David [00:00:00]:
Well, hello everyone. We may have some others pop in. Had a couple that were going to be here and now can’t so but we’ve got a lot of people watching our live stream. So I want to welcome everyone. Thank you for being here with us tonight. And as I’ve shared before, we’ve been online for two years and nine months now, almost ten months, and God has blessed us and done some amazing things.
David [00:02:31]:
And so this is our next step. And Kanye said we’re officially Tennesseans now and we, we have to meet people and get to know them. So. But we’re glad everyone’s here tonight so we’re going to open in prayer, get into some worship and just see what God has for us tonight. Amen. Father, we thank you for this time together. I thank you Lord, for all that you’re doing and all that you’ve done, and we just give you praise and glory for it. We’re looking forward to what you have for us tonight, Lord.
David [00:03:04]:
We just invite you in here with us. Lord, we surrender ourselves to you. Holy Spirit, have your way tonight and we thank you for it. In Jesus name everybody said, amen. Amen. You can remain standing if you like, whatever you want to do. You know, Jeremiah 33, 3 talks about the Lord says, I’ll show you great and mighty things that you know not of. A couple years ago, two or three years ago, he gave me that verse as my verse for the year.
David [00:03:44]:
And I know you’ve probably heard this song before, but the song Great Things, I’m expecting great things. One of our friends, I heard her doing it at a worship service at EMIC out in Texas. And man, that song just so resonated with me. So it’s become my song. So we’re going to start tonight as we go live here and we’re going to start with that song. So just Connie’s got the lyrics for you and just invite you to Sing along with us. All right. So here we go.
David [00:04:41]:
I’m expecting great things I’m expecting great things I’m expecting great things Great things say that again. I’m expecting great things I expecting great things I’m expecting great things Great things In my heart you do great things in my home you do great things all around you do great things.
David [00:05:47]:
I.
David [00:05:48]:
17 I choose to believe for great things I expecting great things I expecting great things I’m expecting great things Great things. I expecting great things I expecting great things I’m expecting great things Great things In my life give me great.
David [00:06:41]:
You.
David [00:06:43]:
In my home you do greatly all.
David [00:06:52]:
Around.
David [00:06:56]:
You do greatly I cannot see I choose to do great. I expect you great. Things I expect great things Great things. I expect great things Great things Amen. Praise God.
David [00:07:42]:
Praise God.
David [00:07:42]:
Praise God. Father, we thank you for your great things tonight. We thank you for all that you.
David [00:07:48]:
Want to show us.
David [00:07:50]:
All that you want to do in us and through us, for us and with us.
David [00:07:56]:
So, Father, we come tonight expecting you.
David [00:07:58]:
You, Jesus, thank you for great things.
David [00:08:02]:
Hallelujah.
David [00:08:05]:
There’s joy in the house of the Lord there’s joy in the house of the Lord today. In this place we won’t be quiet we shout out your praise there’s joy in the house of the Lord there’s joy in the house of the Lord today We won’t be quiet we shout out your praise let’s go in the house of the Lord Our God is surely. We shout out our praise we shout out our praise. We worship the God who We worship the God who is we worship the God. At the prison doors he raging sea Our God he knows. There’s joy in the house of the Lord there’s joy in the house of the Lord today He won’t be quiet we shout out his praise Search joy in the house of the My God is surely in this place we won’t be quiet. Shout out your praise Lord. We sing through the eyes we sing we sing to the God who always takes away he hung up on the cross Then he rose up from the grave My God still rolling songs.
David [00:10:33]:
There’S.
David [00:10:33]:
Joy in the house of the Lord there’s joy in the house of the Lord today We won’t fight we shout out the praise there’s joy in the house Our God is surely in this place. Shout out our praise. Now we’re royalty we were prisoners now we’re running free we are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by his grace Let the house of your see praise sing out again we were the Beggars now we’re royalty we were the prisoners now we’re running free Unforgiven, accepted, redeemed by his grace Let the house of the Lord sing praise there’s joy in the house of there’s joy in the house of the Lord Today we won’t be quiet we shout out your praise there’s joy in the house of the Lord Our God is surely in this place we won’t be quiet there’s joy in the house of the Lord there’s joy in the house of the Lord to be we won’t be quiet we shout out your praise there’s joy in the house of the Lord Our God is surely in this place we won’t be quiet we shout out your praise we shout out your praise we shout out your pray we shout out your prayer thank you, Jesus.
David [00:13:20]:
Thank you, Jesus.
David [00:13:49]:
Darkness tries to light. How great. Sing with me. How great, great is our God oh see how great, how great is our God Sing it again. How great, how great is our God Sing with me. How great is I oh see. How great, how great is our God. H u h.
David [00:15:01]:
Beginning the Godhead. Father, Spirit, Son, the light and earth the light in the land how great is our God Sing with me. How great is our God oh see how great, how great is our God how great is our God how great is our God Sing with me. How great is our God don’t see how great, how great is your God. He’s the name above all names Worthy of all praise my heart will sing how great is our God Sing it again. He’s the name, He’s a name above all name Worthy of all praise my heart will sing how great is our God. How great is our God Sing with me. How great is our God and I will see how great, how great is our God oh, how great is our God Sing with me.
David [00:17:16]:
Great.
