Nice to Meet You (Week 2)

Well again, I'm Forrest Lee Pastor here at Multiply, my family and uh many other people uh planted multiply church here in Frankfurt.

And um I would wonder and ask a question to you how would people describe you?

How do people describe you as a person?

Um I think about those that are in our life and those who know us the best.

It's our families, right?

Our families know us the best, and Emily and I, my wife, we have a running joke that um no one has ever described me or used the adjective for me as a sweet man.

That's just not something that people ever say about me.

I guess I just don't carry myself that way, but it's kind of a running joke because uh there's times that you know I get into a little bit of a uh a mood and Emily will just look at me and she'll just say, Would you be sweet to me right now?

Would you just be sweet to me right now?

I know none of y'all get in a mood like that.

I know uh none of your family has uh seen uh how you are at different times.

We're in this brand new series that we started this last week called Nice to Meet You.

And uh the genesis of this series is us talking about who we are and describing who we are as a church.

Like I said, we're a church plant, we're new.

We just celebrated our one-year anniversary a few weeks ago.

And in the beginnings of our church, this this sermon series has been now a couple of years in the making because as we began multiply church, we we knew that there were there's going to be ways to describe our church and values and things that that were important to us as a church.

And and instead of us kind of starting off and with a big list of things that we would aspire or hope to be, instead, over the last couple of years, we've been in a uh a journey of discovering who we are as a church.

And this is, like I said, it's been it's it's been a couple of years in the making.

I actually have this card right here that's got uh not my handwriting on it, but handwriting of one of our uh leaders, Michelle Frank.

And back in 2021, when we were uh meeting in the office space next to the Treasury Department here in Frankfurt, we just had uh a room with about 30 chairs set up.

Michelle, during one of uh our launch team meetings, jotted down several things about our church at that time and who we were as a church.

And she handed this to me after service, and Michelle's been in ministry for a long time.

She was on staff at our sending church, South End, for 20 years, and she's really good at this kind of stuff.

And this has been sitting on my desk now for uh for almost two years' time of who we are as a church and really over the time discovering who we are.

And so, as we uh get into this today, some of the same things written on the card or some of the same things that we've landed on uh as values here at multiply.

Now, when you think about nice to meet you in introductions, I wonder and ask you the question: why do you introduce your boyfriend or girlfriend to your friends?

Why is it important to introduce somebody to your boyfriend or girlfriend to your family?

And the reason is because you want to find out what people experience when they're around them.

You want to kind of get some opinions.

What do you think about him?

What do you think about her?

You know, I know these ladies, y'all get together and talk about this stuff.

Oh, oh yeah, yeah, I like him.

Who's his friends?

What's what's he like?

What do you see and do you do you think that he could be the one?

Do you think that he he has those attributes?

I was listening to uh uh uh an interview with an executive from from a a uh a Fortune 100 company that was talking about their introduction, their hiring process, and when they're meeting people and hiring people and interviewing them for roles.

And so he said something very interesting.

On top of all the normal hoops that you go through in the interview process, this specific leader said that it is his practice to take the person out to lunch.

Not so they could learn about them on a personal level more, that's an aspect of it, but the reason he took them to lunch was to see how they treated the waiter.

And that if that that person, if they treated the the waiter poorly, then how in the world would they treat the employees that would be under their leadership in the future?

And so as we talk about these values, that we introduced a few of them last week, as we talk about these values, if we embody the values that that we have been sharing and have discovered over the last couple of years, you will be someone who though who people around you can look to you as a follower of Jesus and someone to be able to be an example of Christ.

Paul says in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul, he says, follow me as I follow Christ.

But he even put himself in the place to say, you know what?

I'm inviting you to follow my example as I follow Christ to be someone who is worth following and worth an example that is representative of Jesus.

And so I think about today, you may have come into the room for the first time, and you may be here and you're like, okay, how does this apply to me?

Like, why do I mean talking about this?

And it's just because Jesus is not just Lord, but savior of your life, and is worth following and being like him more than any other relationship you could ever have.

Jesus' example for us of how we be like him is what we ultimately see what it looks like to truly love.

