The Best (Week 2)

Kicked off with last week called The Best.

Now uh we're heading into the holiday season, and I'm sad to say, it feels like Team Thanksgiving that I'm on feels like we're losing the battle right now, y'all.

The other Thanksgiving team Thanksgiving people out there.

Christmas is already hitting.

I'm seeing these social media posts of y'all in the church putting up your Christmas tree already.

What are y'all doing?

Some of y'all put them up November the 1st at the last thing of October and boom, it's Christmas.

Like, come on now.

Where's my Thanksgiving at?

I'm seeing Thanksgiving.

I'm like the Grinch up until the day after Thanksgiving, okay?

I'm like, hey, we've got to have Thanksgiving.

That's my favorite holiday between the two of them.

Um but you know what?

It's also okay too, because I understand the joy that comes with Christmas, and people, y'all are just trying to get a jump on it early.

I understand.

But don't sleep on Turkey Day, okay?

Don't sleep on Turkey Day.

We're in this whole holiday season.

It feels like it's already upon us.

This season of Thanksgiving, this season of gratitude, this season of Christmas.

And while all of us probably want to get into the spirit of the holidays, you may be like me.

You're feeling a little grinchy.

But all of us want to get to that place of gratitude.

But you know, there's sometimes a barrier for us to get into a place of gratitude or gratefulness, and we get stuck in a place of ungratefulness.

Thinking about the gifts not only that you have to get for Christmas, but also the ones that you get yourself, but you start thinking about all those people you have to buy for, all the lists, all the things, and you start thinking, man, why am I doing all this?

You know that God has given us good gifts.

And all this season that's coming right now, we can start with a perspective of gratitude that's in alignment with God and what he wants for our hearts and our lives, or we can start in a place of being ungrateful, of being a little Ebenezer Scrooge, or just not even trying to think about it, or thinking about all the all the hardship, all the busyness that's to come in this holiday season, or have our heart in the right place, knowing that not only are we going to be in a time where it's going to be of giving and generosity, of gratitude, but that we have a God to be grateful for in the midst of it.

You know, before Jesus had the crown on his head in glory, he went to a cross.

Before he went to the cross, he was in a cradle.

God's given us some amazing gifts.

Not only that, every single gift comes from God.

I want to teach you this scripture this morning, James 1 17.

It says, Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God, our Father, who created all the lights in heaven.

He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.

Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God.

Any good thing that we have in our life to lay claim to or say that we have, we learn from the scripture that every good thing comes from God.

Now never everybody believes that.

And quite honestly, there's probably some of us that are in the house today that feel like, you know what?

I mean, I've done a lot of work in my life, too, for the good things I have.

The car, the house, success, the family.

I mean, I have parts of play in this too, right?

Even to go as far as some people who are in a place of thinking that you're self-made.

You ever heard somebody say that?

A self-made man, a self-made woman.

Well, who made yourself?

God did.

Feeling like that your hands work to get the success that you have, or the vehicle that you drive, or the life that you have, who made your hands?

The success that you've had in life, the smarts that you have used, the education that you have gotten, who gave you your brain?

Even as far as to say, all of us here right now this morning, who are breathing in and out, who gave you your breath?

God Himself.

Every good and perfect gift comes from above.

Now I have to say that, you know, I'm like most people, that every breath that I take in and out, I'm not just praising God for every breath that's in my lungs, I can get to a place where I begin to take things for granted.

And then I think about the fact that all the good things that happen in my life, that they are gifts from heaven above.

And it calls a response for us.

You may be one who's in the house today who's feeling that way.

Thinking, you know, well, I've done a lot.

God hasn't done that much for me.

Nobody's ever given me anything.

You know, I was thinking about it.

Even if you're a public school kid like I am, somebody gave that to you.

I know for me, I didn't pay for my education as a kid in the public school.

My parents, other taxpayers, paid for me to go to school.

The education that I had.

I started thinking back to some of the things that even I don't even really think about of, man, these are things that I just kind of take for granted, but really recognizing the fact that it's been a gift.

It's been a gift from above.

We're going to see a passage of scripture today where there's a woman who gives a gift to Jesus.

This story of scripture was alluded to last week when we heard Dustin, who came, Stradley did an amazing job preaching last week, kicking us off with gratitude.

