Good evening, everyone. Welcome back to our services tonight here at Faithful Word Baptist Church.
Very good to see you all here for our Sunday evening service.
Please find your seats now. Grab a hymn, and I'll go to hymn number 23.
We'll begin tonight, hymn number 23.
There's power in the blood.
Hymn number 23. Once you find your place, we'll begin singing together on that first verse.
Hymn number 23.
Would you be free from your burden of sin?
Hymn number 23. Let's lift our voices tonight. Hymn number 23.
Would you be free from your burden of sin?
All right, before we continue singing that third verse,
when we get to the chorus,
for every power you see, you're gonna do two powers.
So it's gonna be there's power, power, power, power,
one, they're working power, all right?
So on the third, let's sing it out.
Wood, jubilee, wood.
for each power that you see.
So it'll be pow, pow, pow, you get it, right?
So on the last, would you do service?
to our sing tonight. We want to go before Lauren asks blessing on the service so I've asked for the
Jason next side please. Amen right across the page hymn number 22 number 22 are you washed in the
In the blood of the land, Tim number 22.
Lift your voice together on that first note.
22, have you been to Jesus Christ?
Are they white as snow?
Are you washing the blood of a man?
Man, good singing.
All right, at this time we're going to go over the clothes table.
Make a phone room.
Who needs a mic?
Get your brother to now and open it up.
In that playing corner, we got our service times.
I do low gas so many times.
Amen.
And at the very bottom, salvation is in baptisms for the year.
And if you want to get baptized, let us know and we can make it happen tonight on the right
upper corner.
A quick announcement, Brother Matt Walker will host another online soul winning marathon
on Saturday, August 16th from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. if you're interested in learning more
or participating, please contact him for additional details.
And please continue to pray for the expecting ladies.
Please join us for a Spanish game night on Thursday, August 21st at 5 p.m.. In here at the church building all episode Spanish are welcome
Let me catch my breath
All right
If you're interested in the cruise missions trips organized by Brother Kevin Rowe independently
of the church, he has provided a course in the tenorage details near the small town
so many reservation maps right over there. Those nice beautiful blue and white maps he made those
and all the information you need are all right there. And please join us for a special guest
preacher this Wednesday August 13th at 7 p.m. Which is...
Pastor Aaron Thompson from Shrimp Foundation Baptist Church
and below that upcoming events,
take a look at those when you get a chance.
Now let's quickly go over the sowing.
If you've got somebody to save on Thursday,
August 7th, raise your hand,
start on my left-hand side.
That's a baby.
Five, all right.
Anybody else for Thursday?
Friday?
Five?
Nine.
Anybody else? Saturday. 18. 18. 1. 6. Anybody else? And today. Back there, Brother Steve, 2. 2, Brother Jimmy.
Anybody else going once, going twice?
Brother Daniel.
The hymn entitled, Oh It is Wonderful to be a Christian.
If you don't have an answer, please raise your hand.
You'll receive one.
Oh It is Wonderful to be a Christian.
Life has purpose now and never have before.
Let's sing it out together.
Life has purpose now and never have before.
Please, I can't explain as wide, since our founder, Light Green, likes my lordly mind.
Oh, it is wonderful to be a British town.
Oh, it is wonderful to be a child.
Oh, it is wonderful to have your sins forgiven.
Oh, it is wonderful to be a being justified.
Oh, there's wonderful to be a Christian, Oh, there's wonderful to be a child, Oh, there's
wonderful to have your sins forgiven, Oh, there's wonderful to be redeemed, justified
By the days of birth thy glues we hold, Thy eternal vengeance letter far they go.
Oh, it's wonderful to be a rich man, Oh, it's wonderful to be a child,
Oh, it's wonderful to have your sins forgiven, Oh, it's wonderful to be relieved,
Matt, good singing, everybody.
Go in your hymnals now, the hymn number 460,
hymn number 460, from every stormy wind.
Hymn number 460.
460, from every stormy wind that blows.
Number 460, sing it out.
On that first verse together now.
From every storm.
All right, at this time we're gonna pass the offering place
and when we're passing around the offering place,
please turn your Bibles to Colossians chapter number two.
Please turn your Bibles to Colossians chapter number two.
Colossians chapter number two.
For I would that you would what great conflict I have for you
and for them at Laodicea and for as many as have not seen
my face in the flesh.
That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and all riches of the full assurance of understanding
To the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the father and of Christ and whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge
And this I say less any man should begoil you with enticing words
For though I be absent in the flesh yet am I with you in the spirit
Joing and beholding your order and the steadfast fastness of your faith in Christ
As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him,
rooted and built up in him, established in the faith,
as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world,
and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power, in whom also
ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, and putting off the body of
the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God."
whoeth raised him from the dead, and you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us,
which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, and truiting into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.
and not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment
ministered and knit together, increased with the increase of God.
Wherefore if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living
in the world, are you subject to ordinances?
Touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using after the commandments
which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will worship and humility and
Neglecting of the body not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh
Our Father in Heaven, thank you for the opportunity to hear your word preach to us again.
