David [00:00:00]:
Everyone, we’re glad you’re here with us tonight. We want to welcome all of our friends that are on the live stream with us tonight. We’re glad you’re here tonight. And we’ve got Brother Kevin Williams is going to be leading worship tonight, and Brother Kit Pritchard. And we got people from all over the place. Kit and Heather come to Nashville a lot, but they actually live in Odessa or Midland or somewhere out there in West Texas. And, um, but glad to have them here with us. And for the last 3 days, we’ve been doing an event we call Gatekeepers, where we’ve got about 16 people that come together that are— have a heart for God, for ministry, and for making the marketplace a place where we can go out and win people to the Lord and see God’s kingdom come.
David [00:00:55]:
And help fund the kingdom through what we’re doing out through the marketplace as well as through our ministries and supporting one another and all that. So man, we’ve had a great 3 days, and so we all get to be here tonight to kind of be together and wrap it up. And so again, we’re glad you’re here with us. Brother Kevin, it’s all yours. I’m glad to be here.
Kevin Williams [00:01:18]:
Uh, thank you, and thank you. Remain seated. This is awesome. And the Wrights have been friends of ours for 6 years now or 7 years, something like that. And it just feels like we’ve known them all our life and just met this wonderful family tonight. So this is great. And yeah, but you all do feel like family to me. And the past 3 days has felt like a family gathering of sorts, you know? So I wanted to sing this and you sing it with me.
Kevin Williams [00:01:45]:
I want to hear you sing loud. I’m so glad I’m a part of the family. Family of God. I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by his love, joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod. For I’m part of the family, the family of God. Now here’s what I want everybody to do. I want you to stand up, get your lungs full of breath here, because we are made to sing. God created us to sing his praises, and if we don’t, he says the rocks are going to do it.
Kevin Williams [00:02:28]:
So it’s going to happen one way or the other. So sing loud with me, and you might even shake a hand or two. That’s what we do at my church, and welcome somebody and tell them you’re glad to see them as a part of the family. And we’ll sing: I’m so glad I’m a part of the family. Of God. That’s good. I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by his blood, joined heirs with Jesus as we travel this song. For I’m part of the family, the family of God.
Kevin Williams [00:03:10]:
That sounds Good. All right, let’s do a little fun one, boys. This is where we really show off the band. Come on, let’s get a little groove going right there. Sing with me. And what a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on everlasting arms, a blessing What a peace is my leaning on everlasting arms, leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms, leaning, leaning. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Sing with me.
Kevin Williams [00:04:16]:
Well, what have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arms, I have peace with my Lord so near. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Here we go.
David [00:05:01]:
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarm.
Kevin Williams [00:05:01]:
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arm. Sing that last line. Leaning on the everlasting arm. I heard you singing and y’all sound good. Y’all ought to buy a big bus and hit the road. You can be seated. Let’s do another one, boys. Let’s, uh, let’s worship a little bit here, and I’m going to get in D flat.
David [00:05:29]:
You want to do this?
Kevin Williams [00:05:29]:
Uh, buddy of mine, Jaron Davis, wrote this song. It’s been years ago now, and He wrote it for a church homecoming that they were going to have, and they were, as I understand the story, they got some property and they were gonna— they had a vision for a church building. You know how that works, right? So you’re gonna build it, and this song was written out of that experience, and they sang it that morning. When I walked through the door, I sensed his presence. And I knew that this was the place where love abounds. For this is a temple. Jehovah God abides here. Yes, we are standing in His presence on holy ground.
Kevin Williams [00:06:27]:
I’d love for you to sing with me. We are standing on holy ground, and I know that there are angels all around. Let us praise Jesus now. We are standing in his presence on holy ground. In his presence there is joy beyond measure. At his feet, peace of mind can still be found. If you have a need, I know he has the answer. Just reach out and claim it, for you are standing on holy ground.
Kevin Williams [00:08:01]:
You believe that tonight? We are standing— let me hear you— on holy ground. And I know that there are angels all around. Let us praise Jesus now for the ending His presence on holy ground. And yours on holy ground.
David [00:09:16]:
Thank you, Lord.
Kit Pritchard [00:09:29]:
This is fun. This is good. We have had Such a time, such a time this week, and we’re grateful, grateful. And one of the things that we talked about this week is planting seed. And when we come together, we are planting seeds in ourself. We’re getting in the presence of God so that he can impart to us whatever it is that he has for us that day. We are standing on holy ground. We’re opening up our arms.
