacher.

And one day as he was driving down the road doing his work as a veterinarian, a blood clot went to his heart and he died instantly.

And it it rocked our community and it rocked our church.

And when they had his funeral service at the church, it was the largest funeral that they'd ever ever they'd ever had in attendance in the history of the church because so many people wanted to come and to share with the family the different ways that Roger had blessed them and served them over the years.

And I'll never forget after the funeral and when just a few of us went to the graveside, and I will never forget Mr.

Jan, his wife, as they lowered the casket into the grave, her singing at the top of her lungs, it is well, it is well, it is well with my soul.

I can see it now.

I can see us all standing around the grave.

I can see us begin to sing with her as she was pouring out her heart, knowing that in this impossible situation, what she knew is that Roger was now in heaven with Jesus.

That he had served well and he had loved well and he had loved Jesus, and she sang, it is well with my soul, as they began to throw dirt into the grave.

And I'll never forget that moment because in that moment, instead of her just focusing on herself, she chose to worship God and to focus on him.

This miracle takes place in verse 26, the next verse, suddenly there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations.

All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off.

The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open.

He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself.

But Paul shouted to him, Stop! Don't kill yourself.

We're all here.

The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

Then he brought them out and asked, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

They replied, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.

And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household.

Even at that hour of night, the jailer cared for them, washed their wounds.

Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized, and he brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.

Now, if I had been there that night, and if those prison doors had swung open because of an earthquake, for the first time in my life, I would have run a four-second 40 out of that jail.

And I probably would have stuck my tongue out at the jailer as I ran by him.

But that's not what they did.

That's not what they did.

See, some of you have been waiting on God to open up these prison doors, but all you can do is focus on yourself.

The prison doors swung open.

And Paul and Silas, they stayed because they had come to Philippi to see people come to know Jesus.

And so this jailer is there, and they probably knew that he was going to take his own life because he was ordered for them not to escape, and that probably was going to be his eventual outcome anyway.

And so he draws his sword and they stay and they think not this of themselves, but they focus on faith in Christ.

And we collectively have to fix our focus on faith in Jesus even when we don't feel like it.

But faith is not waiting until God's move, until God moves, it's trusting him before he does.

Paul and Silas, their faith didn't just impact them, but the jailer and his family.

And I wonder, what if your faith isn't just about you?

What if your trust in God is meant to lead other people to him?

This jailer who is about to take his own life.

And Paul yells out, Stop! Don't kill yourself.

Don't take your own life.

Because Paul knew the hope that he had in Christ that that jailer didn't yet have.

And there may be some people in a room this size, there may be someone who you're so frustrated with life right now that you're considering taking your own life.

And let me tell you, step up, don't kill yourself.

There's hope in Christ.

You just have to keep moving forward.

Don't give up.

Teen Major, don't take your own life.

Teen Major, don't kill yourself.

Step up, don't kill yourself because you don't know the decades of life, the blessing that God has for you if you just won't give up right now at this point in your life.

Don't give up.

Don't give in.

Fix your gaze on Christ, on Jesus, and the abundant life that He has for you.

And even though you might not see it right now, while you're in the prison doors and in the shackles, Jesus has come to set you free.

The goat! Which there's not even really an argument.

Michael Jordan is the goat.

There's no like LeBron Jordan.

This is not even a conversation.

He's the goat.

But he was cut as a sophomore from his basketball team.

And I wonder what would happen to him.

He had just been like, well, I guess that's what meant for me.

Well, I guess that door shut.

I guess it'll just move on.

Do something else.

That's not what he did.

Instead, he Saw it as an opportunity for him to grow.

He said this when I got cut from the varsity team as a sophomore in high school, I learned something.

I never wanted to feel that bad again.

I never wanted to have that taste in my mouth, that hole in my stomach.

So I set a goal to become a starter on the varsity, which he did in the rest is history, right?

Because he didn't give up.

He didn't give in.

And we saw what came of it.

A decade later, after this miracle night, we see that Paul, a decade later, finds himself yet again in another prison in a different city.

Rome.

And he writes a letter to the Philippian church that is known as the book of Philippians, later in your Bible.

He pins this letter to the Philippian church as a snapshot of what God had done in that decade between Lydia and that jailer's family coming to Christ.

And then all of a sudden, now a decade later, he's now writing to this church in Philippi, and he's pinning this letter.

And you're going to see what all God has done in and through the last decade.

And then this part of Philippians that we're going to look at, there's very this very famous verse, Philippians 4.13, that you see it's uh on guys' helmets and sports and under the eye black and on their cleats.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

But I wonder if those athletes know that Paul wrote those words while he was in shackles in jail.

