Multiply | April 19 2026 (Part 2)

Well, if you brought a Bible, why don't you turn with me to

Mark's gospel? This is in the New Testament.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. You know where to find that.

Last week we began a series called Multiply, and we've been

looking at really the parallels, beginning to look at some of the

parables of Jesus, which are all related to the Kingdom of God,

which was the primary topic of his teaching.

Fascinating. And we've been looking at the

expanding nature of the Kingdom that is expressed in the

parables and wrapping our mind around this rather big idea that

you and I were made to multiply. That if you have received the

grace of Jesus Christ of God through Jesus Christ, we have

something to pass on to people that that to be loved and to be

forgiven and to be made whole, and that that that process of

restoration has begun. It's not something that we're

meant to keep to ourselves, but it is to be shared with with

others. Romans 10 verse 17 says faith

Romans 10:17

comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Take a look at the people around you right now.

Just take a take your, your. It's OK to Google.

Get the person next to you. Google, What's the word?

Yes. Ogle Oht.

My word. Google has really gotten into my

mind. Wow.

Yeah, no, that's nowhere close. That was bad.

Anyway, the people around you are here because someone shared

the word with him. Someone, someone passed it on to

us in some way. About 80% of the people that are

in the church in particular have been invited by someone.

We have been exposed to the Word of God through the influence of

other people, and we are that people.

We are meant to be that somebody who has shared it with somebody.

It's not meant to just be for us.

Salvation is awesome, but it's also meant to be shared as well

as enjoyed personally. It's actually part of the

enjoyment process. Now, that idea of sharing the

word of God with people, that can be a very overwhelming

thought, right? It can be very intimidating.

You feel the pressure, maybe feel the weight on her

shoulders. And, you know, we think you know

me, not me. I mean, that person can do it.

That person is a overachiever. That person is a, you know, type

A personality. They had tons of friends and

that's good. But not me, surely.

Surely not me. I just want us to pause and

think about that kind of thinking that is largely in the

minds of most of us, that I'm not capable of bringing someone

to Christ. I'm not capable of making that

kind of an influence and impacting someone that they

would follow the word of God. If you think about that, if we

ever would think that I'm capable of bringing someone to

Christ and making such an impact in the life of another person by

bringing to the Word of God, I've got a serious problem.

Because no one is capable, Not a single person is capable of

bringing someone to Christ. And one of the reasons why Jesus

is teaching us about the Kingdom of God through parables is to

liberate us from that kind of thinking that it's all up to us.

He is gonna bring a massive measure of freedom to us because

multiplication, we're talking about application.

It's not something that we can do.

It's something that only God can do.

We have a part to play, to be sure, but it's actually a very

small part. Most of our job is to trust in

the one who can do it, and that's what Jesus is gonna talk

about here in this in this parable today.

So just before we read the word together, let's offer a prayer

to God. Lord, we first of all, Lord, we

thank you for a beautiful day. In other words, there's some

sunshine breaking through. Let me pray that the sunshine of

your presence, Your Holy Spirit would penetrate our hearts and

minds and that you'd speak to us and and teach us what we need to

hear. That your word would go forth in

all the earth and that you would be magnified and you alone in

Jesus name we pray e-mail. I'm in Marks Gospel chapter 4

and we're starting in verse one. Everybody good with me again,

Jesus began to teach by the lake.

The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got

into a boat and sat in it out on the lake while all the people

were along the shore of the water at the water's edge.

So just picture this. The crowd is so big, they're on

the shore. Jesus pops into a boat to preach

a sermon. This is a, this is a floating

pulpit going on here and lots of churches they kind of spent a

lot of time invested in what are we going to place the pulpits?

Some will have it on the side, some in the middle or whatever.

What size should the pole be? Just just get the word out that

that's the idea. Jesus used whatever situation He

was in to preach the Word and here He is getting ready to do

that. Verse 2.

He taught them many things by parables.

In fact, there are other texts that say he didn't say anything

without saying a parable like he.

