The Ministry of Multiplicity

Father, I thank you that you stay the same throughout every age. You've never failed, and you're not going to start now. So we anchor our hope to your faithfulness this morning. You are good. You are good. You are good. You are good. You are good. You are good. You are good. You are good. You are good. Worthy to be praised. And all your people said, Amen. ♪♪♪ Nothing can. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Come on, let's sing it together. You stay. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Together tomorrow ♪ One more time, you live. ♪ You live for all things ♪ ♪ All things ♪ ♪ Cause you stay ♪ ♪ You stay the same through the ages ♪ ♪ Your love never changes ♪ ♪ There may be pain in the night ♪ ♪ But you're a point in the morning ♪ ♪ And when the ocean takes ♪ ♪ I don't have to be afraid ♪ ♪ Because I know that you stay ♪ ♪ You stay ♪ ♪ You stay the same through the ages ♪ ♪ Your love never changes ♪ ♪ There may be pain in the night ♪ ♪ But you're a point in the morning ♪ ♪ And when the ocean takes ♪ ♪ I don't have to be afraid ♪

♪ Because I know that you love me ♪ ♪ Your love never fails ♪ ♪ Your love never fails ♪ ♪ Your love never fails ♪ ♪ You make all things work together for my good ♪ ♪ You make all things work together for my good ♪ ♪ You make all things work together for my good ♪ ♪ You make all things work together for my good ♪ ♪ You make all things work together for my good ♪ ♪ You make all things work together for my good ♪ ♪ You make all things work together for my good ♪ Come on, can we just bless the Lord this morning with our own mouths? Right where you are, make your seat and altar this morning. He's so good and faithful. He never changes. Come on, just sing your history. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for the revelation of the faithfulness and the love of God. Thank you that you sent your Son. ♪ You never fail, you never change ♪ ♪ You stay the same, you never fail ♪ He's so good. Oh. ♪ I offer my soul to you ♪ ♪ I raise the light of my soul to you ♪ ♪ I raise the light of my soul to you ♪ ♪ You are the only one, yes ♪

♪ Yeah, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ You stay the same through the years ♪ Come on, you guys sing. ♪ Your love never changes ♪ ♪ There may be pain in the night ♪ ♪ But joy comes in the morning ♪ ♪ And when the oceans rage ♪ ♪ I don't have to be afraid ♪ ♪ Because I know that you love me ♪ ♪ Your love never fails ♪ ♪ Your love never fails ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I could sing your name For all my life And still find more To love each time Jesus be the name ever on my lips ♪ It's sweeter every time that I call on it There's just something about your name There's just something about your name There's just something about your name

That makes me cry holy There is no other name There is no other name There is no other name Jesus you're worthy ♪ And you have been The friend who never left I won't forget your faithfulness Jesus be the name ever on my lips ♪ It's sweeter every time that I call on it There's just something about your name There's just something about your name There's just something about your name That makes me cry holy There is no other name There is no other name There is no other name Cause Jesus you're worthy Come on There's something about your name There's just something about your name There's just something about your name That makes me cry holy There is no other name There is no other name There is no other name Cause Jesus you're worthy You're worthy, you're worthy

♪ You're worthy ♪ Oh yes you're worthy Lord Oh high and lifted up Deserving of all of our praise Oh come on Oh high and lifted up Give your king praise Hey Oh yes you're worthy God Oh yes Oh you're worthy Lord There's no one like you There's no one like you Oh Oh to the King of kings And the Lord of lords Oh yes Who was and is and is to come Oh come on earth now We wanna feel your Spirit Lord Oh yeah ♪ Jesus your name is like the morning light The one the darkness can't deny The resurrection and the life Jesus, Jesus your name can save Your name can heal Your name can make the storm be still

You never fail ♪ And the will of God ♪ Come on, the King of Kings. ♪ Jesus, the Lord working for us ♪ ♪ The wounded and the worthy one ♪ ♪ The first, the last, and still to come ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, the King who overwhelmed the grave ♪ ♪ The Lord who will forever reign ♪ ♪ In the name above, above and beneath, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name, come on ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ That gives hope to the lowly ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ That gives hope to the lowly ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name, oh yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, that gives all the glory ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name, that gives all the glory ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ Come on, you guys sing it. ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, that gives all the glory ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, that gives all the glory ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, that gives all the glory ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪

♪ Ooh, my God, how sweet is your name, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, oh, Jesus, oh, thank you, Jesus, oh ♪ Come on, just sing your praise to him right now. ♪ Oh, Jesus, oh, yes, I will sing your name forever ♪ ♪ I will sing your name forever, oh, Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, oh, Oooooohh Oh there's healing in your name ♪ ♪ There's healing in your name and I'll sing your word, Lord yes ♪ ♪ There's freedom in your name, there's freedom in your name ♪ ♪ You get all the glory, oh there's healing in your name ♪ ♪ There's healing in your name, come on just bear it before him right now, leave it on the altar ♪ ♪ Whatever your needs are, you can lay them at his feet right now, oh, you get all the glory God, yeah ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Your name can make the storm be still ♪ ♪ You never fail, you never will, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ The bread of life broken for us, the wounded and the worthy ♪ ♪ One, the first and last, Jesus, Jesus, the King ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, the King who overwhelmed the grave ♪ ♪ The Lord who will forever reign ♪ ♪ The name above all other names, Jesus, Jesus, your name ♪ ♪ Cause I, the born and I, the one, the darkest can't deny ♪ ♪ The resurrection and the life, Jesus, Jesus, your name ♪ ♪ I'll say your name, I'll hear your name, the storm be still ♪ ♪ You never fail, you never will, Jesus, Jesus, the bread ♪ ♪ The bread of life broken for us, the wounded and the worthy ♪ ♪ The one, the first and last, it's still to come, Jesus, Jesus, the King ♪ ♪ Who overwhelmed the grave, forever reigns the name above all other names, Jesus, come on ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, that gives all the glory ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, that gives all the glory ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, that gives all the glory ♪

♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, that gives all the glory ♪ Come on! ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, that gives all the glory ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, that gives all the glory ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ A-a-a-a-a-a-a ♪ ♪ A-a-a-a-a-a-a ♪ ♪ A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a ♪ ♪ A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a ♪ ♪ A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a- ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ♪ Holy, holy, holy, good God almighty Holy, holy, holy, good God almighty Holy, holy, holy, good God almighty Holy, holy, holy, good God almighty Holy, holy, holy, good God almighty Holy, holy, holy, good God almighty Holy, holy, holy, good God almighty Still worthy one Open the scroll, break the seal Worthy one, yes Open the scroll, break the seal Worthy one

Open the scroll, break the seal Worthy one Open the scroll, break the seal Worthy one Open the scroll, break the seal Worthy one Open the scroll, break the seal Worthy one Holy, holy, holy, good God almighty Holy, holy, holy, good God almighty Holy, holy, holy, good God almighty Holy, holy, holy, good God almighty Hosanna We bless your name We honor your name Hosanna We bless your name Hosanna in the highest We wanna see your beauty Lord Hosanna in the highest heart, the revelation, your eyes have seen the beauty and the glory of the Lord. His beauty demands a response. I love what Rachel said, this is not a thing of spectators. We're not here to just be consumers. We're not here just to come and be filled. We're come to pour out all that we have. The revelation of the beauty and the glory of Jesus. And if you haven't seen him, you can ask. Like John, on the island of Patmos, the spirit said, come up higher. Let me show you what must take place. So Holy Spirit, we just asked for a revelation. Take us higher. Give us a new perspective this morning. Come

on, if you have the gift of tongues, just begin to release a new song unto the Lord this morning. We're gonna let the musicians play and minister before him. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Is the power yours? Is the glory yours? Come and conquer me

Is the power yours? Is the glory yours? Come and conquer me Is the glory yours? Come and conquer me Is the glory yours? Come and conquer me Is the glory yours? Is the glory yours? Come and conquer me Is the glory yours? Come and conquer me Is the glory yours? Come and conquer me Is the glory yours? Come and conquer me Is the glory yours? I see you now You're swirling around me Is the kingdom yours? Is the power yours? Is the glory of heaven Oh I see you now Is the kingdom yours? Is the power yours? Is the kingdom yours? Is the kingdom yours? Is the kingdom yours? Is the power yours?

Is the kingdom yours? Is the kingdom yours? Is the kingdom yours? Is the power yours? Go and leave, go and leave Is the kingdom yours? Is the kingdom yours? Is the kingdom yours? Is the kingdom yours? distant reality, that it's way up in the sky somewhere, that it's being held on the other side of death. No, no, no, the reality is Jesus started his ministry by saying, no, the ways of the kingdom, the power of the kingdom, the peace of the kingdom, the righteousness of the kingdom, the joy of the kingdom, they are available and accessible to you wherever Jesus is. Yeah. Come on. Come on. And so I want to invite you this morning to repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And maybe for the first time in your life, to receive the good news that the presence of God is not something that's reserved for the most pious, the most religious, the most spiritually accomplished people. No, the presence of God is available for whoever will draw near. Draw near to him, the scriptures tell us,

and he will draw near to you. So would you, before we move on, would you just lift your hands right where you're at? I want us as a family to draw near to him. I know that maybe you've been struggling. Maybe you've stumbled and fallen even this week or over the last months. And I want to tell you today, the presence of God is not too far away. The kingdom is at hand this morning. So Lord, we thank you that by the blood of Jesus, we can draw near. Thank you, Lord, that by the blood of Jesus, we can be made clean. We can be made new. We can be washed again, white as snow, that we can be declared innocent. And so by the blood of Christ, thank you, Lord, that we can draw near to you, Father God. We can come near to your throne of grace today. Lord, we thank you for your presence. We thank you for your power that work in this place. Every time we gather, Lord, thank you that you're so faithfully here and attentive to the cries of your people. Lord, I thank you for the healing you're bringing to hearts, even in this room already. I thank you, Lord, for the healing you're bringing to bodies in this room. I thank you for the healing you're bringing

to families in this room. Lord, I thank you that there is nothing that is too far gone, nothing that is too broken, nothing that is too lost. Lord, we thank you that in your presence, fullness of joy. And I thank you, God, that even this morning, right now, you are at war with anything in our lives that has stood between us and the fullness of joy Jesus died for us to have. Lord, we say, be glorified in our lives. Be exalted, be magnified in our lives, God, that our freedom bring you praise in the earth. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. Amen. Come on. Man, what a great morning already. What a great God we serve, amen. If you are able to find a seat, this would be a great time to do so. Would you guys just thank our musicians for their leadership today? So good, what an awesome, awesome, awesome morning. Thank you, Lord. Amen. This morning, I am gonna ask some of you not to give in the offering. And here's why. You know, once a month, we do communion. We take the Lord's Supper on the first Sunday of every month, and Paul, the Apostle Paul,