David [00:17:20]:
All see how great, how great is I got. How great, how great is I got. Hallelujah. We love you Jesus. How great you are. You are so good, so good.
David [00:17:59]:
Name above all.
David [00:18:02]:
Praise God. Thank you Jesus. Hallelujah. Worthy of all praise. Thank you Jesus for being here with us tonight.
David [00:18:21]:
Amen.
David [00:18:21]:
Praise God.
David [00:18:22]:
You can be seated.
David [00:18:35]:
Y’ all made it. We didn’t know. We didn’t know. We are incredibly, incredibly excited. It’s been. It’s been fun the last couple of days as per usual. And you try to do something for the Lord. The enemy tries to get in the way and the form of technical difficulties.
David [00:18:53]:
I think. I think Hades invented technical difficulties. Is really what I think that is. But as we come in here today, we wanted to have a formal service, as you well know, the first formal service that we’re having here. Thank you for beautiful worship. If it was up to me to sing, we would just hum. It probably wouldn’t happen near as well. But what we are doing with Emerge International Church is what God has asked us to do.
David [00:19:25]:
And whether that’s for 1 or 1,000 or 100,000, it doesn’t matter. We’re going to do it with our very best effort. You’ve got some things on your seat as you came in. The little tokens, little fun things to remember today by. Go ahead and fill out the little card just to say that you were here. If it’s just your name, just fill out the card with that. Just to say that you were here. So we can go ahead and keep track of kind of the humble beginnings.
David [00:19:50]:
Because we don’t despise the day of small beginnings. And that is where we are in the moment. But they’re special, and sometimes the concentrated is more special than the big group. So I’m glad that you guys are here. So we want to give an opportunity to tithe and offerings. And for those of you who have joined us online, we are so excited about that. Everybody’s texting us and going, we’re here online. So I’m typing back to the people that are showing up online and we’re praying now for a technical person to come.
David [00:20:23]:
That is the immediate need of immersion. International Church is a technical person to come and run those slides because that’s some fun stuff. But we have our scripture, and it’s right up here. 8, 22. In Genesis, David likes the new King James version, so we use the new King James Version. While the earth remains seed, time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer and day and night shall not cease. Things keep going, and we help things keep going with our seed and our offerings. We want it to perpetuate.
David [00:20:58]:
When we give God whatever’s in our hands, he can do something with it. When we try to do something with what’s in our hands, we can only do what we can do. When we give what’s in our hands to God, he can do great and amazing things with it. That collaborative effort is not multiplied. It’s not merely multiplied. It is exponential. And we’ve got some people who have recently had more math classes than I’ve had. So you guys could probably tell us about what exponential is a lot better than I could.
David [00:21:27]:
So have you guys do the offering. Maybe next time. But God established seed time before harvest. You’re not going to get a harvest if you don’t plant anything. So we’ve got to plant something. We’ve got to give him something to work with. And just like when we pray about something, we don’t just sit there and wait for God to, you know, lightning strike and give it to us. It’s.
David [00:21:47]:
We’ve got to keep walking, we keep moving. That’s plant. That’s our planting the seed. So we plant that seed. We say, God, I’m giving you my effort. I’m giving you my energy. We’re going forward. This is the seed that we have.
David [00:21:58]:
This is my time, this is my talent that you’ve given me, and I’m going to give it back to you. And when we do that and we sow that, then there’s a harvest. Every offering is a declaration of trust in God’s order. When we do that, when we sit in a chair, we’re trusting that chair is going to hold us. When we give something to God, we trust that he’s going to do something with it. There’s something that he’s going to do with that. And so that’s a declaration that we are trusting. Lord, I’m trusting you with this.
David [00:22:29]:
I’m taking what’s in my hand. I’m giving it fully to you. I have no idea what you’re going to do with this. David and I, well, we’ve got some idea, but we don’t have specific ideas of what God’s going to do with this church. And so it’s this activity here is an act of trust. Your offering is an act of trust. Trust. You reaching out to that person that the Holy Spirit nudges you to reach out to is an act of trust.
David [00:22:54]:
So we’re trusting him. And what is planted in faith will produce in its time. Your faith is the ultimate miracle. Grow when you plant seed. It’s a miracle. It’s absolutely everything God does for us is a miracle. Every breath that we take is a miracle. So when we’re planting that we are believing and trusting.
David [00:23:15]:
God’s bringing a miracle, and he brought you guys today, so you’re the miracles today. So there you go. So as we give, let’s so confidently in the faith, in his promise that this will yield. This is not effort that we enter into mildly or lightly. The. The offering that we give every day when we get up and we give, God and I often get up and say, lord, I just dedicate this Day to you. That’s my offering to you. That’s given in faith that he’s going to do something amazing with it.
David [00:23:47]:
So start out with the miracle grow and give your offering to God and see what he’ll multiply back to you. Pastor Wright, would you like to do the offering song that you had? Father, thank you. Thank you for these tithes and these offerings that are coming in today, Lord, to do your work. Father, we thank you that you give us the seed to sow and that you give good seed to the sower. And as we like to say, great big whopper chunk seed. And we sow that knowing that you’re going to do great big whopper chunk things with the Lord, we thank you. We praise you in Jesus name. You can go to our website if you go to emergeinternationalchurch.org and you guys can go to the website too.