Kit Pritchard [00:10:01]:
We as we open up our hearts to be able to receive what it is that he has for us. So I love that you all are planting seed in us with your time today. We think a lot about provision, and we think about money, and money is absolutely provision, and you gotta have it. One of the guys that we like to listen to says, you know, oxygen is not the most important— I mean, money’s not the most important thing, but it’s reasonably close to oxygen on the gotta-have-it scale. But really, on the gotta-have-it scale, this relationship that we have going on here is of vital importance. And so we thank you for sowing your time, your energy, your love by being here into us. And so this is an offering time that if you would like to give and sow your seed, we are hopeful that we are not just standing on holy ground but it’s also fertile holy ground. And that is what we’ve been cultivating all week long, is we’ve been preparing the land.
Kit Pritchard [00:11:05]:
And so when you sow into Emerge, we make sure that we are fertile holy ground and we give it right back out in many, many different ways. So you can go online to emergeinternationalchurch.org and there’s ways to give there if you’d like. This is the time in the service when you actually can get out your phone and text to give. Nobody’s gonna get upset. About it. And we just want to thank you again for being here. Thank you. Get to hear myself twice.
Kit Pritchard [00:11:37]:
Thank you, Kevin.
Kevin Williams [00:11:45]:
I love you, Lord, for your mercy never fails me. All my days have been held in your hands. From the moment that I wake up till I lay my head, I will sing of the goodness of God. Sing this chorus with us. I came in here to rehearse this song this afternoon and I started bawling like a baby. And anybody knows me knows I kind of do that anyway. I’m an emotional guy, you know, which they told me the women would like, and nobody seemed to care for it. Except one.
Kevin Williams [00:13:16]:
And in August, we’ll be married 30 years. And, uh, I’m thankful for God’s goodness in all those good times. I’m thankful for his goodness in the bad times. And I look at every face in here, and I know you’ve had some bad times, right? And the one thing I’ve learned, and I’ve probably learned this the most in the last 120 days, is that in my good times and my bad times, he was always there. He’s beside you through everything you go through. Whether you look at him, whether you see him, whether you acknowledge him, he’s there. He’s that kind of thing. Ooh, I’m a mess.
Kevin Williams [00:14:09]:
And I love to hear him. I love to experience him, and I love to sing about him. The second verse says, I love your voice. You have led me through the fire in darkness tonight. You are close like no one. I’ve known you as a father. I’ve known you as a friend.
David [00:14:39]:
And I have seen the goodness of God.
Kevin Williams [00:14:45]:
Have you lived in his goodness? Sing to him. All my life you have been faithful. All my life you have been so, so good. Every breath that I can make, I will sing of the goodness of God. Let’s sing the chorus one more time. All my life you have been— Yes, you have, Lord. All my life you have been so, so good. Every breath that I am yet, I will sing of the goodness of God.
Kevin Williams [00:15:48]:
Yes, sing that last Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. Thank you.
David [00:16:00]:
Thank you, Jesus.
Kit Pritchard [00:16:10]:
Let’s have a quick moment of prayer. Father, thank you. Thank you that you have brought us here. And Lord, we thank you for the seeds sown. We thank you, Father, that we are sowing seed into your plans today. Lord, we thank you for allowing us to be a part of your plans. And we thank you, Lord, that your plans are far better than anything we could ever come up with on our own. Lord, I just ask you to bless all the tithes and all the offerings today.
Kit Pritchard [00:16:38]:
I ask you to bless everyone who’s contributed this week to everything that’s going on in your kingdom. I thank you for all the ambassadors of the kingdom that you have brought here together in one accord. We love you, Lord. We praise you. We thank you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David [00:17:00]:
Amen. Praise God. This is the fourth Wednesday night service we’ve had Praise God. And Connie and I were praying this afternoon and, um, asking God about moving forward, and, and the Lord said to both of us, uh, He said, keep doing what you’re doing. So we’re going to keep meeting on Wednesday nights, and right now we’re going to keep meeting right here. But I wanted everybody to know we’re looking for that place where we can have things set up and I don’t have to tear my keyboard down. I understand this, but I know God— God’s told us, and he’s shown me We were up at, uh, this is Pastor James and Terry Logan. They’re from Ohio.
David [00:18:08]:
They, they’ve got a church there just north of Cincinnati, Mason, and great place. And Connie and I’ve been friends with them for a while now. They’re like family. And but we were up there a couple years ago, I believe it was. And, um, you know, God has a sense of humor. Um, I got up to go to the bathroom. They had us sitting on the front row because— so I’m trying to sneak out. Pastor James was up sharing something, and I was trying to sneak out and get to the bathroom.
David [00:18:53]:
And as I went to the bathroom, guys, God showed me a place. There was a gentleman there showing me. He goes, well, here’s all the chairs, everything’s set up for you. You got a PA system, you got everything you need. And God said, trust me, I’ve got a place. So we know God’s already got a place prepared for us. But one of the things we’ve been talking about this week, along with casting vision, is inviting those who have linked arms with you, who are walking with you, to believe with you for what’s coming and to share that. And so I’m just— I’m sharing it today with all of our friends on our live stream, everyone who’s here.