he warns the church in Corinth, and it's a warning that we have relayed to this church as well when we engage in the sacrament of communion or the Lord's Supper. We warn people that to take this in error, to take the Lord's Supper lightly, to engage in that sacrament casually or with a heart that is impure can actually have disastrous results for you and for this community. It is a serious thing that we are to do in obedience to the Lord and in fellowship with the Lord. And so we engage in the Lord's Supper, and every time we do so, we caution you against taking it casually, against taking it if your heart is not right with the Lord. But I was reading a few weeks ago in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says something really profound in Matthew 3, verse 23, excuse me, Matthew 5, verse 23. He says. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there, remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. You know, I understand that it's bad. It's bad business to say some of you have no business giving in the offering this morning. There is unforgiveness, there's bitterness, there's division, there's tension in your life, but I need you to hear this like to give in the offering is so holy before God that Jesus Christ in the greatest, most impactful, transformational sermon ever preached, make sure to say that the reconciliation of broken relationships is more important than any offering. You could ever bring to the Lord. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us don't give an offering, but the Bible tells us, make sure your heart is pure in doing so. Make sure your life is in order as you do so.

And so my hope is that every week that we would take the offering as seriously as we do communion every month, that we would look at our hearts, we'd look at our lives, that we deal with secret sin, that we deal with areas of compromise. Relationships that we let break down in a way that we know is not honoring to the Lord, like that we would seriously inspect ourselves and make sure that we are coming forward to give out of a out of clean hands and a pure heart in a way that pleases and honors God. We're not just giving charity to some organization that we think does good for the community. We are bringing our gift to the altar, Jesus instructs us that before we even think about doing so, that we ought to take an account of our lives and that if it is out of order, that we should confess and repent our areas of our areas of sin, that we should turn away from the areas of compromise, that we should seek to reconcile that which is out of order. And then and only then should we bring our gift to the altar. And so this morning I want to do something that I'm sure is not in any of the, you know, how your church can build a bigger budget books that people have published. And I'm going to exhort some of you, maybe many of you, not to give in this offering. I, I would hope that you would like, let the spirit of God illuminate areas of your life where maybe you're living in less than what Jesus died for you to have. And I want you to deal with that first. I want you to get your heart right with God more than I want you to get your wallet out. I'm grateful for givers in this house, but more than I need your money more than we as a community. We need your heart. We need your life to be right and in right order before the Lord. And so we're going to together as a family, we're going to enjoy and honor the sacrament of sacrificial giving this morning. And if you cannot say that, I know my heart is right with God, that my, my sin is confessed. I've turned away from it, that to the best of my ability, I've restored whatever my sin or my selfishness has broken. And I would ask you just wait, deal with it this week. And then next week, come and bring an offering from a pure heart and an ordered life. Is that, can we do that? Okay. So as you know, those of you who are going to give in the offering this morning, as you know, there are a few ways that you can do so. You should have a, a, uh, an envelope, uh, in the seat in front of you. Um, but, uh, uh, you can also scan that QR code or give to the mobile app. But I, I'd like, if you guys would just stand with me, we're going to come before the Lord in prayer and thanksgiving. For the gift he's given us to engage in the sacrament of sacrificial giving Lord. We thank you for your great love. Thank you, Lord, that your love is furious. It's relentless. Thank you, Lord, that your love is more forceful than our rebellion or our selfishness. Thank you, God, that you are able to deal with whatever disorder or dysfunction there is in our lives.

Thank you, God, that you're not just able to, but that you're willing to. And so as we give to you this morning, Lord, we do so in. Faith in great faith that you are going to finish the good work. You've begun in us That you are making each of us. You're working in each of us the likeness of Christ and Lord we yield to that Process and we ask you God that this offering in particular. This would be another step toward Sanctification for us like God in the same way that Jesus Sacrificed because he loved us Lord. It is our privilege today to sacrifice because we love him And so today God we ask that this offering would be pleasing and honoring to you God that your kingdom would be advanced by it both in our hearts and in our communities And we ask this in the mighty wonderful name of Jesus. Amen Good morning. Y'all can be seated. It's it's uh, it's great to see you Good morning. My family is on their way back. Most of my family. I got Carver with me Somewhere he disappeared. All right, he's uh, he's somewhere but uh The others are they send their greetings. They're on their way back from Georgia Our boy Caleb was playing in a baseball tournament that I didn't know this has nothing to do with my sermon But I didn't know this existed. He was playing in a midnight tournament Which uh, just means that the tournament starts at 6 p.m And doesn't end until 2 45 in the morning The championship game started at midnight last night and they won. So It was uh, it was pretty cool But it's a good thing I didn't go I don't like missed uh Men's prayer like it's it was down in Georgia. So the family is down there. They're they're they send their greetings. They're on their way back Uh exciting times out here, you know I I woke up this morning to a bunch of videos and pictures of my wife showing me Caleb's at bats and It was uh, it was awesome, man. I just I love being a dad. I got some some great great kids. Uh I am Uh excited i've been mentioning this the last few weeks My hope is that Every single person

Who would call this church their home? Who would call this church their home would apply to lead a tribe and I understand that everybody's schedule is Difficult and everybody's life is full Um, but I I want you to know that there is something Sacred about opening your life and opening your schedule to The people of god and saying I I want to serve you. I want to be a blessing To you I I want to be the reason that your walk with god goes to the next level and uh, and so You know pastor david has been mentioning these last few weeks That tribe leader applications are open. I just want to say sort of the way that we do things is that not everybody who Often many of the people that apply Don't get actually asked to lead a tribe. We seek the lord in prayer Over every single one of them we we want God's will and so if you have any Inclination any conviction that maybe god has given you something that you could give to someone else Uh, maybe it's a skill. Maybe it's just your time. Maybe it's just encouragement and love and affection that's a precious gift and and i'd ask you to Apply and to trust us as your leaders to not choose you if it's not right, you know So, uh I am i'm not going to get maybe Too deep into the specifics of this, but I want you to know that there are Uh a whole bunch of things that we are going to be changing over these next few months about how our church serves this community and all of them are

