Go Outside

How y'all doing?

Man, it's awesome to be with you and to worship.

Um, there are so many people here behind the scenes working at Multiply Church, and I know each of you know that.

I'd like to take a chance to thank Aaron who actually carried this out here, made sure that I was in the right place at the right time.

If you know me, that's a chore.

And you know, I'm kind of back there talking to people, and uh so she she does an excellent job.

The folks in the back, man, you're so blessed to have such an awesome team.

I don't know who comes in after church and takes the trash out, sweeps the floors, wipes down the counters, cleans the toilets.

Can you give a round of applause for them?

Yeah, so as someone may have mentioned earlier, my name is Lee Webb, and I'm just as shocked as you are that I'm here this morning sharing about God's faithfulness.

Um, I wanted to say, you know, we're gonna talk about this idea of going outside, okay?

It's a passion of mine.

But as I think about multiply church, I think about this passage.

If it's all right with you, I might just start us off with this.

And it says, I thank my God every time I remember you.

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

Being confident in this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Now, when I was asked to come this morning, usually I come when maybe it's gonna be a little bit of a down Sunday, you know, maybe the pastor is not gonna be there and they kind of need somebody to fill in.

And so I was prepared with two or three stories, thinking Forrest and Emily weren't gonna be here today.

And I was gonna give you the ultimate goods.

We all need the ultimate goods, right?

Not just the side stories.

So I I feel a little challenged to go all the way in on that today.

I won't do that, but I will just tell you, Forrest and Emily and I have been friends for a long time.

Uh I'm a little older than them, okay?

But what I maybe like to think of myself in their lives, and hopefully they to me, is like I'm like a big brother.

So so if I'm like a big brother, I get to kind of say some things, go off script, talk just a little bit like we're family, and if you can think of me that way, then you know, maybe we can think of each other that way.

So I'm happy to just share with you some good old stories of things that have happened.

And, you know, for us it's relevant to talk about 2021, which would have been a few years ago, um, and it seems like many, many years ago, that Multiply Church was birthed.

Now, you understand Force and Emily called me a couple of years before they decided to move to Frankfurt and plant a church.

And you also should understand they were living in Charleston, South Carolina.

Now, who whoever gets motivated or compelled or had some bad indigestion to say, I'm gonna leave Charleston to come to Frankfurt, you got something wrong with you.

And I love Kentucky and I love our state capital, but this, you know, I'm just I don't know, man.

I don't know.

This can't be right.

How is this of the Lord, you know?

And so they kept saying that word, Frankfurt.

Uh and they got here and they had such a heart for Frankfurt and so much to understand and learn about Frankfurt.

But you see, we grew up in the neighboring town over here in Shelbyville, Shelby County, which is like, you know, the best place in the world.

Um so that that's my hometown, and just right over right over the county line.

And so we all kind of knew of Frankfurt a little bit.

But they got on the ground here and they started to invite me into this story.

And what they did was they started serving in the community.

And it was an exciting time because we found there were so many opportunities here in Frankfurt just to love people.

And one of my favorite stories is this wheelchair ramp that was built.

I don't know if any of y'all are here today that were a part of that story.

A long time ago, that was a critical story because when you're starting something, first of all, let's just be real.

Starting a church is a really bad idea.

That's really hard.

And I don't know why anybody would ever want to try such a thing, right?

You just don't know what to do when you start something like that.

So it kind of helps if you just say, hey, uh, Jesus loves me, so I'm just gonna ask you, what can I do to help you?

What do you need?

And they started asking that question, and it turns out a lot of people had a lot of things they needed.

Maybe not shocking to you, but that wheelchair ramp story was one that always got hit in my heart because they asked the question, they were given an opportunity to serve.

And it was more than just a wheelchair ramp.

It was getting to know a person that was in need and understanding more and more about Frankfurt.

So I'm always grateful when I think about Multiply Church in 2021 when God sent Multiply into Frankfurt to start a work here.

And you understand, this is about the local church, but this is much bigger than the local church.

This is about a movement of God.

And so as we say that, we have to believe what I read in the beginning when I said being confident in this, he who started all this is gonna carry it on.

And I just get to stand in the front row or sit in the front now platform and say, yeah, I mean, Jesus started this and he's carrying it on.

We have to we have to remember that.

