Follow Me and Multiply (Genesis 12:1-4)

Last weekend we ended our DNA Series – Values. And we multiplied our services – 9a and 11a. Total attendance 410 people – adults and kids. Thank you – Vols. GOD.

Like I shared last week – 2.5yrs ago when we got here, we didn’t know what to expect. We said yes, we’ll come to KL without really knowing what things will be like or what God will do. But even before then…

Call to ministry – Rising senior in HS – Last year before university – Didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. Like a lot of Asian parents – They knew what I should do with my life – Doctor/Lawyer – Money. But it just didn’t feel like it’d fulfill me. – God was calling me to ministry. But also…

Call to the nations – First mission trip. Hooked. Once a year to 2x, 3x, 4x. Always praying and knowing God would take us – when/where?

Call to DXB – 2016. Ready to move. But God closed the door. At the time, not sure why. Confused. God – There’s a need. We’re willing to go. Why aren’t you sending us?

Call to KL – Now of course we know, it was because he was preparing us for KL – to bring us to Garden City. We never thought this is where we’d end up. TBH – We didn’t even know where Malaysia was a few years ago. – Had to look it up on a map. Up to us – we would’ve chosen somewhere with four seasons. 

But God knew what he was doing. It’s undeniably clear that KL is where he wanted our family. And since we’ve been here – We’ve seen God work and just how strategic KL is for reaching the nations. I think it’d be hard to name a more strategic city for global missions. I don’t think there is one. And I love that about KL – Best. Most Important.

Heart/Posture – God – We will follow you wherever you take us. Our lives and everything we have is yours. 

But if, at any point – God, I’ve got this. I know what I’m doing. I don’t need you to tell me what to do. I just need you to be quiet and make sure I don’t make any big mistakes and just be there with me while I do my own thing. – My life would be completely different. 

Have you ever experienced this in your life? You had your plans and dreams. But obedience to God took you in a different direction. – And you’ve seen God move and work. (Lot of times – Spouse. Job. School. Thank God – He doesn’t say yes to all the things we pray for, right? My life would be a disaster!) God always knows what he’s doing…

The new series we’re starting today is called Multiply – Based on a sermon series my sending church did 10yrs ago but adapted for Garden City today. Prayerfully, going to help take us where we believe God wants us to go. – God has blessed us so much already – We could just sit back and be content with what he has already done. – Moved from the 1F to GF. We moved to 2 services. But I believe he wants to do so much more. And over the next few weeks we are going to talk about how God desires to use us – why God has blessed us and what God intends to do with that blessing. – And I’m going to ask the same questions to you personally – Where has God blessed you and what does he intend for you to do with that blessing? – Time, Talent, Treasure.

Series – Walk through the life of Abraham together. Abraham was someone who multiplied his life – or better – God used and multiplied him as he followed God. And in that way – Abraham is a picture of what God desires to do in our lives.

So let’s take a look at Abraham – We first get introduced to him in…

Text: Gen 12 1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

Who was Abraham before he was Abraham – as we know him today? Origin story – There’s not too much we know about his life before Gen. 12 – Abram. Married to Sarai – barren – X children. Some extended family. Basically a name in a genealogy until Ge. 12. Know – 

Problem – “Abram” – means “father” – but he doesn’t have any children. And he’s 75yrs old, so the age for bearing kids for him – and Sarai – are long gone. Kind of cruel. It’s like a future and now a promise hoped for that was in his name was out of reach.

Some of you may feel this same way today – You don’t see how or what God is doing in your life. You feel stuck. Like there’s something more. – Right – God desires to use you for eternal impact. – But to see that happen, like Abraham, you’re going to have to follow God to see your life multiplied and used. If you desire for your life to matter, to have significance, this series is for you.

Abraham’s story actually starts much earlier…

Ge. 1-2 Everything is good. Be fruitful and multiply.

Ge. 3 We reject God. Sin. Things quickly spiral out of control.

Ge. 4 – First murder

Ge. 6-10 – Corruption/Wickedness and Sin Increasing – God’s Judgement on Sin (Flood)

Ge. 11 – Tower of Babel – Instead of spreading out and filling the earth – Man chooses to defy God’s good ways again. – Made to spread out.

Abraham’s family – Ur/Haran – Known for their worship of other false gods. Darkness. And though from God’s chosen line from Shem – Abram was childless. It looks like the family line is going to end. 

And in the midst of this darkness, God calls out to Abram – who may not really know God at all at this point. And God makes an incredible promise to Abram – He is going to become the father of many nations. That through him, all the nations of the earth will be blessed and have faith in the one true God as Abram.