He spoke of these parable parables, a story we talked

about that last week. Just so the word parable, so

para means alongside of it is a story that's told alongside of

something else to bring clarity to what we're talking about.

It's Jesus is using these stories of very common everyday

experiences to teach us about something that is not so common,

that is spiritual, that underlies everything alongside

of this very common thing. We're gonna use this common

thing in order to describe something that is invisible

about the Kingdom of God. It's all about how the Kingdom

of God expands. And so he uses these very, very

tangible, very concrete stories in order to do that.

Verse 3 Here it comes so and in his teaching he said, listen, a

farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed,

some fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up.

Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil.

It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow, but when the

sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered

because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns,

which grew up and choked the plants so that they did not bear

grain perceived still other seed fell on good soil.

It came up, grew, and produced a crop, some multiplying 30, some

60, some 100 times. Then Jesus said, whoever has

ears to hear, let them here. We'll just pause right there.

I remember the very first time I read this parable and reread

this parable. I had ears to hear in the sense

that I heard the parable, but I did not understand the parable.

Anybody with me? Jesus is gonna give the

interpretation of it here soon, but before that time think about

being one of the here first hearers of that parable.

Would you been able to connect? Likely, likely not.

Jesus do the parables. What he's doing is he's he's

intriguing in some, some ways he's jarring our understanding

of things and really inspiring us to sort of lean in and, and,

and learn a little bit more. Now, this particular parable is

one that in all of the Gospels comes first.

And so this is very important for us to understand what the

Kingdom is all about. It's kind of foundational,

foundational stuff. So here we go, verse 10.

He's spoken the parable. Now, when he was alone, the 12

that is the 12 disciples, his followers and the others around

him asked him about the parable. So the questioning him right

there, the, the, the they're wanting to they're, they're

leaning in trying to find out. Not everybody in the crowd, but

there were a few that did. Verse 11 He told them The secret

of the Kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on

the outside everything is said in parables so that they may be

ever seen, but never perceiving and ever hearing but never

understanding, otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.

This these couple verses, verse 11 and 12 have been very

troublesome for many people, including myself.

It's like, OK, Jesus is speaking these parables to people on the

outside so that they may maybe ever seen, but never perceiving,

ever hearing, but never understanding.

Otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.

He's quoting Isaiah chapter 6. Is it that Jesus is speaking in

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

parables so that people won't get it?

That just does not make sense. And that's really not what what,

at least in the context of of of of Isaiah isn't is insane.

He is speaking in a way that will intrigue people and those

who aren't interested. Those who feel no need to find

out more will ignore it, but for those who have an interest,

they're gonna lean in. They're invited to come a little

bit closer to Jesus and to find out what the Kingdom is all

about. There's all kinds of arguments

going flying around about, you know, the sovereignty of God and

the free will of men here. Mark doesn't even deal with that

stuff. He just leaves the tension.

Don't worry about that stuff. If you're intrigued, lean in.

If this is something that that you're not interested in, then

you're you're, you're just gonna ignore it anyway.

But of course, Jesus's heart is that we would all turn toward

him, all lean in and learn more about what the Kingdom of God is

like for searching. Then Jesus said to them, and

here comes he says, Don't you understand this parable?

How then will you understand any parable?

It might sound like a little like a scathing rebuke, but it

really isn't. What Jesus is saying is that

this parable is so foundational to the Kingdom of God, all the

other parables are connected to it.

And so listen, listen to what I have to say here.

And here He is going to explain it.

Verse 14 The farmer sows the word.

Some people are like seed along the path where the word is sown.

As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word

that was sown in them. Others, like seed seeds sown on

rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.

But since they have no root, they last only a short time.

When troubled or persecution comes because of the Word, they

quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown

among thorns, hear the word. But the worries of this life,

the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things

come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

Others, like seeds sown on good soil, hear the word except it

and produce a crop some 30, some 60, some 100 times.

But was sown multiplication, multiplication.

So let's just walk through this briefly.

Verse 14, we have the solar for the farmer sowing seed, but he's

sewing the word. He's spreading the word, and

notice that he's spreading it everywhere.