David [00:24:45]:
If you would rather do things online than here in person, you can do that online. It goes through tidely. The other thing that I really wanted to share with you guys is we endeavor to be great soil. We endeavor to be amazing soil that you’re sowing into. And so when you’re sowing into emerge, we’re gonna sow that back into kingdom things and that is going to generate more and more towards the kingdom.
David [00:25:14]:
Amen.
David [00:25:15]:
Let’s sing this together. This is an old course you probably know.
David [00:25:20]:
You are beautiful beyond description Too marvelous, Too wonderful for comprehension like nothing ever seen or heard. Who can crash your infinite.
David [00:25:52]:
Who can.
David [00:25:53]:
Fathom the depth of your love. You are beautiful beyond the scripture. Majesty enthroned above I stand I.
David [00:26:18]:
I.
David [00:26:19]:
Stand I spend it on you O me God to all praises I stand in. Sing that verse again. You are beautiful description. Like nothing ever seen or heard. Who can fathom the depth of your life? You are. Majesty enthroned above and I stay Stand, I stand in all of you I stand, I stand in on you Only God to who all praise is due. I stand in awe of you. Yes, I stand, I stand stand.
David [00:28:02]:
I.
David [00:28:02]:
Stand, I stand only God all praise is due. I stand in of you. I stand in on you.
David [00:28:48]:
Praise God. Well, it’s time to get into the word, excited about what God’s given us tonight. And I’m going to be sharing. Probably that’s what he said. I’m going to be sharing some vision tonight and talking about where I feel like God is directing us, where we’re going and. And what God is going to have us focusing on. And so I titled this our Heart and vision. And so our heart and vision has always been to help others be all that God created them to be.
David [00:29:36]:
That’s what we, Connie and I both, we’ve always been about helping others and helping them grow to be all God created them to be. We’ve done that in a lot of different ways and ministry and out in the marketplace for several years, Kanye and I both worked with Tom Zigler from Zig Ziglar Corporation. And Zig was a devout believer, and he would not teach anything unless he could prove it.
David [00:30:07]:
Scripturally.
David [00:30:08]:
That’s where he started. And. And then he would just say it like good old boys from the south say it, you know, so everybody loved him. And one of Zig’s jokes was, he goes, yeah, you people come down from the north and we finally teach you how to talk, right? And I know we got some people here from Louisiana tonight, so they get that. But anyway, God has given us.
David [00:30:41]:
A.
David [00:30:41]:
Great gift, and one of those gifts is choice. And we’re going to talk about that a little bit. The other thing God has given us, the other gift he’s given us is our potential. And one of the things God’s given me, an anointing for, an insight into, is when I meet someone and start talking with them them and start working with them. God allows me to see the possibilities, the opportunities, the potential within that person. A lot of what kind of done the last 10 years working with Tom Zigler is creating programs that help draw out of people all that God’s put in them. Then over the years, God’s grown me and given me the capacity to do the very thing I just said is to draw out of people what is resident within them, what he’s put within them. The reality is this.
David [00:31:52]:
Everybody here, everybody online that’s listening tonight, we all have the capacity to be more. If you’re alive and on this planet, you have the capacity to be more. I’m going to go off track here just a little bit, but the whole idea of once we hit a certain age, we should retire and just go sit around. Should you enjoy life? Yes, God wants us to enjoy life. But the word retirement is not in scripture. It was the political thing that somebody overseas in Europe started and they talked their country into believing in it. And so when they offered to retirement, everybody who was this person’s political opponent was totally off the map because they had to retire. And so he got what he wanted.
David [00:32:51]:
Well, they kept talking about it. So eventually it jumped the pond. And somebody over here goes, well, that sounds like a good idea. Let’s. When, when I hit 65, I want to retire, you know, and so, and it’s good to enjoy, slow down and enjoy life. But guys, one of our close friends, his name’s Bob Beal, he’s got a book called the Decades of Life and, and we’ll have to. If you want one, let me know. I’ve got some.
David [00:33:22]:
I meant to bring some tonight, but God, but Bob talks about this. Our most productive years in life should be our 60s and 70s. We’ve had more experience, we’ve learned more, seen more, have more common sense than we’ve ever had in our life. We see in scripture when the Levites hit a certain age, they stopped serving in the temple and started training the 20 year old, the 20 year old Levites how to come in and serve before God. And so that’s a pattern we see throughout scripture. God always brought somebody into your life to mentor you so you could go to the next level. And so we all have the capacity to be more within us. And that’s what potential is.
David [00:34:13]:
Potential means you can go to the second slide. Potential means the capacity to be or become more. And we all have that. There’s not a person on the, you know, don’t I hear people say, well, that’s just the way I am. I can’t do any different. No, that’s a lie of the enemy. Yes you can. God has put within you everything you need to be all he created you to be.
David [00:34:39]:
So our potential is a God given godlike gift. And that word godlike is important because we are created in his image and in his likeness. So we can go out and be like him and be fruitful and multiply, expand. And so that’s what God does. He’s new every day, right? Scripture tells us universe is doing what? Still expanding. It hasn’t stopped expanding since God brought it into being. And so our godlike gift, we will never exhaust it here on earth, nor will we exhaust it throughout eternity. Because God will be saying, you can be more.