And what I want to do today is I want us to take a step back, to pull out the camera, so to speak, to pull out the lens, to take a step, a bigger picture, and before we even get into a place of gratitude, what do we need to do to even get into that place of gratitude?

And so we're going to look at this passage.

This is Luke chapter 7, starting in verse 36.

Luke 7 · chapter mention

We see a woman who should have never even been able to be in the presence of Jesus, and that in comparison some people who were very ungrateful who were also around Jesus.

And we get kicked off at the house of a Pharisee, this religious teacher, religious lawyer, so to speak.

The Jewish tradition, they were very skeptical of Jesus and his ministry.

Something very similar that we see in this same kind of feeling from the Pharisees happens in this passage.

Starting in verse 36.

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him.

So Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.

When a certain immoral woman from the city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive.

Lost my place here.

Expensive perfume.

Thank you.

Here we go.

Perfume.

And then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping.

Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair.

And then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them on them.

And when the Pharisees who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would know the kind of woman that he would know what kind of woman is touching him.

She is a sinner already in this passage.

We see two people.

Pharisee, who thinks that they've worked all these good works and that they are self-made people, following the laws, invited Jesus to their home, to their home, juxtaposed compared to a woman, this immoral woman who comes before Jesus, seeking after him, and wanting to be a blessing to him and wanting to come to him, even though she is a sinner in need of grace.

From the very get-go, she's recognizing the fact that Jesus is a gift.

So much so that she brings a gift to give back to him.

Before she's even known Jesus, before she's even had Jesus do anything for her, she brings a gift to be a blessing and to give a gift to him, knowing the gift that he's been to her.

And what her presence in his life is.

You know, um these Pharisees.

They had everything.

They had all the clout, they had all the status.

They had everybody hanging off of their words as they taught.

But they didn't recognize that the Savior was in their very home.

There's some of us who have been given much.

There's some of us that have accomplished things or that have lots of things given to us.

And there's a response that comes from that.

In Luke chapter 12, verse 48, the scripture says, but someone who does not know and then does something wrong will be punished only lightly.

Luke 12:48

And when someone has been given much, much will be required in return.

And when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.

Makes me think about uh Uncle Ben and Spider Man.

With much power comes much responsibility.

Anybody know that line?

Jesus teaches us the fact that there's been plenty of us, and I'd say that we could probably say this as followers of Jesus or even Americans that we have been given much.

Thankful this last week that we got to celebrate Veterans Day and give honor to those veterans who many who have served in difficult places, even given the ultimate sacrifice so that we could have freedom as Americans.

Can I get an amen?

Can we just give a round of applause real quick for our veterans here in the house today?

They've served.

They've given much.

Jesus tells us those of us who have been given much, those who've given much, much is then required.

That's not what happens with the Pharisees and this sinner.

Immediately as she comes into the house, they're judging her.

Telling Jesus, he would this person, Jesus, could not even be a prophet if he knew what kind of person this lady was.

Who's trying to worship and touch his feet.

She was grateful.

She was thankful.

She knew who Jesus was.

She knew what he was gonna do for her.

You know, many of us have the opportunity to either be ungrateful or for us to be grateful.

You know that gratefulness that we have?

You know what that's gonna lead to if we're grateful?

That gratefulness is gonna lead to a gratefulness in our lives.

Gratefulness that we have, it leads to a gratefulness in our life.

The fact that we can be not only a grateful person who recognizes all that we have been given, but that translates into the fact that then we take that great gratefulness and it moves into gratitude of God, and ultimately that gratitude leads into generosity.

It says, remember this a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop.

But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.

You must decide in your heart how much to give.

Don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure, for God loves a person who gives cheerfully, and God will generously provide all you need.

Everybody say all.

God will generously provide all you need, and then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.

Everybody say others.

To much is given, much is required.

We have a heart of gratitude to the Lord, it leads for us to have a life that is of much gratefulness.

Not only the fact that God promises us that when we have a heart of generosity, when we sow generously that in that He's going to provide for us, that we would have plenty, and so much plenty that we would be able to share with other people.

That's not just a throwaway line in the scripture, that's a promise.

That's not something for us to just ignore and let go in one ear and out the other.

This is the word of God.

Spoken to us and giving us a choice to believe it or not.

Now, many of y'all know that I have an eight-week old baby.

Yes, little Magnolia.

I've got a three-year-old daughter.

Right now, she has pink eye.

Not fun.