Going to be great. Uh, i'm excited. There's going to be some things we used to do that we bring back there's going to be some things we've never done before that we introduce uh, and I uh, i've been talking with the elders and getting their feedback and the staff and getting their feedback and just trying to make sure that I don't Make everybody that works for me hate me. Um when we when we implement some of these changes I'm trying to keep it that way. Mr. Rich, you know, um But uh, so I I want to make sure that we can all go together joyfully But we are uh, we're working on on some of the stuff. I cannot wait to share it with you But recently, you know somebody asked me in our most recent, uh new members class like Where do you see the church going? Five years from now, like what's your goal? What's your dream? And In in a really practical sense for me. I am like i'm following the cloud It's like I I we have the presence of god right now And I want to make sure five years from now. We still have the presence of god that ultimately is my only priority Whether we grow or shrink whether that we stay here or move or whatever. Like if we do two services or one service or one service a month, like I don't care what anything else looks like, if we have the presence of God five years from now, we are hitting the target. So that is my standard or metric of success for the church. However, I do have some dreams and desires and things that I would like to pursue or accomplish there. I have always since the beginning of this church dreamed of being a church planting church. I would love for five years from now or 10 years from now

for there to be several other altar fellowships or churches that we have sent out and helped establish and support. I think that would be a beautiful thing. And as I think about this idea or this ambition for multiplication, I begin to realize that as a pastor, as a leader, I can maybe do more to help raise up other pastors and leaders than I have done. And so this has been for the last couple months, something God's been dealing with me on, that he wants me to be more intentional about creating space, creating opportunities, inviting and pouring into people that have been called into the ministry. So I'm working on it. I constantly every day I'm thinking about, well, how can I better do that? What can we do as a church? How can we structure the church? How can I structure my schedule or invest my time to make sure that that is something I'm sowing into for the future? But I realized something that I think is important. And if you remember these last couple weeks, we have talked a lot about the order, God's order for the church and how older women ought to be pouring into younger women and older men ought to be pouring into younger men and demonstrating themselves to be people of character,

virtue, worth emulating. But I realized something that I think is really important if our church, if our whole community is gonna move from where we are to where we could be, I think there's something that is necessary for maybe each one of us individually to consider. And I realized that if I were to say here this morning, we expect to launch five church plants in the next five years, I imagine that probably all of you would be inspired and encouraged and excited about that. That sounds cool, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. I think it sounds cool. But here's the thing that's been bothering me. I think if I were to stand here today and instead say, I expect each one of you to mentor five new Christians over the next five years, there'd probably be a lot less enthusiasm. See, we like the idea of the institution reproducing other institutions. We like the idea of the organization reproducing other organizations. But the reason we do that is because it gives us the ability to abdicate the responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission, to make disciples to the institution instead of understanding that was not a command given to an institution, it was a command given to people.

The name of my message today is the Ministry of Multiplicity. The last week, as I mentioned, I talked about God's order for the church that older women would teach the ways of God to younger women, that older men would do the same for younger men. But this requires that established Christians be generous and accessible to others. And this is where I'm at, full disclosure, this is where I'm at in my journeys, trying to figure out how I can be accessible and generous with whatever wisdom or insight or experience God's given me to others. I wanna make sure that I'm giving that away as effectively as I can. But here's the issue is that in every church, this one is no exception, we have large numbers of well-established, well-instructed Christians who are doing nothing with what God has given them. They will go to church decade after decade and never once make a disciple. They look to their pastor, they look to their leader, they look maybe to their parents or their favorite podcaster or author, Christian author as someone that's ahead of them on the path, they look to the people ahead of them on the path, but they never turn and even think about the people behind them.

This is a problem. And so it requires if we as... a church are going to fulfill, you know, Paul's instruction to Titus in Titus chapter two that we talked about just last week. If we are going to actually take what God has given us and give it to the next generation, which I don't know if I said this last week, but one of my all time favorite quotes is a quote from Winston Churchill who said, one of the signs of a great society is the diligence with which they pass culture from one generation to the next. And this has been a core principle. If you've listened to all my sermons since the beginning of this church, you've heard me share that quote 20 or 30 times. It has been one of the core principles and values that I have held when it comes to my praying and believing and dreaming for what this church is, what this church maybe ought to be or could be one day. And so how do we pass culture from one generation to the next? Well, Titus two spells it out pretty beautifully for us. It's like, we have to start to think about those who are coming after us. You know, today I walked into men's prayer and I saw, uh, Sage Millhorn who I don't know where Sage is at. He's, how old are you Sage? 15. Sage, awesome young man that I've got to get to know over the last year or so. And, and, uh, you know, Sage, he's great. He's, uh, you know, a football player and just an awesome young guy. And I was out praying over the, uh, in the lobby during men's prayer. And I, I walked in through these doors and I saw Sage praying with his arm around Carver, my eight year old son who thinks Sage hung the moon. And, and, uh, and I can't blame him. Sage is awesome. He's a good guy to look up to. And, and, you know, and I think like this is, this is what it looks like. It looks like somebody who's 15 and has people, hopefully that he's looking forward to looking up to, but then he's also paying attention to those that are looking up to him. I think it's so easy for us to get fixated on those that are ahead of us on the path that we forget about those who are behind us. This like God's order for the church. If we are going to make disciples, we're going to have to pay, pay attention to the people that need to be discipled to the people that need to be mentored or shown the way of the kingdom. This order that Paul gives to Titus that we talked about just last week, it requires that established Christians be generous and accessible to others, but it also requires, and this is important. I hope you'll hear me here that younger Christians or newer Christians be teachable and obedient to those who've gone before them. I will tell you, there are very few things that will harm the body