David [00:35:30]:
I’ve got more for you. I’ve got more for you. I’ve got more for you. Scripture teaches us that God is always expanding, becoming more every day. And since we are made in his image, we have the capacity within us to do the very same thing now and throughout eternity. During COVID This is before we moved here to Franklin several years ago. We were still living in Plano in Texas, and the girls were home from college. I mean, everybody’s home, you know, it’s Right in the beginning, Covid and I needed a quiet place.
David [00:36:10]:
So I went in our bedroom and I told Kaya, I’m going in our closet to pray. And so I went in our bedroom, shut all the doors, went in the closet, and I’m praying, lord, I just love you. I look so forward to the day where I will know everything there is to know about you and I. Literally, guys, God does this with me sometimes. Literally. I heard this, David, you’ll never know everything there is to know about me. And I went, what? What about when I get to heaven to be with you full? He goes, what does the Bible say about every day? I said, oh, you’re new every day. He goes, yeah.
David [00:36:54]:
And he goes, let me tell you this. You’re going to be new every day too. You’ll never stop growing and learning either. And I was like, oh, wow. Hey, God showed me. He goes, I, I’ve given you everything for I. You need for this life here on earth and throughout eternity. We already have it, guys.
David [00:37:17]:
We’re not living in time, waiting for eternity. We’re living in eternity in a time capsule. Yeah, eternity’s been going on. We don’t know forever. No beginning, no ending. So we’re, we’re beings who are eternal. We’re already eternal. So whoever that’s for, that’s for you.
David [00:37:46]:
That was not in my notes. But God wants us to keep growing and becoming more. And so I like what Pastor Mark Batterson says. Pastor Batterson, he’s written a lot of books. He wrote the Circle Maker and a lot of others. But he pastors National Community church in Washington D.C. and Kanye and I were just there in D.C. with one of our daughters who just moved there.
David [00:38:18]:
And we went to National Community Church. And I’d read in his book what he did. He said the Lord led him and he. He walked this seven mile circle. And 30 years later, they have over $100 million in property in an area that he goes, we don’t know how. There was no capacity, there was no category for what God did. And, and right there next to the Navy Yard, right there next to, you know, and God’s doing great things. But I love what he says.
David [00:39:05]:
In one of his books, Pastor Mark said this. Slide 3. Potential is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift to God. And I always ask myself when I read this, what am I going to do with it, God? What can we do? So what I understand now is that God planted that seed in me, the desire in me to help Others be more. When I came to be in my mother’s womb. If you look in Ephesians, it says God had all this planned before the foundations of the earth. He had already thought about each of us tonight and planted in us as we came in to be those seeds, to be all that he created us to be.
David [00:40:08]:
And the same is true for you. Whoever God created you to be has been in you ever since you came into being.
David [00:40:21]:
Wow.
David [00:40:23]:
Wow. Wow, wow.
David [00:40:24]:
Hey, Joe.
David [00:40:27]:
Good to see you. When the Lord spoke to. Actually, he spoke to Connie and I. But when the Lord spoke to me the last week of July, 2023 about starting a church, I began reading and studying Ephesians 4:11 through 16. And that’s where Paul’s talking about the fivefold ministry and what God’s called us to do and things like that. And so I began reading and studying that again. And I prayed over it, meditated on it, and journaled what I heard the Lord say. And I read and reflected on these verses in multiple translations, just all I could find.
David [00:41:09]:
And there’s one that popped out to me. Ephesians 4:12. And this is from the the Passion translation. It kind of summarizes all of this. This, and Paul said, and their calling is to nurture and prepare all the holy believers to do their own works of ministry. And as they do, they will enlarge and build up the body of Christ. So, guys, I don’t. I don’t care what your role may be professionally.
David [00:41:42]:
It’s still a ministry. And God is working through all of us. We all have different ministries. They may look similar, you know, but they’re all unique because you’re unique. And so what he says here just summarizes this for me. I want to help you be all you can be so you can go out and do all that God wants you to do and influence everyone. God wants you to influence.
David [00:42:10]:
Influence.
David [00:42:14]:
Ministry isn’t just preaching and teaching and praying and what happens at church. Reality is ministry is what happens outside of church. Church is just where we come together. We fellowship, we get filled up, we go back out. Your ministry is wherever your circle of influence is. It may be family, maybe government, maybe education, maybe business, arts, entertainment, sports, media, and religion, or a combination of those in some way. But wherever we are, we share the good news of the gospel, wherever God has called us to be and what those God’s called us to be with. So God chose to give those made in his image, you and I, an incredible honor to co labor with him, to partner with him.
David [00:43:25]:
To carry his name and carry his presence into a redemptive purpose to restore this planet to God and to his intention. And that’s never changed. What was his intention? We see it in Matthew when Jesus, the disciples, asked him to teach them to pray. And he. And I’m paraphrasing here, I’m pulling this down. But he said, on earth as it is in heaven, on earth as I pray that every day, Father, I pray that you work through me today and that your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven, through me, God, I yield myself to you. How do you want me? Yesterday, when we went to the event that I was sharing with you guys earlier, the breakfast with the mayors, there was a lady who was sitting by herself, and Kanye went and just walked over and sat down, started talking to her. She’s a retired physician.