There's all kinds of influence, there's all kinds of examples, there's all kinds of heroes that you can have.

But I'm gonna say this to you today: there is no better than Jesus.

There is no one that's worth following, that's worth giving your life to, that's worth committing to, than the Son of God Jesus.

And today I invite you into it.

I want to give you a picture of what it's like, not only for your own soul and your own heart and your own life and your own eternity, but for those that are around you as well.

So here's here's here's the things that we we have have landed on in the the different value statements, and I'm gonna run through them really quickly as a recap for any of those who who weren't here last week.

But starting with the first one, it's we see a need, fill a need.

We look to sacrificially serve one another.

I love that.

Uh, one of the points on this is sacrificial servanthood.

Number two, we embrace the tension.

We love the truth of God's word and his limitless grace.

Number three, we do for one, we do for one what we wish we could do for everyone.

Number four, we know it's crazy.

Multiply, it's crazy in all the best ways.

Number five, we bring our best.

We get to bring our best because God brought his best to us.

Number six, we are trailblazers.

We blaze a trail of faith together.

Number seven, we fuel the fire.

We want to be a blessing to others.

Number eight, we are builders.

We are builders, not a building.

Number nine, we find the X factor.

We want to discover your gifts and deploy them for your purpose.

And number ten, we take others with us.

Our church is meant to be a team sport, not a solo assignment.

Last week we got to dive in specifically to the first three of those.

And I encourage you to go back online to our website and check out last week's message so you can hear more in-depth uh about those first three.

But we're gonna jump into the next four today.

So we've got lots to go through, and there'll be maybe a little bit of jumping around, but track with me and stay with me as we go through uh the next few of these.

Starting with, we know, we know, we know, it's crazy.

Multiply, it's crazy in all the best ways, and we know it.

We're crazy enough to believe God wants to do more than we can even imagine.

We will trust God to provide something from nothing.

We will dream big and pray bigger, knowing Jesus is waiting for us to ask him to do what only he can.

We know it's crazy.

In Matthew chapter 17, Jesus is talking with the disciples.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

And the disciples ask Jesus a question that's very practical, and maybe even something that a question that you may have in your life.

They ask him, Jesus, how can we increase our faith?

In Matthew 17, verse 5.

Matthew 17:5

They just come right out and ask him, Jesus, we see all these things that you're doing.

You're able to perform these miracles, there's healings, there's things that are happening.

You have dominion and you have authority over spiritual powers and evil spirits.

How do we increase our faith?

And Jesus introduces this concept of faith as small as a mustard seed.

Now, at the time, this mustard seed would be representative of the smallest seed that they really knew of.

It can fit on the tip of your finger.

It's so tiny, it's so small.

And Jesus introduces this concept of having faith the size of a mustard seed.

He compares the kingdom of God in Mark chapter 4.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

Jesus compares the kingdom of God with starting with the smallest of seeds.

The mustard seeds, something so small, beginning so tiny.

And in Matthew 17, 20, Jesus tells them plainly that they don't have enough faith.

He says, You don't have enough faith, Jesus told them.

I tell you the truth.

If you had the faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it would be, and it would move.

Nothing would be impossible.

Jesus gives this instruction.

He gives this statement that if they were able to have faith so small, even as small as a mustard seed, that they could move mountains.

And one of the other gospels, it says that you would move a mountain and it would be thrown into the sea.

And Jesus is saying this with the backdrop of the country of Israel that we now know today.

But in the kingdom that that one of the kings, Herod, and you can still go to some of these places today, Herod, who was was unlimitedly wealthy, created these palaces, one, a Masada on the top, on the cutoff top of a mountaintop.

I've been there before in Israel.

He created the Herodian.

They literally cut off the side of a mountaintop and put this giant palace on the side of the mountain, and they moved that dirt and they put it into the sea.

And Jesus is saying to them, if you have faith, even this small, you can move mountains.

And they're looking at a backdrop and saying, you know what?

Yeah, I've seen that happen, and I've seen it happen not for good, not for people's flourishing, but just for power.

But if you have the faith of even just a mustard seed, that the beginnings of the kingdom of God are started in these small little seeds that sprout up.