David [00:19:45]:
We know God’s got a place, and we’re believing that as we continue to sow seeds and trust Him, He’s going to lead us to that place, and it’s a place people— one of the things the Lord said to Connie as we were praying over this today was there are people here who’ve been looking for a place like this, and they haven’t found it, and He’s going to pray. So, and you already start. I know it, it, it was, uh, I won’t tell a story on you, Heather. So we met, uh, began Heather and Branson at Brother Moore’s church there, and when we got back, we all went out to dinner for the first time to get to know them. And Heather was just sharing, yeah, we pulled up in the parking lot and saw your tag, and BJ said, look, you know, Williamson County, that’s close to us. And, um, she goes, so we were excited you guys were here and just hoping you’re starting a church. It was like, well, why do you say that? Look what the Lord has done. And so we’re excited about what God’s doing and how he’s moving all of us forward.
David [00:21:05]:
Amen. I know God has just spoken this to me, confirmed it to me. There’s revival coming in Williamson County. Yeah. And so we’re praying and declaring that. Connie, a couple times Connie and I have driven the whole county. Williamson County is a big county. And we drove it a couple times just praying over it.
David [00:21:33]:
Praying and declaring over. We know God is pouring himself out, and so we’re excited about that and what God is doing, where we’re going. So tonight we’re going to look at the mindset of multiplication. We’ve been God gave me this a couple weeks ago, and, um, I told Brother Kevin that I love that song he started with, Family of God, because we’ve been sharing out of, uh, John chapter 1, verse 12, that says Christ came to give us the power to be children of God. And we’ve gone deep into that. I’ll just encourage you to go back and listen to those. Those are on our YouTube channel there. You can find them there.
David [00:22:41]:
But being a member of the, um, the family of God Wow, there’s— that is so deep and so powerful. And so tonight God gave me this, and, and it’s something I want to just introduce to you, but God really was speaking to me about. Here’s the way I think. And I want you to think like me. You’re made in my image and likeness, so think like me. And so we see this if we go back to Genesis, the first chapter, Genesis 1, and we’re going to start with verse 11 and 12. There it says, then God said You know what, when you start reading, you, you see ‘then God said’ a whole lot in the Bible. Then God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit trees that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself on the earth.
David [00:24:04]:
And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass and herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Why do you think seed’s important? Why do we sow seeds?
Kevin Williams [00:24:31]:
Growth.
David [00:24:33]:
That’s right, that’s right. It’s growth. I shared this, I think, maybe last week, but I’ll share it again for all those who weren’t here. My uncle had a huge farm in the panhandle of North Florida. He was just south of the Alabama state line and about 50 miles north of Panama City. So he was in the middle of nowhere, nowhere. If you go there today, it’s still the middle of nowhere, nowhere. They haven’t changed it at all.
David [00:25:10]:
But he had a large farm there. And here’s one of the things I learned. One of the crops he grew for market was corn. Do you know if you take one tiny kernel of corn and plant it, you’re going to get a corn stalk that’s about this tall? On average, it’ll have one ear of corn on it, sometimes two. But on that one ear of corn, that tiny kernel of corn that we planted will produce between 800 and 1,200 kernels of corn on that one corn cob. That’s way beyond 100-fold. So that’s the way God thinks. God’s got a multiplication.
David [00:25:59]:
And so Seed is a part of God’s process, a part of what he does. I’ve seen this in so many ways, and I don’t want to get ahead of myself, so I’m not going to say all that’s in my head right now. Let’s look at Genesis 1:20 and 21. Then God said, let the waters abound with abundance. We’ve been talking about this all week, right? Abound with abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens. So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves with which the waters abounded according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Think about that.
David [00:27:05]:
This is God’s heart. Not only is he creating seeds that produce abundantly, the waters abounded with abundance. I’ve heard some, uh, scientists say there are creatures in the ocean that we still haven’t found. We know they’re there, we just haven’t found them, been able to study them. Every living thing that moves, every winged bird according to its kind. He filled the seas, he filled the earth with creatures of every kind. He hadn’t gotten to us yet. He’s doing all of this for us.
David [00:28:04]:
Genesis 1:24-25. And God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind— cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth, each according to its kind. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to its kind, the cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So here we are again. We’re still in the first chapter of Genesis. Here we are again, and God is filling the earth with every living creature.
David [00:28:46]:
Cattle, the creeping things, beasts of the field, or on the earth, and on and on and on and on. And then I love this, it comes down to Genesis 1:26. Then God said, let us— Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion. And that word dominion means to rule with power and authority. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. We, we’re— we got dominion over the creepy stuff too. So God created man in his own image.