And so know that you're a part of something that is significant, something that is impactful, and it's just such an exciting thing for me to be a part of as I get to come here this morning and share with you, but then you're like, okay, but who are you?

I'll tell you a little bit about me since we're family now.

This is uh that beach picture that you grab real quick where your kids were fighting and everybody was angry, like 20 seconds before, and somehow they stood in line there, then went back to that 20 seconds later.

Y'all are probably better than me, but that's that was kind of like what happened on the beach that day.

But we grabbed that picture.

This is my wife Rachel for almost 20 years.

She's amazing.

Uh, my three kids, Walker, Warren, and Wells.

So, and I said earlier today that I'm blessed to tell you that Walker is taller than me now, and that is a blessing.

He loves to play basketball, and you need a little extra height than what I was able to offer.

So, as it turns out.

Uh also, we've added a new addition to our family recently.

Meet um this is Dolly Webb.

And I know you already think Dolly's so cute, but Dolly's a menace.

And you know, a menace when you see one because they've got a good side eye.

And I told Dolly, I said, Look, Dolly, here's a little violent Valentine thing I saw at the store, and it looks just like you.

And she, you know, did one of those.

She just didn't really think that that was a really nice thing to say.

And then uh a couple years, year and a half ago or so, we ended up on this.

How about that?

I know you have questions about that.

I have no answers, I'll reveal nothing, uh, but that was that was a lot of fun.

And so now that we all know each other so well, um, I just want to share with you a little bit deeper about my story.

And that is 25 years ago in Shelbyville, I started a small business in my parents' uh basement.

And for 25 years, I've been in business in this town.

And what business allowed me to do and see were so many opportunities in a growing area like Shelby County, right?

So I was excited about all the opportunities, but along the way, I also saw all the problems and all of the needs because God had me working in the community.

And when you work in business, you deal with people and their money, and you get to see what's really happening, right?

The way people think, the way people network, uh, the way that things are happening behind the scenes.

And so in that boardroom or in those buildings where I met, I sat inside and tried to learn as much as I could about what was happening.

But understand this the whole time I was there, I would hear little stories along the way about the men that were living under the bridge that nobody really cared about, about how the fact the food pantry didn't have any food in it, and about how the fact that so many people were struggling with addiction, but nobody was really doing anything about it.

But that's all right.

I mean, that's just kind of their problem.

But I was able to see those things because I was in business.

And again, I need to tell you, I'm not a church expert.

I'm not sure there are any.

But I I love my town.

I don't know what you think about Shelbyville.

You're like, I probably don't like Shelbyville.

That's all right.

I love Shelbyville.

I don't know why that is.

God put it on my heart many years ago.

So I guess you could say if I was a pro, it wouldn't be church planting or starting churches.

It would be a pro of Shelbyville.

I knew the needs.

And so 15 years ago, I woke up one morning and I was reading in Hebrews 13.

I have no idea why I was there.

It's not one of the passages you think about that you would often turn to.

This is the last chapter in the book of Hebrews, and it says, so let's go outside where Jesus is, where the action is.

Not trying to be privileged insiders, but taking our share in the abuse of Jesus.

This insider world is not our home.

We have our eyes peeled for the city about to come.

Let's take our place outside with Jesus.

No longer pouring out the sacrificial blood of animals, but pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus' name.

What a beautiful passage.

So, like many other entrepreneurs in the room, I read that and I immediately had a vision and a dream and an idea, and I ran over and I woke up Rachel and I said, Hey, this is it.

This is what God's called us to do.

She said, What are you talking about?

I said, Well, I don't really know.

Well, what are you going to do?

I don't know, but this is it.

And she was like, You're an idiot, go back to bed.

I'm going back to sleep.

But God had done something in my heart, just as he does so often when we spend time in his word, because you have to understand the buildup to chapter 13 in Hebrews.

This is a vivid picture of our great high priest.

This is a vivid picture of our once and for all, our King of Kings.

And these are the concluding encouragements for us to embrace this idea that He wants us to be where He is, to be in the action with Him.

And that invitation worked its way into my heart and it said, Let us go.

But you understand, I had been going real hard, but maybe I had the wrong mindset about my going.

You know, in business, what you like to try to think about, what you try to do is get as much privilege as you can, get as much knowledge as you can so that you can leverage that network and that knowledge and that influence so that you can grow your business.