And and miracles start with the minute, but mountain-moving faith.

A crazy faith.

A few weeks ago on our anniversary, we went over to our future home over uh this the old Save a lot building, and we had a time of prayer together, and we wrote scriptures on the walls, and we prayed over different spaces, and prayed over the kids' ministry and different places around the building.

And one of the statements that was written on the wall that ministered to me so much was this statement of dream big and pray bigger.

Something that I had mentioned in a message uh not too uh long before we went over to the Save a Lot to do this, but it there on the wall, written in big letters, dream big, pray bigger.

And I think about the last couple of weeks, we had Lee Webb come and speak a few Sundays ago, who's a mentor and friend of mine, church planning director with Southland.

And something that he mentioned about who we are as a church that he has seen as an outsider and described about us.

I don't know if you remember that message, but during his message, he he was talking about multiply, and he said, There's a confidence around here.

There's a confidence around here.

There was a confidence around here from the very beginnings, the first meetings, a few people sitting around us saying, God is gonna move, and we know God is gonna do something powerful here in Frankfurt, and we want to be a part of it.

But the confidence is not in ourselves, our confidence is in the strong and mighty Savior Jesus Christ.

Our confidence is in the God above who loves us so much that He left heaven and came down in the form of a man to go be nailed on the cross and walk out of the grave victorious so that we can walk in new life with him.

And because of that, we can have confidence and faith to say, you know what?

We're gonna believe that God wants to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine, more than we could ever think.

That we would have the confidence to say, you know what, we're gonna take a step out, we're gonna step out in faith.

You know what?

You know what, yeah, what we we could maybe meet in a movie theater.

We could maybe be a blessing and give away now tens and tens of thousands of dollars into the community as a brand new, tiny little seed of a church.

Now we're like a little sprout.

But starting with the faith of a mustard seed.

This um statement multiply it's crazy.

It's it's kind of a funny story or funny statement that's been used now for a couple of years.

It actually started with our friend Jordan Burke, who's here in the church.

And Jordan, probably now a hundred times, as we've seen God do big and small miracles and provision for us.

Jordan just looks at me and just says, Multiply, it's crazy.

Multiply, it's crazy.

Jordan and his family has have been a part of the church from the very first meeting, the very first small gathering.

And to see God show up and provide in crazy ways that really, even now, still feel inexplicable.

But we're gonna continue to have a faith like that, aren't we, Church?

Jesus tells the disciples, you don't have enough faith.

You don't even have the faith the size of a mustard seed, but if you did, you could move mountains.

We get to bring our best.

We bring our best and we have an attitude of gratitude because Jesus deserves our best.

We get to bring our best to God because He brought His best to us.

We do our best with a little, knowing that God will provide a lot.

We bring our best to be ready for guests, and we will be good stewards of the blessings that the Lord has given to us to see others be blessed in return.

Romans 12 1.

Romans 12 1 tells us to bring our whole self to God.

The Apostle Paul pens, so dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.

Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable.

This is truly the way to worship him.

It's a powerful statement.

That we, our whole selves, that that not just our our hour on Sunday or our our small group throughout the week or the different things that we do in our Christian life and walk that we think of would be as worship.

But Paul tells us that we should give our whole selves to God.

That we should give our whole selves over to Him.

Why?

Because all that He has done for you.

This way is a true act of worship.

And so for us as a church, as we we get to bring our best to God and not the rest, not the leftovers that we have at the end of the week.

But instead, because we have an attitude of gratitude, that we don't take God's grace for granted.

Out of the overflow of what God's done for us, we get to bring our best back to God.

Something we talk about a lot around here is that we get to bring our best in the aspects of our time, our talent, and our treasure.

And I told the team earlier today that this church that we're a part of, all of us, this church, it's not based on the talents of a few, but the sacrifices of many.

This church isn't something that you just show up and you see a few professionals perform, preach a good sermon, do some great worship, go get lunch afterward.

Hey, that was great.

We got to watch.

But this is a church where collectively, not just the talents of a few, but the sacrifices of many, we get to see God move in power.