David [00:29:36]:
In the image of God he created him, male and female. Male, he created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Now I want to dive into this just a little bit here. It says, and God blessed them. That is the Hebrew word barak, and barak means this: to be empowered with divine favor, to advance, to make progress, to succeed, and to profit. That’s what he spoke over Adam and Eve. And here, here’s something we don’t think about: when he spoke it over Adam and Eve, he spoke it over all mankind, because seed— the seed wasn’t only in the fruit.
David [00:30:42]:
The seed to multiply themselves was within them. The seed for, for every generation was right there. And so God is speaking that over us too. That’s a blessing God declared for all mankind, for all time. If we follow him, we are empowered with divine favor to advance, to make progress, to succeed, and to profit, to grow and bear fruit in every area of life. To be prospered by God signifies receiving God’s enabling power to prosper spiritually, physically, mentally, relationally, financially, all of it. It’s being filled by God with his goodness. And we’ve been studying this.
David [00:31:43]:
Part of my Sunday messages have been on the goodness of God, and that word goodness in the Hebrew there means the glory of God. All God is. Yeah, he’s crowned us with— we are filled life-extending productive energy. You know, my dad, uh, we’ve got— where’s, where’s, uh— oh, there you are, Dan. I couldn’t see you. But my dad used to tell me all the time, he goes, ignore age. That number is just a number. It doesn’t mean squat.
David [00:32:33]:
And sleep well, eat well, and take care of your body. The house you live in, you need to take care of this too, and you can live long. Dan’s got a quote. That’s why I wanted to see where you were, Dan. Dan works with people who are looking for purpose in their lives because they’re starting to enter their 50s, 60s, and 70s. And I love what Dan tells them. Be bold, don’t be old. That’s just a mindset.
David [00:33:14]:
Yeah, we bought into the mindset. Let me share this with you. You know, we all say we got— we’re working toward retirement. One of the things Stan did, he owned a company that helped people, um, create investments that would sustain them through retirement and and then bless your children also. And Life Plan Financial was your company. Dan sold that a few years ago, built it up and sold it. But here’s the thing, guys. God never said anything about retirement.
David [00:33:56]:
So how did— where did retirement come from? It started in Europe after World War II. And there was a gentleman who was working in politics, and he realized all his, quote, competition politically were in their 60s. So he got this grand idea. Why don’t we come up with this law that says when you reach 65, you don’t work anymore, you retire, enjoy life. And it took him a year, but he sold that to his country and they put it into place. And everyone that opposed him politically was no longer in politics. They were retired. And he went on to achieve— well, then some of the other countries kind of started listening to the rhetoric and they bought into it too.
David [00:34:54]:
So now half of Europe’s retiring people. Well, some American went over there and went, oh, that sounds like a good idea. And they brought it back and eventually convinced our political system to do the same thing. So in the ’50s, I think it was early ’50s, retirement came in to be paid. It was never here in America. In fact, it hadn’t been in the world at large till after World War II and this guy did that. What’s my point? God wants to bless us. I love a gentleman that I’ve done some work with, and he’s been a mentor to my mentor and to me, but his name is Bob Beale, and Bob wrote a book called, huh, Decade by Decade.
David [00:35:50]:
And he talks about each decade of life, your 20s, your 30s, your 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and what they found that happens. Do you realize, and we see this in scripture, I’ll share it with you here in a moment, you realize that your 50s, 60s, and 70s should be the most productive time of your life? Yeah, you have more You have more experience, more influence, more knowledge than ever before. Exactly. So why would you go somewhere and sit down? You know what they did in the temple? You served from your 20s to your 50s. When you turned 50, you didn’t stop working, but what you started doing was pouring into the 20-year-olds. The Levites served— the first 10 years of their service was being mentored by those who had done it for 30 years or more. And that’s where the whole idea of what we eventually came to was we didn’t— we learned a trade or what we wanted to do by working alongside someone someone who would train us and mentor us. And we lost that.
David [00:37:17]:
And Dan knows that God called him to come back and empower people to stand up and be who God called them to be and go share it to the people he calls them to share it to. And that’s a part of what I shared a week or two ago. About we have an intergenerational impact. That’s a part of what we feel called to, is not just impacting one segment of society, is I want to impact them all. We want to put things into place that from the time they’re born and they’re toddlers up ’til they go to be with the Lord. We’re pouring into them in some way and empowering them to go pour into others. My mother’s 89. I was just talking to her this— a few days ago.
David [00:38:21]:
My mother’s 89. She’s still up early, blowing and going. Still drive. She went and took her driver’s test again and they went, you’re still driving? Yeah. I’ll say, Mom, how you doing? I’m doing great. What are you up to? Oh, some of the old people upstairs need help, so I’m gonna go up and help them today. I went, just keep that mindset, Mom. And she tells me everything.