David [00:44:34]:
And boom, she made a new friend. But she did more than that. She went over and just loved on that lady and encouraged her. There were hundreds of people in that room and nobody was talking to her. So Kanye said, here you go. That’s how little things like that make a huge impact in people’s lives. And God will use us all day long like that. I remember one night I pulled.
David [00:45:04]:
I was going through a drive through one night, ordered some food, and as I pulled up to the window, I heard this just as plain as day, tell that young girl that I love her. Okay? It’s a little odd. She brings my food to the window and I give her the money. She gives me some change. I said, oh, before I go, God wanted me to tell you he sees you and he loves you. She lost it, started sobbing, and I’m like, oh, Lord, what happened? Look. And she goes, thank you. I needed that.
David [00:45:42]:
You don’t know the day I’ve had. And I went, wow. I drove away. And I don’t to this day, I don’t know. But I know this. God wanted. God said, here, share this with her. And it made an impact in her.
David [00:45:59]:
We don’t always know what the outcomes are going to be, what the results will be. God just wants us to be available, and that’s a part of it. So his intention is still the same for all of us, wherever we are, whoever we’re with is his will here on earth as it is in heaven. God, we don’t have to wait till heaven to experience heaven. We can experience right now, today. So next slide. Here’s our mission and immerse. Our mission is to equip and empower you to go forth.
David [00:46:40]:
God said to me back in July 2023, I’m calling you to build a sending church, not a sitting church. He went on to say, encourage, edify, equip and empower people to emerge. Emerge and be all I’ve created them to be. And that word emerge means to come forth or to go forth. Now, here’s a great image of this. This is. You’ll understand why our logo is like it is here in a moment, but it is simply like the caterpillar which wraps itself in a cocoon and comes forth or emerges as a butterfly. And as that butterfly, that caterpillar now soars to heights it could never imagine before.
David [00:47:37]:
I don’t know if you see the caterpillar lately. I saw one recently. They’re still barely made. You wonder how they make it, you.
David [00:47:45]:
Know.
David [00:47:47]:
But a lot of times we feel like that we get started somewhere. We feel like we’re like the caterpillar, you know, just trying to get over there. But God says, if you’ll work with me and come with me and follow me and trust me, I’m going to take you places you can’t imagine. And so as that butterfly source the heights it could never imagine, it comes forth because in the cocoon is where it was transformed into the being it was created to be. Emerge International Church God has called us to be a cocoon, a place of transformation. And our heart and vision is to see emerge come forth, being all God created it to be, so you can be all God created you to be. So, real quick, let me share with you what these stages of transformation look like. Number one, I said we encourage encouragement is not just saying kind words to someone.
David [00:49:01]:
It’s about actively instilling hope and resilience in those around us. We stir the courage within you to hope. In the God of hope. We all. Hope is a foundation, guys, for where we go if we don’t have hope. We’re laying in bed somewhere going, why am I here? What is this all about? We have to have hope. Well, the word hope in the Greek there means active expectation. Active expectation means this.
David [00:49:36]:
You get up every day expecting it. You get up every day looking for it. You get up every day knowing God is working with you and in you. And so when it says he’s the God of hope, he’s the God of active expectation, he’s not just sitting around waiting. He’s going, come on, let’s go get filled up. Learn all you need to learn, and let’s run with this. We got people’s lives. We need to change.
David [00:50:03]:
But so we want to build hope in people now. We always need hope. We always need somebody to come along in our life. Even when we’re functioning in the calling and we’re there, we still need hope. Had a friend of mine reach out today, and he’s been all over the place, world, and he took a moment to text me and said, I’m so excited about tonight. Well, guys, he didn’t have to do that. He had already told me on the phone last week he was excited. But he, he said it today and it just stirred that hope in me.
David [00:50:44]:
That.
David [00:50:44]:
Yeah, yeah.
David [00:50:49]:
And so we all need that. It’s a foundation of faith, encouragement fuels the hope and expectation that you could be all God created you to be. You’re not alone. God is with you. He has placed within you everything you need to be all he created you to be. You’re going to hear me say that a lot, so get ready. You may not see it yet or fully understand it, but. But you know, it’s all there, what we’re doing here tonight.
David [00:51:27]:
We saw it. God showed it to us. But it’s been over a year. And then God said, okay, now. Yeah, we had a.
David [00:51:37]:
Suddenly.
David [00:51:38]:
But my point is this. We didn’t stop. We didn’t sit at home and go, oh, well, maybe we missed it. No, we. We kept doing what God was telling us to do. Getting up every day and doing it, and then, boom, it comes. And so even though you don’t fully see it yet, you keep trusting God. You keep pressing in every day, you keep stepping out because it’s going to come.
David [00:52:05]:
Amen. Next thing we do is we edify. We build up the person within, and we all need to be built up. Transformation is about taking you from where you are to where God wants you to be. And when transformation happens within you, you begin to understand and know who you are in Christ. You begin to get it. As you grow in who you are in Christ, you gain understanding and how to love God. And when you gain understanding and how to love God, here’s a big one.
David [00:52:47]:
You gain understanding and how to love yourself. And once that begins to work in you, then you can do what Jesus said, Love God and love others as you love yourself. We get the loving God, loving others, but sometimes we don’t get the loving ourselves. So we end up sacrificing everything and not really being all God wanted us to be. You have to learn to love yourself. And I’m going to share a verse with you about that. As we learn to Love God, love ourself, love others. There’s a verse in Philemon.