Nothing wrong with growing your business.

But that was developed in my mindset, and it led towards an indifference, if I gotta be honest with you, that I didn't realize was happening.

Well, God's so good.

With this passage, he woke me up from my apathy.

And I looked outside at my community, and I said, okay, everything outside of these walls, church walls, whatever walls, that's the place where I need to go.

But it doesn't stop with just a place.

You see, I had to I had to go deeper with that.

And, you know, when you go deep, you have to turn to the Old Testament, right?

And if you're really deep, unlike me, you turn to the book of Leviticus.

I don't think many of y'all got up this morning and read Leviticus.

Just gonna be honest with you.

I'll also be honest with you and tell you in the Bible reading annual plan that you started in January that you may be working your way through, you know, feverishly and right on time.

I don't know, I'm not able to do that because I get to Leviticus, and that's about where I take that off, ramp.

Because we start reading about laws and legalism and all these things, but I have to tell you, God's word is good, and it all works together because I read this passage in Leviticus 13.

Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes.

Let their hair be unkept, cover the lower part of their face, and cry out, unclean, unclean.

As long as they have the disease, they remain unclean.

They must live alone.

They must live outside the camp.

And you know what struck me about that?

Was outside in my mind was this place where Jesus went to give his life for us.

And that's a nasty, awful place where they kept the bodies and left those bodies, the dead bodies, outside and brought the blood in for the sacrifice.

It's an awful place.

But the place is much bigger because it's about a people.

It's about a people yelling unclean, and this is where it really hits home.

That was me.

This isn't about an e, you know, me taking an excursion outside that doesn't include my own personal experiences and journeys.

This is about being with Jesus where he is so that I can be close to where he is.

It's about transformation in my own life.

So as I journeyed outside and God began to show me what was happening, and as I thought about the people that were outside, you understand, those that had leprosy, they were the ones that were unclean.

They were sick, they had to live alone.

That's the very place Jesus went to, and that's the very person that Jesus came here for.

So there's a building in Shelbyville.

By the way, this is not really a sermon.

I don't know what this is like a run-on story, okay?

This this building, I drove by it every day on my way home.

This building used to be the home of Operation Care.

I drove by it every day, and one day God said, You need to stop and go in there.

Well, what you don't see in that picture is every afternoon that there will be a line of people coming out the door all the way around the corner down the sidewalk.

But you see, I'm a business guy.

I got my stuff together.

They need to get their stuff together because they need to get a job.

They made bad choices.

You know, that's on them.

It's not my fault.

But you see what God had to do with me, and you see what he was working with me in that passage.

So one day he said, I want you to stop and go in there.

And I was like, No, that's not, that ain't God.

Couldn't be.

Because I went to work all day and did what I was supposed to do, and I go to church every Sunday morning.

If things go right, I get a nap and a nice lunch, and that's what we do.

Well, Jesus was like, Go, go in that building, and I'm like, no.

So for the next two weeks I drove by, didn't go in.

And then finally, one day I stopped, got out of my car, and all the people that were around the corner looked over at me, and I was getting ready to make my grand entrance, and I said, No, I can't do that.

And I got back in my car, shut the door, and drove home.

Don't act like you're better than me.

At least I stopped and got out of the car.

The next time I stopped, I got out of the car and I walked in and I met Judy Roberts.

Anybody else have a mammal?

I mean, I'm talking about mamma.

I'm not talking about grandmother.

I'm talking about when you see mamma, you walk in and she looks at you like that.

You know, if you got a mammal, you know what I'm talking about.

And you're like, dang, mammal.

I just came here for the mashed potatoes.

And you gotta look at me like, and then I'm like, dang it, that's why she made mashed potatoes.

She wanted me to come in.

She looked at me and said, mm, mm-mm.

But that wasn't my mamma doing that.

That was Judy Roberts, which was maybe worse.

Because Judy said, Hey, I remember when I came in those doors 20 years ago and I looked just like you.

And I was like, Well, I can't do that, Judy.

Good for you, but but I can't stay in here.

But she was like, This is where God's called me to be, to serve out here with the people.

She started to share with me the people's names.

You understand?

I got to understand people's stories and a lot of what had happened to them and the reason they were in that situation where things had happened to them in their circumstances were beyond their control.

You understand?

And I'm driving by with my privilege saying they need to get right.