Because each one of us, God is calling us for us to be a living and holy sacrifice unto Him.

That when we think about what our purpose is as a church, that our purpose is as those who follow Him, that because of what He's done for us, we then get to be in an act of worship, a follower of Jesus and walking in His purpose 24-7.

I think about the faith that it took for us as we stepped out with our time, our talent, and our treasure in the end of this last year, heading into this initiative to bring our best, to get into our future home.

And I think about the fact that when we said yes to sign the lease of this new space that we're eventually gonna get into, that at the time we didn't know where the money was gonna come from and how it was gonna work, but every step of the way, God has provided for us over and over and over again.

And if you remember, the Lord provided that every single dollar that was given was matched one for one.

And as we stepped out in faith and we brought our best to God, he brought his best to us in return.

Faithful.

Faithful.

What does it look like for you to bring your best to the Lord?

Not just financially, but with your time, with your gifts and with your talents to God?

Are you in a state where you're kind of going through life and all the things that are taking up your time?

There's so many things pulling at us, right?

The conflict at work and the people who are trying to get you in trouble.

The family situation, that uncle that keeps acting crazy, and everybody's got to talk about it, and you're thinking about it all the time, and having the conversations, and so much of your energies are going into it.

You're parenting kids, and you've got teenagers, and you're beating your head against the wall, and you're spending all this energy and time, and you got small children.

Whatever it is, all those things that are pulling at you, there's a temptation that in all of those pulls and all of life's demands, that when it comes to our relationship with God, instead of the best, he gets the rest.

He gets the leftover of all the things going on in your life.

And think about for us what it looks like for us to not skip over our time of prayer, of being in God's word, walking in intimacy with Him, knowing Jesus better, and not letting all of those things that ultimately, ultimately are not eternal steal and take from us what God truly wants to be with us, to love us, and to give us blessing in return.

We're going to continue to bring our best.

We're going to continue to challenge one another to bring our best.

And look what God's going to do.

And as we bring our best, that means that we're going to be continuing to walk in faith.

And that we're trailblazers.

We aren't afraid to go first.

We know God has a plan for us as we blaze a trail of faith together.

We'll worship authentically, share boldly, and practice radical generosity.

We are carriers of the kingdom to a world that desperately needs the good news of Jesus.

Acts 1.8.

You know, there's a tradition here in Kentucky of woodsmen.

I grew up hunting and fishing and doing the things that, you know, going out in the woods.

That's a very Kentucky thing.

I love it.

But it comes from a tradition of woodsmen and pioneers who at one point settled this state.

And I think about one of Freyfort's claims of fame, old Danny Boy Boone.

Old Danny Boy Boon.

He's all over this place.

He's got statues.

He's buried here, all those things.

One of our first sermon series that we did as a church was called Trailblazers.

We were looking at the people of the Bible who were people who blazed the trail of faith.

And you know what?

The people of the Bible, the disciples that are around Jesus, if you look at their stories, they are just as messed up as we are.

God uses imperfect people for his perfect plan.

And there are people that the differentiating factor was that they had the faith to blaze a trail and to go first.

And Abraham that would leave the home country that he knew and would be taken to a foreign land.

For the Gideon, who, despite being the youngest and weakest, that that that he would go into battle and let the Lord lead him and cut his armies down from thousands and thousands of just 300 soldiers to fight and God brought a victory.

People who are willing to step out and go in faith, and it includes the disciples, and Jesus, as he's ascending back to heaven, after he's had a brutal death on the cross, after three days, he is walked out of the grave.

Purchasing salvation for you, for me, and the disciples.

Then he tells them plainly as he's going back to the Father to be seated at the right hand of God.

He says to his disciples, he says, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

Everybody say power.

And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

And that's what they did.

They received the power of the Holy Spirit.

The same Holy Spirit that Jesus promised to them is the same Holy Spirit that we have today.

That gives us the courage to step into life's trials and tribulations, but know that God is with us as we go through them.

I think back to in the very beginnings when Multiply was still just a dream and a prayer.

It's a wish.

And Emily and I were moving from Charleston, South Carolina, where we were a part of a church plant there that was wonderful and amazing.