While he was in prison.

He's saying, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

While he was in a dungeon.

He writes to the Philippian church in chapter 4 of Philippians.

This gives us a snapshot of what has happened.

Verse 10, how I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again.

I know that you have always been concerned for me, but you didn't have the chance to help me.

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be uh content in whatever I have.

I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything.

I've learned the secret of lear of living in every situation, whether it's with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little, I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.

Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.

Verse 15.

As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first when I first brought you the good news and then traveled on to Macedonia.

No other church did this.

Even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent help more than once.

I don't say this because I want uh a gift from you.

Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness.

At the moment, I have all that I need and more.

I'm generously, generously supplied with gifts that you sent me with Epaphroditus.

They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God.

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all of your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever.

Amen.

We see a snapshot of what this church that 10 years earlier started with.

A wealthy woman and with a jailer in his family has now become this thriving, generous church that's helping the gospel go throughout the whole known world, and other people come to know Jesus and other churches be planted, and the known world come to Christ, leading all the way to 2025, us knowing the gospel, the good news of Jesus in Frankfurt, Kentucky.

And sometimes I just want the final result.

And so we follow faith to the fruit that God has lined out for us.

See, the Philippians, they didn't have a guarantee that their generosity was going to be rewarded.

Here's what I'm saying if it's not working, God's not done yet.

If you're frustrated, if you're upset, if things don't feel like they're lining up, keep following the good faith of Christ.

Because there's fruit that's coming on the other side.

I remember God called me into ministry when I was 18, and I went to Cumberland and I was studying uh Christian ministries and business, and after that freshman year, and I uh it just didn't really go how I wanted it to go that year.

And I was like, I'm I'm done with this.

I'm I'm transferring out of this place, this little school down here, I'm going to UK.

And I remember I sat down with my dad and I told him, hey, I'm uh about this.

I'm gonna I'm gonna go with my buddies and go up to UK, my friends, and he's like, No, you're not.

You're not transferring.

Why are you gonna transfer?

Were you gonna give up on your calling?

And I I I'm so thankful for that conversation in a Panera somewhere in Nashville, that after my freshman year, that my dad spoke in to me and said, Don't give up.

Keep going.

What would have happened if I had just thrown in the towel?

See, the Philippian church became one of the most generous churches in all of the New Testament.

Paul speaks about their generosity in 2 Corinthians 8 and 11.

And as we collectively as a church, as we pour out in faith, God's going to be faithful to multiply it for years to come.

I believe that.

This last week I was at a meeting with a bunch of community leaders, and one of our city commissioners came up to me and she said, Hey, I saw the donation that you all gave to Juana Joyce Robinson Foundation.

I said, Oh, you know, praise God.

I'm so grateful to be able to do that.

And she said, There's a lot of churches who've been in this community for a long time that can really use your example.

And, you know, I just said, you know, praise the Lord.

God's doing his work, and uh a rising tide lives saw boats.

A new church, which we turn three in two months.

A new church should bring a fresh wind into a city of faith in Jesus and his mighty power, that he could work in and through us and that we could see the gospel, the good news of Jesus reach new people just because we believe that he can.

Just because we're willing to say, okay, God, you blessed us.

Okay, now we're going to see that fruit bear, not just for us and not just for our lives, but we want to see the good news and that fruit be able to be produced and multiplied.

And I don't know about you, but I'm believing big that God is going to do a work with even the last week, what we did with Juana Joyce Robinson Foundation, I believe God's going to use it for years to come.

I'm just believing to be with them.

I'm just believing that the seeds that we plant, that God is then going to bring a harvest.

See, that's what that's what Paul told the church in Philippi in the first few verses of this book of Philippians.

He says in verse 3, every time I think of you in chapter 1, every time I think of you, I give thanks to God.

Whenever I pray, I make my request for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the good news about Christ from the time that you first heard it until now, that miracle moment.

Verse 6.

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it's finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Everybody say, finally finished.

That even though the path might be bumpy, the frustrations may mount up, he's the one who's going to complete it.

The thing that was started and began, he's the one who's going to pull it finally finished.

Not because we're so great, not because we're perfect, but because he's perfect in power.

And as we give our lives to him and follow him and focus on him and fix our gaze on Christ, he's the one who's gonna bring the final result.

He's the one who's gonna bear the fruit.

If we would just continue to not give up.

See, some of y'all, some of y'all want an overnight miracle, but what God wants to give you is a lifetime of multiplication for his glory.

And you're so focused on the here and now, you're ready to give up.

