X-Factor (04/28/24)

Oh, what is up?

Multiply church.

How are you guys doing?

Good.

Yeah, I like the energy, man.

I love uh your pastor so much.

Uh Forrest and Emily have just been such a gift to my family and I.

Um, they have kind of taken us in as like immediate best friends, which is awesome because when you leave a community and you kind of parachute into a new community and you don't know a single person, that's a real gift.

And so your your pastors have been a real gift to my family and I.

So uh, and that means that you are too.

And so thank you.

Uh, we got to, uh, we've been kind of following multiply.

There are people in northern Kentucky, which is where we're kind of from, uh, that have followed kind of multiply story and have been really inspired.

I had a friend that texts me um, this is earlier this week, and uh, and we were buddies, he's up in northern Kentucky, and he was asking me about how things were going down in Lexington.

We're over in kind of the Hamburg East side of Lexington.

And uh, he was just asking, like, hey, how are things going?

You know, where have you plugged into any of the churches and meeting some of the pastors and stuff like that?

And I'm like, oh yeah, man.

And I told him all these churches that we love and all this stuff in Lexington.

And then he was like, Yeah, you know what?

I also heard that there's a really great church in Frankfurt.

I'm like, yeah, what church is that?

He goes, multiply.

I'm like, yep, I'm a huge fan of multiply.

I'm actually gonna be there this weekend.

So uh so what that means is is, you know, I think that um one of the things that Emily had said that I love so much, she had this phrase, she said that she wanted multiply to be an answer to prayer for people.

And and that's not only just my heart, I think, for what we're doing in Lexington, but I believe that multiply is.

I think that you are an answered prayer, and I think that the city of Frankfurt needs you.

And so give yourself a round of applause for serving the city of Frankfurt and the gift that you are uh to your community.

Um, man, I'm so excited to be with you guys.

I just want to reiterate 17 people joining the team is unbelievable, and six people taking that next step to be water baptized.

Also, another thing to celebrate.

Come on, can we give God all the praise and all the glory here?

And so uh I'll tell more of my story at the end.

Um when I had first met Forrest, I told him my story, and he's like, I need you to tell uh multiply this story.

I'm like, all right, you you just have me come in and I'll tell the story.

So I'll tell you at the end.

Um but we're of course in our series X Factor.

I want to jump right in here because I got several things I want to go over that um, I mean, I've really been praying through this message.

I feel like it's it is the message.

And so uh X Factor, where we're talking about, you know, of course, your gifting meeting your greater purpose.

And so, in light of that, the title of my message this morning, if you're taking notes, is Living the Dream.

Everybody say living the dream.

Yeah, you can talk to me too.

Okay, I'm I'm uh maybe it's I'm insecure and I just need the the dialogue.

If that's and then it is what it is, but it's okay to talk back.

You know, there's a phrase that we use a lot of times in our world.

You'll ask people like, hey, how you doing?

How you doing?

What do they say?

Oh man, just live in the dream, you know, just live in the dream.

And what I want to take that phrase, and usually it's said with like a sense of like you're not really living the dream.

You're just kind of going through the motions, you're just kind of showing up, clocking in, clocking out, just living the dream, you know, this kind of mundane way of life.

But what I want to challenge is what if I told you that God really does want you to live the dream?

Like, what if Jesus came not only to give you your eternal salvation, he gave you eternal life, but but what if he also came to teach you and I how to do life?

How to live the dream?

You know, Jesus said in John chapter 10, verse 10, he said, I came that you would have life.

John 10:10

Not just eternal life, but abundant life, he said.

He came to teach us how to do life.

God actually has a vision for your life.

And so I want to talk to you very briefly about living the dream.

And I want to use a very uh famous story.

Uh, it's in Mark, or excuse me, Matthew chapter 14, verses 22 through 23.

Matthew 14:22–23

Uh, I love this passage here.

We're gonna read it in its entirety, and then I'm gonna go back through.

Um, I've pulled three kind of plot points from this very famous story, uh, and then we're gonna use those three plot points to help us live the dream.

Y'all ready?

Are y'all ready?

I like it.

Matthew chapter 14, verse 22.