David [00:38:50]:
You know, for my 100th birthday, what I’d like you to do is, I said, let’s do it. Come on. But guys, God said in Genesis 6:3, if we take care of ourselves, he said the time of man on earth will be 120 years. I don’t know how I got off on all this. None of it’s in my notes, so, but it’s for somebody here tonight. But my point is this: God is the God of multiplication and blessing. And what that word Barak means is divine and prosper. That’s one of the definitions.
David [00:39:29]:
We’re empowered to prosper, increase, and excel, not just financially, in every dimension of life. Blessing is not just about receiving material gifts, right? It’s being endued with power to produce success and fruitfulness. That’s why the Lord said, if you study this, he said to Adam and Eve, be fruitful and multiply. The word subdue doesn’t mean to lord it over. It means to steward all the resources of the earth for man and for God. That’s what we’re to do, you know. BJ, what you guys are doing out there with the electrical— electricity— they’re stewarding a resource that God had here in the earth. So when I go home tonight, my house is going to be nice and warm, you know.
David [00:40:35]:
My hot water heater is going to work because Middle Tennessee Electric is powering that thing, and I’m going to have hot water coming out of the wall in the morning. Now, that may sound— oh, David, come on. No, that’s a blessing of God. We’ve been empowered to do this. Fruitfulness and multiplication. The word blessed in its first usage in Genesis 1:22 is linked to the command, and God spoke it over all the earth: be fruitful and multiply. That was a part of the blessing. It imparts the capability to grow and reproduce.
David [00:41:20]:
We all have the power within us to grow and reproduce. That’s not just talking about children. That’s a part of it, is our children, our families, but it’s about every area of life he’s called us into. The other meaning is this: blessing is total well-being. I shared with you guys a few weeks ago, if you go on down there in the first chapter of John at verse 16, it says he gives us the fullness of God. That’s our right as believers, to have fullness of God, lacking nothing, nothing missing. It’s a state of wholeness in relationships, in health, in spirit, mind, all of it, all of life. Then it also means covenantal protection.
David [00:42:29]:
Blessing represents the bestowal of God’s grace that overcomes the curse or lack, and it acts as a shield of favor all around us and over us. He wraps us in his favor as with a shield. Now, like I said a moment ago, again, this word is linked to the command to be fruitful and multiply. And that’s what God said to Adam and Eve: be fruitful and multiply. The word fruitful means to be productive, to produce something. Now take what you produce and multiply it. What we see here is God is always filling to the full and then providing more. What’d I do? Was it last week or the week before? I did the fill to the brim.
David [00:43:24]:
You guys remember that? And I kind of tried to help me, but I missed the can she put there. Thank God it was water. God is always filling to the full. Filling to the full with God, his fullness means to the brim till it overflows. There is no space in there left. God is always thinking fruitfulness and multiplication, productivity, increase, and abundance. That’s who he is, and he’s given that to us. He’s placed that within us.
David [00:44:04]:
After the flood in Genesis chapter 9, Noah and his family come out of the ark, and guess what God said to them? And it says, and God blessed them and said, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The same word he gave to Adam and Eve. That’s the word that’s still true for us today. We may be doing it in different ways, but that’s still God’s heart for us today. Fruitfulness fuels multiplication. And God is a God of multiplication. And guys, as we’ve been talking about in Gatekeepers this week, our God is a big thinker. And guess what? God is looking for big thinkers.
David [00:44:56]:
He desires for us to think big, to see beyond what is to what can be. When God came to Abraham, he found someone who would go with him where he wanted to go, who would think big with him. And here’s what he did. I always get blown away reading this because when God first starts talking to Abraham, Abraham’s 75 years old, which meant Sarah was 65, I think. And he’s still trying to hide her from people because at 65 she looks so good, all the kings wanted her. I said, man, that God blessed you. But he gave Abraham 3 object lessons. The first one was Genesis 15:4 and 5.
David [00:45:50]:
It said, and behold, the word of the Lord came to him saying, this one shall not be your heir. He was looking— he had asked God, I don’t have an heir. If you’re going to do this, how am I going to do this? I don’t have an heir. Is it going to be my servant who served me all these years? And God came back and says, this one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir. The seed I put in you is going to produce your heir. Then he brought him outside and said, now Abraham, look, look up here, look toward the heaven. Can you count all the stars? I mean, if you’re able to number them. And he said to him, so shall your descendants be.
David [00:46:41]:
Guess what? Every night when Abraham looked up, he wasn’t just seeing stars, he was seeing a multitude. And he’s going, God said That’s where my descendants are going to be, like the stars. God was teaching Abraham, don’t look at what is, but focus on what will be. And I’m telling you what will be. This created an expectation in Abraham. And real quick, Paul said these three— faith, hope, love— they work together. Hope is active expectation. It’s not sitting around wishing and waiting.