Uh, but I've got an eight-week-old at home.

And for any of y'all who have been uh a parent of a small child, man, you know, sleep is uh something right now that we're doing in small shifts.

But grateful for every time that she sleeps for, you know, longer than you know, three to four hours.

The crying.

We went to the doctor a few weeks ago.

The doctor said, oh, she's got she's crying so much she has colic.

And let me tell you, my wife has taken the brunt of all the baby stuff.

She's on maternity to leave right now, so um don't have any sympathy for me.

Emily's doing it all, pretty much.

But uh, I am back changing diapers.

And you know, when you're in that mode and you're like, man, I'm like, oh, we're starting this all over again.

You know what I recently found?

I recently found this.

This is like the 8 or 12 week ultrasound for little Magnolia.

And it wasn't too long ago, last year, it was like around the Christmas time that we found out that we were pregnant.

And thinking back to the joy and the excitement, the gratitude of seeing this little picture with this little blob.

And they're like, there's your kid.

Don't know a boy or girl yet, any of those things.

But this is Magnolia.

It gives a different perspective when you're changing the diapers.

And the nights that we're in right now.

You think back to the gratitude and the joy of the gift that was given.

Boy, it's easy to take things for granted, isn't it?

I know it is for me.

Look at Jesus' response, what Jesus' response was to the Pharisee.

Verse 40.

Luke seven, verse forty.

Then Jesus answered his thoughts.

We there.

Luke seven, verse forty.

Then Jesus answered his thoughts.

That's a powerful line right there.

Simon, he said to the Pharisee, I have something to say to you.

Go ahead, teacher, Simon replied.

Then Jesus told him this story.

A man loaned money to two people, five hundred pieces of silver to one and fifty pieces to the other.

But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debt.

Who do you suppose loved him more after that?

And Simon answered, I suppose the one whom he canceled the larger debt.

That's right, Jesus said.

You ever had a debt cancel before?

Feels good.

You ever been forgiven of something?

Boy, it feels good.

I uh ran into somebody from high school that I hadn't seen in 20 years.

Young lady, and I saw her this week, and I was like, oh, what was out and about?

I was like, oh, is that you?

You know, I haven't seen you so oh my goodness, haven't seen you since high school.

Uh and she's very kindly reminded me.

She's like, remember in your middle school?

And you said this really mean thing to me in class.

Now I'm not even gonna say what it was because it was that mean.

And I said, Hey, her name's Mandy.

I said, Mandy, 20 years later, I just want to let you know, I I'm really sorry.

I apologize.

Will you forgive me?

And she was like, that really hurt my feelings.

I'm like, I'm sure that it did because it was that bad, but will you forgive me?

And she's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's all good.

And that felt good.

It's also one of the reasons why I try to stay out of Shelby County, you know?

Because all the people from middle school and high school that have to apologize for saying and doing dumb stuff.

But you know, it feels good to be forgiven.

It feels good to receive that forgiveness.

Makes you feel grateful.

Jesus gives this comparison.

Somebody had a larger debt and a smaller debt.

Which one of the two is more grateful?

Which one of the two was more thankful?

Which one of the two loved him more?

The one who was forgiven of much.

Who was thankful even more for all the things that they had been forgiven from?

The more that we are forgiven, the more love is given.

The more given, the more is the more grateful that we are.

And how can we stay in a place of ungratefulness?

Maybe you're like me.

Maybe the job that you now hate, you once prayed for it.

Maybe you're like me, that the baby that you prayed for and have, now you find yourself taking things for granted.

Maybe the house that you prayed for and wanted, and now you're annoyed with all the things that get broken.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be in a place of ungratefulness or ingratitude.

I want to be in a place thanking God for the good gifts that He's given us.

That child that you prayed for is now an annoyance.

Come on, parents.

I'm stepping on toes.

But speaking from a place of knowing that God wants us to have a heart.

It's filled with his love.

Because how much that he's given to us.

You know, we have an opportunity with whatever it is that we have to not take it for granted.

Paul teaches us in Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

It says, How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again, and now you've always been concerned for me, but didn't have a chance to help me.

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

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

I've learned the secret of living in every situation, whether with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.

For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.

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

Philippians 4.13.

We see that verse all the time, right?

Football players put it on their oblack, it's on shoes, it's out there, you know, you see people put it in their bio.