Every square inch of his property is getting seed and

some of it 3/4 of it is just gonna go to waste it would seem.

So it looks like the odds are are are pretty discouraging that

anything great is gonna happen there.

But it shows you the heart of God that he wants everybody to

know him. He is spreading the word

absolutely everywhere. And where is it gonna grow?

That's the question. And so there's these different

types of soil versus 15. Some people are like seed along

the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan

comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

So the path, it's like a footpath.

Some of the seed falls in the footpath.

It's hard and ground. And that would represent people

who are resistant to the word of God.

And then here comes he. He enters Satan into the

picture, which is really reminder to us that there is an

enemy that is working against the Kingdom of God.

There's nothing that state would want more than to keep people

outside of the Kingdom of God, the rule of God, the love and

the grace of God. First soil type resistant verse

16 Others like seed sown on rocky places hear the word and

at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root,

they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution

comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

So this example is of of, you know, like a thin layer of soil

that's on a on rock face. And so the, the plant will,

will, will grow quickly, but because there's no roots, it's

not gonna, it's not gonna be able to, to sustain itself.

And this represents those who are really in for an easy life.

And as soon as things get difficult, it's like this isn't

working anymore and they abandoned the word.

Keep moving. Still others, verse 18, like

seed sown among thorns, hear the word.

But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of

deceitfulness of wealth and the desires of other things come in

and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

So here we have the depth was there, but because of other

things that were crowding in other interests, that person

doesn't doesn't produce fruit. There's no multiplication that

happens. Desires for other things creep

in, but in verse twenty others, like seed sown on good soil,

hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop some 30, some 60,

some 100 times what was sown. Here we have someone who hears

the word and accepts it. That's the only word we're

given. Accepts it.

And that word literally means to welcome something, to embrace

this thing, to to, to take it in to our life.

And as a result of that, fruit is produced.

It's almost like, it's like, it's like it's automatic

multiplication takes place. Now, maybe you've heard many

sermons on the parable of the sower, you've studied it

yourself, maybe you've heard some commentaries on it,

etcetera. Often the focus is on the

different types of soil. And this is important.

You know, we might think about it, what kind of soil am I or

what kind of soil are the people in my life?

And we can think about it in that term, in those terms.

But primarily, what this parable is about is about the seed.

It's about the Word and the power of the Word.

The Word of God is like a seed. It's not like a shoe or a car.

It's living, and when it's planted, life comes out of it.

It brings life to things. Living and active is the word,

and it's gonna have and impact. And here you have the solar

scattering seeds scattering the word all over the place. 3/4 of

it is likely not gonna have any impact, but there's still a

breathtaking harvest that takes place 100 times.

Like we're talking about major multiplication going on here.

Extremely fruitful. No ordinary harvest is the

point, which I think is incredibly encouraging because

this is a miracle that takes place.

And I think it's an encouragement to the disciples

primarily, who are going to be Soares of the seed, who are

going to be spreading the word to it, to other people in that,

you know what, 3/4 of your laborers are going to seem to go

to waste. But the word is gonna reach its

mark. It's gonna hit good soil and

when it does, it's gonna produce a crop.

What's being talked about here, the multiplication that's gonna

happen the the, the, the production of the harvest is not

a man made thing. It's a God thing, and the

emphasis is all in the power of the Word to bring the harvest.

Isaiah chapter 55 you know is the rain and and the snow come

Isaiah 55 · chapter mention

down from heaven and do not return to it without watering

the earth, making it bud and flourish so that yields seed for

the silver and bread to the eater.

So my word goes out from my mouth and will not return to me

empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose

for which I sent it. God's Word is powerful and Jesus

wants his disciples, everyone of his followers, to know it.

Don't depend on yourself. It's not about your efforts.

It's not about your capabilities, it's not about

your skills. It's about my word and I want

you to be faithful to share it and let my word do the work.

That word contains the good news of the gospel.

Everything in the Bible points to the gospel.

It's all context for this incredible good news, and

Adriana shared much of that in the children's message.