of Christ more significantly than immature believers demanding authority that they don't deserve. Right? This is where you get abusive leaders. This is where you get, you know, uh, uh, uh, uh, a corrosion of the purity of doctrine where you have, um, people that are demanding authority or, or demanding a platform, or maybe receiving authority or receiving a platform. And yet they have not been discipled. There's not somebody that can jerk their chain, so to speak. I've got, uh, uh, a golden retriever at home who he's got a strong will, you know, and he has stuff he would really love to chew and stuff. Hey, you'd really love to do other things too, that, that aren't fit to be talked about from the pulpit. And, uh, and so kind of a full-time job in our house is being like, stop it, you know, whatever you're doing, like cut the shenanigans, man, chill out. Like we, all of us have impulses like that, you know, and we need people in our life that can say no, right? Like there, there needs to be someone in our life that even if we really, really want this thing can say, Hey, you're not ready for it. It's not time. This isn't the right way. I know it's, there's a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it's way is destruction. It leads to destruction. And I know that you can't see it yet, but would you just trust me here? Like we all need people in our lives like that. One of the most important bits of advice I can give people when it comes to navigating life in church is this never submit to unaccountable leadership. Never follow someone who's not following anyone else. This is, I think, critical. If we are going to actually build the kind of church, the kind of culture, the kind of community that the Bible prescribes to us is that we are going, is that established Christians here are going to need to be generous and accessible to others and younger or newer Christians are going to have to be teachable and obedient to those who've gone before us. Now, this order is not anything new. I want you to understand this isn't, you know, pastor Maddie's advice on how to, you know, build a church or multiply a community. Like this is, this is, you know, this isn't a church growth strategy. This is the laws of, of, of nature that are going to make it possible for us to build a church. This is the laws of nature that are going to make it possible for us to build a are highlighted in the scriptures. This order that God established all the way back in Genesis chapter one is that created things are only able

to reproduce after their own kind. You see this actually multiple times in Genesis chapter one when God creates plants, when God creates animals, he restricts them to this ability to only reproduce what they already are. So just as horses can only reproduce horses and sunflowers can only reproduce sunflowers, so too do institutions produce institutions and churches produce churches. But Jesus instructs us in the Great Commission, and I need you to hear this very clearly, to make disciples of all nations. Jesus instructs us to make disciples of all nations. And our problem is that we thought churches could produce disciples, but churches don't produce disciples, disciples produce disciples. Institutions, organizations, even communities don't produce disciples, only disciples can do that according to God's law of multiplicity. So this morning I want us to consider together the vital need in this hour for all of us, each of us, to step together into the work of the ministry. Are we good? You know I love you? Come on, let's go on a trip together. All right, I wanna look first at Genesis chapter one. I want us to see this ministry of multiplicity, this law of multiplicity in function here. In Genesis chapter one, we'll start in verse 26.

I already talked about how God put this parameter or built into the laws of nature that things would reproduce after their own kind, plants and animals and humans, but I want you to see this in Genesis chapter one, starting in verse 26. It says, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Now, I wanna stop right there and ask the question, you know, what does it mean to be made in the image of God? This is a question scholars and students of the Bible have been asking for thousands of years. What does it mean that humanity is made in the image of God? You might hear people say, well that means that we have innate dignity and value and worth, that we were made in the image of God, therefore every person is worthy of respect and honor, and I wouldn't disagree with that. You know, some people might say that because you're made in the image of God, that means that you have the capacity to love, to self-determine, to choose right or wrong, to choose to love or to serve those around you. People might point to that as part of the doctrine of imago dei, the image of God, and while I wouldn't disagree with that either, I have this hunch that the Bible is pretty good at interpreting itself. So, God says, let us make man in our image according to our likeness,

and then he immediately begins to explain what it means to be made in the image of God. Let him have dominion. So what is the image of God in you? It is dominion. Now, listen, if you came up in the same circles that I came up in, the word dominion gets you very excited. You know, you're like, let's go, I'm about to decree something, you know what I'm saying? Somebody needs to declare, we're like, we love the idea of dominion, God has called us to dominion. Here's something I've said in the past that I think bears repeating. Dominion is just a fancy word for responsibility. I have dominion over my home. That means that the plumbing leak in the basement is my responsibility. I have dominion over my home. That means the mortgage is my responsibility. It means that the property taxes that just went up again are my responsibility, you know? It's like, that's the thing. Like, everybody loves dominion, but nobody wants responsibility. People, like if you were to say to people like, hey, I'd like to hire you to be the CEO of this Fortune 500 corporation, I think millions of Americans would say, yes, absolutely, I want that.

