- Hey, good morning and welcome. Man, this is round two on our Kingdom Equations. Pastor Alan, last week, come outta the gate swinging, didn't he? I loved it, I love this message of being able to take your ordinary and make something miraculous out of it, and we got to see that in the miracle, man, the fishes and the loaves, how God can just take whatever we bring, whatever that little small thing is, that offering that we have, but he multiplies it to something great. Today, I wanted to continue that, to sit there in something great. I want us to sit there and look how God can change and challenge us so many times in that. Because I think, last week, when I looked at that message, what really challenged me more than anything was how I discount the God factor so many times in my own personal walk. I mean, don't we all? We sit there and we look at what we have and what we have to offer, and we think it's kinda small or nothing magnificent, but we forget that when God takes those things, he multiplies them in such a way it makes such an impact and difference, we forget that. And we're guilty of that. How many of you are big dreamers? I noticed it goes to usually, the younger crowd. Usually, the time you get older, you get to about my age, the world's mostly beat it out of you. Because we do have this when we're young, and when we're young, we sit there and we can see all these great things that we could be or become, and as we get older in life, you know, you hear the comments of get your head outta the clouds. Well, that sounds great in your world, but here in reality, that don't take place. And after we hear that enough times in our life, gosh, it just gets to us after awhile. I remember being, as a kid, and gosh, I would think about all the things that we could be. An astronaut was a biggie when I was a kid. I remember, school, we used to stop, man, whenever the Challenger was going up, the space shuttles, everything would stop in school. I mean, every class would stop, all the TVs would be focused, all the kids would be watching, and we'd watch it every time. So you're like, oh gosh, wouldn't it be so cool to go up and see the stars, to be in space and do all these things? We used to have policemen and firefighters, they would by schools when I was younger, and we'd get to hear about their careers and how they would save lives, or run into this burning building, which I've never really had a desire, but some of 'em had a desire to run into a burning building and to save people and all. And that was just moving. You'd get to see teachers and you would see how they would just love and encourage and react with these student to help best in their lives to make this difference. And I would see kids grow up to be nurses and doctors, all these different things, and just make an impact in their lives, and it's just like, man, they're dreamers. I used to sit there and mess around when I was a kid, 'cause I was strange, but I'd sit there and think, like gosh, man, if I could get hit with radiation or if a spider would bite me, I could be a superhero. You know, that'd be really cool, wouldn't it, if we could be a superhero and make a big impact and difference with our life. But we grow up, and things just change, and we shift, and I look at my kids today and watch them and how they've shifted in their thought process, and it really surprises me, I guess, 'cause it's not so much of those dreams like I had as a kid. Now it's kinda shifted to where it's, I want my own YouTube channel, which is kinda different to me, but I'm almost seeing this thing, it's really come to a mindset of not making so much of an impact or a difference with my life, but I really, I wanna be famous. Now that doesn't mean, now, if I'm a famous, I couldn't make an impact, but I'm really basing everything off of being famous. Famous is it. If I can do the famous thing, if I can be famous, then gosh, I could really make a difference in my life, because really, ordinary people like you and I, are we gonna make that much of a difference? 'Cause gosh, if you'd look at somebody famous, somebody with their own YouTube channel, somebody that could do something great, somebody that could throw a ball or can sing and do all these amazing things, gosh, they could have millions of people watch their lives and have such an influence. So where does that leave you and I? If I can't sing, if I can't throw a ball, if I don't have a YouTube channel, where do I go, what do I do with that? Are you really gonna make much difference in this world in that way? Are you really gonna make an impact just being an ordinary you and I? Well, I think we can. When we sit there and look at impact, I wanna simply look at this definition. Define, to have a strong effect or someone, on someone, or something. When we have this influence on someone, then we have this effect on them. That is sitting there making an impact on their lives. And see, most people, where we've already given up on our dreams, you and I, a lot of times have done that, the world's already taken it out of you, I wanna show you how God can put that back into you. I think he desires to put that back in every single one of us. He wants us to be a dreamer till he brings us home, till he takes us to heaven. He wants us