Matthew 14:22

Uh immediately he, Jesus, made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side.

I'm about to say the other side.

While Jesus stayed back to dismiss the crowds.

After Jesus had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

When evening came, he was there alone.

But the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.

And in the fourth watch of the night, so this is probably between 3 and 6 a.m., he came to them, Jesus did, walking on the sea.

But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost.

And they cried out in fear.

Everybody say, Fear.

But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.

And Peter answered, said, Lord, if it is you, everybody say you, command me, everybody say me to come to you.

Everybody say you on the water.

He said, Come.

So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid.

And beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me.

Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took a hold of him, saying, Oh, you have little faith, why did you doubt?

And when they, everybody say they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, Truly you are the Son of God.

You know, if you believe that we're not here by accident, right?

So the if you believe that this life as we know it wasn't just some random thing that happened, then you believe that there was a creator, right?

If you're here, you probably believe that there was a creator.

We know who that creator was.

Uh, why is that important?

Because if you believe, if there is a creator, then that means that there was a design.

He didn't just create for the sake of creating, right?

Like God wasn't up there bored and then he just decided to create something out of boredom.

He he actually, the creator had a design in mind.

And if there's design, that means there's intent.

Meaning that there was something that the design was supposed to accomplish.

Something that the design was meant to be, to step into.

There was a purpose for the design that the creator had in mind.

There was intent.

And if there is intent, then there is responsibility.

You and I have a responsibility to discover the intent of the designer, the purpose for our creation.

That's the dream.

That's the X factor.

Everybody say, live in the dream.

I love the progression of this miracle.

I want to very quickly walk through this miracle, and I'm going to pull out three major plot points that I believe will help you live the dream.

Are you ready?

Are you ready?

Part one of living the dream is the gap.

Everybody say the gap.

The miracle starts that we just read with Jesus and the disciples in the boat, and Jesus sends them to the other side.

Everybody say, other side.

This is what I would refer to as the gap.

What's the gap?

If you look at your life right now, right, we're talking about you living the dream.

We're talking about the X factor.

Okay, so if you were to take an accurate assessment of where you are today in your life and the context of you living the dream, the gap is the space between where you are right now and the dream.

It's the space between where you are right now and where you're going.

It's the other side.

The gap is the difference between maybe what you expected and what you're experiencing.

The gap is the space between where you used to be and where you're supposed to be.

It's that other side.

It's that in-between time.

That's the gap.

Jesus told his disciples in verse 22 to go to the other side, but they don't arrive till verse 34.

So the gap is verse 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28.

The gap for some of you might be, you know, your career.

Maybe you you expected that you'd be further in your career by now.

Or maybe you expected that maybe you'd be a little bit more content with your career, but you're experiencing something else.

That's the gap.

For some, maybe you expected health, but you're experiencing something totally different.

You're experiencing some sort of maybe complication in your health.

It's the gap.

Maybe it's a relationship.

You know, maybe you expected a certain person, maybe it's your dad or a spouse, your mom, a pastor, a mentor, that you expected them to be there for you in some way, but you're experiencing something totally different.

It's the gap.

You know, for some of you, maybe you were saved as a kid or a youth or a young adult, and you've been walking with the Lord for quite some time and you love him, but you kind of sense, is this it?

You know, you wonder, did he just kind of save me so I can get to heaven?

I'm just kind of waiting for my clock out day.

I'm just kind of waiting for my arrival.

And it's not that you're not thankful for your salvation.

You're thankful for what God saved you from and that he's given you eternal life and what he's done in your life, but but you still kind of maybe have this nagging sense on the inside that that maybe God wants to do more in your life.

But maybe you're not experiencing that right now.

There's a gap.

You're not you're not quite to the other side.

You have a sense that you haven't yet arrived, that maybe God still wants to do something in you and through you.

Can anybody relate?

Is there anybody that haven't felt that doesn't feel like they haven't quite yet arrived yet?

Okay, spoiler, that's everybody.

Okay, we we we until we make it to heaven, we haven't arrived.

We're always in this sense of process, we're always going to identify these unique gaps in our life.

So what do you do when there's a gap?

That's a great question.

I'm so glad you asked me.