We thank you for all the souls that were won this week.
We ask your blessing upon Pastor Webe.
We pray that you would give them wisdom now to preach unto us, Lord.
We pray that you continue to do a great work at Fortress Baptist Church up in Canada, Lord.
We thank you for what you're doing up there right now.
We also ask, Lord, that you would bless our pastor and Mrs. Anderson.
as they have a time to rest and have respite from the battle
that they're in that they can get away from it.
Lord, we pray you keep them safe and bless them.
And Lord, we pray you bless the fellowship after.
We give you this time.
We ask for your blessing now in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
All right, so if you're there in Colossians 2,
let's look down at verse 18.
Where it says, let no man begall you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels
intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly puffed up by his flesh and mind.
So here we have a warning that you know people aren't supposed to get in often to weird doctrine like worshiping of angels.
That's pretty weird. I mean the Bible doesn't talk a lot about angels. It does speak some but there's people that actually worship angels, right?
Catholics being an example, I think they even pray to angels, not just the saints.
But so this person that is warning that would worship angels is vainly puffed up in his
fleshly mind, right?
And the reason is given in verse 19 where it says, and not holding the head.
publishers capitalized that H there but that head is Jesus Christ, right? And the problem is they're
not holding on to the head, they're not holding on to Jesus Christ and then they get into these
weird doctrines, right? And then it says, from which all the body, and it's talking about the church,
right, the body, like,
it's not all one church yet, but like the body of Christ, right?
And it says, by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered
and it together, and then I want to focus on this last part here,
increase it with the increase of God. And if you would turn to John chapter 6, but...
What does that mean increases with the increase of God because God doesn't increase right?
I mean you can't become more powerful than all powerful right omnipotent, right?
I mean God doesn't learn any more than he has already known from you know
everlasting, he's omniscient. So it's not talking about God increasing, omniscient just means having
complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness or understanding, perceiving all things. I mean,
what about omnipresent? You can't be bigger than everywhere at once. So what does that mean then
increase it with the increase of God? So the title of my sermon this evening is with the increase of
So, and I think it's simply put, is that just the body of Christ increases with the increase
that God gives it, right? That God's giving the increase, right? And that He's increasing,
you know, the local church and, you know, the kingdom on earth and all that, right?
So, we see an example of this increase in John chapter 6, right? You've got a problem. They've
been, you know, there's a big multitude there. They've been listening to Jesus' preach. And then
Jesus asked Philip, in verse 5,
When shall we buy bread that these may eat?
In verse 6, it says in this, he said to prove them,
For he himself knew what he would do.
Philip answered him 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may take a little and we said 200 penny worth
That's two dollars. It's not anything but if you go to the biblical example of you know a day's wages being a penny
That's like most of a year's wages, right?
And he's saying that's not even enough, but we could give them all a little bit right not enough to satisfy them
And one of the disciples, Andrew Simon Peter's brother,
saith unto him, there is a lad here
which has five barley loaves and two small fishes.
But what are they among so many?
And realize this is a lad.
He's not going to be carrying big loaves and big fishes.
This is enough that he can carry.
And I don't know how big of a loaf that is,
but among 5,000 people, I don't care how big your loaf is,
it's not going to be enough under normal conditions.
And two small fishes.
And Jesus said, make the men sit down.
Now, there was much grass in the place.
The men sat down a number about 5,000.
And in Matthew 14, it says, beside women and children.
So 5,000 men plus some women and children as well.
And so what happens, I think we're all
familiar with the story.
Jesus takes the loaves, and He gives thanks,
and He distributes it to the disciples.
The the disciples gave to those that were sitting down and
They and out of the fishes as much as they would not like you better
You know make sure you only take a little bit because it's got a you know last among everybody
Because even if you did that it had been empty except for that Jesus
had blessed this, right, that God had blessed this, and so when they're gathering up the
fragments in verse 12, then nothing be lost, and this is a good example of waste, right,
that they're concerned about waste, and I think just also just to show that, you know,
the increase that God gave, because everybody has eaten as much as they wanted to, they're
all satisfied, and then there's 12 baskets with fragments.
Chopped up that food that you had in the beginning 12 baskets is more than what you had to start with right?
And that's the leftovers right so God gives the increase right you have
Five loaves you have two small fishes, but what is that among so many well?
God made it last right and not only last not just as much as anybody wanted right is more than than what they started with
So, I think when Colossians 2, it talks about the increase that increases with the increase of God.
That's like, God gives the increase, right?
And there's a parallel passage in Ephesians 4, and it starts off in verse 11.
It says, He gives some apostles and some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.
and for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ.
So this is a job that the pastor needs to do, right?
Perfecting the saints, edifying the body of Christ.
How's a pastor supposed to do that?
I can't perfect and I realize perfecting doesn't mean make them sinless,
but I myself can't make my church members perfect even if it means complete.
I can try, I can do my best, I can do what God has commanded me, but if God does not
give that increase, I'm not going to be able to do that, right?