And the whole time God had saved my life and put me on mission with gifts that I could use perhaps to leverage what God was doing in my life and in my network to help somebody that didn't have what I had.

That's what Jesus did for us.

And so that process and your patience with me explaining that will help you to understand that outside was not just a place, outside is a person.

And I started to think about quotes like this our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that really don't matter.

All right, time out.

Because, like maybe you're thinking, I I appreciate the story about multiply.

This is like my first week here, and y'all, I don't know what's going on, and that guy's got a mammal.

It's your first day here, and you're trying to understand why you're here.

Maybe you're thinking, you know, I don't know, maybe I might volunteer here one Sunday.

I'm interested in learning a little more.

Maybe you want to explore the idea of being in a relationship with Jesus.

Maybe you're interested in getting a copy of the scriptures and just seeing what this is all about.

It seems like there's something happening here.

What's going on?

But if I had to put it all at least in a category together, if we're just being honest, I think we would all have to admit and say to ourselves, we want our lives to matter.

You know, you only get one shot.

And you want your life to matter.

There's something about us that wants our lives to matter.

And so I'm going to submit to you that go outside and the vision of going outside should matter to you.

And I'm going to give you a few reasons why it does, just in the time, the short time that we have together.

And these are the things that I'm still learning, so let's just learn together.

I I'll start with this one because I think it's important.

And I would just tell you this going outside matters because Jesus said it does.

And if you follow Jesus and love Jesus and in a relation with him, that's probably about all you need.

Because as you think about Jesus, you have to understand that he moved towards the needs of others and away from comfort.

He's asking us to do the same.

Jesus has commissioned us into those same dirty places.

He's asking us to join him there.

Jesus, you understand, is among the abandoned, among the hurting, the broken, the poor, the ones that don't need him in their mind, they don't think they have access to him, but that's the very thing they need.

They're the ones yelling unclean, just like me.

And this matters.

If you know of your own indifference, and maybe some of that is hitting you now, you will.

Be thankful for to God for showing you that.

And I'm grateful that He showed me through His grace the mindset that I have and the apathy that had developed because once you understand that, you understand status quo doesn't work.

And the commission that He's given all of us is not just for funsies, it's an urgent mandate.

It's not born out of legalism, but out of love.

So now I've got an obligation and an opportunity to join him where he is.

Jesus taught us that we should go, and it's critical that we use our actions.

Just like Frankfurt Ford, just like wheelchair ramps, just like whatever our schools need, whatever our communities need, we need to be on mission in those places.

As we do that with our actions, we should also look to use our words.

Let me tell you, one of the things that I discovered was as we were doing this thing called going outside in Shelbyville, one thing that I understood was that the compassion that Jesus had for me often translated to this curiosity.

And here's what I mean.

We would just ask people what they needed, and they would tell us, and there was a lot of needs.

And it felt like there wasn't a lot of people out there doing that.

So that made me curious.

So we just kept doing it.

And we asked other people to help us do it.

We weren't pros, we were just doing that.

Along the way, other people that didn't know Jesus saw that and they got curious too.

So we were both curious.

As we were both curious, doing this in community, understanding some of us that Jesus was leading us into this, but others didn't even know who Jesus was.

There was a ripe opportunity for meaningful questions.

It would start with a need, it would lead to curiosity.

Out of that curiosity, people would ask questions like, hey, why did you ask me what I needed?

Like, like, hey, why why are y'all doing this?

Like, why do we need multiplied church in Frankfurt?

That's a simple question.

But when we were on mission, instead of waiting for them to come to us in a building, we developed that curiosity.

And we just we were just sharing the story.

After you do that for a while, you start stacking stories.

Hey, this is what God did.

This is what God did last week.

This is what I can't believe, I don't understand that.

How do you know her?

What's going on?

This curiosity.

And in that, we began to see an amazing form of evangelism to use a church word where we would connect with people that had no idea.

Only thing they thought about church, is that where people go that you know have it all together?

Is that you know, I can't go in that building because they'll judge me?

Or church was a place that you know was based on performance and it was sort of a networking opportunity.

Going outside matters, and Jesus showed up with his, showed it with his actions and his words.

I always like to think about this passage.

We think about being generous with the different things that God has given us, passing them around so all can get in on it.

If words, let it be God's words, if help, let it be God's hearty help.

That way, God's bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus.