What do you do when you're ex- when you when what you're you're not experiencing maybe what you expected?

When you have this nagging sense that God wants to do more in your life and you haven't quite yet arrived to your destination.

When you're not where you used to be, but you're not where you're supposed to be.

What do you do when you're not living the dream?

Part two, the step.

Everybody say the step.

So we have the gap.

Now we have the step.

Verse 28 through 29 says that uh Peter calls out to Jesus, Lord, if it's you, command me to come to you on the water.

And he, Jesus said, come.

So Peter got out of the boat.

He took a step.

Peter took a step.

And then practically, it's always good, I love this part, that Peter asks, confirms with Jesus that it's him before he takes the step.

Okay?

This is this is what I would have called as like the security questions, you know, when you're logging into your bank account and they want to ask you those security questions to verify that it's you.

Um the other day I was doing this, I was uh in Chicago, and uh and they had that goofy thing where they had this picture and you had to choose everything that had like bridges in it.

And so I'm like, choose it, and I'm like, you know, it kind of is confusing.

I think I got it wrong, because then they had me do another one with cars, and then there was like on the one corner picture just this little sliver of like the bumper of the car, and I'm like, I mean, I feel like the car's in that picture, so then I'm thinking, okay, what would a robot choose in this?

And I want them to know that I'm human.

So I clicked it, and then they asked me those questions that I set up.

Then I'm like, what was I thinking?

Like, what was your favorite food growing up?

You're like, I don't know the answer to that question, you know, or what was your brother's mom's maiden name's friend or something?

And you're just like, what was I thinking when I set up these questions, right?

But those security questions, although they're annoying, they are good because it they're meant to for for your safety, for your security.

So I think it's good to ask those security questions before you take a step.

Uh, Lord, is that you?

Lord, is that you?

Now I will forewarn you, you're never gonna be 100%.

You're gonna be maybe 51%.

So, but that's okay.

That's all right.

You take a step.

You take a step.

Lord, is it you?

And if you feel that 51%, take a step.

Now I want to warn you, this is the hard part.

Anytime that you do something in faith, it will not be comfortable.

Okay, let me repeat that.

Anytime that you do something in faith, it will not be comfortable.

You're not gonna be 100%, you're gonna be 51%.

Why is this important?

Because when you take that step and you're not comfortable and you're not certain, you're gonna start to think something's not right.

But I just want to encourage you that the goal of Christianity isn't comfort.

We aren't led by comfort, we're led by the comforter.

He gives us comfort, but we're not following the comfort, and there's also a difference between comfort and peace.

Taking the step in the face of uncertainty and discomfort is imperative to you living the dream.

And now I know it's hard to get out of the boat.

I know it's safe in the boat, I know there's nothing wrong with the boat.

And you might be looking at it like it makes no sense to get out of the boat.

I know, I know, I know that what I'm suggesting is easier said than done, but I I want to see you living the dream.

There's a guy in the Old Testament, his name is Joshua, and he's leading the Israelites into the promised land, and he comes up to the Jordan River, and there's this gap.

The Jordan River is the gap, it's the space between where he is and the promised land.

So here he's looking at the face of this gap and where he needs to be, where he's supposed to be.

And I always thought that this request that the Lord told him uh was so unique.

He tells Joshua to tell the priest to step into the water.

That's it.

That's all he says.

And I always thought that was such a weird request, you know, because it's like, God, why can't we know that the water parts?

But I always thought, like, God, why can't you just part the river?

Like just part the water and then they can walk through.

Why was it necessary that the priests get their feet wet?

And I think it says a lot about the Lord.

We're seeing that same thing with Peter, that Peter had to get out of the boat to walk on water to come.

God doesn't want us to sit on dry ground.

There, this is a part of activating faith is to not stand comfortable on dry ground and to step out into the water.

And as you get your feet wet, then you'll start to see God part the rivers, then you'll start to see God move, then you'll start to see doors open, you'll start to see doors closed, you'll start to see how the Holy Spirit will lead you in those kinds of moments and seasons.

You know, I think it's amazing that the final verse and the final chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus kind of sends the disciples out.

He commissions them.

And the scripture says, quote, and they went forth the disciples, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following.