We need that increase of God.
And if you drop down to verse 15, it says, but speaking the truth and love may grow up
into him and all things which is the head, so again Christ, even Christ, it even says
fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply and you could see that the joint is
Part of the body and that that could be people we supply something to it as well, but
Just when every joint supply is not enough, you need the increase that God gives it.
According to the sexual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body
onto the edifying of itself and love.
So Christ is what gives the increase.
No, this is talking about the body of Christ, right?
But I think you can take that same principle and apply it maybe something like raising your children home schooling your children, right?
It's like I've heard
Mothers say like they don't feel adequate to homeschool their children
Well, you do what you can and you put your effort in and you ask God to help you with
that.
He will give you the increase, right?
He's going to give you sufficient to what you need, okay?
What about a gospel presentation, right?
I mean, I think a lot of people here are experienced presenters of the gospel, but when you're
Your own wisdom or your own illustrations or like knowing which verses to turn is not enough to get someone safe
Right. God has to give that increase now without us though
I mean Jesus God has decided that he needs us to do this work
Right, it's not just like because he could have just like miraculously done whatever he wanted to but he decided
You know, how will they hear without a preacher, right?
so
a gospel presentation. I mean, I sometimes jokingly refer to myself as a recovering introvert, okay?
And sometimes I have relapses when I get tired and stuff like that.
You say, a recovering introvert, you're up there preaching in front of people.
Yeah, I know, God gives increase, right?
I still remember the first time I did the talking as a soul winner.
I just prayed for boldness to the Holy Spirit, right?
He gave me that boldness and I was able to do it, right?
or some of you guys that do preaching, right?
Maybe, I don't know if you still do men's preaching
at all or not classes, but it's not that easy, right?
Especially if you haven't done that before,
maybe even to have the boldness to know where to turn to,
how to, you know, structure a sermon.
And you know what, sometimes when I'm preaching,
maybe more than sometimes, but it's like,
oh man, I bombed that sermon, right?
But then somebody will come up to me after the service,
good sermon, I learned this and I learned that.
God gave the increase, you know, but the thing is how did God do that?
He prepared people, right?
It's like you're already studying the Bible and then if I read a verse or I
Expound a verse is like you already have fertile ground and then it makes it hits harder or it I don't I'm not up with the today's
Slang maybe it harder is the wrong thing, but it like it just
It seems to have more of effect than if I would preach that same sermon to somebody that's unsaved or somebody that's not been reading their Bible, right?
And so God just sometimes gives that increase and interprets it and it makes it affect people's hearts more than just what I can do, right?
Now Gideon, right, and it's interesting because I was talking to brother ball at lunch there
Is a what are you preaching? I was like, I can't tell you I could but it's like I just don't do that
I don't even tell my wife what I'm preaching
But he brought up the story of Gideon. It's like wow you're talking about what I'm preaching about and
God whittled it down to 300 people.
Why do you do that?
It's because God wanted to show
that I'm gonna give the increase is not your might
because then you get the glory and I want the glory, right?
But God gave the increase,
but if somebody's not willing to start and do the work,
there's no zero multiplied by infinity is still zero, right?
You need to start with something
and then God will give that increase.
I mean, God looked upon Gideon and said,
go in this thymite, right?
Yeah, God was gonna give the increase,
but he said, go in this thymite.
And then he's like, where with shall I save Israel?
Right, he's like, he doesn't know what he's gonna do.
And he's even talking about his family
and how he's the least in his father's house.
And the Lord said onto him, surely I will be with thee
and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.
Just imagine, and I forget the number, I had to calculate it at one point, I think it's
over 100,000 people, these 300 people are going against, and he's like, you're going
to smite them like one man.
That's amazing, right?
And that's what happens, right?
They break the pictures, they blow the trumpets, and what does the Bible say in Judges 721?
And they stood every man in his place, round about the camp, and all the hosts ran and cried
And 300 blew the trumpets and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow.
And you could go on with stories of battles.
We were talking about the one, and it slips to my mind if it was Hezekiah or Jehoshaphat,
where they just start singing and then the enemy starts fighting amongst themselves.
And that was just faith because they were severely outnumbered and they just,
okay, we'll leave it up to God.
In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul is saying,
I have planted a Paulus water,
but God gave the increase.
We don't always get people saved right away, right?
And even like a church right is like you have different people doing different jobs, but God gives increase
So I'm not building fortress Baptist church, right? That's up to God now. I want to be obedient to him
I want to make sure I preach the truth not shy away from controversial topics
No matter what kind of laws the government puts in right now or what kind of members I have in there, right?
It's like I remember the first time I was gonna
preach on women wearing pants is like oh some visitors showed up is like well I
I'm gonna preach this right and they actually praise God they agreed with my sermon right
So God gave the increase, it says, so then neither is he that planteth anything,
neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.
We're just vessels, right? We're just willing vessels, right?
If you're a willing vessel, God can do more with you, right?
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one.
And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor, right?
