Multiply your life

Intro

Multiply your Life

We have launched this new vision back in February which is simply called Multiply 2025

What we did was we looked at our church and how we went through the pandemic and we asked the question, what does God want for his church.

And it didn’t take long before we realized that the answer was

Spiritual Health & Depth

Financial & Facility Health

Church planting

These are three simple things that never happen over night. And you can spend 20 years on each of these and not get them to where you want them so why are we saying three years three things

So for that reason in the next three years we are trying to raise $300,000

We have already asked you to partner with us in this and many of you have done so.

What this 300K will go towards is

Hiring a worship leader, which we are working on right now

Facilities: And let me explain this one for a second. We have an amazing property and we want to make sure that this facility gets maintained in a way where it outlasts all of us and is used for God’s glory. I have seen this before, Deferred maintenance can kill a church. I have seen before where a church is doing okay, they pay their staff and their bills, & they are doing great ministry

but their AC’s go out and their roof goes bad and they need a new parking lot…

Well they go from doing just fine to being 1/2million in debt over night and that load crushes them. We need to be wise stewards of what we have. In the next couple of years we are going to need a new roof, our bathrooms need a refresh, we have to paint the outside of a building…and we continually need to maintain our parking lot because we get cracks in there that you could lose a small child in.

But the bigger picture here is that its not just a roof or a parking lot or bathrooms, it really is a facility to train disciples to reach the world.

The facility is a hub where people from all over Sacramento come to grow deeper and faith and every time you leave here you don’t just go, you are sent out the door to do God’s work.

And lastly, We need to become the kind of church that plants churches that plants churches that plants churches. We need to raise up pastors and people who will start a church in their house, start churches in areas that are rapidly abandoning the gospel. There is a huge de-constructionist movement underway by christians and former christians, and the gospel is being abandoned. There are overt cultural overtones that says, if you even go to church then your closed minded and a bigot, which is ridiculous if you have ever read the bible. But the reason why this gets me so much and I am just convinced that as a church we need to go after church planting in non-traditional ways is that abandonment that is happening is an abandonment of truth....and when you abandon truth and live by a lie then there will be entire generations perishing without knowing Jesus

But I really believe in what Romans 8:19 says

Romans 8:19 NIV

For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

All of creation is waiting for the church to look like Jesus

All of creation is waiting for the grace, forgiveness, the character of christ

And I am bold enough to believe that we can send out from here new churches that will look like Jesus.

Some churches might be 10 people and some might be 1,000 people

But when you are dead set on seeking the character and holiness of God than anything can happen

So let me just share with you where we are at...you can partner with us by giving monthly for 3 years to help all of this vision come to life.

Since February we have brought in $49,000 of that $300,000…and thats amazing!

Especially since we have only 30 people Pledged

but many more who have given

If 165 people gave $50/mo for 3 years above their tithes and offerings, we would fully fund this goal

If 125 people gave $66/mo for 3 years we would fully fund this goal

if 100 people gave $83/mo for 3 years we would fully fund this goal

So at the welcome table we have pledge cards

If you scan the QR code on the sermon notes there is a way for you to fill out an online pledge card.

But this is between you and the Lord so pray about it

I am excited for what God is going to do through this new vision and we are just a couple of months in...

Ok Well I want to kick this series off with a good old fill in the blank

God intends for my life to multiply

We have to start here. Before we get to planting churches, before we get to anything like that, your life with God, your own spiritual health needs to be there

Because we need a church filled with multipliers

people who just everywhere they go multiply their faith into others

Multiplication is embedded into humanity from the first pages of the Bible

So first we see this in the Bible:

Common English Bible Chapter 1

27 God created humanity

in God’s own image,

in the divine image God created them,

male and female God created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and master it. Take charge of the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, and everything crawling on the ground.”

Now when you read Genesis 1:27-28 you are supposed to read it in light of what came right before it

The trees and the plants are given seed and that seed falls and just effortlessly creates another plant

In other words, it is woven into the fabric of the DNA of that plant.

