Multiplication | Andra D. Morrell

God, it says where your presence is, there is freedom. So God, whatever situation that has bound your people, I prophesy today that in your presence, they're set free, they're delivered, that we don't come here to waste time. We come to encounter the power of the Holy Spirit. And God, we're the ones that were turned back to say thank you, to give you all the praise for you're the only one that is worthy of it. In Jesus' mighty name, come on church, give God praise in the room. Come on, give him praise like you need it. Give him praise like you know it. Yeah! Come on, there's always something to give God praise about. And when we come in, we don't come in to let the worship team be our cheerleader. We come in with our worship. We come in with our praise. Because it's because of you and your presence here in worship that the presence of God meets us here. And there's power in his presence, amen church? Amen? Amen. Go ahead and greet the person next to you. Tell them they look good, they smell good, even if they don't. Come on, they may not be in the fragrance world as I am, but they got something on. Some of y'all smell like hair product.

I love it. I love it. The word of God says, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Were you excited to come into the house of the Lord today? Were you excited? Yeah. Somebody's husband, like, my wife dragged me here, I don't know. We come with expectant hearts when we come into the house of the Lord. It is good to see the people of God. It's good to be in the presence of the people of God. It's good to be in the worship of the people of God. There's something that happens when we come to worship together. Listen, there's power in my prayer closet when I worship alone, but when I come together with the people of God, there's greater power in the room. Why? Because there's greater faith. There's combined faith today, and we're excited to be in the house of the Lord. Hey, we've got a couple of things that are happening, all our stuff. We had a lot of announcements today. Somebody say a lot of announcements. Yeah, I'm a person,

I don't like having a lot of announcements, but hey, there's a lot of things, great things coming up. In a couple of weeks, we're gonna be talking about our kids going to summer camp, Camp Union. Bring that sign up for me real quick. AZ was excited to bring this sign to me. Look at him, look at him, look excited. Look at him on stage. Look at him. He is, he is Vanna White in here displaying this sign. We haven't given much love to this, but our youth are continuing their fundraiser, and how many know it costs money to go to camp? I'm in here and I'm spending the money and coming up with great ideas. I'm coming up with stuff in a meeting, like we should do this, we should give away a whole X-Box. We should give away a bag of candy and all the, you know, 12 cases of Mountain Dew. Like, you know, and they're like, Dre, we ain't got the budget for all that. And so we've got fundraisers that's still happening. This is our raffle that's happening. There's some good things on here. There's a Brazilian blowout. I don't know what that means, but people keep talking about it. And even Sarah was like, yeah, that's a good one.

That's a good one. So you can win that as well. I hear there's a tent, a car tent as well on here, car tent and so forth. There's some good stuff. Check it out. Hey, we said how much we need to raise? We got to raise 2000 in order for all our kids to, for us to balance the budget, as Sarah says. So we're gonna make that happen. Hey, a fundraiser's happening. Go out to the lobby. You guys can join the fundraiser with the QR code as well. We're gonna send it to the 25th. All right, good job. He was excited to come up here with this sign. He was so excited, so excited. Bless the Lord, everybody. Put your, get your word out. If you've got a paper Bible, go ahead and get your glowing Bible out. Hopefully that Bible, glowing Bible says Apple on it. Oh, you're Android people. You got it too. First of all, Maya, great testimony. I don't even have to preach. Maya, where's she at? She's a, she's service directing now in the back. She put a headset on.