Just because God gives the increase and you just you're not gonna sit back on a chair and not do anything and expect God to give the
Increase and then you get some kind of late a reward of your labor. Well, what labor, right? You need to put in the labor
So you could apply this to many things right a pulse water, but God gave the increase like I planted
churches, right? Getting people saved. Just, you put in the effort, but God
multiplies it somehow, right? It's like math, right? It's just, you don't know how
it multiplies, but it multiplies. I remember it just came into my mind. I
think it was Isaac, right? In the Bible, Abraham's son, and it says that in one
year he got an increase of a hundred fold.
And you just think of that. You plant one seed, or you plant one bushel of wheat, and you get a hundred bushels, that would be great, right?
And God gave him the increase.
In Psalm 127 verse 1, it says,
Accept the Lord, build the house, they labor in vain, that build it.
Accept the Lord, keep the city, the watchman, wakeeth but in vain.
We can try as hard as we want. I'm going to make a list, and I'm just going to work.
You know tell it from the time it gets like till the time it gets darker
Maybe even and I'm just gonna try it with all my effort. It's good
You're putting that effort in but you need God to give that increase, right?
and
to Peter okay now I want to look at Peter because
Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16 18 he said and I say also unto you that thou are Peter
And upon this rock, I will build my church.
So again, I will build my church.
Jesus is going to give that increase.
I will build my church, right?
I'm not going to build the church by having fun programs
for the kids or me doing a special.
In fact, that would drive people out of the door, right?
I'm not going to do it with my clever, you know, planning and my clever sermons or anything like that.
I will build a church. I'm just obedient to Christ and the rest is up to him.
I'm going to do my best, but whether it succeeds or fails, that's up to God.
And you know what?
It's his will, right? It's his will for churches to thrive.
It's his will for people to get saved.
And so I will build my church.
But notice he's saying this to Peter and he says,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Remember in Luke 5.8, right?
Peter sees this miracle, like let down your nets for a draft
and they let one net down and, you know,
they had to back in the other ship
to come and both the ship started sinking, right?
And you know what he said to Jesus?
He said, depart for me, for I'm a sinful man, oh Lord.
Right?
He's like, I'm nobody.
I'm just a fisherman, right?
Depart from me.
He fell down at Jesus' knees and he said that.
What Jesus said to him, though,
he said, fear not, from henceforth I shall catch man.
You're going to catch men. You're just a, you're, you didn't say just a fisherman. You're, you're a fisherman, right?
And he's, he's coming and he's meeting. I'm a sinful man. Like, I'm not the guy you want, right?
I'm not the, I'm not somebody mighty. I'm not somebody wise necessarily or any of that.
But Peter was the man that Jesus wanted, right? He says, fear not from henceforth. I shall catch men.
And when they had brought their ships to land they forsook all and follow them. So Peter went for it, right?
Later on in Jesus' ministry, Peter sees Jesus walking on the water and he says to Jesus,
what did he say?
It's Lord, if it be thou bid me come on to thee on the water.
Like, wow. Like, I know like seeing Jesus do a miracle. That's amazing, right?
But are you gonna have enough faith to go out on the water if Jesus calls you?
Or are you still gonna in your back of your mind gonna have doubts and you know
He started to have doubts as he's seen the wind boisterous, right?
And then he starts to sink and he is you know, Lord save me and
Jesus tells him oh thou a little faith wherefore didst thou doubt so this is
Him he's having some
lapses of faith we would say man
He had a lot of faith to go on the water and Jesus is like oh thou a little faith
Like, I don't know if I've been able to do that.
I would like to think that I would, you know, if Jesus is there, he's telling me to do it,
I would do it, but it's water.
You sink in water, right, according to physics and gravity and stuff, right?
There's another example where Peter gets to see what faith does, right, in Mark chapter
Mark 11 verse 20 and in the morning as he passed by they saw the fig tree dried up from their roots, right?
They Jesus cursed that fig tree because he was looking for a fruit and there was no fruit
right and obviously you could get into like that being a picture of of Israel, but
In the morning, they're looking at it. It's dried up by their roots like that happened fast
And Jesus answering safe onto them have faith in God for verily I say unto you that whosoever
shall say on to this
mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart,
but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have
whatsoever he saith."
This isn't just a blank check, I mean like the health and wealth and the prosperity teachers
want you to think, but it does say that if you don't doubt in your heart, and you have
faith, and you know other places it says if you ask according to his will, right?
He shall have whatsoever he sayeth.
It's like, I have never heard of a mountain being ripped up
and thrown into the sea, right?
But Jesus says it's possible.
And how is that possible?
It's like, you have that faith, you ask Jesus,
and then he gives the increase, right?
Whatever mountain is in your life, right?
Figurative mountain.
But the problem is we don't have faith, right?
We don't have enough faith.
Maybe you say I have a problem with faith. I just have I can't get myself to have faith
Well, you know what Jesus ran into somebody like that who wanted you know a demon cast out of his child and
Jesus told him if they'll can't believe all things are possible to him that believe it. What did he say?
I believe help though mind unbelief. God can give you increase of faith, right?