My wife is a plant lady…And oh my goodness through COVID we were home so much we grew a small jungle of plants

And since moving to Sacramento we had plants die in the move and then all year some have made it and others haven’t…we had some in the wrong part of the house…etc

So the other day we buy a donkey tail and a snake plant…and Donkey tails are fragile so Desiree is sitting in the car and I am handing her plants because they are just going to fall over and break in the trunk so I hand her the snake plant and the donkey tail…What I didn't realize is that she put the snake plant on my seat…and I go to sit down and bam! I break the little plastic pot and dirt goes everywhere

And of course…I am like! Oh no all this dirt and Desiree is like…IS THE PLANT OKAY?

But when I broke that pot open we found a bonus snake plant in there

Its like that little plant just keeps multiplying itself without even trying...

It’t what it is designed to do...

So you are supposed to read Genesis 1:28, Be fruitful and multiply in light of Genesis 1:11-12...

You are supposed to think…Just like that fruit tree effortlessly produced more fruit trees, that is what my life is supposed to be like

And while we might miss this, the Biblical authors are not clueless on this. They write about it all the time, and maybe because we are not in a farming culture any more we don’t see it as much

Psalm 1 says that our lives are suppose to be like a tree that is planted by the water, producing fruit in every season...

The Bible actively compares your life to that of a tree

John the Baptist in Matthew 3 says

Matthew 3:8 NIV

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

What produces fruit? Trees...

Then he says Matthew 3:10

Matthew 3:10 NIV

The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

He is like…your life is like a tree…Be fruitful like the trees or be cut down!

It is as simple as that

So your life is intended to produce fruit so it can multiply...

Now both literally and spiritually...

When God formed the nation of Israel, in his founding words to Abraham he said

Genesis 12:3 NIV

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

And through the nation of Israel you see this very obvious multiplication of blessing.

The way that life with God is suppose to work is that God blesses you. He changes your life and then you bless others

Genesis 12:3 is still in play, Jesus on the cross actually becomes the fullest picture of it

A God who is so in love with humanity that he takes on their sin, makes them new and then commissions them out to teach all nations about him.

But how does our life multiply?

The next two fill-in are this

My spiritual life multiplies by producing fruit

Fruit comes from abiding with God

Now when we use this word “abide” it means to make your home in a place. It means “to linger.” It means that you let this new home shape you.

For example: If you abide in the things of darkness, that will shape you. It will determine who you are...

If you rest and abide in God’s word then you will be shaped by that.

It is that simple

So flip with me to John 15, and I want to spend the rest of the time we have today just picking apart this passage because its so impotrant

John 15:1–4 NIV

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Ok, so my inner nerd feels compelled to tell you that in Hebrew a vine and a tree are just two variations of the same thing…SO if you were reading this in Hebrew, Jesus would say I am the “vine tree”…

What Jesus is saying is that I am the main tree…and if you have said yes to Jesus then you begin living as a branch on Jesus’ tree

And this is impotrant because again, Trees are the first thing to be fruitful and multiply in the Bible and it is one of the main metaphors of healthy or unhealthy worship

In this translation it says “remain in me”

but I like the word abide so much better

Abide means so much more, it means to build your home there, to camp out

and Jesus says something that is so impotrant and I am afraid that at times when we read this we might just gloss over it, but its huge...

He says that when we are close and we are abiding or remaining in him, then he cuts off branches that bear no fruit

Pruning hurts…But your never closer to the hand of the father

Sometimes you go though things in life that is like…What is going on? I thought I was going to get that position…I thought that relationship was going to last, I thought that what was happening in my life was Good…And I have stayed really connected to Jesus but everything in my life seems to be getting stripped away from me...

Pruning Hurts! But you are never closer to the hand of the father then when you are being pruned…and its for your benefit.

Lamp vs iPhone

I want to show you a real life example of what Jesus is talking about here

iPhone

Here I have an iPhone…I can text, email watch movies, I can check my doorbell..Its my cameras, its my GPS, its all my music…We all live on these things don’t we?