But most of them don't put the Philippians 4.12 right before it, where he says, I've learned to have a full belly or an empty one.

To be with little or with plenty.

I'm like, I can do all things through Christ.

I'm lifting these weights right now.

I can do all things through Christ.

We can.

But what's he really talking about?

He's talking about our mindset.

He's talking about knowing what it is to have contentment and to be grateful.

With much or with little.

Jesus addresses the lack of love and the ungratefulness that's in the room.

In verse 44, Luke 7.

Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, Look at this woman kneeling here.

When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

You didn't greet me with a kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet.

You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she anointed my feet with rare perfume.

I tell you her sins, and they are many, have been forgiven.

So she has shown me much love.

But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.

And then Jesus said to the woman, Your sins are forgiven.

And the men at the table said among themselves, Who is this man that goes around forgiving sins?

And Jesus said to the woman, Your faith has saved you.

Go in peace.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Jesus speaks right to their hearts of not recognizing who he was and what he's done in their lives.

That he is a savior of the world.

He tells them to their face, I walked in this house, and there's no love here.

There's no gratitude here.

But this woman who you look down on has shown me much love.

You know, I think about all that God has done.

And then through the lives of us sitting in this room, our church.

I get to thinking about us meeting in the movie theater and starting to get cold.

And I was sitting over here worshiping and thinking about the fact that just a year and a half ago, Multiply Church was just 12 people sitting at Sage Coffee Shop here in Frankfurt.

Just a year and a half ago.

Just 12 of us looking at each other and being like, we're gonna do this thing.

Let's start somewhere.

And now today to get to be in a room like this and to sing and listen to y'all worship.

See what God has done in the lives of families and through our church.

I can't help but be grateful.

I can't help but be thankful that God has done this work in a relatively short time.

Think about all that we experienced.

I get me really in my feels about this time because it was Thanksgiving of 20 and 20, of 2020 when Emily and I moved from Charleston back to Kentucky to see Multiply Church be planted.

I start to think about that and think about the perspective and the gratitude that I have for you, for what God's done in our lives through our church, the salvation that's come.

Every good and perfect gift that comes from above above, including the gift of salvation.

Ephesians 2, 8 through 9 says, God saved you by his grace when you believed.

You can't take credit for this.

It's a gift from God.

Salvation is not a reward for the good things you've done, so none of us can boast about it.

Salvation from God, the grace from God, it is a gift.

It is a gift.

And we got to see God do that in and through our lives of our church this year, and we're gonna see more and more and more, aren't we?

The fact that we get to come into this place and that we have salvation in Christ, the fact that we have been forgiven.

But being forgiven, it starts with recognizing what you have been given.

And that leads to you being forgiven.

You've been given a Savior who put himself on the cross in your place and died for you.

You have been given eternal life from now until the end of time to be in eternity with God.

You have been given a royal bloodline and a crown as a son or daughter of the Most High Jesus, if you're in him.

You have been given so much.

And when you recognize that you've been given Jesus, it leads to you.

It leads to you having been forgiven.

I'm excited what God is going to do, and then through this generosity and gratitude series.

It's leading up to us as a church collectively on December the 11th, us all collectively as a church having a giving day.

Now we did this this last year at Christmas time.

Many of you weren't around then.

That's a good thing.

And at the end of last year, we were able to give as a church to different nonprofits locally who centered on women and children, and we saw God move powerfully.

It's kind of crazy to think about that last Christmas we hadn't even launched yet.

We launched this March.

Last Christmas, we haven't even launched a church.

And collectively on our give day, we got to give over$40,000 to invest into Frankfurt to see the lives of women and children changed.

And we're going to have an opportunity to do that this year.

Last year we focused on women and children.

This year we're focusing on teenagers.

Teenagers.

One, we want to give to Young Life.

Y'all heard in the host time is talking about Young Life.

If you've been around, you've heard a lot about it over the last few months.

Young Life is a teen organization that it's a Christian ministry that's all over the country, all 50 states, 80 countries, that they are so good at connecting with and reaching lost kids, teenagers.

And we want to lead the way and have been leading the way to see them come to Franklin County.

And so, in order for them to get kind of off the ground, they can start with a teacher staff, is what they call it.

Some a teacher that's a local school that could also be a staff person.

And the cost of that is$10,000.

I'm believing in faith that the Lord can use us to see that happen.

That we can lead the way and catalyze for it to come to Franklin County.