And he'll get all the credit as the one mighty in everything.

You know, one of my biggest hangups with this vision or this idea is acknowledging that he's going to be the one to get all the credit.

A lot of us count the cost and then we try to work it into our schedule or we try to change our mindset, but at the end of the day, are we willing to be people that are willing to give up the credit to acknowledge that God is the one that gets the glory?

So the first part, going outside matters because Jesus says it does.

Second, going outside matters because people matter.

I would tell you the story of this church plant that we were involved with in Shelbyville that sort of came out of this vision.

And I would explain it to you more like, let's just sort of call it the go outside movement.

It wasn't really a church, it was multiple churches, multiple nonprofits, sort of like what we're seeing here in Frankfurt for the last few years.

But here's some pictures of kind of us when we were getting our start.

Um, we met in a school building, we met wherever we could.

We were serving in our city, and it's funny, people who never experienced Jesus saw that and they met Jesus.

And it sounds to me a whole lot like multiply church.

I mean, it's almost like those pictures from 15 years ago could be replaced with the same pictures of what God's doing here.

The church is on mission.

You know, we joined God where He was at work.

We would just ask the question where is God leading us?

Where is He at work?

Jesus was faithful.

Same thing with multiply church.

We wanted to see a movement of God in our community.

We want to see a movement of God in the capital city here in Frankfurt.

Could you imagine?

And by the way, people know about multiply church outside of Frankfurt, but if we could change our capital city, what would that do for the rest of the state?

And I'll tell you more about that in just a second.

You know, for us, we called it Love Shelbyville.

Our website was loveshelbyville.com because it was all about the outside, just like this Frankfurt Ford initiative, and just like the things that you're talking about, and doing it with excellence.

Not just checking a box, but authentically loving people.

And it sounds a whole lot like what's happening here at Multiply Church.

And I just got to tell you, I wrote this down because it reminds me of the movement of what I'm seeing here in Frankfurt and what's happening with Multiply Church.

So just bear with me here for a second.

You know, we don't need a fancy building, a PhD or degree, years of formal ministry experience.

We don't have to know all the big church words or be a church pro.

We don't have to count how many people come to see if this is working.

We don't need lots of money.

We just need people who love Jesus and will follow him, who will share him, people that will push past their apathy because status quo isn't working.

We can't wait for governmental assistance, free handouts, volunteers, better education-based strategies, or a sole focus on economic development.

While all of these may have their benefits or weaknesses, none of them offer the unifying resources we find in the good news of Jesus.

When the church started in the book of Acts, it exploded with growth and literally changed the world, the same that can happen here in Frankfurt.

The people were ordinary but willing to follow the Holy Spirit as God led them town to town and in their day-to-day lives.

Ordinary people, everyday people, joining Jesus on the outside.

See, this is what can happen in Frankfurt when we join Jesus there.

Now, third and last, going outside matters because eternity matters.

I can't tell you the stories and the faces that run through my mind because again, think about me driving down the street.

I didn't know anybody's name or stories.

But when you go outside, you learn names and stories.

And you learn more deeply about Jesus and what he did in those names and those stories.

And you just kind of want to do that the rest of your life.

There was a friend of mine named Jason that was in a wheelchair and he couldn't come to church, hadn't never been to church, as far as I know.

And we would go pick up Jason, and my I had to take my little Honda because he was in the wheelchair and we didn't have a wheelchair accessible van, nor did he.

And we had a piece of wood that we put on the chair beside Jason's wheelchair, and Jason was not a small guy.

And we slid him over onto the chair, and then we did the same thing.

We got to the school building, and Jason went in on the wheelchair, then we took him home and we did the same thing.

That's a great story about Jason, but I met Jason when I was in high school, but I never knew his brother.

Because we were doing that for Jason, Brandon was like, these people come over here and pick my brother up.

I don't know if anybody else was doing that.

And what are they doing?

I don't know.

Maybe, maybe that formula that I discussed earlier, a little curiosity, a little meaningful question, consistency, a little there.

And Brandon said, Well, I'm gonna come too.

So Brandon comes to church and he sits in the front row.

And I'm like, what's this guy gonna do?

I don't know, Brandon, and what who knows?

And he kept coming back.

And one day Brandon came up to me and he said, I I really want to follow Jesus and I need a Bible and I'd love to get baptized.