to constantly be dreaming, and he challenges me on this, 'cause man, I'm not. I struggle in that area, and he has to sit there and work on me all the time, Stevie. You gotta put the God factor back into it. Don't look at what you can do. Look at what I can. You know what I can do, and I can do it through anybody I choose to do it through, so you keep on putting those actions out there. So what could I do? Could I really make an impact with my life? Can I really do those things, and if I knew God could do it in my life, would I go for it? Would you go for it, if you knew God could really work through your life? I'm hoping today I can show you he can. I hope you can see that God factor into this. See, today, I wanted to look at this kingdom equation that takes the definition of impact, and it combines it with this God factor, and when you put those together, man, it is the impact equation, and here's the impact equation. When we look at service, when we take, in our lives, and we put this action out there, to move forward, and do something with it, and we sit there, and we multiply that by time, the most precious thing we have is our time. And when we invest that in the right places, that time, and when we add humility, coming to that place with that kinda right kinda heart and life, when we put all that together, that makes an impact. That makes, influences someone's life. God can use those things to make such a great impact and movement in life. There's a passage in Matthew where Jesus is just teaching his disciples, and it's in the final days before he goes to the cross, before his crucifixion, but he's sharing all these different things. He's telling them about the end times, he's talking about watching out for false prophets that's around. He's talking about the hour being unknown, whenever his return is, and he talks about, a couple parables about being ready, and then, he hits this one passage which is about the final judgment. And it's in Matthew 25, and in that passage, you can see Jesus speaking to the first part of this equation, and that's the one I really wanna dive into today, be able to pull it out. He talks about there being two people groups in this. So if we go to Matthew 25:31. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, "and all the angels with him, he will sit "on his glorious throne. "All the nations will be gathered before him, "and he will separate the people from one unto another, "as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. "He will put the sheep on his right, "and he'll put the goats on his left." So right here, Christ is sitting there, talking to them about how he's separating them from the believers and non-believers, this separation. But I love the way he sits there and says, how you can tell this, how you can see this, when we go into verse 34. "Then the king will say to those on his right, "'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. "'Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you "'since the creation of the world. "'For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. "'I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. "'I was a stranger and you invited me in. "'I needed clothes and you clothed me. "'I was sick, and you looked after me. "'I was in prison, and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, "'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, "'or thirsty and give you something to drink? "'Or when did we see you a stranger and invited you in, "'or needing clothes and clothed you? "'When did we see you sick or in prison "'and go to visit you?' "The king will reply, 'I tell you the truth. "'Whatever you did for one of the least of these, "'my brothers and sisters of mine, "'you did for me.'" Man, that's a powerful verse. We get to see Christ right there, before his crucifixion, and he's with his disciples, giving them this last little bit of wisdom that he's sharing with them. He's sitting there telling his disciples is, you gotta put your faith into action. Man, you gotta put it into action, and I love how he uses this separation of sheep and goats. I'm not a livestock person, but I think it's fairly easy to see the difference between a sheep and a goat. Most of us can do that. We can identify that, even not being a livestock person. Not even on the farm. Is Christ sitting here trying to tell his disciples, as obvious as that is between a sheep and a goat, you should be able to tell a believer and an unbeliever in their life? You should be able to see that in their lives, in their actions that they live, it should be that obvious. 