What have you given up on too soon?

What have you stopped believing for?

See, like the Philippians, I'm believing that the generosity and the outpour offering that it's gonna bear fruit for years to come.

I believe that 10% set aside for future church planting in other capital cities, I believe that God's going to multiply it for his good and that we can trust him for it.

See, some of you right now, you're stuck in frustration, and I want you to shift your focus.

I want you to shift your focus because God is inviting you into a deepening of your faith, trusting Him before you see the results.

Before you see the final product, before you see the final fruit.

You have it in your seat, this little multiplier chip thing.

Some of you already have it because you've been playing with it and flipping it up in the air and throwing it at your friend.

And that's fine.

I've had this one in my pocket uh most of this week.

And what this is, it's this is just a simple reminder.

It's just a simple multiplier reminder of what God is doing in and through you.

So take this and throw it into your your cup holder or put it on your desk.

Keep in your pocket, what whatever, to remind you of the fact that you're trusting God, that he's the one who's in control of the final result, and he is the one who has promised us an abundant life.

Not just in this life, but in the next.

That as we walk in faith with Jesus, he's the one who's going to finish our faith.

That our last breath on heaven will be, our last breath on earth will be our first breath in heaven with Christ when we die.

Because we believed in the fact that Jesus died on the cross in our place, redeeming us, purchasing the life that we couldn't buy for ourselves because of our imperfection, because of our sinfulness, because of our propensity not to be faithful, and because we can't get it all right.

Jesus comes with his grace to you and invites you to lay it all on him, all the frustrations, all the burdens, all the cares, all the worries.

In return, he gives you his yoke, which is easy and his burden is light, and you find rest for your soul as you walk faithfully with him.

And so today, across this room, there's probably some folks who right now you're in the frustration, and you need to flip that frustration and turn your eyes towards heaven, and you need to open your mouth and you need to worship.

And there's some in this room that you, like the jailer, you haven't yet followed Jesus, you've not received him as your savior, and today you need to receive him as your savior.

You've never put your trust in the cross, in his death, burial, resurrection.

You've never put your faith in the fact that Jesus, the Son of God, died for you to forgive you, to heal you, to set you free.

And today is the day of salvation for you.

Today is the day.

Today is the day where your life is changed, where your family is changed, where your children's children are changed because you finally give your life over to Him.

And like this jailer's family who accepted Christ, they were immediately baptized as a sign of their transformation, and as a sign of their inward decision and an outward destination change from hell to heaven.

And maybe there's somebody in the room today that today is your day for that.

So would you bow your head so I can pray over all of us?

Father, we're in this room right now, and God, we're bringing to you frustrations.

And God, there's people right now, Father, that walked in overwhelmed with frustrations because of what they're dealing with at work and with those kids at home and the problems that are mounting up.

God, for these believers who are in this room right now, God, I pray that Lord, you would open their mouth to worship you.

That God, in a in a in a room in a moment like this where we're not in prison and in chains, Father, we need to open up our mouths to worship you, to invite you into our lives, to show you that we don't worship ourselves, but we worship you, the one true God.

And so, Father, I pray, Lord, for all the believers in this house right now, God, that Father, you would help us to shift our focus towards you.

And God, I pray right now, all across the room, Father, for anybody in this place who's not received you as Savior, that today would be the day of their salvation.

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

That today would be the day that they trust you and trust what you did for them on the cross and received the free gift of life that you bought and paid for for them in their place.

And if that's you today, I just want you to pray and ask Jesus to save you and you pray something like this in your heart and your mind, Jesus, save me.

I believe that you're the Son of God, that you died on the cross and you walked out of the grave, that you're alive.

Forgive me, cleanse me, wash me of my sins so that I can be in heaven with you one day.

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

Thank you for saving me in Jesus' name.

Head bows, eyes closed.

You're in the room today, and you pray to receive Christ as your Savior, to be forgiven and free, to be healed.

I want you to take an action before heaven in an act of worship.

That when I count to three, I want you to raise your hand up so I can see you and pray for you, and so God sees this decision.

If that's you at the count of three, lift that hand ready.

One, two, three.

Right here, I see you right here, sis, in the middle.

Anybody else?

Father, right now, with hands raised toward heaven, I pray, God, and thank you, Lord, salvation's come to this place.

That Father, I thank you, Lord, that we can trust you wholeheartedly from this life and into eternity.

So, Father, we give you all the praise, all the glory, all the adoration.

Father, as we worship you today, we love you, we praise you in Jesus' name.

Everybody said, Amen.

Will you stand to your feet now, church, as we worship and we lift up God's name?