David [00:47:42]:
Well, I hope God does this. No, that’s not hope. Hope is, I don’t know how, I don’t know when, I don’t know where, but I know God is going to get to this, and I get up every day looking for it, expecting it. So this built hope in Abraham. Second lesson he gave Abraham, Genesis 17, verse 2: And I will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly. So now he’s not just showing him something to look at, he’s speaking words to him. And then in going on down in that chapter, Genesis 17:5-6, no longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
David [00:48:42]:
God, he doesn’t have any kids yet. How have you made him a father of many nations? God said, it’s done, it’s done, it’s already done. I’ve made you a father of many nations. I make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. Why did he change his name? Because this lesson was about hearing and saying. He heard the word from the Lord. Now every time someone called his name, he heard Father of Nations. Every time he told someone his name, he was saying Father of Nations.
David [00:49:30]:
Third lesson was this, Genesis 22:17-18. And the Lord said, blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. So when did he say this to him? He said this to him when he and Isaac went to do a sacrifice on the mountain, and he laid Isaac on the altar and said, okay, Lord, I’ll give him to you. You’ve asked me to give my son to you. And he raised the knife, and the angel of the The Lord said, stop, don’t go any further. And he looked, and there was a ram in the thicket.
David [00:50:32]:
Now, this is me. Can’t you see?
Kevin Williams [00:50:37]:
I was going, oh, thank you, Lord.
David [00:50:40]:
I’m glad that angel was there. But imagine what Isaac took away from this. But now here’s the thing. Every time he saw Isaac, now every time he looked at him, the Lord said, in your seed— let’s look at that— your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Now every time Isaac was his seed, every time he looked at him, he said Okay, it’s not all going to come through me, but it’s going to come through him too. And all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Wow, wow. Because you obeyed my voice.
David [00:51:35]:
Like Abraham— I’m gonna cut to the chase here— so like Abraham, God wants us to think in terms of multiple multiplication. He wants us to have a mindset of multiplication, and to do that you must change what you were seeing, hearing, and saying. What God did for Abraham there— he changed what he was seeing: stars of the sky, the sand on the seashore. Hearing— God spoke to him, and every time now somebody said Abraham Father of nations, father of nations. And now, because of what happened with Isaac— hey, that’s my son Isaac, all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed through him. Don’t you know he went home and told Sarah, guess what, God shook me. And by that time, Sarah had learned, because Abraham was 99 And then, or close to 100, and that which means at 89 years old Sarah gave birth. I look at my mom now and go, oh, I don’t know how she did that.
David [00:52:54]:
89 years old, but God strengthened her, blessed her, and boom. Yes. We were talking about this yesterday and today, but don’t— Kevin, uh, Williams here did a talk yesterday about Frozen No More. Great talk. But it talked about don’t let your fear keep you from what God has for you. Don’t let your thinking— why do we need to renew our mind every day? Part of what God was doing was helping Abraham renew his mind every day so he stayed focused on what was coming. We need to see things, hear things, and say things every day that encourages our dreams to multiply. Yeah, and Paul talked about it in Romans when he was talking about Abraham and God, and God calling things that be not as though they were, and Abraham believed them, so he said them.
David [00:54:04]:
It’s speaking to what God puts in your heart. If you want multiplication in your life, your relationships, your ministry, your business, you must put first into your mouth Multiplication. You put it in your eyes, your ears, and your mouth. Yes. Do you want new and better results in your life? Change what you see, hear, and say. Now, we hear a lot about vision boards and things like that, and I like them, I believe in them, but I want it for the right reason. I want the vision board God wants me to have. And so Connie and I have some things up on a wall in the office, and we pray over it and lay hands on it, and things God said to us.
David [00:55:02]:
I remember Pastor James and Terri’s church, you guys had one up on the wall there when you come to the door. And last time we were there, they had checked something. What was that you had checked off? What happened? Do you remember? 6 out of the 12 had been manifested. There you go. It’s Habakkuk 2. Write the vision, make it plain, so those who see it can run with it. But he said, wait on, it’s coming. Yeah, just called you to— Abraham didn’t see it.
David [00:55:39]:
But he came. Yes, because he kept believing and trusting God. Let me share something with you. Who likes math? Anybody in here like math? You do?
Kit Pritchard [00:55:59]:
Go, girl! I bet they could get our algebra equation.
David [00:56:04]:
Yeah. Let me share God’s, God’s math system. As a child of God, we need to learn God’s math system. So here it goes. You plus you equals zero. You plus God equals mega multitudes, unlimited possibilities. God multiplies any equation he becomes a part of. Seeing what God wants you to see, hearing what God wants you to hear, and saying what God wants you to say puts God in the equation of your life.