David [00:53:36]:
Paul wrote to Philemon, first chapter one, verse six. There’s only one chapter in Philemon too. So Philemon 1:6, he said, and Paul had previously said in the verse four, I’m praying for you that the sharing of your faith may become effective. Listen to this. By the acknowledgment of every good thing which. Which is in you, in Christ Jesus, we’re good at acknowledging all the great things in others, but we’re all the time going, oh, no, I’m not. Yeah, it’s all God. We know that.
David [00:54:17]:
We acknowledge it. But God says, acknowledge what? All those good things I put in you, acknowledge it. Let it be known that I put that in you and you recognize it, too. Guys, we could say this about all of us, but I know that we wouldn’t be here tonight if we hadn’t acknowledged what God was doing in us and been willing to go further and go to the next step. When we acknowledge all the good things that are in us, in Christ, then the sharing of our faith becomes more effective because everybody goes, wow, look at them. If God will do that for them, maybe you’ll do it for me.
David [00:55:05]:
Yeah.
David [00:55:08]:
I remember Mr. Ziegler talking about. He’d do these big events. I’ve been to some of them. And the. The big events, you know, you. You’re coming out on stage and they’re going, the music’s blaring, is blasting this big music. It’s like Star wars or something.
David [00:55:25]:
And there’s the pictures and all the stuff, and.
David [00:55:28]:
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Zig Ziglar.
David [00:55:34]:
He come running on stage, and a lot of times, first thing he’d do, he’d come out and he’d kneel down and go and start telling him, I’m just a boy from Yazoo, Mississippi. And he’d start telling this story. And all of a sudden, all those people who had screamed and yelled went, oh, wow, he’s just like me. And that’s the message you want to get across. I’m nothing. I’m not any more important than anybody else. God’s just given me this platform to let you know he loves you and he has more for you. And, man, I never forget that.
David [00:56:13]:
I never forget him sharing that when he acknowledged all the good God had done in him and through him. But he said, I’m just here for you today. This isn’t about me. And that’s it, guys. So we encourage, we edify, and then we Equip. To equip means this. It means to furnish with all you need to be who God created you to be. To furnish with the skills, the tools, the insight, the understanding, the wisdom, the power and the authority.
David [00:56:49]:
Let me say that again. The skills, the tools, the insight, the understanding, the wisdom, the power and authority. God wants us to understand all that and be equipped in it so we can go out and be who he’s called us to be. When an army is furnished, they’re equipped with everything they need. All the trucks and the tanks and the guns and the ammo and all the stuff. But not only that, they’re equipped with clothes and food and shelter and all that. God’s going, come on, we got it all. He’s not going to send us out into the world without being there with us, but he wants us equipped.
David [00:57:42]:
So this is all founded on God’s word. So another focus will be to equip you with God’s word related to who you are. We need to know who we are in Christ. So where is God taking you? Focusing on God’s word empowers you to grow in faith as you go there. And as you grow in faith, we also grow in hope and love. And as we grow in faith, hope and love, we begin to develop a kingdom mindset. We begin to think like our Father God thinks. We begin to see things the way he sees things, and we get a different mindset about our life here on earth.
David [00:58:29]:
God has more for us. And so once we’re equipped, what do we do? We empower. And to empower means to be infused with the confidence to walk in the power and authority we have in Christ and boldly be all God has created us to be. You ever noticed a police officer when he’s directing traffic, something’s happening, he’s directing traffic, he doesn’t stop and do all, he just walks out. And everybody honors it because they realize, oh, he’s got the authority to do that. Something’s going on. I don’t know, we better honor that. That’s the same thing here.
David [00:59:10]:
When we know who we are in Christ and know what Christ has called us to, we don’t have to be timid about it. We step forth. We don’t be arrogant about it, but we step forth boldly and declare what God’s done. And then the fifth thing, I talked about this a little bit before is we emerge just like the butterfly emerging from the cocoon. We come forth boldly with authority and power to be fully all God created us to be. To pour ourselves into others and see their lives transformed, to see them step into who God created them to be. So they pour into others who will be transformed also. This is ongoing.
David [00:59:55]:
It’s a ripple effect. I touch you, you touch somebody else. They touch somebody, Boom. The day of Pentecost, There were about 3,000 people added to the body. There were 120 there, and then 3,000 got saved and came. And a friend of ours showed us the numbers over the decade, the centuries. And it was back in the late 1800s, early 1900s. We finally got into the millions in the body of Christ.
David [01:00:38]:
And right now, we’re sitting at a place where we could be in the billions. We just got to keep going out there, loving people and inviting them to be a part of the family and the body of Christ as we pour into others, and they pour into others, they pour to others. The body of Christ is built up and enlarged. Wow. You see that? Do you see it? So, guys, this is a journey that we’re all on together. So as I wrap up, there’s two things I want to share with you real quick that the Lord has challenged us with because of technology today and where it is headed. We have international influence and impact. We all have that available to us.
David [01:01:35]:
We can literally touch nations from right here. In fact, we may have some of our friends from other nations on the live stream tonight. Two years, nine months ago, when we started. It’s actually about three years ago when the Lord started talking to us about this, and he said, I want you to start online. My mind was going online, God. I got all the manuals, all the notebooks, everything about how to start a church. Nobody ever talked about starting online. He goes, trust me, guys.