I want to share with you 4 chapters of the gospel which are

really answers to the main life questions that we have.

This was summarized in Tim Keller's book Centre Church.

First question is this, where did we come from?

The word of God answers that question.

We came from God. There is a God and He is and he

cares about us and he loves us and he wants relationship with

us and our full identity is found in him to whom we belong.

Second question, why did things go wrong on this planet?

We look around, things are not all right, right?

There's a lot that's wrong in the world.

Quick answer, sin, sin, not in the sense of hey, we missed the

mark, which is true. That is a definite definition of

sin. But it's more that we have

rebelled against God, rebelled against his authority.

We've kind of set up our own government.

We want to do things ourselves. It's kind of like high treason

toward God. And as a result, everything has

begun to fall apart. Everything.

And the only solution, real solution to any of our problems.

Comes when we deal with that rebellion problem, when we

resist God. 3rd question. What will put things right?

What is it that will put things right in a word and a person?

It's Christ. Christ puts it alright.

Christ, God in the flesh, has come to be our substitute

substitutionary atonement. He has come to live that

righteous life that we're meant to live, but we failed to do so

on our behalf. And he's also died, that death

that we deserve to die on the cross so that we could be

forgiven and that relationship with God could be restored.

And he rose to life in order to bring new life to us, to bring

restoration. Jesus has come to restore all

things, and He's beginning one person at a time.

If you've received Christ, you are part of a new creation.

Beautiful. Fully full restoration is

coming, but it has begun. And then the last question for

how can I be put right? How can I be put right?

And the answer is by faith. It's only by faith.

I can't make things right in my life.

I can't put my life back together.

My life is unmanageable. As one of the principles of CR,

it's true, but through my faith and what Christ has done and is

restoring work, that's when the restoration begins in me.

That's when I forgiveness starts.

That's when healing begins and I am invited to join Him in this

grand venture of restoring the world one person at a time.

God still restoring me, and He's using me to help restore other

people. It's the coolest thing.

There's nothing cooler than that.

It is awesome. So that's the core of the story.

That's the core of what God's Word is communicating us to to

us. Now I think about think about

the first time that that lights went on for you.

Perhaps they haven't. Maybe they're going on for you

right now. Maybe they haven't quite gotten

on you. But I remember for me the first

time that suddenly I woke up to the grace of God, that it wasn't

all about me. I I tried to live a very

religious life for, for for for those first couple decades of my

life and trying to be a St. Trying to live right and

realizing I could not do it, but the grace of God and Jesus

Christ met me and I realized even though I'm an utter failure

at doing this, I am loved by the God who has made provision for

me in the midst of it. That was that.

Just everything suddenly came together for me.

All of these disjointed stories that I would read in the Bible

or hear about everything suddenly came together and I

realized, no, this is all about the power of God at work in

broken people, power of God at work in me.

The Word brings life. That's where it all begins.

That's where restoration begins. Peter chapter one, first Peter

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. He says this, For you have been

born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable

through the living and enduring Word of God.

For all people are like grass, and all their glories like the

flowers of the field. The grass Withers and the

flowers fall, but the Word of the Lord endures forever.

Everything begins with a word, with that seed that's planted in

us, and then life begins and that word is what endures

forever. That's where the power is or

James chapter one verse 18 says he chose that his God chose to

give us birth through the word of truth.

That is the word of God Bible that we might be a kind of first

fruits of all he created. That's where it all begins.

The word brings life to us. We enter into a new creation and

now we're the first fruits. We're the beginning and that all

those who would have relationship with us can be

impacted because we have been impacted.

We're meant to spread that restoration news to others.

You know which, as we look at the early church and what

happened to the early church, everything began with a word.

Remember in chapter 2 it says that they devoted themselves to

the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of

bread, and to prayer. Everything begins with the

devotion to the apostles teaching the Word of God

contemplated on that and then there was massive repercussions

in the in the in the community of faith people started getting

generous people started recognizing the grace of God

that was on them and wanted to share it.

And at the end verse in verse 47 it says and the Lord added to

their number daily those who were being saved.