But if someone said, but first, I need you to get a master, like an MBA, and I need you to work hard in school and know what you're doing and get some experience for 10 or 20 years, and then they'll go, ugh, no, thank you. Like, this is, there's a family I'm close to that is, he is, works in private equity and helps build businesses, helps sort of flip corporations. And so part of his job is he brings in new CEOs. So he's regularly hiring CEOs for like, you know, cushy tech jobs that are making millions of dollars a year. And his, the company he works for, said, we want more diversity. We want you to hire more diverse people groups. And he's like, nobody is qualified. I would love to hire somebody that is in this particular minority group or that particular minority group, but there are no people that have any that have the degree or the experience necessary to actually do this job. And so what happens is that people want dominion, but they don't want the responsibility to manage the dominion they've been given. And this is the difference. Like in the church, we want dominion often, but we, but we reject responsibility. And so my hope is that maybe today, some of you will say, all right, I'm going to begin to take responsibility for the things I have and believe that if I'm faithful with little, God will make me ruler over much. I read that somewhere pastors. I can't somewhere. Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea or the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Verse 27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him male and female. He created them. I want to pause on this. This is not at all what my sermon is about, but I think it is worth explaining. There are some debates about like, what is a woman's role in the church? Here's here's if the church's job is to demonstrate God, we need male and female working in a cooperative harmony. If we're ever going to adequately

demonstrate the image of God. So ladies, we need your voices. We need your heart. We need your perspective. It's it's critical men. We need your voices. We need your heart. We need your perspective. And if we, as a community are going to model the image of God to a world that desperately needs to see him, I need all y'all. We're in the South. Y'all know what that means. I need all y'all to bring what God has put inside of you to the table week after week, after week, after week. Amen. And verse 28, God then blessed them and said to them, this, this is mankind's original intention. Mankind's original purpose, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, every living thing that moves over the earth. How do we have dominion by being fruitful and multiplying? This is the law of nature that if you multiply a lot, you will have dominion. Like it will produce dominion. Muslims have figured this out. It's true. It's true. If you go to Utah, you'll find that Mormons have figured this out and it doesn't matter how little sense your religion makes. If you have kids faster than people can learn the truth and leave the religion, you'll be able to keep the religion growing. So I'm being mean. Listen, we have the truth on our side. I trust that if my kids will, with an open and honest heart, seek the truth, they're never going to Google anything that will make them go, Oh, my dad's been lying to me my whole life. Turns out Joseph Smith was a con man. Like that's not like, like the truth is on our side. We are like, this is a, this is good for us. And so here's the problem guys though, is that we don't multiply. We have been created to hold dominion. And in Genesis 1 28, God explains that dominion comes by way of multiplication, that we cannot expect dominion without multiplication. Here's the issue though. We've been designed and commissioned by God to reproduce, but we live in a society that values production more than reproduction. And I want to explain this to you. Society is perfectly happy. If you produce jobs or if you produce shoes, or if you produce YouTube videos, or if you produce, uh, cars, our, our, our society is perfectly happy and we'll celebrate and reward you richly for those things. But if you reproduce abundantly, everybody goes, are you sure? You're kind of a freak 11 kids. Like that's what in the world, why would you ever write Vegas? Yeah. Y'all know we need as many Vegas as we can get like, here's the interesting thing. We live in a society that will reward you

richly for producing, but not. for reproducing. We live in a society that celebrates you producing but not reproducing. And here's the difference between producing and reproducing. To produce is a consequence of what you do, but to reproduce is a consequence of what you are. It is to actually take what you are, like as a Christian, as a human, and to multiply that thing. And so this is, I think, the mystery of the kingdom I want us to unpack together today, that we are, as God's people, we're not just called to be productive, we're called to be reproductive. We're not just called to work hard, we are called to reproduce what we are. What God has done in us, we should do everything we can to do in and for others. We can actually see this principle in the natural world. In Genesis chapter 8, God tells us that, while the earth remains, this is as he's giving his covenant to Noah after the flood. He says, while the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease. So this is the idea, seed time and harvest. As long as creation exists, seed time and harvest will continue to remain. What does that mean? It means that when you plant an apple tree, you're not going to get a hippopotamus. It doesn't matter how hard you decree or declare. It doesn't matter how hard you pray. Like, there is no scenario where you can get something to, you can get a seed to bear fruit that is different than the seed you planted. And this is, I think, a critical principle for us to understand. This is obvious in the natural world, it's self-evident, and yet it is a reality that much of our world is at war against today. It's like, I mean, how often, you know, Dr. Hartman, Mr. Rich is a scientist and Ms. Sheila as well. And, you know, I'm sure that both of you have heard a lot in, you know, higher ed institutions of people that are doing their best to pretend like, well, you never really know what a seed will produce, right? That's where the whole theory of evolution comes from, is that you might someday plant an apple seed and produce a hippopotamus. You just never, you never, if you have enough time, maybe, maybe it could happen. Oh, not 10 billion, maybe it's 15 billion or 17 or 30 billion. We'll just throw more time at it to make it more and more mysterious and pretend like it's feasible. But we know, like, seeds reproduce after their own kind. Things don't change kind over time. And so the idea, like, there's no historical record of anything like that ever happening. Things change within their kind. Dog breeds have evolved, you know, to be shorter and fatter and, you know, have mushed up faces so they can't really breathe.