David [01:02:15]:
Within months, we had people from India, Pakistan, China, all over going, hey, we want your program. Look what God is doing here. I just. I got a text from a guy in Pakistan just recently. I don’t know if you saw it, Kanye, the last two weeks. You want to do a zoom meeting and preach for my church? Sure. You know, I will be in Pakistan, but I don’t have to go. How cool is that? So we can literally touch the nations by what we’re doing together.
David [01:03:01]:
The other way is we impact those who are going to the nations. We already have people that were working with our niece, Alexis. I was kidding her about this. Yeah, hi, Alexis. We were kidding her because she told us she’s got a heart for Asia. And so one of the jumping off points for Asia is Hawaii. It’s kind of right There where? Boom, you’re there. And she said, so I’m a part of the missions team, and part of what we’re going to be doing is planning churches in Asia.
David [01:03:45]:
And she goes, our jumping off point is going to be Hawaii. So we’re planning a church there first, and then we’ll go out from there. And I went, oh, baby, I’m sorry, you got to go to Hawaii and live there, man. But no, that’s your jumping off place. Franklin is a great place to jump off from. Our friend Rick Johnson, he just got back from it used to be called Burma. Now it’s something. But, man, God is.
David [01:04:26]:
It’s not Miramar, but Myanmar. Myanmar, yeah. Yeah. But Rick just sent us pictures. My gosh, God is doing great things in that country. Randy Roberts, friend of ours, he lives in Sarasota, goes to Brother Moore’s church there. He was just doing a couple crusades in Central Africa. They had over a hundred thousand people saved.
David [01:05:00]:
He’s up on the stage preaching and praying. People are just being healed. And Sergio is a friend of ours who works for KCM out in Texas there. He and his wife, they have outreach in Juarez, just over the border there in Mexico. And Juarez was known that’s the place all the drug cartels would launch into America. Well, now he’s changing that city for God. So where are you headed in the world? We’re going to be able to impact things internationally. The other key is we are intergenerational.
David [01:05:59]:
Our mission is not about how old you are or how young you are. Being all God created you to be spans generations and continue continues into eternity. We have a responsibility to train and empower our children, our grandchildren and those who will come beyond, as well as our older generation who’s sitting around going, what do I do now? And, you know, can I go to the grocery store so I can get out of the house, you know, or something? What do you need, baby? But no, our older generation has great purpose and great insight and wisdom, and they need to be empowered to go forward. Our board members for Emerge International Church, Wes Jackson, he’s one of our board members, but we work with him. He worked with banks to help them grow and serve their clients better. But he’s got a ministry in Fort Wayne, Indiana, called New Hope Farms. They’re literally feeding thousands of inner city and homeless people every week. They’ve worked with single moms who have children but aren’t married and help them get jobs.
David [01:07:37]:
They’ve given 33 cars to mothers who had no way of transportation. God’s just pouring it on. So how do you change a culture? You change children and that’s what they do. Every Wednesday night he’s got a service where they’re doing nothing but ministering to the youth of that inner city. It’s amazing things happening there. Kevin Williams lives here in Franklin. He’s from Brussels Springs, Kentucky. Grew up in a trailer park.
David [01:08:20]:
He said the mindset around that area, especially when he’s growing up, it’s still this way a lot. Just this is it, get used to it. Ain’t gonna be nothing more. And he said, so growing up, he loved playing guitar and he had one of the guys there teach him guitar and he was pretty good guitar player. So he started playing for one of the quartets around there. Well, his heart was to come to Nashville. And he had, he’s told me this, he had. I don’t know how many people told him, well, boy, you’re good to be guitar player.
David [01:08:53]:
You ain’t gonna never be anything in Nashville. You just need to get a job here. But guess what? Kevin came to Nashville, followed his dream, followed what God wanted to do. Last 33 years he’s been Bill Gaither’s guitar player and his music director for Gaither Vocal Band. They’re out. He would be here tonight, but they’re out on tour. I said, oh great. But anyway, he’s got a ministry in Russell Springs now.
David [01:09:31]:
He’s had it for several years. Called Kevin’s Kids and they’re sowing. They raise money every year and so it back into the kids in high school there and tell them there’s hope, there’s a way. This last year they helped a young man. He wanted to fly helicopters. He’d never been in an airplane before. They found a retired helicopter pilot who was with Special Forces. He took him out.
David [01:10:09]:
He got permission to met my Blackhawk first time this last year he entered the Air Force. Is going to be a pilot, guys. We all have dreams and God put those dreams in us. And they’re seeds of hope that will touch people’s lives. Jackie Liston lives in Oklahoma. He calls himself the chief encouragement Officer. Jackie works with CEOs and high level entrepreneurs coaching them. Jackie came through everything that happened in Oklahoma back in 08, 2008 and well, even back before that it was 86, 87 back in there to the 80s and they made it through the.
David [01:11:16]:
The downfall in the real estate market. They were doing developments and things like that. Then he became president of a bank, local bank there took it to Play that bank is still growing. Even though he’s not the president anymore, it’s still growing from the seeds he planted. So he goes in and works with executives and owners of these businesses. And one of the things he introduces them is purpose. Because some of them look at him go, yeah, we’re successful, but is this all there is? He goes, no, there’s more. And he shows them and he goes, okay, we increased your profits this much this year, this, this quarter.