'Cause almost, sometimes, don't we almost wanna creep in and we all wanna just look the same. Oh gosh, we're all the same. We're just a little bit different. Man, when you follow Jesus, you're different. You are amazingly different. You are a new person. You move from death to life when you sit there and you follow Jesus with your life. You are gonna be different, and it's nothing to be wrong with that. It is so much difference as between a goat and a sheep and I think he's trying to tell these guys that. I think he's telling them, there is a difference. If we sit there and go back, hear how he shows some of the differences, these actions in our lives. When we go back to verse 34, it says, "Then the king will say to those on his right, "'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. "'Take your inheritance that the king "'has prepared since the creation of the world,'" and I want you to look at these action steps here in these next two passages. "'You gave me something to eat,'" action, "'You gave me something to drink,'" action, "'you invited me in,'" action, "'you clothed me'" action. "'You looked after me,'" action. "'You came to visit me,'" action. We've done something with our life. There should be a difference. You should be able to see a difference in your life when you're following Christ. Man, it's putting our faith into action. It's living our faith out where others can see it, to see this difference into us. That's the life of willingness to serve other people. Man, having this true heart of servanthood, of being able to serve others, putting your needs before your, others' needs before your ow and man, it's hard, that's not necessarily not just our natural ability, is it? We definitely need God in our lives to be able to do those things, to move forward. This happens inside the church and outside of the church 'cause you can sit there and look at different passages in the Bible and see that loving people with our actions. If we jump over to the book of John, if we could see this, when Jesus is talking in verse 35, 13:35, Jesus said, "By this, all people will know that you are my disciples, "if you have love for one another." He's talking about in the church and the body right there. If we jump over here to the second greatest commandment, what does he tell us in the second greatest commandment? "Love your neighbor as yourself," outside of the body. So this is inside of the church and outside of the church, we are to serve, we're to love, we're to put others' actions before our own. But if I don't show them that love, if I don't show those actions my life, how will they know I'm a follower of Christ? 'Cause I'm gonna tell them? Man, words are cheap, aren't they? Words are so cheap. We get this, and I think it's part, in the Christian life, when we're following him, it gets sticky I think when we become a new believer, I think we have this heart and this passion, and this drive in us to go after, and to make an impact, to dream, again, 'cause we see all these changes in ourselves, and we wanna tell the world that maybe, we tell some family, maybe we tell some friends and maybe we have some actions. And if we get shot down 2, 3, 4 times, man, it just hurts. And we can pull it back into this little safety place through that, and then we can come and hang out at church. We can come and worship and get our worship on. It's good, I can come and hear a good message, and man, it's good, and it fills my tank up, and I can move on out, but gosh, if I don't do anything with it, if it's just about me, here's the hard piece I come, and this is the challenge in my own self. If I just do that and not put anything into action, am I really living the life he wants me to live? Am I anything more than a pretender? What's a pretender> They want the title. They want the title of something. Do I want the title of a Christian or do I want the life of one? That's the hard part. Do I just want the title of believer in Jesus, or do I truly want someone to see me live out my life as a believer for Jesus? What is gonna make more impact, more movement in their life of seeing? Man, nobody wants to see the title. They wanna see your life. That's what moves me, that's what challenges me. That's what's gonna challenge your family and your friends to make that difference. Talk is cheap. Why is it important to put our faith into action? It keeps us focused on the right things. Man, it keeps us focused, 'cause we can get so pulled sideways at any time. We do, as Christians. What do we desire? I challenge this, sometimes, when I sit there, and I think about church and our heart, when new folks are coming in. What is our desire? Is our desire as a Christian for someone to come in and see the sin and the error of their ways? Many of you want that. Or is our bigger desire for them to see the grace of God? That's a hard one, isn't it? Which one is it? Which one is the most important? See, 'cause whenever I go to the ER, I usually don't have to have a doctor tell me, man, you're sick. No, I went to the ER 'cause I needed some help. I know, my arm's cut off. I need some help, buddy. You don't have to tell me my arm's cut off. I already know that. When people come to church, do they need a Christian to tell them that they're sick? Or do they need help? What should be the first thing that we tell them? About the grace of God. Most of us know that we struggle, that we're sick, that we have issues. I know that I'm sick and I have struggle and I have issues. The part I have trying to get past is, understanding the grace of God, always, in my life. I struggle with that. I wanna hold and have these things against my life, and challenges of my own life, and not understand his grace he gives me, the love that he gives me. I know all my mistakes. Gosh, could somebody tell me about hope in my life? We wanna be able to share with it, but we wanna make sure that we give it to them with the grace of God, to let them