David [00:56:47]:
That’s when we have stories to tell. I remember when God was dealing with us or talking to us. We weren’t in trouble, so he wasn’t dealing with us. He was talking to us. And I remember this. Connie had been under— but she walks in one day, and I was sitting at my desk working. She walks in and looks at me and goes, all right, I told God if he wants us in Tennessee, we’re going to be there by my birthday, and we’re selling this house without putting it on the market. We’re in the crux of COVID Was real estate easy in COVID, Heather? It had certain challenges.
David [00:57:40]:
And I went, okay. She said that the end of 2020. Guess what, guys? 4 or 5 weeks later, I got a text message. Let’s do this, I got the money, I want the house. We never put it on the market. In fact, Connie just made a passing statement to somebody as a joke. Yeah, we’re moving if you want a house. I do want that house, I love that house.
David [00:58:18]:
She was like, okay. They said, give me 2 or 3 days. Boom, January 17th, it’s done. Let’s do this. I’m going, oh my gosh. And I don’t know if you remember this in 2021, but we had what they called that year Snowmageddon. And it snowed from Texas all the way to Ohio. 5 states covered in snow.
David [00:58:49]:
And Connie and I, we got a pod to pack everything in a pod because we didn’t know where we were going to live yet. We didn’t even have a place here in Franklin yet. And we packed the pod, and I told them, I’ll let you know where to deliver it when we figure it out. And we drove from Texas to Ohio because our oldest daughter was having their third child, who just turned 5 years old, you know, but to go up and help her. And it was, I mean, it was a beautiful drive. The interstates were fine. It was a gorgeous drive. And we got up there, and our two of our other daughters were with us, so Condi was online looking.
David [00:59:38]:
She said, we need to go to Franklin and look. I said, yeah, you’re right. So we told, uh, our other two daughters, Karina and Laurel, we’re going to Franklin to look for a place to live. You guys are going to stay here and help Jesse with the baby. And they were like, oh, okay, because that meant they had to take care of the the 2-year-old, the 4-year-old. So anyway, but we came and we found a place. Praise God. Kevin told me, you guys remind me of Abraham.
David [01:00:18]:
It’s kind of like you’re going to a place you don’t know where. And, and Kevin had said that to us We find a place and we go back, and our daughter Jesse comes out one morning. She says, you know, last night I was praying for you guys. You know what I got? I said, what? This is like Abraham when God called him out of his homeland and said, I’m taking you to a place you know not of. And I went, pretty much. But look what God’s done, guys. God multiplies any equation he becomes a part of. Stanley Tam.
David [01:01:11]:
Stanley Tam founded a company in Lima, Ohio called United States Plastic Corporation. He had his lawyer draw up, draw up papers making God the senior partner in his business in 1940.
Kit Pritchard [01:01:27]:
We’re laughing at you because it says Stanky.
David [01:01:33]:
Okay, Stanky Tam, but no, it was Stanley. You didn’t catch that? Yeah, sorry about that, but, uh, it’s a swammin’, Lord. What’s Hebrew for stanky? Yeah, you don’t want to know. So the— found— he founded a company called United States Plastic Corporation, and he was working really hard and he was struggling. And so he was praying and felt like God said, make me your partner. So he made God his senior partner in his business, and his lawyer drew it up and made it legal. Tam committed 51% of the stock to a missions foundation he created. Then 15 years later, he did what they told him he couldn’t do.
David [01:02:40]:
15 years later, He had his attorneys work on it. He made God the owner of United States Plastic 100% in 1955. Results, the company has prospered. Today, they are in over 82 nations doing missions work. Stanley has passed, but US Plastic continues to operate today with God as a 100% owner. He created and passed it on, and they’ve continued and built the vision out bigger than Stanley imagined. That’s what God wants to do through you if we will just yield ourselves to him. Amen.
David [01:03:36]:
I’m not saying that if you own a business that you have to turn 100% over. God told him to do that. If God doesn’t tell you to do it, don’t do it that way. But what we do want to do, and one of our board members, what he does is he works with CEOs from big companies and entrepreneurs who have big companies, and he goes in and helps them put systems and processes in place to maximize what they’re doing so they scale, they multiply. And once they created that plan for multiplication and it’s working, he looks at them and goes, okay, so where are you going to give? How are you going to thank God for what he’s doing here? And I love what he says. I know several ministries, but that’s one of the ways God’s using him. But he says, what’s interesting, they go, yeah, we need, we need to give. He goes, they give and it explodes more.