God gives the increase we don't have to try to struggle and try to just
force it and push it and our own strength, our own effort, right?
He's already got laid out for us. You know, in fact, it's a lot easier if you ask for Jesus's help to begin with, right?
Sometimes I'll have like, we'll just call it writer's block when I'm trying to write a sermon, right?
And then I go pray and then things started clicking. I said, why didn't I do that in the first place?
Right why did I not do that at the beginning because save myself struggle?
I could have saved myself to sit in there and and you know my brain going in circles
but that's and and by the way
English was never my strong suit in school. I would have rather done double math than English, right?
but this is the word of God and
There's a lot of things like that where if we just ask God for that increase, He'll give it to us.
I mean, look at the people in the Bible, they wanted children and they couldn't have children.
Then when they finally asked, I don't know of one case where they asked for God to give them a child that they didn't get a child.
And I'm not saying that's the will of God for everybody to have a child.
I'm not saying that, but yet in the Bible you don't see anybody that didn't get the prayer answered.
And so we're still talking about Peter here, okay?
So remember, he starts off, depart from me from a sinful man, right?
But then in Acts 4, in verse 13, it says,
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,
And perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled.
They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus, right?
Jesus gave that increase, right?
Is not like some book learning, some course they took, they didn't go to university.
This is their unlearned ignorant man.
That doesn't mean they were stupid, okay?
It just means they hadn't studied in school, right?
And...
It's like, wow, these guys are bold, they're bold when they're speaking, they didn't go
take some orator school or something like that, but they have been with Jesus.
And people put two and two together, hey, that's what did it, them being with Jesus.
And this was in the context of them healing this man and people getting upset about it.
And they actually threatened Peter and John in verse 17, it says, Acts 4, 17,
but that has spread no further among the people, let us straightly threaten them,
straightly, so narrowly, like, we're going to like make sure you understand this,
that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
Well, you just going to give up? No, no, not them.
And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all or teach in the name of Jesus.
But Peter and John answered and said on to them whether it be right in the sight of God to harken on to you more than on to God
Judgy for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. It's like we just got to do it
This is like in our nature like
God just wants us to do it and and it you know
Paul said woe is on to me if I preach not the gospel, right? So
You see that you know
Paul, or sorry not Paul, Peter, he starts off as like, depart from me.
I'm a sinful man. And he's like, even Moses was like that. Send somebody else. Don't send me.
Right? But God gave the increase. Like, God made Mass most.
And you know, even in Acts 6, you know, the word of God increased, the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem.
And here's something I maybe have caught in the past, and I've just forgotten. And a great company of the priests were obedient.
to the faith. That's Acts 6, somewhere in 6th through 8th there, and then
Stephen, full of faith and power to great wonders and miracles among the
people. So, God just, like the early church, he's just the early body of Christ,
he's just expanding it and expanding it, and it's like
Some guys, the God said, you know, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men.
And they became fishers of men because they were with Jesus and they learned what they were supposed to learn.
God made them successful, right? Obviously they did miracles, but today we're preaching the Gospel.
We're not doing miracles to get people's attention, right?
We're just preaching what the Word of God says. The Gospel has not lost its power, right?
We just preach it, right? We're just earthen vessels carrying this treasure and we get people saved, right?
Now this widow that threw in two mites in Mark chapter 12
She probably thought, like, I'm not throwing in much, right?
Two mites make a farthing.
But Jesus says in Mark 12, verse 43, and he called unto him his disciples and saith unto
them, Verily I say unto you that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which
hath cast unto the treasury."
Right?
So Jesus sees your effort.
God sees your effort.
How much of an effort you're putting in right because maybe somebody that had more and they did 20 mites or 200 mites
But they got a lot more money is like Jesus would not have been impressed with that. It's like more of
What she had
And I think we can compare that with 2nd Corinthians 8 if you would turn to 2nd Corinthians 8
So says there in 2nd Corinthians 8 verse 12
For if there be first a willing mind
It is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not
Right and obviously this is talking about like giving right giving alms and helping out the poor saints and stuff like that
But I think it applies to more than that. God sees that you have a willing mind, right? Maybe you don't have
The experience you don't have the talent or whatever God sees that you're willing, right?
And then he's gonna increase it right especially if you pray for it, right?
And you have a willing mind you're ready to go God you hear my send me and he sees that that your heart is right that you
Want to worship him in spirit and truth and he gives you that increase
And it's not like he's like judging you or equally as to somebody that he's given ten
talents and here's a guy with one talent and is like, no, according to what he hath,
not what he hath not, but he's got a willing mind though.
We see many stories of increase in the Bible, right?
I mean, you could just go through like the battles where they were successful, right?
that Elijah and Elisha did miracles, right, to Zarephath, right, the widow
that's there, the widow woman. She's gonna make a fire, cook her last cake of a
meal, and Elijah comes, please get me some water, right, I can drink, and as she's
going to fetch it, bring me, I pray, the immortal bread in thine hand.