That's where multiplication happens begins with the word of

God. Later on in chapter 6 of Acts

talks about when elders and deacons were established, when

they separated their roles and good things were happening in

the church. Practical needs were being met

and godly leadership was in place and church government was

was taking shape and people were sharing ministry, which was

awesome. But all of that stuff just

created the conditions where the Word of God could be liberated

to change the hearts of people for seven it says.

So this is after all these things were in place.

So the Word of God spread, and as a result of that, the number

of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large

number of priests became obedient to the faith.

What's the point? The Word of God is where the

power is. That's where the power is.

And when we begin to realize that it shapes the way that we

pass things on. It's not about us, it's about

the power of the word. We're called to scatter the

seed. Let's let God do the rest of the

work. What do you think, Amy?

Are you ready? You wanna come up?

I I've asked Amy Lenstra to come and to share some of her

experiences in this regard. Can we give her a warm welcome?

She can't. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Amy. I Co own and operate a small

coffee shop in Smithville called Milk and Honey.

We called it Milk and Honey based on the Old Testament idea

of God's abundance as his people walk through wilderness.

And this theme is actually what also largely convinced me that

God was both real and that he really loved me.

Because when I was going through some really dark times, God's

people came into my life and were just incredibly kind and

asked, what are you doing? And they said, well, Jesus loves

us and he loves you too. And so milk and honey is meant

to be a space where people can walk in and be known and loved

and cared for. It's it is a business and the

coffee is very good and invite you to come try it.

And the space is beautiful. But all of that is secondary for

us. So we get a few minutes with

every person who walks through our doors, and our hope is that

when they walk in, they feel like they've met a friend and we

get asked how they're doing. And often we get to celebrate

things with them, but we also get to hear stories of real

struggles that real people have. So on our second day of business

ever, a young woman knocked in and I was like, hey, how's it

going? And she said, uh, not good.

I, I had a miscarriage yesterday and I don't know, you know, how

to feel or where to go or what to do.

So I came here because I had nowhere to be and I changed my

tone pretty quickly and said, well, I'm glad you're here, have

a seat, I'm gonna make you something.

And by the way, I believe in a God who loves us and cares for

us. And I don't know if you do, but

can I pray for you? And he did.

And she ended up going her way and I went back to a crazy day

and we actually still talked to this day and continued to talk

about Christ. For us as pretty new business

owners, it's really easy to get caught up in our day-to-day and

we forget that this is our purpose.

And maybe that resonates with some of you.

Usually it's by actually sharing stories of what we already see

God doing that we get excited again.

We're like, Oh yeah, let's get back into this.

And so the prayer is usually as we refocus God, will you let us

see the people today who are walking through doors, who need

a friend and who need to know you love them and just give us

the courage to take that opportunity.

We don't have a set script. We don't have like a a word we

use every time, but we have a map called an Oikos map.

Oyco stands for a household in Greek, and it basically gives

you a visual aid to see who are the people that are kind of in

your direct context that you get to minister to.

You can pray over that. You're looking for opportunities

to speak with. And so one of the people on our

map, I'm actually gonna give her a different name because I'm

hoping she's gonna come with me to church one day.

We'll call her Katie. She used to struggle with

addiction and she found out she was pregnant and she needed to

get out of addiction. So she went into rehab and found

God there. At least be gay and to believe

that there was a God and that he loved her.

And we've been talking with her for about a year.

We've been inviting her to a new believers Bible study also for

about a year. A couple of weeks ago we were

gifted a little gift basket to just pass on to someone who we

felt needed it. And unknown to us, there was the

Gospel of John in this basket. We didn't know that Katie didn't

have a Bible. She has never opened a Bible.

She's never read a Bible, but she believes in God.

So this past week she came to Bible study and she was carrying

the Gospel of John. She said, oh, you guys gave this

to me and this past week was the first day as a Bible study that

they were gonna open the book of John.

God really cares about the details.