You see we are the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. Song – Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had father Abraham. I am one of them. And so are you. So let’s all praise the Lord… Because through Abraham’s line, the Savior, Jesus, would come. – To make God known to us – He was God in the flesh. And through Jesus all the nations of the earth would be blessed/saved – through his perfect life, death, and resurrection. It’s through Jesus that God would ultimately fulfill this promise to Abraham. (The Great Commission is the extension of the Abrahamic Promise. And God is continuing to fulfill that promise through us as we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations. – You see how we are all connected to this grand story.)

Note: God didn’t choose Abraham because he was somebody. Before Gen. 12, Abraham was a nobody. And God likes to use nobody’s. God chose Abraham because he was willing to follow him fully. – Are you?

Three Questions:

1. Am I really following God? Who’s in charge of my life? Me or God?

Disney Movie – Blank Check. (Check) Little boy – Bicycle Accident – Given a blank check. And he goes crazy – Buys house, limo, toys, etc. Living it up. Power of the blank check – Write in whatever you want. Nothing is off limits. – Your life – Blank Check for God – Is there anything off limits to God? Is there anything he can’t command you to do? Anything you won’t give over to him to have full control over?

Think about Abraham and how little he knew about God’s plan and promise…

-I want you to go to the land I will show you. But I’m not telling you where right now. 

-I’m going to make you a great nation. I know you don’t have any kids. So how, you’ll have to wait and see.

-I’m going to bless you – more than you can imagine. What kind? $?

-And I’m going to have your back – whoever is good to you, I’ll be good to them. And whoever curses you, I’ll take care of them.

And Abraham’s like, cool. Let’s do it. He’s not like – God – You’re going to have to give me all the details, give me something. No. Whatever you say, I’ll follow.

Oftentimes, we want God to give us all the answers and details first so we can judge whether we are going to follow him or not…

-God are you going to ask me to give up my dream/comforts?

-…call me to missions somewhere far from my family?

-…ask me to give up my time, talents, and treasures for others?

In other words, you’re not interested in following God. You want God to follow you. – Because your obedience to God is conditional/dependent on whether you like what he has for you or not.

And God will never play that role in your life. Jesus is either Lord of all or not Lord at all. It’s all or nothing. There is no in between. God is not your advice giver or problem solver who is along for the ride while you’re living your life. He wants full and total surrender. 

Let me tell you – Be careful telling God what you won’t do cause he might, as he often does, show you who’s really in charge. Grace – 1) I’m not marrying a pastor – Peter. 2) I’m not moving somewhere hot – KL. 

Another Thing: I don’t want you to confuse the fact that God is doing something here in our church with how you may be personally living your life. Here’s what I mean…Lots of people are excited about what God is doing at Garden City. But a lot less people are engaged with what’s going on at Garden City. Don’t think that you are living your life in total surrender and God is moving in your life just because he’s moving in our church. Many people are just connected by association – you’re just around. And that’s not enough. It’s not enough for you to be peripherally connected to a movement of God. You personally have to be involved/engaged in the church/mission. 

2. Where is my security? What do I really trust?

God’s calling to Abraham was to leave behind his family and his land. Those are the two things that give people security and a place in this world. – Equivalent of – go sell everything you have, leave behind your family, and follow me. – Are you willing to do that? Even if it makes no earthly sense? A lot of cultures would condemn you for that because family is everything. They may not say it out loud but to them, family is more important than God. 

God wasn’t asking Abraham to make a little room for him in his life. Squeeze. He was calling him to have a completely new security/identity – not in the things of this world but in God.

Are you willing to put everything on the table? God – Do whatever you want with my life, my talents, my money/resources. I’ll do whatever you tell me to do. I’ll go wherever you send me.

Cost of following God/Jesus: (Like Abraham…)

-Leave your country. 

-Leave your father’s house.

-Leave everything you know behind. 

Follow me into the unknown. – I’m not telling you where. I’m not telling you how. But I promise – I will bless you. I will make you great and you will be a blessing so all families of the earth will be blessed.

-New Beginning

-New Name – Not just a father. Abraham – Father of many. 

-New Calling/Purpose – Blessing – One Family – All Families/Nations

You can take God at his word that what his plans are for your life are far greater than what you could ever dream of for yourself. To be blessed and multiplied so you can be a blessing to others will bring you far greater joy and meaning and purpose for your life – You will be in line with and join in with what the God of the universe is doing and you’ll be making a difference for eternity.

How do you know where you don’t trust God? The place where you say – God, not this – Family, Kids, Career, Money. Everything else but this. Where you won’t unconditionally follow him in obedience. – Release and offer…

3. Have I offered my blessing back to God to be multiplied for his kingdom?

1Cor. 6 – You have been bought with a price – the blood of Jesus – you are not your own anymore. That means, if you’re a Christian, everything in your life, your very life, is not yours anymore. It belongs to Jesus. And he wants to multiply it for his kingdom. 