know man, you know, yeah, you struggle, but he's gonna love you. He's gonna forgive, he's gonna move you forward in life. Serving someone is so much more than some ordinary act when you add God into it. It's so much more than that. It's the first step of impacting their life to making that difference. It separates us from everything else in the world, that heart, because everyone else is so self-serving, and Christ is telling you how to serve other people. That is what he wants. So how can God take that service and make an even larger impact with your life? How does he do that? It's the second thing. It's the multiplier of time. Man, he adds time into that. When we are faithful, over and over again, with time, if we go to that same passage in Matthew 25, and you see all these acts of kindness, they all have one thing in common, and it's hard to grasp it a little bit, if you just read through those things and look at 'em, because if we look at 'em in today's thing, is it really that much time to do it? 'Cause when I sit there and I think about all the hunger and thirst and stranger and clothes and all that stuff, I was like, gosh, give me $150 and four hours, and I can knock that out today. It's pretty easy. But if we go back 2,000 years, it's different when he's talking to those disciples. Man, they all require time. They required the most valuable thing that they had, and Christ is trying to tell them, man, I want you to serve in that same time. Understand, it's gonna cost you some time, a sacrifice of time. When I think about I'm hungry, gosh, I can go buy fast food and go get you something real quick. Probably got some Nabs in the truck. I can hand it to you pretty quickly, couldn't I? But then, it was a little different. Then, they're gonna grow it, they're gonna have to hunt it, they're gonna have to cultivate it, they're gonna have to cook it, have to prepare it, and gonna have to feed it to you. That takes some time, don't it? It's not just an instant thing anymore. He says, guys, it's gonna require time. How 'bout I was thirsty? Man, go to the faucet and get you a drink. Got a cup, get you something to drink. That's not then. I got a bottle of water in the truck right now. But then, they're gonna have to go to a river or a well. They're gonna have to sit there and go in hot, go whatever time of day it is, they're gonna have to haul it up out of that well, and they're gonna have to bring it back to you. So to give you to drink, that's meaningful, that's something. It required a whole lotta time, energy and effort to give you a drink. It meant something to give you a drink of water. I was a stranger. Man, today, what can we do? We can take them to a shelter, or we can get them a hotel room. 40 bucks, you can handle it right there, take care of that need. Then wasn't a whole lot of that. Probably wasn't too many inns out there at that time. So they're gonna bring them into their home, expose them to their family, their tent, and whatever they had. They're gonna spend time with them. It's an investment to them, it's very personal with them. That's time, that's care. That's truly making that connection. I needed clothes, go by Walmart. Shoot, 20 bucks, we can fix you right up. I can have you in an outfit. You have to understand, then, they were weaving cloth. You had to weave it or you had to buy it and you had to have money to buy it. Then, you had to have someone with the gift and the ability to actually sew that thing to be able to fit that person. It wasn't just going to Walmart and picking up something in a few minutes. It required a heavy investment of time, a sacrifice of time to do all those things. I was sick, take them to Urgent Care, ER. We have professionals to do that today, don't we? Then, you're going to sit there and be that nurse. You're gonna try to care for them the best you can with a little bit of knowledge that you have to be able to love and strengthen somebody that hopefully, they get well from being sick. I was in prison. Today, we can jump in the car, drive to numerous prisons here within 60 minutes of us today. Then, prisons were probably far and in between. You're probably talking about multiple day journeys of walking on a carriage or a donkey or something to be able to get to a prison. So they go visit somebody in prison? You're talking about a week commitment. All those required time. So when we look at that, we sit there, and we can blow through that when we're sitting there reading scriptures and going, gosh, I can do that no problem. Are you willing to invest that kind of time? See, that's what Christ was asking his disciples. I want you to serve people. This is what's gonna separate you. I want you to serve 'em, and I want you to sit there and invest your time into that, and when you bring those multiples together, boy, it's a big impact, it changes. The third addition that I want you to look at today, and it could've been the first one, is this. The addition that comes in within us. It's humility. Boy, it's having that humble heart. That is a big multiplier when it comes to the ministry, and the crazy thing about this is when we sit there and we talk about making the greatest impact in the world, it's almost the opposite thought process to the world. It's being humble. It's