It's like she only had enough, she didn't even have enough for her son and her to have
a good meal, right?
And she said, as the Lord that God lived with, I have not a cake but a handful of meal in
a barrel and a little oil and a cruise.
So Elijah didn't say, no that's okay then, no he said, fear not, go and do it as I said
but make me thereof a little cake first and bring it on to me and after make for thee
For let's say that the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither
shall the crews of oil fill until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth."
Like I don't think she saw that coming, right?
Here she's like butt ready to die of starvation because this is the last meal her and her son
are going to have.
Here comes Elijah, another mouth to feed, but you know what, God's going to increase that.
Is it just a cool story about food being multiplied, like the story of the fishes and the loaves?
Well, that wasn't just about the food, right? Although some people followed him because of the food.
They wanted to see more miracles about food.
It's just, I think it's a picture of so many things that God can do for you
if you just have that faith and if you just ask him and do what he wants and he gives you that increase, right?
Maybe people at different times have questions like how am I going to support my family, right?
In in Canada now
With the the tariffs that that your president is putting on there some people might be worried about their jobs, right?
How am I going to feed my family? I mean, maybe there's gonna be layoffs or whatever, right?
well, I
Think God's got that under under control. He fed Elijah, right?
I mean, you've got like the crows or the ravens or whatever to bring up food, as before germs
were invented, I think, but I mean, if you're that hungry, you're going to eat the food
that a raven brings you, right?
So how am I going to support my family, right?
Or what am I going to do in this situation, that situation, what am I going to do?
Or maybe you're not in a situation where it's like desperate, but it's just you want to
increase.
You want to do better.
Well, you got the answer. God can give you that increase. Just ask for it
You know money problems people have money problems, right?
Well, there's a handmade they want to sell her sons to the debtor or
to the you know because she owed this money and
Alisha's like, what do you got? I got this just this pot of oil. That's all I got and
He tells her go borrow a bunch of vessels right and then close the door and then start pouring pouring into there
And second Kings 4 verse 5 says so she went from him and shut the door upon her and upon her sons
Who brought the vessels to her and she poured out and it came to pass when the vessels were full
That she said unto her son bring me yet a vessel and he said unto her there is not a vessel more and the oil stayed
Then she came and told the man of God and he said go sell the oil and pay thy debt and live though and the children of the rest
This is does not make a logical sense, right? That the God I mean to us it makes sense that God can do anything
Right, but I mean to anybody in the world is like
You can't increase matter. It just doesn't work. You have this this finite amount of oil. You can't it can't just multiply
It's not a growing organism, right, but yeah, God could do it
He could keep that meal going for that widow at Zeraphat, and he can do things for you
to increase, and he can do things for the body of Christ, for the local body of Christ.
He can do it at so many different levels, right?
Paul says, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
All things.
That's amazing. I I think we don't tap in enough to what God can do for us
He can give us increase and I'm not like again
I'm not talking about God's gonna make you rich if you you know just whatever put your hand on the screen or whatever you do
Right, that's not what I'm talking about
But just because we don't believe that doesn't mean that we can't rely on God for the increase that we got that we
We got to start realizing that yeah, the horse is prepared against the day of the battle, but safeties of the Lord
He gives you that increase, that's where it's going to come from, no matter what situation it is, soul winning, building a church, family, teaching your children, relationships in marriages, things like that.
It's interesting, as saved people, one of the things we should do is pray to God.
And sometimes, I don't know about you,
but sometimes I feel inadequate.
It's like, I wish I could pray better, right?
But you know what God's got you covered there too.
He's got a passage about that in Romans 8, verse 26 and 27.
It says, likewise, the Spirit also help with our infirmities,
for we know not what we should pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit itself make it intercession
for us with groanings, which cannot be uttered.
That's good because like I don't even know what I need. I don't even know what to ask for and the Spirit itself is like
Interpreting it's making intercession right with groanings that kind of cannot be uttered that I can't utter
That's good. Like it's like God at every turn has got you covered is if you just trust in him
You just rely on him. You just seek him. He's got your back
And in 2 Corinthians 9, verse 10,
it says,
So that's an interesting verse.
It says it's going to multiply your seed sown.
You're going to plant a certain number of seeds.
but God's going to multiply it.
He's going to minister seed to the sower.
Isn't it interesting, sometimes you're at the door
and just a verse pops in your head.
So I wasn't even thinking of using that verse,
but maybe God wanted me to use that verse,
so I'm going to try it.
I'm going to use it.
And seed to the sower, right?
The parable of the sower, right?
That's how it goes and starts planting.
And some is on fertile ground.
And I think it's great that he takes care of us that way.
A minister's seat to the sower.
I mean, look at what happened in Acts chapter two.
You've got all these people from all these different places.
And then all of a sudden,
everybody can hear the preacher speak
in the language wherein they were born.
That's a miracle.
And so what am I getting at?
What I'm getting at is the point is not what you start with.
It's not what little you have.
It's not how much confidence you have to start with,
not how much skill you have while you know the Bible.
You should know the Bible, right?