Eternity matters.

Brandon's story matters.

I met Brandon through Jason.

I didn't think about Jason.

I didn't think about like how that might benefit me.

I just knew Jason was my friend, right?

So Brandon needed some work done on the area in the garage where he was staying out back from his mom and dad's house.

So we built the little room out for him, and he was so excited he had his posters on the wall.

But you know, Brandon had an addiction issue, and he was fighting it.

And he was fighting the good fight, but he was he loved Jesus.

One day uh Brandon took too much of what was really causing him so much pain, and he had an accidental drug overdose.

Brandon was a young guy, so I was invited to preach the funeral because nobody else really had an affiliation with church in the family, and so I went and his mom before the service gave me his Bible.

And she said, I think you you probably need this, you know, you could use this.

And I was like, Well, I'll tell you what, I'm gonna use it to preach from during the funeral, but then I'm gonna give it back to you if that's all right.

She said, That'd be all right.

So when I opened up the Bible, because sometimes we don't know where people's eternity is.

We we question it or we get worried or we we don't know, even though we saw it in his eyes and he said and he confessed and he got baptized, like I mean, he died too young.

And it was like reading those scriptures, I could see where he had highlighted.

You understand me?

He had written in the margins.

He would, he, he loved Jesus.

Like, and Jesus told him he could come, and he and he went.

And so I preached that funeral that day, and I gave that Bible back to his mother.

And you you can't take that story away from me.

So when I when I say eternity matters, you understand what I'm saying?

It's not a theological statement, it's a very personal situation for all of us.

We have people that we know that need Jesus.

Do you know here in Kentucky, only 13%, this is a survey that was done 15 years ago, only 13% of people attend church on any given Sunday.

Now I'm gonna tell you who doesn't believe that.

Church people.

Church people don't believe that.

They say, oh no, there's way more in goes than that.

So, well, just add up the churches, think about how many cars you drive by.

Well, you're in your church, but let me you can maybe skip a Sunday, drive around.

Add up the numbers, take that, do a little math against how many people live in Frankfurt, and then you see where the number is.

That's kind of an old method of thinking about uh what the way we can scale and understand in a linear way how many people maybe know Jesus, and that that does not equivalent, you know, that's not the same.

Doesn't mean that if you go to church that you know Jesus, we all know that.

But it does share with us that only 13% of people as of 2010.

So if you think about that number and you think about the mission that God has given us, you would know from Brandon's story that eternity matters.

And I would think a lot of us, especially after COVID and other things that we've experienced, that number's probably low.

We need churches like multiply.

We need healthy churches.

We don't need just multiply, and we need to think beyond denomination.

We need to get out there and go outside together beyond our traditions.

So, you know, multiply really was a part of a movement that started a few years ago that I've happened to be a part of.

And as I say transformation in this city, I want you to know that you're a part of transformation across Kentucky.

I'd like to show you this.

Um, these uh these pictures, I think we're um the slide there with the people.

Yeah, that one.

So this is a group of people that Multiply Church is a part of Forrest and Emily are in this picture.

And this is representative of 12 other works that are happening across Kentucky that have started in the last three years.

Um and so we've gotten to see on a front row this mission to go outside, transform many parts of Kentucky.

There's four in eastern Kentucky, Campbellsville here in Frankfurt, in Lexington, and across the state.

If you know anybody that's got a crazy vision for a community, let us know.

But you're a part of a movement beyond Frankfurt because of what God's doing in our state, and I wanted to encourage you with that.

And then the next slide is the one where we're talking about the same kind of thing that we have seen here in Frankfurt is the same kind of thing we're seeing across the state.

And you're a part of that, a huge part of that.

This is Lecher County, where all the floods were.

There's a church that's been planted there that's amazing, that's reaching people.

Um there's people getting baptized in backyards.

Um there's just some amazing things going.

And then that picture in the top right is my favorite church.

But it's been amazing to be a part of.

And I think this mindset for all of us to go outside has really transformed even our family.

But as we sort of finish up today, let me challenge you with this question.

Because I want to go back to the original question I mentioned in the beginning.

Why does go outside or the idea of any of this matter to you?

Well, we said maybe it should matter because you want your life to matter.

But I'm going to tell you for a hundred percent certainty that your life matters because you matter to Jesus.