I would encourage you to look and see where he's showing up in

those ways. So the Oikos map and the idea of

multipling the Kingdom for us in practice really just looks like

genuine friendships. We are willing to be a little

and comfy and to just sprinkle Jesus into everyday

conversations. I mentioned to anybody I can

that I go to church on Sunday. You should come.

You know, all my church is in Grimsby.

It's really friendly. I'll sit with you.

I'll try to be on time and we can come in together.

I'm never on time. And yeah, we just, we offer to

pray for people and it usually looks like that conversation.

Hey, I don't know if you know God, but I do.

And I know he loves you. Can I pray with you?

So last week mentioned Matthew 2819 to go and make disciples of

all nations. And I just started with all the

coffee drinkers in a very small town in Canada.

So thank you. So good, Amy.

Thank you. We were made to multiply.

We were made to multiply and we need, we need to just trust God

and the power of His Word and just be faithful to scatter that

seed and trust that He will bring the harvest.

The work of a multiplier starts in verse 20 of this parable

where it says that the disciple that the the the good soil

person hears and accepts the word.

That word accepts talked about as welcoming something into our

lives, fully embracing the entirety of it, enjoying its

good news. That would be my encouragement.

You know, it's, it's interesting that Jesus doesn't talk about

the techniques that we use in order to share the gospel.

He's just talking about the Word and the power of the Word.

Our enjoyment of the word. It it, it, it comes with that to

completely embracing it and and living it out because you think

about it. Adriana made that that point

earlier. You know, if you see a great

movie that you love, don't you wanna tell people about it,

right? Maybe it's an Xbox game, or, or

maybe it's a new recipe that was amazing or whatever it might be.

The things that we really enjoy, the things that we really

appreciated, we can't stop talking about those things.

And Jesus would want that to be the basis of our sharing.

Not all because I have to. I don't really want to share the

word because, you know, enjoy the word, embrace the word,

receive the word, welcome the word in your life, appreciate

its good news, and let that be the vehicle through which we

will be sharing the word with other people.

We don't have to fully understand it.

Who knows everything about the Bible, right?

I don't. No, none of us do Jesus and

talking about this, he's talking about.

He's talking about encouraging his disciples who know so little

to share and let God do the work just to be faithful.

Seeing the value of it, even if we don't understand all of it

fully. Seeing the value of it.

Seeing our need for it and knowing the need that everybody

else has for it as well. So I just want to leave with you

just a few ways that we can sow the seed.

OK, Just a few ways that we can sow the seed.

Social media, even if you're not a big fan of social media and

maybe you're trying to limit your time on social media, but

it was a great way to share the word.

Just put a scripture up there, something that has impacted you.

Powerful people, everybody that knows, you gonna see that

Greeting cards, you know, many of us, you know, you know,

greeting cards are a thing of the past, but green cards are

really great. You know, you can, you can thank

somebody for something, or maybe it's a Christmas card or

whatever birthday card. Share a little scripture off to

the side of it. The person that you're writing

to may not have any appreciation for the Word of God, but the

Word of God is powerful. Even just a few words of it.

If you can put that in, in a meaningful way, not a preachy

way, just a meaningful way. This is, you know it, it can be,

it can, it can make make a massive difference.

Halloween people coming to our house looking for treats, give

them treats, be generous with the treats, but also maybe treat

them to the sweetest thing on the planet, which is the word of

God. Maybe a little card that would

have some quote from Scripture that would be an encouragement

to a little one that they would understand.

Anyway, just think about those kinds of examples.

Inviting someone to a Sunday service to hear the word

preached. It's not about the preacher.

It's about an opportunity to hear the Word of God and allow

that seed to come in and so invite someone to CR.

All the principles of CR that we go go over every Wednesday are

based on scripture and the Scripture is read and that

scripture is powerful. Invite somebody to alpha again,

exposing people to the word of God.

Invite someone to a Bible study. Right.

I didn't even realize you guys did Bible studies.

It's awesome. You think OK well how I I can't

run a Bible study cause I don't know enough about the Bible.

Friends, let's trust God and the power of His Word.