You should increase in confidence.
You should do the work.
But you pray to God for the increase.
He's going to give you increase, right?
Because the Bible tells us that not many wise men are called after the flesh, right?
It says in 1 Corinthians 1-26,
for you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called.
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise,
and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
And base things of the world. What's base? It's like the lowest, right?
And things which are despised, things that people just look down upon.
Have God chosen.
And things which are not to bring to not things that are.
Things that, you don't want to say that don't exist, but that are insignificant,
can bring things to nothing by that thing that you thought was nothing.
That no flesh of glory in His presence.
back to Gideon, right? If you started with the original army, God still would have gotten
some glory, some praise, but if he goes down to 300 people that don't even have a weapon
in their hand, they've got to trump it in a pitch, or God gets the glory. And so does
God give the glory, get the glory if a shy soul winner or a soul winner that's not confident
You know, God bless you, but what I'm saying is don't let that stop you from doing works for God
Just because that you think that oh, it's little it's insignificant what I do and I'm not good at it. Anyway, I mean
For instance, your mission's trips is, oh, you know, yeah, we get people saved, right?
But it's so much more than that.
You can start a movement where there's people who start getting together and they start
soul-winning and eventually a church gets planned.
I mean, I don't know how many of you are familiar with the story of our church, but it was eight
people from Faithful Word that came up and taught us how to go soul-winning.
Right? And to them is probably just another mission strip.
Right? We're teaching people to go solo winning.
We're getting people, some people saved. It wasn't very receptive.
But it was like, so we, we went on a week-long mission strip to an unreceptive place.
But more than that they taught us some of us how to go soul-winning and even though there was not many talkers at first
You know it started going more and more and more and and you know
We've been going for whatever the last eight years or whatever it is
Most of that as a soul-winning group just the last two years or so as a church
And I'm not saying this because hey everybody look at me what I'm saying is
What you might think is insignificant, but if you're willing to put in the effort God can give the increase
And he can make it into something bigger than what what you thought was that it could be right
I mean even pastor Anderson, you know he started I forget how many people he said his family and a few other people
And then it was like that for a while, but then God gives the increase God gives the increase pastor Anderson was faithful and
Look at how many people are here today, right?
God keeps pruning the church. He prunes that tree. Sometimes you've got to prune a branch off or whatever.
But that's to make it bring more fruit, and so it'll be even more of an increase.
I really like Isaiah 55, verse 10 and 11.
It says, For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither.
But water at the earth and make it make it that bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater
So there's this picture rains coming down also snow. I heard there was once snow in
Tempe here brother Chris was telling me about it. That's amazing, right that was ever snow here
Somebody else was saying it wasn't snow. It was just ice, but you guys can fight it out. I don't know
It's melted so you can't like they don't have any evidence
But so moisture coming down from heaven and it doesn't go back without something happening, right?
It says it makes it bring forth and bud. So plants are growing, right?
Believe it or not, there are places that are greener than Arizona, where I'm from, it's pretty green.
And I'm not a diss to Arizona or anything, right?
I'm just saying that God makes it rain, where he makes it rain, plants grow, right?
And then in verse 11, he says,
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return on to me void.
But it shall accomplish that which I please, please and shall prosper in the thing where to I sent it, right?
It shall, it will, right?
Just as the rain comes down and it makes the plants bring forth and bud,
and so give a seed to the sower and bread to the eater, that's how his word is.
It's given increase just like a plant you plant one seed
You don't just get one seed in the the plant when it turns to seed you get multiple seeds
And so when we are willing vessels and we use God's word and we preach it as a
multiplying effect
It shall not return on to me void, right?
I mean the Bible even talks about a soul winner that goes forth and weepeth.
He should surely come, and I've got a mental block right now,
that it will surely bring his sheaves with him, right?
It will happen eventually, right?
Not necessarily every, well definitely not every time,
but maybe not the first time you're going out, but it...
it will happen. The Gospel has power, excuse me, God's Word has power, you will see some results from that.
See, Jesus spoke a parable in Luke 19. You know, he says in verse 12, he says,
He said therefore a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return
And he called his ten servants and delivered them ten pounds and set on to them occupy till I come right now
Obviously that Jesus is the nobleman. He you know went to heaven. He's gonna come back. He's gonna establish a kingdom here, right?
But to us he says occupy till I come
He gave you 10 pounds, right, his 10 servants, he gives him 10 pounds, right, and then of
course he's got this verse where he's taught, but his citizens hated him, right, and the
Jews and all that.
But if we go to the next verse where it says that he returned, and it came to pass that
So when he comes back on a white horse, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him.
To whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
I don't know if you caught that word there, how much every man had gained by trading.
So there's a gain.
I don't know, I know there's at least one guy that knows something about electronics.
Anybody like done electronics theory or any kind of electronic work out there?
Like transistors, amplifiers, right?
You have gain, right?
You got so and so much current you're passing through one part, but then depending what
your gain is, you might have 100 times the current passing through in a different place,
right?
There's a multiplication that happens.