She had to go back to her job, but she preached a word. Listen, I went back in the room and our proposal person is crying back there. And I'm like, girl, you not, it's not your testimony. I'm in the back like, what is going on back here? There's a lot of feelers in this church. We feel it. But what a word man uprooting some things and I think I got a question for you that I think maybe most of us some of us maybe know but most of us probably don't. Who are you? If somebody would ask that question to you would you have a clear answer of who you are? Not what you do. Come on because because I think we find some of our identity in what we do. I find sometimes my identity in what I'm great at and when we ask this questions it's not about my title or what I do on my job or how good I am at my job. I'm asking the question who are you? Not your title and not what other people think you are. Who are you? And I know for our teenagers in the room and our young adults in the room it's gonna be hard for you to answer this question and if you've lived some life and if you're older like me you're probably gonna ask that tell a teenager you don't know who you are. You think you know these things Nemo but you don't. I know who I am. No you don't trust me. Trust me you don't. But you know what some of us that are 30 plus 40 plus some of us that are in those ages we can't answer that question. Some of us clearly cannot answer who we are and yet time and age and experience has happened. You know at some point we have to stop saying I'm still finding myself as a permission to keep repeating the same destructive patterns in our life. Come on experience has to become wisdom at some point. Pain has to become a lesson at some point. You can't keep entering the same relationships making the same decisions ignoring the same warning signs and calling it a season of discovery. We love that. I'm just discovering myself in this season. How long are we going to call confusion a journey? How long are we going to call dysfunction authenticity? Listen maybe you can't answer that question but I

need to ask maybe a deeper question. Who are you becoming? Because when identity is unclear, hear me out church, when identity is unclear appetite becomes our authority. When our identity is unclear appetite, whatever I crave, whatever I desire, whatever I feel, it becomes your authority. You let your feelings lead you. You let your loneliness choose your relationships. You let insecurity choose your friendships. You let offense choose your reactions. You let ambition choose your direction. When you do not know who you are you accept invitations that do not agree with your purpose. His word defines who we are and John 1 and 12 it says this, yet to all who did receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. First Peter 2 and 9 it says you are chosen. I love that. Let me stick there. You are chosen. You are royal. You are holy. Here it is, you belong to God. Come on, somebody needs to repeat that to themselves. I belong to God. I am not my own. I was bought with a price and that price was on the cross. Crucified and died and from that he ransomed me from the pits of hell and sin and mistake and I don't belong to myself. I belong to Jesus. Romans 8 and 17 says now if we are children then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. We are royalty. You have purpose and divinity here in this earth. God has charged you to subdue the earth, to have dominion. called you out there is something special about you and I love to exhort and encourage everybody in the room and let you know that you are royalty but here is the catch royalty carries responsibility your identity should become the filter through which you make your decisions hear me out you are royalty you carry responsibilities and that identity should be the filter through which you make your decisions maybe you should ask yourself does this situation does this decision does this relationship does it fit who I am becoming in Christ this job this opportunity does it fit to who I am becoming in Christ does this agree with my identity or is it pulling me beneath it I deal with a lot of teenagers and young adults and sometimes when when identity is unclear appetite becomes authority what I feel is what I do and

sometimes I hear stories of young women that don't know their value and allow any old nappy-headed boy come and talk to them any old sort of way and they just know your value young lady understand who you are not anybody can come to you crooked not anywhere can come on church it carries that responsibility does this agree with my identity or is it pulling me beneath it here's a point I want you to remember I'm gonna switch it up a little bit what you feed is what you become what you feed is what you become in Luke 6 and 43 it says no good tree bears bad fruit nor does a bad tree bear good fruit you're gonna get to that that scripture in your curriculum this week Jesus says every tree is recognized by its fruit then he shifts from the tree to the heart a good man brings good things out of the good stored up here it is stored up in his heart notice what Jesus is saying notice the language that he is putting out stored up whatever comes out of you has first been stored up inside of you your words are not random come on church your actions are not random your decisions are not random your reactions are not random your patterns are not random listen pressure does not create what is inside of you pressure reveals what has been stored up inside of you so situations of life and life do be life in situations of pressure anybody has been between a rock and a hard place the pressures of life begin to reveal what is stored up inside of you when pressure hits what is what what comes out if anger is stored what do you think is gonna come out anger is gonna come out if insecurity is stored insecurity is what's gonna come out if offense come on church if offense is stored unforgiveness what's going to come out when pressure comes on the contrary if scripture if the Word of God is stored up in your heart what do you think is gonna come out in pressure times come on if prayer and worship has been stored up in your heart you've been doing it when nobody was watching or nobody was looking but it's been stored up when pressure times what is gonna come out what's stored up church come on turn to your neighbor say what's stored up what's stored up don't answer that somebody about to cuss you out don't talk about what's stored up in me how about you talk about what's stored up in