David [01:04:47]:
They give and it scales more. And he said, he says, I’m just an old pig farmer from Oklahoma, but this is how God’s using me. God has a way. The act of providing first for what spiritually sustains you shows that you realize there is a source beyond human’s ability to create increase in every area of life. God truly is our source and supply, and if we will yield ourselves to him and pursue him— guys, I’ve seen it, I’ve seen it, I’ve seen it— will flow like a river. There have been times, even since we started Emerge, there’s been a few times where we sowed into things, and people we didn’t even know, or people we did know who we thought they would send us or say, here, we just deposited this in your account, and we’re like, where did they get that from? God wants to bless us. Tithing demonstrates that you believe your financial well-being is tied to your spiritual well-being. And so when you give the first 10% of your money away, you’re training your subconscious mind that you already have more than enough for everything else.
David [01:06:28]:
That’s right. Tithing becomes another weapon in the arsenal of expanding your mindset and coming against the enemy’s lies that tell you, oh, you better hold on to that, you ain’t got enough. God’s kingdom needs big thinkers. Paul Harvey said— I don’t know if anybody remembers Paul Harvey. Everybody, anybody know that name? Paul Harvey said, I’ve never seen any monuments erected for pessimists. Henry Ford said, a man can always do more than he thinks he can. So think big. I remember a story about him.
David [01:07:09]:
They had built the car out to 6 cylinders, and Henry was looking at it and meditating on it and thinking this, and he goes, well, if we had 8 cylinders, here’s what we could do. So he got his engineers working on it, and they worked on it for months and months and months, and They came back in there one day and sat down with him and said, here’s all the research we’ve done, here’s all the testing we’ve done, and here’s what we’ve come to, Henry. You can’t build an 8-cylinder engine. And he looked at them and said, yes you can. You just don’t know how to do it yet. Go figure out how to do it. And they looked at him and he said, go. Within the next 3 months, they figured it out, and we have 8-cylinder cars now.
David [01:08:07]:
God’s got a way, and he will show us the way. And we can’t think big. And guys who’ve been here this week in Gatekeepers, you’ve heard this several times. We can’t think big or talk about thinking big without referencing my favorite thinking big quote from the Apostle Paul. This is Ephesians 3:20 in the Amplified Classic: Now to him who by and in consequence of the action of his power that is at work within us, he is able to carry out his purpose and do superabundantly, far over and above all that we dare ask or think, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams. And if I had time, we could— we’ll do it another time— drill down into what those words mean. But the bigger you think, the more God will exceed your thinking, and he will go infinitely beyond. And we talked about that this week.
David [01:09:19]:
What’s infinitely mean? It means without end, eternally. So God’s saying, bring it, and I’ll tell you— remember Toy Story? What did Buzz Lightyear say? To infinity and beyond. God says, I will take it infinitely beyond. And I was thinking about that one day, and I was going, Lord, infinitely is without end. So you’re telling me you’re going to go beyond without end? And I came up with this phrase that I used to use with my daughter Jessie, our oldest. She loved Toy Story, and she would go, I love you, Dad, when I’m tucking her in at night. And I said, I love you too. She goes, I love you three.
David [01:10:11]:
I said, I love you four. She goes, I love you more. I said, I love you to infinity, Jesse. And she’d go, Daddy, I love you to infinity and beyond. And I would look at her and go, Jesse, I love you beyond beyond. And that’s where I got that from. And she would grin and go, oh, Daddy. Don’t tell her I told that story.
David [01:10:41]:
But guys, I just wanted— the Lord said to me this week, he has got so much he wants to bring forth this year. And if we will trust him and start thinking big, we’re going to be amazed at what God does. And that’s our Father’s heart. We could take a lot more time and go through scripture and see place after place after place where he did super abundantly, far over and above. He did it with Isaac in a year of famine. Isaac sowed and had a hundredfold on everything he sowed. Everybody around him was going, how are you doing this? We can’t— nothing’s growing for us. They got jealous of him.
David [01:11:36]:
God wants to flow through all of us. Wow. He wants heaven on earth. That was his original intention, was heaven on earth, and he still wants that. He wants to do to do it through us. Let’s bow our heads. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your heart.
David [01:12:05]:
Thank you to bless us and to use all that you’ve placed within us to bring increase and multiplication so that your kingdom comes. Here in the earth as it is in heaven, and your will is done. Thank you that as your children, as a part of your family, we partner with you to represent you here on the earth and grow and enlarge your family, Father, by inviting others to come and be a part and to experience your love, your life, and your light, Father. And so, Father, I just pray that you would pour into every person listening tonight your heart for them, your dream for them that you’ve planted in their heart, the expectation birthed in them, Father, that I may not know how, but I know God’s going to show me the way, and we’re going to go forward and make a difference wherever God places us. We’re going to make a difference, and we thank you for it, Father. We thank you for blessing us beyond measure, Father. We praise you for it. Jesus’ name, amen.