But you know what, this phone is a few years old now and so my battery starts to die faster than it used to.

So I have to come back on a regular basis to plug it in.

If I don’t, this is just an expensive brick

Lamp

Here I have a lamp.

Sure it might look nice, but I have never been able to check my emails on it

I cant take pictures with my lamp,

This lamp is useless for navigation...

But here is the difference

This lamp only does one thing, it gives off light

And if its not near its power source then this lamp is totally useless

And here is what I think Jesus is saying in John 15:1-4...

If you disconnect from the power source…your always going to be trying to re-charge your batteries

The challenge is that we all treat our spiritual lives like iPhones than need recharging and then at the end of the day we wonder…Why isn’t there more fruit in my life?…is church really working for me? Am I getting anything out of this arrangement?

See the difference between these two things is when we are like this lamp, we plug in and receive power…then we give something to re rest of the community…Light!

But when we are just a phone and we treat our spiritual life like it just needs to be recharged from time to time, then we come and take power and thats it

You might be able to get away with it for a little bit…But if your here this morning and you are listing to me preach and your saying…Oh man…Im a phone not a lamp...

But guess what…Eventually your battery is going to die…It might not be today or tomorrow.

But this lamp ceases to be a lamp if its not plugged in…It has to stay perpetually connected to its source of power to give off light

John 15:5–8 NIV

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Jesus says that apart from him we can do nothing...

This lamp apart from its power source is simply useless

I love that Jesus says when we remain or abide in Him that his words remain in us.

And what Jesus is saying is that it is to God’s glory that you can bear fruit

So I want to give you 4 useful practices to abide in Jesus

4 practices that have helped me to abide in Jesus

1. Solitude & Silence: (Psalm 46:10)

There is just too much noise today

This is time every day that you set aside to give God your full and undivided attention

If you want to bear fruit in your life create space to hear from God

For me I ride my bike nearly every day…No headphones…No conversations…Just ok God I need to hear from you

2. Engaging Scripture for Spiritual Transformation (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

There is a difference in looking at the Bible like a reference book…Like…what does God think about...

Rather than deeply sitting in the word of God and allowing it to transform you

I’ll tell you what, every day for years now I have had a daily practice of reading my bible…And of course I have missed a day here and there…But mostly…every day for years And I couldn't tell you what I read yesterday…or last week or 2 months ago…But I am pretty sure that had I not given the time for this daily effort then I would have shriveled up spiritually long ago

3. Prayer (Philippians 4:6-7)

This Philippians verse is the one that says be anxious for nothing but in every situation present your request to God

Prayer is the way that we have friendship & fellowship with God

We bring him our deepest longings and desire and we are open before God

We bring everything before God in prayer and in that way we become friends with God

4. Fellowship with other Christians (Galatians 6:2, Proverbs 27:17)

Just as prayer and silence is fellowship with God

You cant just grab a coffee with someone and call it fellowship

Fellowship with other christians is intentionally sharing the load of life with one another

Its seeing for someone when they can’t see, its asking for help when your drowning

Wrap up

So here is what I want you to understand...

We have this big vision to multiply...

Become a church that multiplies christians all over Sacramento, California and the world

But before we ever multiply as a church this vision is really for you

For our church to bear fruit, you need to bear fruit

For our church to multiply, you have to multiply

For our church to go to the next level of reaching people for Jesus, you have to let Jesus transform all who you are

This vision is Its not just about painting stuff and hiring people

I truly believe that God has called us to multiply as a church and it really comes down to us.

Are we living our lives connected to the vine?

Application

Maybe your here today and your prayer needs to be God I am sorry I treat you as if I have some kind of battery and I only occasionally come back to you when my batteries are running low

Maybe you need to repent of being an iPhone and ask God to transform you into being a lamp

You were made to be a blessing to your families, your neighbors, your coworkers and this world. Are you?

Prayer