And when we were moving back to Kentucky, this was around Thanksgiving time of 2020.

Pandemic was rolling.

And we were heading back to Kentucky and we had our stuff.

We put it in a pod.

We had a U-Haul truck, and I was driving my Toyota Camry.

I love that car.

Toyota Camry.

Up to Kentucky.

And we were driving through the day and we hit Kentucky that evening.

Now here's the thing about the Camry.

Love that car, but it was constantly in the shop and having troubles and problems.

It had a hole in the engine block that was not repairable.

I don't know if you've ever had these kind of carbs.

This is how you know hey, some of y'all know what I'm talking about.

Like having to take the the the uh having to take your coolant and filling it up, you know, every few days and because it's leaking out, and you gotta open up the hood and you're pouring it in there and you know, just to keep going.

You're not just putting gas in the car, you're having to put other liquids in there too, so you can go.

And so one of the things about the Camry was that because it had this coolant leak, that there was no heat in the car.

Now that didn't matter while I was living next to the beach in Charleston, barely even needed the heat.

But as we were driving up, moving to Kentucky, it got to the dark, and I had my dog Theo in the back, and our car was full with stuff, and I was driving in the dark, and you know, around uh Thanksgiving time it starts getting pretty chilly at night, and I was just driving my car and I was seeing my breath as I was driving.

And I was like, oh my goodness, what am I gonna do?

We're moving, we have all these expenses to move.

I can't get a new car right now, so for a few weeks I was just driving around ball bundled up with gloves on.

And some of y'all been there, okay?

Some of y'all been there before.

Those people, yeah.

If you haven't been there, like you don't know what I'm talking about.

But if you've been there, you know.

And I remember that my buddy Chris, who actually worshipped, he was here with us last Sunday from Somerset, who loves our church and loves you all.

I was on the phone with him, we were laughing, and I was making fun of myself because I was driving around in the cold and seeing my breath.

And he said, Well, what you need a you need to do car?

I'm like, Well, yeah, I'm gonna have to give you a car, but I don't really know what I'm gonna do.

And we're starting this church and all this stuff.

And he said, Well, why don't I just give you a car?

I was like, Well, what you got?

And he said, Well, you know, it's the old trailblazer, the old Chevy trailblazer that the Amy drove.

And I was like, You still have that?

He's like, Yeah.

I said, Does it have heat?

He's like, it does.

I was like, oh, hey! And so I've got pictures of me going down there and him giving me the trailblazer as a gift to help in the beginnings of the church.

And I don't think it's any coincidence that he gave me a trailblazer while we were blazing a trail of faith.

To see something come from nothing, to see God work and move from the very beginnings.

You're gonna receive power.

It's not gonna be easy.

It's not gonna be a cakewalk, it's not gonna be without hiccups and trials, but you're gonna receive power.

When you're my witnesses, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria to the ends of the earth.

That's what God's gonna do through us.

He's already doing it.

And the fire that's around this place is gonna continue to grow as we fuel the fire.

We want to be a blessing to others.

We look for the good happening in our community and we pour gasoline on the work already being done.

We don't have to recreate the wheel.

We could do more by doing less.

Acts 20, 35.

Jesus tells us plainly.

And I've given a consistent example of how you can help those in need by working hard, and you should remember the words of Lord Jesus.

Paul says, it's more blessed to give than to receive.

I'm teaching this to my three-year-old right now, who, uh unlike, they were very similar maybe to us at times, can be incredibly selfish.

And so we said, and and I even talked with her about it this weekend.

I we I say, Ember, it's better to give than to get.

Right?

And she says, Yeah, it's better to give than to get.

She's always getting stuff, and so we started talking about what kind of toys and things she can give to her friends because she's starting to understand that it's better to give than to get.

The words of Jesus, that it's more blessed to give than to receive.

We fuel the fire.

This week I got to have a conversation with Martha, who is uh the um caseworker and and social worker for Cofield High School that that that meets in Franklin County High School that works with uh high-risk students to get them to graduation.