They snore all the time. We used to have a French bulldog. It's like, we'd look at this little meatloaf and think, like, this thing used to be a wolf, you know? It's crazy. But no matter how many times you do that, they're not going to become an eagle, right? And so things they reproduce after their own kind. This is, you know, this is obvious in nature. The kingdom, Jesus teaches in Mark chapter four in the parable of the sower, is like seed scattered. And though the birds devour it, the sun scorches it, or the thorns suffocate it, it can only ever reproduce according to its own kind. The seed of the kingdom is never going to produce anything that does not resemble or multiply or advance the kingdom because things reproduce after their own kind. We see this principle also described in scripture. Deuteronomy chapter 34. This is just after Moses' death. He's led the Israelites out of captivity, slavery in Egypt. He has led them as they've wandered now for 40 years around the Sinai Peninsula. And Moses, after he dies, it's describing Joshua, who would become Moses' successor. And it says in Deuteronomy 34 verse 9, it says, now Joshua, the son of none was full of the spirit of wisdom for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the children of Israel heeded him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. I love this. I've got this underlined and highlighted twice in my Bible. Why was Joshua the son of none full of the spirit of wisdom? It's not, it's not a secret question. Why? Because Moses laid his hands on him. Like there's this, so we understand, I wasn't going to preach about this today, but we're good. You guys good. Okay. So we understand sort of in the charismatic world, this principle of the laying on of hands. This is one of the things that Paul would later describe as an elementary principle. One of the foundations. of life in the kingdom, the laying on of hands. Here's the problem, is we think the laying on of hands is sort of a euphemistic way of explaining, like impartation. It is that he taught, like Moses taught Joshua what Moses knew. Moses reproduced into Joshua what God had done in Moses. Like this is, so let me explain it like this, okay? So I'm not trying to take away from like laying hands on people when you pray for them.

I think we should keep doing that. But I would say it like this, you know, if I were to say, hey, come over to my house, we're gonna break bread. I think we both would understand that it's strange if you came over to the house and I grabbed a loaf of bread and I said, you grab that end and we tore it in half and then I said, all right, that was great, see you later. Right, we understand like breaking bread is something deeper than literally breaking bread, right? And so we need to understand also that the laying on of hands is something deeper than just that Moses touched him. Right, and here's I think the symbolism or the significance of it is that, you know, you can't lay hands on somebody from a distance. That if Joshua was just one of many people in a crowd who sometimes listened to Moses when he spoke to the assembly, that's different. Like it's saying that Joshua got close. There was proximity between Joshua and Moses, not just physical proximity, but I would argue that there's emotional and spiritual proximity as well. And that proximity reproduced in Joshua what God had done in Moses. In fact, I'll show you on the next page. This is the beginning of the book of Joshua. I'll start in verse one and I want you to just pay attention to how many times Moses is mentioned at the beginning of Joshua's story in the context of these mentions.

Joshua 1.1, it says, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant. I love this interesting thing that it doesn't talk about Joshua's skillset, it talks about his relationship to Moses. That's important. Moses' assistant saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people to the land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance, the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left that you may prosper wherever you go.

You see, what's happening in this situation is that God is honoring the graces and gifts on Moses which have now been reproduced to Joshua. It took Moses 40 years of wandering in the wilderness to be prepared for the day of the Exodus. 40 years, or sorry, it took Moses 40 years of wandering, excuse me, it took Moses 40 years of waiting until he came to the burning bush moment until he was called by God, and then there was 40 additional years of wandering in the wilderness where Moses was just sort of like waiting and he's in the wilderness teaching Joshua and teaching Joshua and dreaming with Joshua about what the Lord promised him 40 years earlier, that is a good and large land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Like that's what God promised us, that there would be a land like this one day. I think it's Canaan, this is what the Lord has said. And Joshua, as far as we know, has not had any of these encounters. He's not had any of these experiences. But for 40 years, he listened to Moses dream about God's fulfilled promises and how wonderful that day would be. And the preparation that God gave Joshua was just getting to walk with Moses, to be Moses' assistant for 40 years. And so suddenly, God began to honor the graces and gifts

that were on Moses' life because those things didn't die with Moses because Moses adequately imparted them to Joshua. He reproduced them in Joshua. So we've looked now at Genesis, we've looked at the story of Moses and Joshua, we can jump forward in time. And let's look at the Apostle Paul. He's pretty good, I think, at this. He's a good example of this. Let's look at Philippians chapter four. And I want you to pay a lot of attention to what he says. I'm gonna read a very common passage. passage, and then I'm gonna give it some context that you have likely never heard before. Philippians chapter four, starting in verse eight, says, finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. How many of you have heard that verse? Yeah, it's beautiful, it's a really common one, and I think it's one we ought to consider, write down, remind ourselves over and over again that we ought to be giving our attention to things that are noble and just and pure and lovely and of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy. Those are the things that we ought to be meditating on.

But I want you to look at the very next verse. Paul describes this list of things. These are the things that we should meditate on. Verse nine, he says, the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do. And the God of peace will be with you. So Paul is saying, if you wanna know what is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy, you can look at my life. I have modeled these things for you. The things, those are the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me. And he exhorts the church in Philippi, that's what you should do. And if you do what you saw me do, the God of peace will be with you. This is what it looks like to make disciples. I mentioned, I think it was last week, that we ought to be asking ourselves the question, if someone were to become a Christian and come into the church and their devotional life looked exactly like mine, would it produce in them good fruit? Would they grow in their faith if they read the Bible as often as I read the Bible and prayed as often as I pray and fellowshiped with other believers and worshiped as often as I fellowship and worship? If their commitment to God looked exactly like my commitment to God, would they grow up in their faith?