having humility in your life. Jesus even had to remind his disciples of this all the time throughout scripture. They're all the time bickering, arguing, who was wanting to be the greatest from that. Jesus was always a prime example. He was the one washing the feet, wasn't he? He was the one with the humble heart, but he tells us, as the end of Luke 9:48, "For the one who is the least among you all, "is the one who is the greatest." See, it's all the things that we do in secret that God rewards us, that he truly makes his impact and that difference in our life. And who knows? We're all still working on those things in life. Yeah. If you have a friend that's constantly reminding you of how humble they are, they're probably really working on it. They're still having that struggle right now with humility. But they're growing in that, they're trying, they're trying to learn it. At least they understand the concept that Christ wants out of our lives. He wants to have that. I had a good friend remind me one time, and he would just share his stories of humility, of how you sit there and find it. You have a lot of folks that come to you that desire to do certain things in ministry and have that change and have that impact in the world and I loved that, I want them to have those things. But he said, I'll always look for the ones that's the opposite. He said, I always look for the ones when no one's looking that's serving. I wanna see the one that's in between service, picking up trash in between the seat. That's who I'm looking for. I'm looking for the one that walk through the bathroom and wipe the sink off. That's who is that, I wanna see the one who's grabbed a plunger in the bathroom. Plungers are a powerful tool. It will separate the pretenders from the real ones. 'Cause let me tell you, if you grab a plunger in church, and use it, you're probably ready for some ministry. Yeah, 'cause most of the time, my kids, I got daughters, teenagers, they're not grabbing no plunger at the house. They're not gonna grab it at no friend's, they're not gonna tell anybody about it. They probably don't even act like we don't even have one at the house, those things are just weird. We don't want one of those. But they're a separator. They separate pretenders. I think one of the great checks to be here, if my heart, if you desire to be here, and to be able to preach and to give your life and be able to share the gospel, then first of all, you need to use a plunger in the church. 'Cause if you're not willing to use that, let me tell, you should not ever get the opportunity for this. That is humility that he desires in all of our hearts. It separates the pretenders from being real in our lives. It's how we truly serve God, having that humble heart. And that's what he wants out of all of us, having that humble heart. Yeah, 'cause we could talk a good game, but gosh, God wants us to be humble in that. And the truth is, you'll never get rewarded on this earth. You really won't, for everything that God wants to do through your life. But he sees it, God knows, he knows what you've done. He knows the impact that you've made. So that my whole heart is, man, humility, it doesn't limit your impact. It actually increases it in your life, 'cause he sees all those things and changes you. It's the service multiplied by time plus humility. It equals impact. Man, it equals impact that God can use to just change everything for you in this world. I'm gonna sit there and close today, talking about a man named Mordecai Ham. You ever heard of him? I think I heard his name several years back, I kinda forgot, and honestly, I kinda heard about it, and I was like, well, man, he sounds familiar, and then it really it made me think about this message, when I come to that, and talking about somebody with humility, well, actually, he lived this whole thing out. He had the service, he had the time, he had humility. He's from Kentucky, and this guy, he was called into the ministry when was young, probably about nine years old. He come from a generation of pastors, preachers, in his life and because he'd come from a generation of preachers, he was raised poor. And I guess he'd seen so much poor all his life, he decided, I don't think I wanna be a preacher. That poor thing's not my thing. I want something different, something better in life. So he ended up going to school, and business, and ended up becoming a salesman. So he became a salesman in his life, and I think he done all right as a salesman, and he came up on this tragedy of life, when his grandfather passed away, a preacher, and he's coming home and God just kinda worked in his life and churns him up a little bit, where he, all of a sudden, decides, you know what? I need to come back to my calling. God called me many years ago to be a pastor, and I ran from it, but I'm coming back home to do it. So he becomes a pastor and he's preaching at all these different revivals. Many years ago, they had revivals all over the place, tent revivals and all, and he's down in Charlotte, North Carolina, preaching at a tent revival. And down there, he has this one statement: there's a great sinner in this place tonight. And it's pretty cool, because that night, there was a 16 year old named William Graham, Jr. in that