you come on husbands and wives okay okay I'm starting to fight it's all over the church right now listen the goal is not just to control our reactions that's not the goal the goal is to surrender what keeps producing them what you feel is what sorry what you feel is what you become. The question I have for you today, which version of you are you making stronger? Now I do want to bring some clarity because I don't want to be remiss that all of us here are human and we have some real emotions, some real hurt, come on, some real offense. I cannot sit here and tell you that Jesus said you cannot feel these things. That's unbiblical. You should be able to feel these things because you are human. Jesus came not to take our humanity away from us, but to show us what we can do in our humanity if we're surrendered to him. So there is a moment in time you see Jesus's humanity, fully God, fully man, happening inside of him all at once. And I here want to tell you, struggles and anxiety and depression are not always caused by poor faith. Come on, I want to give you a little bit of relief. They're not always caused by poor faith or weak identity or bad spiritual habits. People can face real emotions, psychological, physical, and spiritual battles that may require some more prayer, it may require some more community, it may require some more counseling, come on, medical support, rest, and wise care. But here, I'm here to really still challenge us in where we're at right now. But all of us, we must still ask ourself, what am I continually to give access to my soul? What am I giving access to my soul? What am I watching? What am I listening to? What am I rehearsing? What conversations am I sitting in that I shouldn't be? Come on, church. What voices have become louder than the voice of God in my heart? Here's a point I want you to remember, God prioritizes health before growth. The curriculum gives us a powerful statement. If you've been through the book already through seeds, it gives a powerful statement that everything healthy grows. And that's true. Healthy things expand, healthy things produce, healthy things reproduce, and healthy things multiply. But here's the problem, unhealthy things can grow too. Cancers grow, right? Dysfunction grows. Here's one, bitterness grows. It grows, trust me.

I'm just, I'm going to deal with it on my own. No, that's going to fester and it will grow. Pride grows. Come on, unhealed pain, hurts, wounds, they grow. He's not here. Jordan, one of my boys, they're all back in Michigan now. He got a tattoo before he left. He'll see this online. You'll see this. I'm talking about you. He got a tattoo before he left and it's a nice design, but the text in the middle is, time heals all wounds. He showed me this before he got the tattoo and I said, there is the most untrue statement ever that you got the tattoo on your arm. Time does not heal all wounds. Trust. There's some things that have to be dealt with. There's some things that have to be fasted out. There's some things that have to be prayed out. There's some things that got to be delivered out. Come on. Some of us were waiting for us to feel unforgiveness or feel forgiveness to forgive. Some of us were waiting for us to feel like we want to get rid of that bitterness. Some of us were waiting to be able to let our pride go in that situation. Some of us were waiting for time to be able to heal that wound and let me tell you, that wound is going to grow and it's going to become something you don't want it to be. So growth alone is not proof of health. It is not proof of health. Bigger is not always better. More is not always maturity. Visibility is not always validation. So the prayer cannot only be, Lord, increase me. But that's some of our prayer. God, increase me. Enlarge my territory. Bless me, O God. Increase my finances. Increase my relationships. Increase, O God, more faith. It can't always be, Lord, increase me. But some of us, we got to have the... prayer like Pastor Susan said at prayer night this this this month she said Lord inspect me Lord search my heart oh this needs to be a daily thing that happens repentance it's not just a one thing that we just kind of make it through and and oh it was one time it is daily repentance sometimes I gotta wake up every morning and say God research my heart and everything that's not like you it's got to come out Lord correct me come on some men it's hard for us to say in that position Lord correct me because sometimes we think we always right when we're 10 toes down on the decision I know I'm right and we get all manly this is our manly stuff right here I know I'm right that's how I see pass around sometimes that's the manly pose sometimes we got to say Lord heal me here it is it's not in my note there are gonna be some things that offend you