God is a good Father who loves to give us good gifts to enjoy. People who don’t understand that are wrong. But so are people who only view God’s blessings/gifts as something for themselves to enjoy. God blesses us so we can enjoy them AND so we can offer them back to God so he can multiply them in the lives of others. God’s blessings – For you, but to be offered back to God so he can multiply them to bless others too.

2Cor. 9 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.

God blesses you to sow and multiply your seed. – Everything we have is for seed sowing. – Multiplication. And when you sow the seed God has given you, 2 Cor. 9. – 1) Harvest of your righteousness – become like Jesus. 2) He will enrich you more, he will multiply more to you, not for your own sake, but so you can be generous in every way. 3) And it will produce thanksgiving to God.

Objections:

1) Well, I don’t feel blessed. I don’t have much. That may be true, some people here have less than others. Just a fact. But no matter who you are or what season God has you in, God has given you something, he has given you seed to sow.

Lk. 21 – Parable of Widow – 2 Mites. Jesus doesn’t expect you to give what you don’t have, what he hasn’t entrusted to you. It’s never about the amount of money. It’s about the heart. So whoever you are and what situation you are in, no matter how much or how little you have, we are all called to offer it all up to God.

Abraham is essentially given two choices: 1) Hold on to what you have and stay where you are. Stay in the status quo. OR 2) Follow me – leave everything behind – and let me multiply your life.

And the same is true for all of us today. We can hold onto what we have with clenched hands – protecting it at all costs – from others and from God. You can live a safe life that will probably not amount to anything eternally or blessing anyone. OR You can hold everything up to God with open hands and see him multiply and use it far beyond what you could ever imagine.

Garden City – We have been blessed. Happy. But I believe God has so much more in store for us. And if we want to see those things happen – We can’t just sit back and relax. We have to be willing to take what he has given us and leverage it to further advance Christ’s kingdom here. That is our responsibility – to steward God’s resources well – so we can reach more people, plant more churches – because there are too many unreached people here in our city and around the world.

2) I don’t like when churches talk about money – Well, Jesus talked about money. So we’re going to talk about money. But we’re not just talking about money – time, talent, and treasure. Offended – be more offended. All of it. Jesus demands and is worthy of everything.

3 Discipleship Questions:

1) Am I really following God? Have you fully surrendered to God?

2) Where is my security? What do you most trust?

3) Have I offered my blessing back to God to be multiplied for his kingdom? What kingdom are you primarily living for?

3) Well – Didn’t we already do a generosity series last year? Yes, we did. But there’s a lot of new people who have joined the church since then. And we want to invite them into what God is doing here at Garden City. AND – We want everyone to constantly be re-evaluating, am I really following him, trusting him, and living for his kingdom? 

The trajectory of our lives as followers of Jesus is not towards comfort. It’s not about ease. The call to follow Jesus is one to pick up our cross and follow him. It’s about leveraging our lives for him. – One of the clearest ways to see – growing? – is our bank accounts, our calendars.

4) Well – Pastor, of course you’re talking about money because you benefit from it. 1) What I get paid for this year is set. So even if you give 100m RM, my pay won’t go up at all. 2) My family gives to the church generously more than what we get paid. Generosity has changed our lives and we want to invite you to experience the same.

Listen, ultimately, you’re not giving to this church, you’re giving to the mission. So if you don’t trust this church – don’t use that as an excuse/cover not to give. Give it somewhere else. Give your money and be generous to the mission somewhere else. And after a few months here, if you still don’t trust this church and its mission, we will help you find another church you can trust and be fully engaged.

God doesn’t need our money. He doesn’t need us. But when we offer ourselves to him, he uses our lives, our offerings, to multiply his kingdom. Generosity is not something God/Church wants from you. Generosity is something God/Church wants for you.

Multiply Commitment Card and Connect Card – Bring back every week. Not asking you to do anything with them right now other than to pray and ask God what he desires from you. Not something I can tell you. Not turning this in – X See. Share – CG.

I believe this will change us as a church. It will increase our impact and reach in mission but it’s also going to change us. And it’ll make an eternal difference in the lives of people in our city and the nations. And I want to invite everyone here to join in on this journey. X A. Jesus…

Jesus – God, I will follow you. Unlike Abraham who had many failures and shortcomings – Jesus followed God perfectly. There’s nothing off limits. Nothing I won’t do. I will humble myself, take on flesh and I will leave my heavenly home and my Father’s presence. I will become homeless and fatherless. Though rich, I’ll become poor for their sake. – I will die the death I did not deserve, I will take the sins of the world upon myself – so that the world can be blessed – so they can know you and have a relationship with you.

The one who is calling you to follow him left everything for you. You can give up whatever your security is in, because it’s in him. He gave up everything for you – so we can give ourselves for him – Follow fully.

There’s only one God worth following and giving your life to and that’s the one who gave up his life for you so you could be forgiven of your sins and have eternal life.