Here we see a gain, and Jesus expects a gain from us.
First comes, Lord thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
That's great, right?
So it's not that everybody got ten pounds.
Ten servants, ten pounds, you should get a pound.
You got ten pounds, you got a ten to one gain.
For seventeen, you said unto them,
well, thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful
in very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
And the second came saying, Lord thy pound hath gained five pounds.
And he said likewise to him, be thou also over five cities.
And so these first two are good, but then the last one.
And another came saying, Lord behold, here is thy pound which I have kept laid up in an apkent.
Well, how much of an increase are you going to see if you just put that pound in an apkent?
You're not buying and selling and going in the market and getting gain, like Jesus wanted
you to do.
He's like, I just put it in a napkin.
I just want to keep it safe.
And, I mean, I think you all recognize, and I'm assuming here,
but that we all see that this is a parable about our lives.
When he says occupy till I come, it's just,
not just like make yourself busy, you know,
watch YouTube till I come, right?
Comment on Facebook and, you know, till I come.
I'm not saying you can't do that.
Sometimes I can't help it and I got to like just put a comment about some stupid, you know
Gospel or something on on there. It's like it's feudal, but I still sometimes do it
Right, but so what is God what does he mean occupy till I come?
He wants you to do the things that he told you to do start farming right start sowing seed
Right everything else we do like if you want to like just boil it down to the basics
What are we here for to give God glory?
How do we give God glory? Increase his kingdom. We preach the Gospel. We tell other people
about him. And then in church, what are we doing? We're edifying the congregation so
that more work can get done. It's all about occupying till I come and getting work done.
So when he comes back, he says to you, well done, now good and faithful servant. Why do
Okay, so we got we got to work, but like I said before you could put all the effort you want in it and
You're not asking or relying on God for the increase. You're spinning your tires. You're not getting traction
Maybe you still have it neutral
You need to ask for that increase you need to and the church right the work that that God gives us to do
your faith, right? Peter, depart from me from a sinful man. And then later he's like
if you really are Jesus, like ask him to come out in the water and he did it.
He's willing to die for Christ. Of course, he wasn't, he didn't quite understand
what kind of fight that was going to be and then so he ran away after it wasn't a sword fight.
How about your confidence? God can give increase in that. Your faith, your effort to get someone
saved to learn to be a talker, if there's anybody here that's a silent partner. Or to
be a preacher. Bible memory. God can give that increase. I mean, you can read it over,
you can read it over, and you can read it over. But if you ask God for that increase,
He can help you to memorize Scripture, and it's a benefit.
It's a great benefit. I mean, it helps you to understand the passage better, but not only that, it's just nice to have that memorise it then.
I want to say randomly, but I don't think it's randomly. It pops into your head, right?
How about something like quitting smoking?
And I'm sure church this size, there's people that smoke.
My mom was a smoker and she had a hard time quitting.
Public safety announcement. She died with throat cancer. Okay. She starved to death, but
This wasn't a sermon about smoking, but God can help you quit smoking
It's like you can try to do the whatever the patch and you can try to do the
Whatever program the world has figured out. It's a lot easier just asking God to help you
You can give you that increase so that you can beat this thing
But you need the effort, but God can multiply that effort.
I mentioned marriage.
We can go on all day with different examples of where God can give the increase.
Your children, your homeschooling, your job.
How about your job?
You put in so much effort and God can make you actually get into your good graces with your boss.
It's interesting, where we started in Colossians 3.
Sorry, Colossians 2.
It says in verse 19,
"...and not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands,
having nourishment ministered and knit together,
increases with the increase of God."
Not increases with our own effort,
How smart we are, or our plan, but with the increase of God, God gives the increase.
Paul planted, and Paul has watered, but God gives the increase.
And maybe a simple sermon.
But you know, if you apply it to your life, right, you apply it to your life that I'm going to make a conscious effort to ask God for that increase.
I'm going to make a conscious effort to rely on God for the increase.
Yeah, I'm still going to put my 110% in, right?
But I realize that without God's blessing on it, it's nothing, right?
So God gives the increase. Let's pray.
Thank you God for your word and just
help the things that I said just multiply and help someone in their life and just help them to realize that
to pray to you and to ask for help with whatever situation they're facing,
that that makes it a lot easier and that multiplies our efforts and in battles and
finances and relationships, God. Just help us remember to do that and bless us richly for the work that we put in and
help us rely on you for the increase. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. All right, ladies and gentlemen, take your hymns, please. Go to hymn 120, hymn number 120.
Jesus saved your pilot, me, hymn number 120.
120, Jesus saved your pilot, me, over life's tempestuous. Sing it out together now, 120.
Jesus saved your pilot, me.
Over lies the festuancy of no wage before we hold.
Fighting rock and tractor's show, chart and come is not for me.
Jesus saved her violently as the mother stills her child.
Moisture's quaves obey my will, When thou sest in that mistil,
One for a sovereign of the sea, Jesus save her piloting, When at last thy dear will show.
Man, good things, not yorceness.