So they weren't following signs.

Signs were following their willingness to step out and to get your feet wet.

Turn to your neighbor and say, get your feet wet.

Now this is difficult.

Why?

Because then our faith wouldn't require faith if what we're looking for was a sign.

Right?

If it would be so much easier if we just had a sign and then followed the sign.

Then our faith wouldn't require any faith.

Then we can just, you know, we can know for sure.

But faith doesn't follow miracles, miracles follow faith.

Follows our willingness just to step out and just say, Lord, here I am.

There's trust me.

I know how flawed I am.

I know how how much I fall short.

I know there's nothing special about me, but I'm willing to step out.

And on the stage of my weakness, pray that God will demonstrate his power.

Amen.

Miracles don't follow faith.

Excuse me, miracles.

Faith doesn't follow miracles, miracles follow faith.

So we have the gap.

We have this step.

Part three is I want to highlight is the walk.

Everybody say the walk.

See, when you step out of the boat and you begin the walk, you you may have immediate success, but eventually it could feel like maybe you're drowning.

It may it may feel like you made the wrong decision.

You'll look back at your friends who look so comfy on the boat, and you'll be like, man, you guys look so comfortable.

And you'll think, did I mess up?

What if I fail?

Right?

What what if I sink?

What if the water doesn't part?

What if people talk about me?

What if I lose everything?

And these are legitimate questions, by the way.

That that's why that initial security question is important.

Lord, is it you?

Because you're gonna doubt.

You're gonna need to find security in that initial security question.

You're gonna need to know that the Lord has asked you to step out of the boat, even if you're only 51% sure.

And so when Peter starts the walk, he saw the wind, and we know that he became afraid.

See, when you're walking on water and opposition comes, fear may come, and you may feel like you're sinking, just like it did with Peter.

But Jesus, in this, get this image, this vision of Jesus reaching out his hand and taking hold of Peter.

This is such a beautiful picture of restoration.

You may sink, but sinking isn't the end of the world.

You you may not see breakthrough in the change and the miracle and the dream that you're looking for initially.

That's okay.

It's part of the process.

The walk will surface all kinds of insecurities.

The walk may put to death certain things that you can't take with you on the journey towards the dream.

And God knows this.

Fear can't go with you.

Not where God's taking you.

Living for the approval of people can't go with you.

Not where God's taking you.

So the walk may seem like loss initially because you're shedding old mindsets and rhythms and habits that you've been so accustomed to, attached to your whole life.

It's the idols and the high places that we've created in our lives that in the walk they start to come down.

These strongholds, they start to come down.

And there is great healing in this walk.

And one of my favorite authors is a guy named Thomas Merton, and he refers to this walk as the shedding of what he refers to as glory bandages.

He says, every, I'm paraphrasing, but he says every human is born and they feel invisible.

They feel like nobody sees them and they want to be seen.

Every one of us wanna be seen, we want to be acknowledged, we want to be affirmed.

And so what we do, Thomas says, is we wrap ourselves in glory bandages our whole life.

These are the things on our resume, these are our successes, this is the reputations that we've created, this is the things that we've accumulated, these are the things how we want to be seen, how we want to be known.

And what happens is that's so beautiful is in the walk that God begins to lovingly unwrap those glory bandages.

And now, does it hurt?

Yeah.

But there's also great healing in that.

Because for the first time, you start to really discover who you are.

And can I just tell you who you are is not what you do?

That's why you're you're not a human doing, you're a human being.

And it's in the walk that you start to really learn what God really wants from you.

Dallas Willard, one of my other favorite authors, I love this quote.

He said, the main thing that God gets out of your life, which just think about that.

The main thing that God gets out of your life, he said, is not the achievements you accomplish.

It's the person you become.

That's God.

That's you can't.

Can't do anything really for him.

Right?

God's not insecure.

He's not emotionally unstable.

He's not up there needing you to do anything.

The main thing that God gets out of your life is the person that you and I become.

And it's in the walk that God begins to take off those glory bandages.

He begins to heal you and really speak into who you are becoming.

Amen?

But what I love about this story of the walk and Jesus reaching down and grabbing Peter and this beautiful picture of restoration, because again, it might feel like you're losing things, but if you had a revelation of God's ability to restore, it would blow your mind.