David [01:12:02]:
Where are you going to give? That’s Jackie. Where are you going to give? You’re going to sow. You need to honor God. And then our. The other member of our board is from Ohio. His name’s Dan Hypes, and he and I have been close friends. Dan has got a ministry it’s coming on called Ageless Living. Ageless Living is about being all God wanted you to be every decade of your life to the day you pass and you transition into heaven.
David [01:12:38]:
And he’s touching lives with it and giving people hope and purpose in their 60s and 70s and 80s. Guys, here’s what he told me. He said, here’s what we know. Dan used to own a financial planning firm. He said, here’s what we know because of where technology is going in the medical community, he’s going, living into your hundreds in the next 10 years, that’s not going to be a big thing. So we got to teach people, how do you do that with purpose? And so what I’m saying here, if we look at all four of those guys and what Kanye and I, we. We cover everything I’ve talked about tonight, every generation and everything, what God has shown us is that our platform of influence is international and energy generation. It’s all important.
David [01:13:37]:
I laugh. We go to see our grandkids, they live up in Ohio. We go to see our grandkids and our 6 year old, she’ll be 7 here in a month or so, but her name’s Lucy. And if they’re going out somewhere, they were going out to something in their neighborhood that, that a gentleman was having a time for everybody just to come hang out and meet. Bring the kids if you want to bring them. Well, they were getting ready to go. And Lucy goes over and gets her Bible out of her backpack. And her dad says, lucy, what are you doing? She goes, I just want to make sure this guy knows Jesus.
David [01:14:15]:
He may need Jesus. And so she’s. But that’s Lucy. She’s become the evangelist in the family and. But praise God. Look what God’s doing in her. God’s got seeds like that in all of us. So that is why we’re called Emerge International Church.
David [01:14:39]:
So here’s my version of that verse I read to you in the beginning. Ephesians 4:12 in the passion translation, with David’s additions to it. Emerge International Church’s calling is to nurture and prepare all those God brings before us to do their own works of ministry. And as they do this together, we will enlarge and build up the body of Christ. Amen. Are you ready to go higher than you thought you could? My dad had a saying that he invited, instilled to my brothers and me, and I want to share it with you as we transition here. Dad told us this life is an adventure. Get up every day and go find yours.
David [01:15:28]:
And in addition to that, I’ll say this. He would tell me, all right, David, I know you and I are going to go out here together and do this. But he said, it’s still your adventure because you’re going to see things that I don’t see, and I won’t see things you don’t see. And he said, so even though we’re together, we’re still having our own adventure out here. And so God has an adventure for you every day. Get up and go find it. Amen. All right.
David [01:16:02]:
A part of being who God created us to be is walking in all Jesus has bought for for us and given to us through his death and resurrection. Matthew 28, 18 and 19. Jesus said, he came and spoke to them, saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. What we see here is Jesus has all authority in heaven and and on earth. And he has delegated all that authority to us. That’s why he said to the disciples, I got it. Go in my name.
David [01:16:42]:
I delegate it. That police officer I talked about, he has delegated authority. He’s going in the name of the local police force. The second thing he said to his disciples was in John 14, John 14:12. This is from the Amplified class classic. I assure you most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in me, he will himself be able to do the things that I’ve done. And he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father. So knowing that Jesus has given us all authority and that we can do all the things that he did and even great greater things, it would be remiss if I Did not ask you tonight to extend your faith for what’s needed.
David [01:17:39]:
So here’s how we’re going to close tonight. If you have a need, physically, financially, whatever it may be, I simply just want you to stand up where you are. You can do this online too. Now, church, we heard the word. We. We all have authority. So we’re going to pray. And as we do, if someone’s standing close to you, lay hands on them.
David [01:18:09]:
And together we’re going to believe for greater things. And if you don’t can’t think of anything, then let’s just pray for each other and believe that God’s going to open doors for us that we can’t open ourselves and take his places that we can’t even imagine he’d take us right now. Amen. All right, let’s pray together. Father, we thank you.
David [01:18:40]:
For all that.
David [01:18:42]:
You’Ve done for us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Christ and Jesus. We thank you for going in our place and on our behalf and giving us authority and power to be all you’ve created us to be. And so in the name of Jesus, right now we stand in that place of authority and power. And in Jesus name, I command every sickness, every disease, every spirit of lack, restraint, anxiety. I command you, in Jesus name, be gone. Out of all those who are watching the live stream or all those who are in the room tonight. Be free in Jesus name now.
David [01:19:30]:
Father, we thank you for it and we give you glory for it and we praise you and I’m telling you right now, wherever you are right now, just start rejoicing and thanking God for his answers and that he’s meeting all your needs and we praise you for it in Jesus name. Amen. So be it. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Well, thanks for being with us tonight. And I’m still. Oh, okay, we’re gonna sign off here live stream.
David [01:20:05]:
So whoever you are, wherever you are, we love you. Thank you for being here with us. We’ll be back next Wednesday, same time, same place. So we look forward and invite somebody to come along. If you know someone here in Franklin area, let them know about us. And we look forward to seeing you soon. Love you guys.