congregation that accepted Christ that night. You probably know him as the Reverend Billy Graham. Billy Graham went on to impact, gosh, I think he preached in over 185 country and territories. He's preached to over 210 million live people audiences, and millions have come to know Jesus Christ from his message, sharing the gospel. Billy Graham is famous. You know his message. But the impact goes all the way back to Mordecai. I really didn't remember the name Mordecai. I really don't know his father's name, I have no idea what his grandfather's name is, all those generations, but I know his impact. See, I saw someone with a humble heart, sit there and just serve God, through the generations, his family. See, we have to sit there and decide, do we wanna be famous or do we wanna just serve God? I'm not asking you and I hope your desire's not to be the Billy Graham. I'm asking you, do you desire to be the Mordecai? Can we just serve God, and how God takes that and manifests that to something impactful and great, then praise God, that is what we desire. The Mordecai is who I desire to be. Can I be faithful through the generations? Can I serve humbly? Can I have that heart? And see what God does with it. See the impact that he can make with that. Just keep showing up, keep showing up. It's service multiplied by time equals humility. And you might not be famous on this earth, but let me tell you, the Lord will know your name. He will know your name, because one day, in Galatians 6:9, it tells us, "Let us not become weary of doing good, "for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest "if we don't give up." Man, don't give up. Keep showing up, trust the process. There's no shortcuts, there's no cheat codes. You just keep loving others. Keep sharing your heart in that way, because man, what harvest, what impact does God have planned for your life? My challenge is, let's find out. Let's find out what he has planned for your life. It takes one simple act, is sitting there, being able to engage. Where do you wanna engage at? Where do you wanna see God work at? Dream again. Man, what if we decided to dream again, and let God work through us in ministry, to have humility in our heart, not trying to have someone else serve me, but man, serve others. Man, let's find out, let's take a chance, let's step out, let's be real, 'cause I promise you, my Savior did not come to save you to be a pretender. He saved you to make a difference. He saved you to make an impact in this world. Let him do it. Man, give him an opportunity. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, man, this morning, our heart is humble to come to you. I hope we are challenged, God. Sometimes, we can get so caught up in the wrong areas, in the wrong directions of our life, man, we just miss it. The world can have so much of influence on us, it's just what we live in, God, that it sits there and skews us to thinking, man, the only way that I can really do any kind of thing important is this famous actions or attitude, and God, that's not what you've called us to be. Man, you want us to have this heart of humility. You want us to be able to sit there and serve you, truly, and you want us to sit there and be able to invest it over time, to not give up. It requires all of it, the greatest thing that we have, God. Be with us in that journey, Lord. And let us know that man, we don't have to be famous. God, let us be like Mordecai, let us be through, like those generations of his family, that we just wanna humbly serve, because we don't know the impact, God, that you're gonna use through us. We don't know the child that we might teach, the teenager we might love on, the hand we might shake at the front door, the cup of coffee we put there. We don't know who's gonna sit there and hear the gospel in this seat this morning, in the living room this morning, God, that's gonna impact the world like we've never known before, God. But let us give an opportunity to find out. Father, give us the courage and the strength. We've gotta be dreamers again. We can't be pretenders. Let us be able to step out in our faith, to be able to serve others as you've called us to do, Lord. That is what you desire in our lives, to make an impact, and be able to live our faith out, Lord. If there's someone today that doesn't know you, God, they're just figuring out this thing that there is a separation, there's goats and sheep, that there will be a time of that, Father, let them sit there and call on you. I have sin in my life, I make mistakes in my life, God, I want them to hear about the grace of God. I wanna know that this is a place that will help you, that God desires to be with you. It is like a hospital. You know you're sick, you know you struggle, you know you have issues. Let him love on you. Let the Father care for you. Let him save you from all those things. We've all made those mistakes in my life, Father. And let them call out to you today, Lord. I want this gift of salvation, Father. I wanna be saved from my sins. I wanna follow you for the rest of my life, Lord. Be my king. Heavenly Father, we give all this to you today, Lord. Man, be with this message, challenge us all in our walk to know you and to live it out. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.