You would not look at loss the same way.

You would not fear loss.

A lot of people, myself included, it's hard to get out of the boat because you're afraid.

You're afraid.

And by the way, that's fear will always attract whatever information it needs to legitimize its existence.

So you'll just have all these things, these insecurities, these doubts that will come and they'll surface and it'll prevent you from getting out of the boat.

But if you knew God's ability to restore, it would blow your mind.

Let me give you a couple quick examples, and then I gotta get off here.

When you think about restoration from the world's perspective, restoration, by definition, is to restore something to its original condition.

So if you restore a car, an old car, you're restoring it back to its original condition.

You restore a house, you restore it back to its original condition.

You restore a piece of furniture, you're restoring it back to its original condition.

That's not the way God's restoration works.

God's restoration, get ready to shout, is always more than what you lost.

You gotta get this.

God always restores better than what you seemingly lost.

Biblical restoration is always more and better than the original.

In case you don't believe me, Exodus chapter 22, verse 1, in the Old Testament, if you were to steal someone's ox, you had to replace it with five oxen.

Exodus 22:1

If you stole someone's sheep, you had to replace it with four sheep.

God's restoration, five for one, four for one, better than the original.

Right?

Who seemingly lost everything, right?

He's lost everything.

He's considering, he's now at this point where he spent his father's inheritance, and he's sitting there considering eating pig's food.

And he comes to his senses and he goes back to the father, and what does the father do?

Throws a robe on him, puts a ring on his finger, shoes on his feet, and throws a party.

Think about it.

He goes from eating pig's food to sitting at the right hand of the father, cutting into a rooschrist steak.

Why?

Because God always restores better and more than you lost.

Okay, we're gonna keep going until you believe me.

Think about the boy with the five loaves and the two fish.

The disciples take the little boy's five loaves, right?

And it's two fish, and he seemingly lost his lunch.

But what does the boy walk away with?

Twelve baskets full of fish and bread.

Why?

Because God always restores better and more than you lost.

When Job lost everything in the Bible, the scripture says that God restored twice everything that Job lost.

The Temple of Solomon was torn down, and when it was rebuilt, it was restored to twice its original size, okay?

This is important.

Because the walk may cost you something.

It may feel like you're sinking.

It may seem like you're losing something, your old life.

Maybe the reputation that you had created, it may seem like you're losing something.

And I'm afraid that some people won't take that step and begin that walk because of their fear of loss.

But I'm saying to you that there's a world that exists that you know not of.

There's a life that God wants you to step into a vision, a plan, a purpose for you that you will never be satisfied until you step into that life.

And when you look back at your old life, you'll thank God that He offered you this invitation to simply come, to get out of the boat, and to walk to Him.

If you were to discover who God created you to be, you would never want to be anybody else.

When I was 15, I got a drug possession charge.

And then when I was 17, I got a DUI.

And I knew in that moment that I was not happy with the person I was becoming.

I didn't grow up in church.

I had the one time I had been in a church service, I was 16, and my friends and I went to uh his his church that I guess that he went to, and uh we were doing like an all-church lock-in or something, um, which is probably not a good idea, but I mean, uh, anyways, uh uh, so we told his parents, yeah, we're gonna go stay the night at this church, and so we go, we check in, and then we sneak out.

So we're out all night drinking and driving.

I remember I was in the bed of his truck, we're driving down these old Kentucky country roads, and uh both of us are drunk, and he's going 70 miles an hour on a 35 mile an hour road.

And I just thought I was invincible.

I thought nobody can touch me.

And so then after the DUI, I kind of came to this place where I just realized I'm just not really happy with the person I'm becoming.

I didn't know what else to say about it, I didn't know what else to feel.

I didn't I didn't know in that place that I was in this gap, that I was not where I'm supposed to be.

I could feel this gap.

And so I decided to take a step.

And I I mean, I kind of didn't really have a choice.

I was not allowed to graduate at the high school I was at.

So this is between my junior and senior year.

I moved back up to Cleveland with my dad, and I start my senior year, supposed to be your best year, and I don't know a single person, nobody.