And last year we got to come alongside them in some cool ways, and and she reached out to me about us being able to be the ones to present the overcomer award at graduation next year to one of their students who've gone above and beyond and overcome many obstacles.

Some of these are first generation immigrants, kids who are trying to learn English and finish high school and they're also going out and working 20 hours a week and they can come in and complete their studies.

There's all kinds of different scenarios you can imagine of these kids that are just trying to get to graduation.

And so next month, we're gonna get to sponsor and come alongside and be the one to give the overcomers award for them.

And you know what we're gonna do?

And that we're gonna be fueling the fire.

You know who's just as excited about that as the kid who's gonna receive it?

It's Martha, who works with those kids every single day.

Who listens to them, who they come to her office and she counsels them and speaks with them.

She loves them and tries to give them direction and to see them succeed and not give up and be a statistic of a dropout, but to get their diploma and move forward in life.

And we get to fuel the fire for Martha.

I also got to have a conversation this week with Amy Snow from the Wanda Joyce Robinson Foundation, talking about back to school coming up and some plans that we have in place of school supplies and things to come over the next few weeks.

And as I was having a conversation with her, I just said, Amy, you're doing great.

Keep going.

And she just said, Thank you so much for us.

Thank you for praying.

We get to fuel the fire.

We get to be the ones that of those things that are happening in our community that we get the ones that get to seek and find it out, and then we get to be some fire.

We get to pour some gas onto some people that maybe don't ever get to hear a thank you.

They don't ever have a church here locally that steps up and says, How can we serve you?

What are your dreams here at this nonprofit?

And we don't have to recreate the wheel.

Church, I I hope that you've gotten this thus far, but I truly believe we can do more by doing less, even when we have our own facility.

Guess what?

We're not going to have a food pantry.

You want to know why?

Because there's already one here in Franklin County that we can come alongside.

We don't need to recreate and have a multiply church version of every single thing in our four walls because instead we can come alongside those people who are doing good and we can fuel the fire.

Because here's the thing the people who are doing it 24 hours, the people who are working at the pantry, they're thinking they're waking up and going to sleep every day and they're thinking about the food that's in that pantry.

Like they're gonna do a way better job than we would at our attempt to do it.

And so let's fuel the fire together, church.

And we're gonna continue to.

Here's the thing.

We know it's crazy.

We're gonna bring our best.

We're gonna blaze a trail of faith.

We're gonna fuel the fire.

That's who we're gonna be.

That's who you're gonna be.

Again, this church isn't just the staff or the leaders.

This church is all of us.

And all of us collectively, we're gonna get to walk forward in faith, and we're gonna get to do these things like having faith.

It's crazy that people say, Man, wow, wow, I can't believe that they did that.

We're gonna get to go above and beyond and bring our best to God, and there'll be stories that come from it that you can tell your children and your children's children.

That we're gonna be people and you're gonna be somebody who steps out and blazes a trail of faith and doesn't wait on somebody else to step up, but you know God's put something in your heart, and so you're gonna step up and you're gonna do it.

You're gonna be somebody who those people around you, they don't just see you as someone who is living for themselves and being selfish, but instead that you're willing to share and give the fire and build the fire up in somebody else's life.

And in doing so, we're gonna be a mountain moving, blessing-bringing, boldly blazing, fire-raising multipliers for the kingdom of God.

We're gonna see mountains be moved.

We're gonna see blessing go out from this place.

We're gonna blaze a trail of faith together, and we're gonna raise the fire of God here in this community and beyond.

And we're gonna multiply it, and we're gonna do it together because we know that God so much is just waiting on somebody.

He's just waiting on us, he's just daring us to have big faith.

Can you imagine with me a second?

Just imagine with me for a moment what it's gonna be like when all of us are taking action in this way.

We're gonna be rising up like an army.

When all of us have this mentality, when even more than are in this room now are believing and are walking and are moving and seeing miracles that start with a minute mustard seed faith, and we're people who are bringers of the kingdom and representing Jesus.

So how do you treat your waiter?

How do you treat your waiter?

I'm one of these crazy people.

I just tip regardless.

I'm not y'all probably judge me for that.