Now there's other options.

You can have a part-time staff person, you can have a full-time staff person, ranging from$10,000 all the way to$100,000 or$70,000 for full-time.

But I'm believing the faith that God's going to use us as a catalyst and for us to lead the way in giving to see this happen here in Franklin County.

You know what else we get to focus on with teenagers?

This is so fun.

Last year we got to sponsor 50 kids with the Wanda Joyce Robinson Foundation.

And man, that was a beautiful time where we got to sponsor for Christmas all Christmas gifts.

We got partnered with them with Southland that helped us to do Christmas joy.

To see 54 kids here in Franklin County who are impacted by incarceration.

They have a parent or guardian who's currently incarcerated.

And many of you, y'all remember, going through all those toys and sorting them and then seeing them get delivered to these different families.

And this is so cool, y'all.

This year, we get to sponsor 50 or 60 Wanda Joyce Robinson kids again, but these are now teenagers.

But here's the cool part.

Here's the cool part.

The gift that we gave at the end of last year for year-in-giving that we gave to the Wanda Joyce Robinson Foundation, a gift of$10,000, opened the door and paved the way that this year they didn't have any teen in any high school or middle school ministry.

And our gift at the beginning of this year allowed them to start mentorship in high school and middle schools.

This was the director Amy told me.

She said, Thank you for your gift at the beginning of the year, because now we have 50 or 60 teenagers that we're able to spot to mentor and sponsor that we weren't connecting with last year.

She said, Would you all be willing to do Christmas for those teenagers this year?

And I said, Let's do it.

Come on.

Come on.

Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

And so you'll be hearing more about that.

We'll be doing the Christmas joy, and it'll be connected with our small groups, and then you'll get some kids for you to sponsor and go out and buy for.

So more details will come on that.

But I'm just so excited about what God's going to do.

And there's more to come.

There's more for me to share about this series, and I will be over the next coming weeks.

But I know this, if much is given, much is required.

We've been given so much.

Maybe for you this week, you need to think back to something that God laid on your heart, something that was just a prayer in your life that now is happening.

The spouse that you prayed for that now you have.

The child, the career.

Think back.

Think back.

The home that you live in.

Car that you drive, whatever it is.

To grow your heart in gratitude.

Maybe for you today, maybe you're one of the ones that need to receive the gift that's from Jesus of salvation.

You need to ask Jesus to forgive you.

You need to recognize that you have been given an amazing gift that you could not buy or purchase for yourself, your salvation.

Today would be the day for you to give your life to Jesus, to receive the gift.

Him dying on the cross for you in your place for all your mess-ups and all the bad things and the sin that you've done, just like this woman who is crying at the feet of Jesus, today may be your day.

For you to give your life to Jesus and for him to look at you and say, You've been forgiven.

Would you bow your heads and pray with me now?

Father, all across this room, Lord, we ask you, God, to help us.

Lord, as we head into this season of generosity, gratitude, Father, Lord, that you wouldn't let us stick or stay in a place of being ungrateful.

But instead, God, that we would, Lord, recognize and see how powerful you are, God, what you've given to us.

That Lord, we wouldn't take things for granted or try to cut you out and think that we're self-made, but instead, God, that we give you all the glory and praise.

We recognize, God, even the breath in our lungs, Lord.

God, that you gave it to us.

So we thank you for that.

Father, I pray all across this room, Lord, that there's somebody in this house, God, that has not given their life to you, that's not asked for your forgiveness.

Lord, that's not given over their heart and heard those words, you are forgiven from you, Christ, today would be that day.

So, God, I pray all across the room, Lord, if there's anybody in that place, Lord, that they would pray to you, pray, Jesus, save me in their heart and mine.

Jesus, save me.

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

Forgive me.

I believe in you.

I give my life to you.

You gave your life for mine.

Thank you for saving me.

In Jesus' name.

Nobody looking around, no heads up.

If you're in the house today and you prayed that prayer for God's forgiveness, for you to be saved, would you just quietly raise your hand so that I can see you?

So I can pray for you.

If you prayed that prayer to give your life to Jesus, slip your hand up.

God, we thank you for your salvation.

We thank you for new life that's in you.

God, we praise you.

We thank you, Father, for what you're doing among us right now.

We love you.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Will you celebrate together, church?

Right now, together.

Would you stand to your feet now as we close in worship?