And you walk in, I'm just taking a step.

Just taking a step.

I was scared.

Yeah, I mean, I loved the reputation that I had.

I really did.

I was known as fun guy, and like all, you know, and I I loved it, but I but I but I was not happy.

I knew there was a gap, and I knew I needed to do something, so I took this step.

Nothing crazy happened in my senior year.

My dad got promoted again, this time was to Chicago.

And so I moved to Chicago with him, and I started uh college and a community college, and I just wanted to distract myself, so I worked a lot.

I went to school full time, I played baseball in high school, so I tried out for the baseball team.

I made the team, and so that just was involving myself in as many things as I could because I just wanted to distract myself.

I didn't want to go down the same path that I just walked away from.

And then I'll never forget, I had this sociology professor.

This is a secular college, and she started to challenge the validity of scripture.

She would say things like, you know, uh Abraham never existed, you know, uh Noah's Ark.

Come on.

You guys are smarter than that.

I remember her saying that.

And I remember thinking, I mean, I don't, I have heard of these stories.

I don't know what she's saying.

I don't know if what she's saying is true.

I have no idea.

I have no idea.

But what I was so fascinated by was how she could be so certain of the things that she was saying.

And so I wanted to find out for myself.

And so I went and I bought a Bible.

And I started to read it.

I didn't know where else to begin other than in the beginning.

So I started in Genesis, and I probably read about two-thirds of the Old Testament in like two weeks.

I was obsessed with it.

I I couldn't get enough of it.

I felt like it was giving me life.

I I felt it changing me on the inside.

I didn't know what was happening.

I was just like, I don't even know if I had read a book at this point in my life, but I felt like it was doing something on the inside of me.

My dad thought I went off on the deep end.

He's like, all my son does is read his Bible.

He's crazy, he's losing his mind.

And then I'll never forget, I wanted to read about Jesus, and so I was getting ready to work out, and I sat down and I read through the whole gospel of Matthew, and then I closed my Bible, and I just sat there and I thought about what I had just read.

And I started to ask myself the question: what if this is true?

What if Jesus really did come?

What if he really did die?

And what does that mean for me?

And I wept.

It was the first time that I ever felt the presence of God.

And I remember even saying out loud, I'm by myself in my basement, sitting on this little red couch.

And I remember weeping and saying, Lord, there's nothing else I want to give my life to.

This is it.

And so then I found a church.

I'm like, it probably feels like this is a good next step.

I want to surround myself with people that have felt what I'm feeling right now.

And I brought my dad to church that next week.

He reluctantly came and he got saved.

Then he brought his wife and she got saved the next week.

Then she brought her parents, sister, niece, and nephew, they got saved.

And it became this crazy ripple effect.

And then I came back to northern Kentucky to marry my wife.

But when I did the walk back, I was different.

I was a changed man.

God got a hold of my heart, and he turned that heart of stone to a heart of flesh.

And so that's why I want to encourage you.

Every door you open today, every car that you park, there's a 19-year-old that's searching, and they're wondering, is this it?

They might be in the gap.

And it's our job to serve them, to love them.

I love that uh John Wesley, somebody asked him, What's the what's your secret?

What's your I mean, he preached thousands of sermons.

They said, What's your secret?

And I love this quote.

He said, My secret is that I go into my prayer room and I set myself on fire.

And then I come out and ever so everybody can watch me burn.

That's what we're doing.

We're gonna take two minutes and we're gonna go into worship.

I want you to stand to your feet.

And I want us to, in this moment, to worship the Lord, to bring our lives to the altar as a living sacrifice, the scripture says.

But there's a story that I love.

Samson takes 300 foxes and he ties their tails together, and he sticks a torch in between the tail, and then he sends the foxes into the enemy's harvest to burn it all up.

That's what you're doing today.

Every person that walks in this door, you're saying, Lord, set me on fire and send me into the city of Frankfurt, send me into enemy's territory that I can burn up what he thinks is his harvest in Jesus' name.

And so, Lord, we love you, God.

We come before you today, God, to worship you.

Lord, if what you need is a sacrifice, if what you need is an offering, then we say, Here we are, Lord, set us on fire and send us in Jesus' name.