that's gonna be real that's your humanity Jesus teaches something about how we react he says if we are hit slapped on one cheek we turn the other cheek that's a reaction but Jesus didn't tell us how we feel because at the end of the day if you just get slapped out of nowhere you're gonna be still wondering what the heck is happening your feelings are gonna be there you're gonna feel offended especially if it's in front of somebody like he even slapped me in front of my people what Jesus has us come to the altar has us come to his cross and lay that offense down don't fester on it lay it down at the cross because he is our vindicator that's why he tells us to turn the other cheek because the battle does not belong to me the battle belongs to the Lord so sometimes in what we feel in reactions of situations that happen to us and some of the situations they're tough somebody did you wrong but sometimes our prayer has to be God heal me from that even though I didn't react I reacted the way that you wanted me to but God heal me from the hurt that that situation did to me sometimes that needs to be our prayer make me healthy enough to carry what I'm asking you to multiply do not pursue growth faster than you can pursue health there's a point I want you to remember what you become is what you multiply what you become is what you multiply genesis teaches us that seeds reproduce according to their kind apple seeds produce apples grape seeds produce grapes and seeds reproduce what it carries so when we talk about multiplication we must understand you multiply what is inside of you let me look at your kids I can tell you what you multiply because parents you multiply the unthings that are the things that are not dealt with you multiply them in your kids even if you think you do you don't or you do you do the things that you are bitter about the things that are unhealed though those kids deal with those things at a level that you don't even think they do you can multiply leaders you can multiply into your teams the unhealthiness of our team I'm dealing with right now I tell our production team we're an oiled machine but not well oiled they're right they're probably they're upset with me back there oh well they'll get over it we're an oil team but not well oiled there are some things that me as a leader that I've realized that I have multiplied in a team unknowingly and I've realized in certain things and certain of them the negative parts of my leadership I seed in our team leaders you multiply into your team pastors we multiply into our churches and what we do and what we carry listen Doug Stringer if anybody was here from the men's event that we had on Thursday what an

incredible event that we had man powerful event that empowered our men Doug Stringer said on Thursday that we multiply because the fruit the seed in the fruit doesn't just make one single apple it makes a tree of apples what we become multiplies remember Luke 6 teaches the same principle a good tree produces good fruit a bad tree produces bad fruit. So here is the uncomfortable question I need to ask you. The people that are consuming of you in your life, parents, friends, what does your life taste like to the people that are closest to you? Do they taste like the fruits of the spirit? Are they consuming the fruits of the spirit from you? Do you taste like love? Do you taste like joy? Do you taste like peace? Here it is. Do you taste like patience to your children? Do you taste like kindness to your coworkers? Come on, here it is. To your team that you volunteer on here at church, do you taste like faithfulness? Can people trust in you? Do you taste like gentleness, fathers? When you come home from a long day of work and there's a whole bunch of yelling at the house and possibly some nagging. I don't know, I've never been married, but I hear that that happens. But men, do you taste like gentleness? Here's a question to all of us.

Do you taste like self-control? What fruit is coming out of you? Or is everybody around you being forced to survive the fruit of what you refuse to heal? You cannot keep calling it personality when everybody around you is being wounded by it. People can say, oh, I'm just direct. No, sometimes you're rude. Come on. Oh, I'm just a strong personality. No, sometimes you're just controlling. Oh, come on, I'm on a pinky toe today. Oh, I'm just a private person. I just don't like people off in my business. No, sometimes you are isolated and afraid to be known. Oh, this is my church people. There's a lot of my prophets in the room. Oh, I'm just discerning. I discern the spirit, I discern. No, sometimes you're just suspicious and judgmental. Come on. We have to stop baptizing dysfunction with spiritual vocabulary. This is what causes church hurt. It's because we put spirituality over things and give it vocabulary when it's really you of the flesh. Come on, church. If the fruit does not look like Jesus, it must be surrendered. If the fruit does not look like Jesus,

it must be surrendered. God does not want to multiply your dysfunction. The goal is not simply multiplication. The goal is to ensure that what is multiplied looks like Jesus. How much time I got? Okay, let me get in this. I'm gonna do the fifth point, team. Really quick. Point to remember, feed your spirit and cultivate your gifts. Here's the thing. Timothy 1 and 6 says, fan into flame the gifts of God. Sorry, 1 Timothy 4 tells Timothy not to neglect his gift, but to practice, immerse himself and let his progress become evident. Gifts come from God, but gifts still require cultivation. God gives the seed, you are a steward of the soil. God gives the gifts, you develop the discipline. God gives the calling, you develop the character required to carry it. Your gift is the seed. Everyone in here has a gift from God. This is not talent. We're talking about spiritual gifts that are to elevate the kingdom of God, elevate his church, elevate his people. The gift is the seed, discipline is the water and character is the root system.