That's why when we think about how we want to use our gifts and our time, that we should consider and think about what Jesus has done for us.

So, this whole idea of getting to know Jesus starts with this outside idea, too.

You know, to get to understand and know Jesus, you have to make an admission right off the top.

And that is, you need something outside of yourself.

Maybe you've tried to like, you know, make your life matter through performance, through the things that you've done, through the amount of money that you've made, for the amount of touchdowns that you've scored, whatever it might be for you.

And you're gonna find, just like I had to find, that just being successful in business wasn't enough to make my life matter.

I needed something outside of myself in order to see self-worth and something that mattered.

So that's how we start a relationship with Jesus.

You start this morning with the admission that I need something outside of myself.

And if you do, we would love to talk to you about that.

Maybe you know Jesus and you're wondering how you're gonna kick that old habit or how you're ever gonna grow in your faith and your relationship with Jesus.

Well, since you acknowledged that you needed something outside of yourself, now you have to step off in it.

And here at Multiply, we have so many opportunities for you to join us in this mission to step.

You needed something outside of yourself, and now you step into something outside of yourself.

Would you do that today?

Would you consider stepping outside of yourself, knowing that you needed someone outside of yourself?

Will you believe and follow Jesus?

Would you be willing to look past like I had to my comfort?

And we realize that, you know, that was a one-time occurrence in my life where, you know, yes, I knew Jesus and was baptized when I was 12 years old, but he was working in my life because he loves me to make me closer to him and to make me more like him.

So as we finish our time today with that great challenge, I want to tell you a story of an older guy that really has been impactful as I've read about him through years.

Um this guy's name is Sebastio Selgado.

You know, Sebasto had been outside in many places across this world that were very impoverished and had immense tragedy because Sebasto was a photojournalist.

So his job was to go in the worst places, almost like pictures you would see in National Geographic.

He did this for years, traveled all over the world, seeing the worst of the worst on the outside.

Over 120 countries, Sebastio traveled with his camera to look in those dark places, in those dirty places.

After all of that time, he came back home and he realized I am sick.

I realized my sickness, and I saw it in the faces of those that were yelling unclean.

God's been good to me.

His grace has been good because he continues to show me where things are that are unclean, where my attention, where my focus should be.

But Sebasto moved back home, and when he got back home, he looked out in his backyard.

He owned a big farm with lots of acreage, and he realized not only was he sick as a person, but the place he lived was sick.

So he looked at his wife, and the Brazilian couple said to each other, let's plant two million trees in our backyard and over the next 20 years.

And they said, Okay, let's do it.

So they started planting seeds, and those seeds were on the outside and had grown into a lush forest.

Is this are you willing to plant trees that you will never sit under the shade of?

Are you willing to give God the credit for the work that's going to happen?

We've been so blessed to say, man, God's given us a good start.

He's given us a good start.

But in giving us a good start, we've been more than impressed about the needs of the people here in Frankfurt.

And we just sort of feel like we look out back and we see that desert land.

But in our hearts, we see a lush forest.

And we get to work planting those seeds, and we don't do it because it's laborious.

We do it because Jesus is compelling to do it, do, is compelling us to do it.

And we know that when that happens, we'll have joy, we'll have peace, we'll be on journey together, we'll have lots of questions, but we'll have the one answer that we need.

And that is Jesus.

So let's given, given all that we've heard this morning and given all that God has done in our midst in the last few years, to be a church on mission, joining the action.

Let's give him the credit and let's keep going.

Because after all, on the outside, where we go, isn't that where Jesus is?

I pray that he would help us to see that this morning.

If you don't know Jesus, we would love to talk to you about that.

If you'd like to take that first step of obedience towards baptism, we would love to talk to you about that.

If you just need to hear somebody say your name back to you, we would love to be the person to do that.

So let's pray.

God, we've been challenged this morning with the vision to join you where the action is, and we know that it's not easy.

It's hard.

So as we begin to think about that neighbor that's across the street, the person in the dorm room across from us, the person that's struggling with addiction, the student in the classroom where we teach, the person we're going to meet with tomorrow to talk about business dealings.

Whatever it is, you've got us on mission day to day, ordinary, everyday people, with something in our hearts because something has happened, something will happen.

We trust in you, Jesus, and it would be more than an honor if you wouldn't continue to invite us and show us exactly where we need to go to join you on the outside.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.