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Week 4: Will you Mobilize and Multiply? | Proverbs 11:30

Mary Ellen Ermis May 7, 2023 sermons, cityrise, houston, Proverbs, Roger Patterson, Rooted, West U Baptist,

The following is a manuscript of the sermon presented by Senior Pastor Dr. Roger Patterson on Sunday, May 7, 2023 at our West U Baptist campus. To view the sermon in full, check out the link below.

 

As we begin, I want to give you an update on a few of our Deep and Wide initiatives. It’s a special Sunday as we will have a time of commitment. If you are a guest with us today, I believe you are going to witness God moving in the lives of those who call this church their home.

Today will be a time of Show and Tell…throughout this message, I want to Show you what God is doing and tell you what He would have for us!

  1. First, our construction at Crosspoint is well under way. Here are a few pictures to show that. Currently, it is just demolition that is taking place, so there isn’t a lot of buildback to show just yet, but things are coming along nicely

We are still in the demolition phase, but we are well underway.

Second, I want to update you giving to Deep and Wide.

Giving to Deep and Wide

Pledged and Anticipated Gifts of $30 Million

Beginning Date: June 1, 2023

Through March 31, 2023

Receipts through the first 10 Months…

Giving to Deep and Wide

$14,689,534

That is 50% of the pledged and anticipated gifts.

Here are some additional relevant facts to share with you.

Giving to Deep and Wide

892 Participating Households

196 New Givers to the Church

We are well on our way to completing this first phase of our Deep and Wide Generosity Initiative. Thank you. Thank you for giving. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for your generosity.

Additionally, we have launched our App. Have you downloaded it yet?

App Stats

Downloads: 1,033

App Impressions: 47,295

App Impressions are movements throughout the app.

I’d like to invite you to download that app right now if you haven’t yet. Just scan the QR Code in front of you with your phone’s camera. Put your camera on it and it will invite you to click a yellow link that appears…click that and it will take you to a place to download the app.

Today, we are going to be examining what it is to Bear the Fruit of the Kingdom by cultivating generosity over the long-haul. Our goal is to bear fruit repeatedly, through the seasons.

The question we are asking is, “Will You Mobilize and Multiply?

Now, we have been studying Proverbs 11 these past few weeks. Proverbs 11 is a chapter in scripture that continually speaks about a generous life.

It challenges us to fruitfulness and faithfulness over the long-haul.

In a microwave age, when we want everything immediately at our fingertips, we want to challenge you to invest in that which lasts, bears fruit and multiplies.

Consider Proverbs 11:30.

Proverbs 11:30

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
    and whoever captures souls is wise.

One of the things I love about Proverbs is how there is so much conveyed in a short sentence.

Let me remind you of this tree.

This tree sits at the center of the front yard of the D-J ranch in Brenham, Texas. And the canopy of this tree, as you can see, provides such great shade, where you can come in out of the sun and rest and be refreshed.

And my hope is that our church is a lot like this tree.

…that as you are living life, you can come into the halls, the sanctuary, the classrooms…all of our spaces, and find a rest and a shade for your life.

But what is wonderful about the way God built this world, is that he makes things multiply.

A Tree, Begets Trees.

The fruit of A TREE, produces seed for what will be another tree that will take root, grow, deepen its roots, develop a canopy, and drop acorns that will die, and take root as a new sapling.

The same is true spiritually. You see, the fruit of the life of a righteous person turns into other trees of life, or righteous persons.

But this fruit that is born, doesn’t happen overnight. It happens over seasons. And Solomon knew that when he wrote this proverb.

He says in the second half of it, “…and whoever captures souls is wise.”

Why are they wise?

  1. Well, first, Because God says so…
  2. But second, they are wise, Because life begets life.

Life begets life…and that’s wisdom.

When we go after souls to capture them for the glory of God, when that is the fruit our life produces and the fruit our church produces, it potential is limitless. It multiplies.

  • It multiplies itself in our classrooms at our campuses, where volunteers show up and share the good news of Jesus…pouring it into the hearts and minds of boys and girls.

The fruit of the righteous…is multiplied into the lives of our students as they grasp the good news for themselves and it takes hold and begins to grow.

The fruit of the righteous is multiplied in the lives of our college students and young adults as they come to Christ, GROW deeply in their faith, and live missionally for Jesus in a very dark world.

The fruit of the righteous multiplies itself in the mountains of Ecuador where many in the mountain communities give their lives to Jesus…

And then churches are planted, and pastors are trained and raised up.

You see, LIFE BEGETS LIFE!

Life brings forth life.

With the Massai in Kenya… through church planting and seminary training of pastors called to their villages.

Life begets life through healthcare in a clinic and a church plant funded through our missions budget in the remote hills in Honduras and it creates a canopy of grace.

This life begets life in a city like yours where doctors and nurses give of their time to serve the poor with free medical care along with the gospel message.

The fruit of the righteous becomes a tree of life when a counseling ministry partners with a local church to serve the people and help them process their pain, so that they can move forward.

This life begets life when a church commits to the alien of their city…those who are foreigners in the land…whether that is teaching them the language of the land or providing them a place to lay their head at night because of extended medical treatment needs, life is begetting life through generosity.

This life begets life when adults take time out of their schedule to partner with a school in their community to mentor children who need help reading…or who need someone in their life to simply care.

This simple act of generously giving one’s time can change the trajectory of a young life.

The generous life leads to an exponential impact that can only be measured in God’s kingdom, as life begets life… that begets life… that begets life.

2 Corinthians 9:10-11 shows us this multiplying effect with our resources as well.

It says…

2 Corinthians 9:10-11

10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

Multiplication is God’s math. He both supplies and then he multiplies.

Just like the trees.  It’s his abounding nature.

It is how His kingdom functions.

And the one who positions their life in this way is one that will itself be refreshed.

That’s what Proverbs 11:25 declares.

Proverbs 11:25 (NIV)

A generous person will prosper;
    whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

When you give your life away for the sake of the gospel, the promise is refreshment.

In Matthew 10:38-39 we see these words from Jesus:

Matthew 10:38-39

38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

When we generously give our lives away, we find life, when we do it for the sake of Jesus.

And we do this over and over again.

  • We do it daily.
  • We lose our lives for him daily.
  • We take up our cross, daily.
  • We say, daily, “Lord, use me today. Make my life an offering!”

And when we do this season after season, the impact is immeasurable and exponential.

You see, it’s a lifetime of seasons that abides with Jesus that will bear much fruit.

In John 15:5, Jesus said these words…

Slide: John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

May it be said of us that the fruit of our righteous lives became a tree of life for another, because we generously gave our lives away for the sake of our Lord Jesus!