Some of you have been praying, God, use me. God, use me. Anything you want from me, I'll do. God, use me. But God is saying, feed what I put inside you. Feed what I put inside you. Stop feeding the wrong things and feed the godly things that I've put inside you. Some of us, we need to study. We need to study his word. Some of us in here, God has called you to pastor. God has called you to preach. God has called you to teach. Some of you in here, God has called you to prophesy. Some of you in here, God has called you to be an evangelist or God has called you to be able to spread his word. some of us in here there is gifting in us and we have to feed and stir up that gift we need to study we need to pray we need to seek god we need to practice we need to serve we need to submit and we need to learn we need to receive correction because god wants consistency out of us let me talk to union houston here union we are not trying to build a church filled with consumers people that love our church and want to be fans of our church because we're so diverse and we've got loud music and because our pastor has tattoos sometimes these things can become the fan things that we have in church i like this church i like this church over other churches because our pastor yells at us and spits on the front row we can be fans of this church but i'm telling you we're not building consumers we are cultivating disciples disciples who know who they are yeah disciples who know who they belong to disciples who seek god before making decisions disciples who guard what enters their soul disciples who allow god to transform their character disciples who fan the gifts and stir up the gifts inside of them

disciples who are not afraid to grow disciples who multiply the life of jesus wherever they go that is who union is this is why small groups matter this is why getting into our connect groups and being involved this summer matters this is why scripture matters reading your word and wrestling with god's word this is why it matters this is why prayer matters come to tuesday night prayer prayer matters it's strong it's the power and the backbone of our church that we pray this is why worship matters when we come together and there's power in the room when we lift up the name of jesus i know that when i worship the lord in a setting like this it may be not me getting set free but it's my neighbor getting set free it's the person next to me that's change is being broken off that's bondage is being broken off of them worship matters serving matters these are not merely religious activities these are environments of formation here at union they feed your spirits they feed the good things that bring good fruit they shape your character they develop your gift sorry i'm yelling like pastor sarah again again i'm yelling they develop your gift it's a point i want you to remember so let me return to the question who are you who are you i can tell you who you're not let me prophesy to you real quick young people all the way in the back i see you how let me prophesy to you what you are not you are not your mistakes you are not your failures or let that set somebody free today i feel this you are not your worst decision you are not the name somebody called you oh that's been rooted in deep and you found identity into that name that they called you you are not that you are not your relationship status you are not your job title you are not the trauma that happened to you you are not the season you are currently walking through right now but if you are in christ if you're found in christ and saying yes to jesus you are a child of god you are chosen you are loved here it is you are redeemed come on let the redeemed say so in a room you are redeemed my past doesn't hold me anymore i am redeemed come on you are forgiven no matter how rough your past is you are forgiven you are god's workmanship wonderfully made you are an heir and you belong to god that is who you are but now that you know who you are the question becomes are you becoming more like jesus or merely becoming more comfortable with yourself comfort is not the goal christ's likeness is the goal the goal is not simply to become successful the goal is to become surrendered The goal is not simply become gifted, the goal is become godly.