Open the Bible up. I don't have to have all the

answers. And let's just talk about and

let God do His work. That's what life groups are

about. We don't have all of the

answers, but if we can expose ourselves to the Word of God,

the Word is powerful and it's going to reach its mark.

Invite somebody out to coffee and share your stories together,

but maybe include a scripture passage that has really had an

impact on your life and share that with him and maybe ask him

a question about it. What how does that sit with you

or what whatever it might be, but just just bringing that into

some of the conversations of how significant the word of God has

been to you. Share your story first, Peter

315. You know, always be prepared to

give a reason for the hope that you have.

Could you Share your story how you came to Christ or why you're

a follower of Jesus Christ? Be able to do that in a minute

or a couple of minutes. We're we, as Isaac said, we have

baptism classes along with those baptism classes are professional

faith classes too. Even if you have taken, if

you've already said your profession of faith, perhaps in

another church or whatever, or even at this one, and you want

to hone your capacity to be able to Share your story with

anybody, take that course. It's coming up next month.

It's awesome. So just sharing your story,

think small. It's not the blow horn on the

busy street corner of the city proclaiming the word of God.

No, it's who's in my life. You might think, well, I don't

have a lot of friends like Joe does or what, you know?

No, which friend, What friends do you have?

Where are they at with faith and could you share with them

something that was personally meaningful for you in the Word?

We need to be faithful with the few people that we do know make

it very personal and for us parents, these precious little

gifts from God that had been given to us and then I see you

there. I didn't notice you coming in.

We're gonna have to pray for for you.

And anyway, sorry, I'm I'm good to see you, Evan.

Great to see you that we have this responsibility.

Open up the word. Read that word.

I know meal times can be absolute disasters with young

families, but if you even get a verse out, awesome.

And as the kids grow older, crack open the word after the

meal and start talking about the scriptures.

Questions are going to come up and you're not going to have

answers and that's OK. Great question.

Let's research that together before bed.

Get the word open. Just let that seed be sown in

the hearts of our little ones. Just make it.

Make it personal. What One of my favorite stories.

Do I have time for one more? I know, I know.

It's time. OK, No.

We're done. Let's pray.

No. G Campbell Morgan, British

minister I talked about going to, had a trip to Italy and he

wandered into this old cemetery and saw this massive grave site.

Very prominent, well well known person at the time must have

been very wealthy but had this massive marble slab on the grave

site. And what was so mind blowing is

that there must have been an acorn that fell into the into

the grave because this oak tree had grown up and had split this

massive marble slab into two and it was just towering over it.

And you just think about the power of this little seed to

become such an oak tree that had such force.

And this is what this is what Morgan observed.

He says if an acorn which has the power of just biological and

botanical life in it, as slow as it is, if it can split a marble

slab of that magnitude, what do you think the acorn of God's

resurrection power can do in you?

The word of the living God is so powerful, and how many of us

feel like we've got massive marble slabs hanging over our

lives? There's lots of reasons to be

discouraged, lots of things that can weigh us down.

We have many struggles and the world is no different because

we're all experiencing a broken world that life.

But the Word of God can break through it all, can breakthrough

it all, if we will believe it, if we will accept it and we will

share it. God will multiply.

He will multiply our efforts. Let's pray Lord, you are such a

good God that you would give us the gift of Your Holy Word and

what we confess. We don't understand all of it,

Lord. We confess that our faith is

sometimes weak when we approach it, but this day, no, this day,

Lord, we praise you for the power of your word and that you

would grant to us an increasing faith to want to share it

because it is life giving for us.

It's life giving to this world and you want to multiply your

goodness throughout this planet and expand your Kingdom.

Lord, may you use us. May You use us for Your glory,

the Lord. We recognize our weaknesses and

so we pray that You would send Your Holy Spirit upon us.

Just like the disciples were instructed to wait for the power

from on high to fill them, that they would be witnesses, we pray

that same power, You, Holy Spirit, would fill us up and

bold us, fill us with the love of God and with the faith in

Your Word, Lord, that we would be multipliers in our

generation. For it's in your name we pray.

Amen.