Would they become a mature believer or would they become a nominal church attender, a spectator in a pew, watching other people experience a God they just sometimes read about? This is what Paul says to the church in Philippi, the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do and the God of peace will be with you. I need you to hear what I'm about to say. And this is a message I have preached to many young aspiring ministers. You do not get to reproduce what you preach. You reproduce what you are. Gosh, ministry would be so much easier if I could live like hell the other six and a half days of the week and then come here and just preach the truth to you guys and know that it's gonna bear its fruit. But I don't get to reproduce just what I say from the stage. I reproduce what I am. And this is true for all of us. You know, sometimes you don't realize some of your ugly tendencies until you see them come from your kids and you go, ooh. Oh no. I'm sure y'all can't relate, that's my story. That's my, this is my testimony, yeah.

You know, they talk to you the way you talk to them and you realize it doesn't look as good on the other side of it. Like, okay, I gotta change some things. Like, we don't get the luxury of being able to reproduce what we say. We can't, we can't say that the way the world works is not that we can say, well, do as I say, not as I do. That's not the way the world works. We will always, it is the law of God's nature and God's order or law of multiplicity that we reproduce not what we say, we reproduce what we are. This is why Jesus is called in John 3, 16, the only begotten Son of God. It's why Jesus in John 1, 12 says, yet to all who receive him, oh yeah, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. This is like, Jesus was the only begotten of the Father and yet he's called the firstborn among many brethren in Romans 8, 29. And so what has Jesus reproduced? He's reproduced sons of God. He's the Son of God who reproduced sons of God. It is because he is the Son of God that Christ is able to reproduce sons of God. He, by his blood, has become the initiator of the multiplication he instructed his disciples to carry on.

And by continuing in the ministry of multiplication, we too will find ourselves walking as sons dependent on God. on the Father, and in being so, carrying the likeness of Christ into a world that desperately needs to see him. Sons of God, dependent on the Father. And as we do that, we become the image of Christ to a world that doesn't even think he exists. So, as I've said for weeks, the ministry God will breathe on most powerfully here in the years ahead is not what happens on this stage, it will be what happens around your tables and in your homes. The Great Commission, as I've said today, is to make disciples of all nations. And the fulfillment of the Great Commission is not to make church attenders, or even converts, or spectators out of as many people as we can. The fulfillment of the Great Commission is not for you to bring me people to disciple. The Great Commission is for you to take up the mantle of both disciple and disciple-maker. It is for you to take up the mantle of both disciple and disciple-maker, and to therefore make sure you have both a Paul and a Timothy in your life. You've got people that are ahead of you on the path that you're looking to, people that could say, follow me like Paul did, follow me as I follow Christ.

If you emulate the way I walk with God, you'll grow in your faith. Like that ought to be a commitment, a comment that the leaders in your life can make. Find those people, find a Paul, somebody that you can say, I see the fruit on your life, I see your marriage, I see the way that you love and lead your children, I see the virtue that you walk with, the integrity that you carry, I see your commitment to the word of God and to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I want that in my life, I just wanna watch the way you walk. And then, we need to look behind us for the Timothys, for people that are about to walk through or maybe are currently walking through things that God has given us victory in, and we need to say, hey, here's the path I walked, this is the way God took me, and I think maybe I can be a cheerleader for you, a resource for you, and a friend to you as you navigate this situation or this season of life. But where do we start? I mean, do you, you know, you'll find somebody on the way, you know, on the way through the lobby, like, hey, you look like you're messing up, I got some stuff to teach you, you know? You're clearly, you clearly need a Paul, let me be that for you.

This is one of the real issues, I think, in the church is we're still the modern, you know, church, especially our charismatic movement is like trying to figure out how we deal with leadership. And so instead of trying to crack the code on how to become qualified to be a leader or what it looks like to sort of take a position of leadership in someone else's life, just be a friend. Just share freely what God has done in your life. And so where we start is not with some title, some seat or some position. Where we start is that each of us must today begin an honest time of reflection and self-assessment. Our first priority must be to become a man or a woman worth emulating. Like that's where you start. You know, you're not gonna be a man or a woman like that's where you start. You don't know where you start in leadership, you don't print business cards or build a website or start a podcast, where you start in leadership is by saying, God, reveal to me the areas in my life that don't honor you. Expose anything in me that is not worth emulating. Make my life something that would be a blessing to anyone who would walk the path that I walk day by day. We ought to live a life that is so admirable and virtuous. We ought to have relationships that are so secure and strong and we ought to walk with God

in so beautiful a way that we could say with confidence like the Apostle Paul, that the things which you learn and receive and hear and see in me, do those things. of peace will be with you. That should be our aim. That is the kingdom way. And it is that ministry that God will bless and build this church upon for generations to come. Father, we thank you for the gift of multiplicity. Thank you, God. Your word spells out for us that what we cultivate in our own life will be reproduced in the lives of others. And God, we ask that you would give us great fear and trembling and humility and, uh, and reliance on you. That would cause us Lord to, uh, to yield to your sharpening and to your empowering work in our life. And to say to you constantly, Lord, shape us and make us into people worth emulating. God, help us not to ignore our need for mentors and leaders and help us God not to forget about those that need to be mentored and led. I let our lives continue to blaze a trail closer and closer and closer to the gospel, uh, to, to, to the full fruit of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Help us Lord to model all virtue and honor and truth and love in a way that others can find and follow. Lord, make this a house full of ministers. Make this a house where disciples make disciples, and we learn to follow your design for nature and to reproduce after our own kind. God, we give you our lives. We give you our plans and our ambitions. And we say, Lord, use us for your glory in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Hey, we love y'all. Thank you guys so much for being here. We will see you here Wednesday night at 6 30. Thank you. So so you