Well, they won't learn to be better.

I just think I think about my friend Bryce, who at one point was waiting tables and Laga Litas, doing his best to provide for his three kids.

But the purpose that God had in his life was well beyond it because Bryce is the one who created and made and designed the website for Multiply Church, the one that we still use today.

But at one point, Bryce was waiting tables at Logalitas while he was in web design school.

And I think about the people that are around us that God is just waiting for us to love and to care and see them step into their purpose for God and to see them have a life that's changed.

And so I just I just want to say that.

There's some of us that are in the room today, and you need to start by having the faith of a mustard seed.

Right now, you don't have faith.

Right now you don't even know if God is real or what this whole thing is about.

Can I tell you that Jesus loves you?

He died for you on the cross, it really happened.

2,000 years, it's not been disproven.

There are many religious leaders that you can go visit their tomb, but you cannot visit the grave of Jesus because he's alive.

And he loves you.

And he did it for you.

And so some of you need to start with the seed, the mustard seed of faith.

Some of us in the room, we need to start by bringing your best instead of the rest and the leftovers.

Bringing your best to the Lord day in and day out.

Yes, collectively as a church, but you your day needs to start a little earlier so you can open the word together.

You need to download the Bible app and you need to start a little reading plan, and you need to start reading and getting to know who Jesus is so that you can follow Him and so that you can see the blessings of God fill your life.

Some of you need to start using the power of your witness.

You have a story, and you think that nobody cares, and you think that no one needs to hear it, but let me tell you, you have power in your story.

More than ever before.

One of the upside down things of how wild the world has gotten that now everybody feels like, you know, live your truth.

Y'all heard that before?

Live your truth.

Everybody's like there's no actual truth.

Well, the upside down positive in that for us is that that means that your story, what you share, your witness, that you get to speak your truth.

And we know that it's truly the absolute truth.

But your story, it's more, it's more valid than ever.

It's more needed than ever for you to tell about what God has done in your life.

And so some of you need to take hold of the power of the witness that Jesus has promised for you.

And some of us need to start giving more than we get.

To believe the words of Jesus that it's more blessed to give than to receive.

And in doing so, there are new levels of blessing that you didn't realize that you could have.

But you need to start with whatever it is that you need to start with, that may be starting giving to the Lord financially through the church.

It may be that you need to start giving to other people, that you need to start building some generosity in your life.

Maybe it's the fact that you just need to give those time, talents, and treasure, not just here in our church, but to your coworkers and your friends and your family.

What is it that you need to start today?

For some of you in the room, the thing that you need to start is just a relationship with God.

You need to start with giving your life to Jesus so that he can save you, and so that you can be in an eternity in heaven with him.

Church, would you bow your head right now?

I want to pray for you.

Father, I pray for those in this place today, God.

Some of those in the room that need to start by having a mustard seed faith.

Even starting small, that, God, we know that, Lord, you'll bless it.

Father, I pray for those in the room that feel like that they don't have any margin and don't have anything but leftovers to bring to you.

God, I pray that you would help them to see.

Help them to see that you're the most important thing in their life.

That they would begin to and start to reorient their life, their time, their priorities.

That God, they can bring their best to you.

God, I pray for those in the room right now, God.

Who don't believe that anybody really cares or needs to hear their story or how God has worked in their life for their testimony.

God, I pray right now for those in the room who think that their story is boring.

Or that if they tell their story, the people will think that, think less of them.

But instead, God, I pray for power.

Father, I pray right now that for any of those in the room who need to start to truly believe and empower, that it's more blessed to give than to receive.

And Lord, I pray for anybody across the room that needs to begin a relationship with you, Jesus, that needs to give their life to you.

Father, I pray over them right now, Lord, that today will be the day of their salvation.

That they would pray, Jesus, save me.

I believe that you're the Son of God.

You were raised to life.

Father, I I I love you.

Forgive me.

Wash me as white as snow so I can be in heaven with you one day.

Thank you for saving me.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Hey, if you prayed that prayer today, we want to come alongside you.

We want to speak with you.

We want to connect with you.

And I invite you to stand to your feet now as we close in singing.