The goal is not merely to multiply, the goal is to make sure what multiplies looks like Jesus. Here's what I want to end on, what you feed is what you become, what you become is what you produce, and what you produce is what you multiply. Let's stand on our feet everybody real quick, prayer partners come up, I got a few questions for you as we end the day, don't move, I'm not done yet, I'm going to end on time, you are not late to your lunch or your appointment. There's a question we got to ask ourselves, who have I believed myself to be? Have I defined myself by God's words or have I defined myself by my wounds or my mistakes or relationships or success or rejection or fear, who have I believed myself to be? Here's the second question we ask ourselves, what have I been feeding, what things have I been feeding, what things that are not like God that I've been feeding, what has received the greatest access to my mind, my emotions, my imagination, my time, and my attention, what has received the greatest time, what am I feeding, what am I multiplying is the third question, what are the people closest to me consistently receiving from the fruit of my life? Listen, this altar call, this moment in time is not about shame, it's about surrender, God does not reveal what is unhealthy to condemn us, he reveals it because he loves us and he loves you enough to heal you, maybe you have to, you've been living beneath that value, maybe you've been living beneath that identity, maybe you have been feeding the fear, maybe you have been feeding the offense, the hurt and the pain, maybe you have neglected the gifts of God inside you, maybe your fruit has exposed an area that needs to be healed, maybe there's some things that got to be uprooted like Maya was talking about, today our prayer is not merely God change my circumstance, our prayer is God change me from the inside out, today in a room like this I don't want to be remiss to that somebody in a room that hasn't said yes to Jesus, so if you can just close your eyes, bow your head, it's just between you and God, if you're in this room and you're saying Dre, I hear what you're talking about, but you've talked about this Jesus that died on the cross, that rose up again and we belong to this God, you've been talking about this royalty in us, you've been talking about who we are and what we're not, but I don't know this Jesus as my personal

savior, well now is the time to know him, now is the time to say yes to him, salvation is now, not tomorrow, it's now, tomorrow is not promised and a simple yes to Jesus can change your life, it doesn't make things better but it gives you strength for tomorrow and if that's you today and you're saying I have not made that decision, the assurance to make Jesus Lord and Savior of my life, if you can in the room, I just, if you're bold enough, I'm going to count to three and just lift your hands and I'm going to pray for you, if you're in the room and said you know what, I haven't said this prayer to declare him to be Lord, one, if you're in this room and saying I want to know this Jesus that has the grace and mercy for me to grow healthy, two, I want to know him and I want my life to be changed, three, come on, slip up that hand today if that's you, just between you and God to say Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins, I make you Lord and Savior of my life, I turn to you in Jesus name, amen and amen, amen, come on all the ones that said yes, we celebrate the angels in the voice, for the ones that are in the room that said yes, hey, I want to know, we've got a connection point table out here, we got a free gift for you, a free gift, we want to get next steps in your hand on your journey to faith, please stop by and get that free gift from us, hey, prayer partners are going to be up here if you need prayer for anything, I want to pray for you at the end, real quick man, hold on, I want to pray for you really quick, everybody in the room, as we answer some of these questions of who we are this week, we make some changes, we seek God for some things, I want to praise this over you today, if you can, just bow your heads, everybody in the room. Father, I thank you that though, Jesus, we are no longer orphans or strangers or slaves, we are your children. Help us understand the weight and wonder of what our identity is. Teach us not to threat, teach us not to be able to worry, teach us to treat our lives, not to treat our lives casually. Give us wisdom in our relationships, our decisions, our habits, our environments, and our directions, Lord God.

Show us what we have been feeding. Expose what has been stored within our hearts, not to shame us, but to transform us. Heal what is wounded in our lives, Lord God. Remove what is unhealthy. Strengthen us, Lord God, when we're weak, Lord God. Create clean hearts within us, Lord God. Renew steadfast spirit within us, Lord. Teach us to feed our souls with your word, your presence, Lord God. Help us to pray more this week, to worship more this week. Godly community, let us find it today, Lord God. And Lord God, our obedience, we wanna be obedient. Fan into the flame, Lord God, our gifts, Lord God. You have placed on the inside of us. Make us healthy, make us fruitful, make us faithful. And multiply though, through our lives, Lord God, what looks like Jesus, Lord. What we feed, let us become, Lord God. And you, what we become, Lord God, let us produce. And what we produce, Lord God, let it multiply for your glory alone, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen, and amen, and amen, and amen. Prayer partners are gonna be up here. Hey, we've got meet the team happening. They're gonna be exiting out of this door right here, right at the service. Until then, I wanna say, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May he shine his face upon you.

May he be gracious to you. May he give you peace and show you his favor this week. God bless you, I'll see you next week. God bless you, God bless you.