About a guy that went up on top of a very high, high rise building and he jumped off. And on his way down he looked in each window and he waved and he said, I'm doing good so far. Some of y'all will get that in a minute. That's how I feel a lot of times. Amen. I've been through the school of hard knocks. Amen. And sometimes we do good so far, but when we hit bottom, boy, we know we've hit bottom. Amen. It's a blessing to be saved, to be a child of God, to be a part of the Church of the Living God. What a blessing to be a part, just to have that part. Amen. And to be able to say that God's your Father, Jesus Christ is your Savior. Just to be able to say that, and I love saying, Jesus Christ is my Savior. Whoo! Lord, have mercy. What a blessing. Amen. Well, let's take our Bibles and turn to 1 Chronicles this morning. 1 Chronicles chapter number 4. I'm going to be beginning this morning a series of messages that I'm going to be doing concerning the church I love the local church. I love the local church. I am a local church man. Amen. And I love the fact that Jesus Christ is still to this day building His church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Amen, I am thankful to be a part of God's church, and I love especially that local church. I love the church, and the church in general is not this building, it's those of us that are saved worldwide, and part of us is already in heaven. Ooh, hallelujah. And the rest of us are gonna catch up in a while, amen. Well, I love the local church, and I realize as pastor of Mervyl Baptist Church, be celebrating next month, 14th year here, came in 2001, and be celebrating my 14th year here. And I realize as pastor of the church that sometimes we just have to, we have to pastor preach. I appreciate what I was able to do this past week over there at Brother Lee's. That was more of an evangelistic or preaching to encourage and edify the body of Christ. And I realize that there's all different manners of sermons, and I'm going to be dealing with this subject for the next few Sunday mornings. And I'm going to be dealing with a subject that a lot of people have a lot of different mixed emotions about, a lot of different feelings about it. But I want to take the Word of God and show you what the Word of God says about this subject. And we're going to be talking about church growth. We've just recently experienced some church growth. We've had some people join our church. And we're going to be looking at some elements of church growth. And we're going to look especially out of the book of Acts. We're going to look all through the book of Acts. Every time that I find in the book of Acts where the church grew or multiplied, I want to learn from what happened in that time setting that made the church grow. You look at that little church up there. That is the infancy church, the beginning of the church. I'm just using that as a model. That's not the church building over in Jerusalem where they began. I'm using that as a model. How did that beginning church Get to where we are today. What things were instilled in that church from the beginning on through the book of Acts and how did God prosper them? How did God increase them? How did God grow that church? And here we are today, still a part of the church. It's still thriving. It's still being nourished and it's still being grown by Jesus. How did we get to become a part? What did they have? What did they instill in their lives, in their church, in their local assembly? What elements were there that made that church increase? And we're going to look at some things this morning about that this morning. I want to begin in I Chronicles chapter number 4, and we're going to read a few verses of Scripture, and I already sense that I'm not going to be able just to read it and say nothing. I'm going to have to preach through it as I read it. So I want to go ahead and pray, and then we're going to begin the message this morning. Father, we love You. We thank You for loving us and being such a wonderful God to us. I bless Your precious name, Lord. I'm thankful, Lord, to be in this church this morning. I'm thankful to be with these people. Lord, what an honor, what a blessing, what a privilege it is to be a part, Lord, of this local assembly. And I thank You, Lord, for placing me here, for giving me the opportunity to serve You, Lord, here. Now, Lord, I pray and plead with You, Father, that, Lord, You'd make the message, Lord, real to every one of us, that You would please touch every one of us, Father, and do a work of grace, a work of God within every one of our hearts. Lord, if there is anyone here that's never been saved, may today be the day of their increase, the day of their salvation. And, Lord, that they might turn their heart to Jesus Christ, I pray for every saint of God that you would stir us by the Holy Ghost of God, that, Lord, the Word of God would be glorified among us and have free course, and, God, that we would see great and mighty things accomplished in every one of our hearts. And we love you. I want to go ahead and say thank you, Father, for what you're going to do. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen and amen. Now I want you to look in I Chronicles chapter 4 with me. Normally I would have you just stand to honor the reading of God's Word, but I want to take this text as our beginning text just to set the platform for what we're going to be dealing with. And I want you to look in 1 Chronicles chapter number 4 in verse number 9 with me. If you've ever read through the book of, or the Bible, and you get to 1 Chronicles, you know that 1 Chronicles is basically a book of names. So and so begat so and so, and so and so begat so and so. And they're not names like Jeff and Tom and and Dick and Harry. I mean, they're those names where you come across them, you would to God that they'd named them some normal names, amen. But you come across 1 Chronicles and here hidden in 1 Chronicles chapter 4, right in the middle of all of these names, it said in verse 9, and Jabez was more honorable than his brethren. and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bear him with sorrow." Now, I looked up that word honorable, and I wanted to understand what the Lord was implying when He said that Jabez was more honorable than his brethren. And that word honorable means holding a distinguished rank. or possessing a high mind. It means to regard with esteem, to be honest without hypocrisy or deceit. Can I get a witness from the church this morning that God has given the church a distinguishing rank in life. He has given the church a very high value, and he's told us that our mind should be as the mind of Jesus Christ. Can I get a witness right there? In other words, I believe that the church should be a Jabez, that we should be honorable, that the church should hold forth the things of God, that the church should recognize that God, this is not some two by four outfit when we belong to a church. We're belonging to the church, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God this morning that He put me in back in 1982. Amen. So he said that Jabez was more honorable than all of his brethren, and his mother called his name Jabez, now watch it, saying, because I bore him with sorrow. I don't know what was surrounding this guy's life, I don't know what was involved in that family's life, but she saw fit to name this little child Jabez, and his name means born with sorrow. I don't know what was happening in that family that caused her to do that, but I want to say this, that Jabez was born in some adverse life or adverse obstacles faced Jabez's life. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was not born with just everything handed to him on a platter. There was some sorrow in that family and Jabez was born with obstacles that could have caused him to say, well, I've got all these obstacles in front of me and I just never will be able to get out of this place. I never will be able to go beyond where I am now. But Jabez was not of that mindset. Jabez was not of that heart. I want you to look what Jabez did. And it said that Jabez called on the God of Israel. Hey, can I say this? That's a good thing. Can I get a witness right there? That we need to call on Him even more than we're calling on Him now. Today is a day when we need to be calling on God like we never have before. Amen. And it said, I mean, he was surrounded with obstacles. He was surrounded with things that would hinder him, but there was a source. Oh, I felt something on that. There was an avenue. There was something he could do about it. And he said that Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, oh, that thou wouldest bless. me in need. Can I get a witness from anybody in here that you like the blessings of God? That God is still a good God? That God is still in the blessing business? That God is still blessing His people? Amen. Amen. He's a wonderful God. Well, I'm going to have to preach my guts out this morning. Amen. And it said that he said, Oh God, that thou would bless me indeed. Can I stop right here and say this? That every one of us in this room are blessed indeed by the Lord. Amen. There's none of us that had to ride a donkey to church. We didn't come up here on a wagon cart. Amen. God has blessed us. Amen. We got food in our belly. We got a little bit of change in our pockets. And our God has saved us by grace. We didn't have to work for it. We didn't have to work it up. God saved us by grace. Amen. Hey, hey, I may not get through this thing. Amen. It said, Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed. Now watch what he asked God to do. And enlarge my coast. I got interested in that little word, enlarge. You know what Jabez was asking Him to do? I'm talking about, he's asking the God who created everything out of nothing. There was no molecules and protons and neutrons flying around and God assembled all that together. There was nothing but God. And God created it all. And He said, God, would you enlarge my coast? That means, would you increase my life? Would you multiply, would you grow my life? and that coast means border or limits or territory. Now you know what we like to do as people? We like to get in our little box. We like to get in our little box. And we like to stay in our little box. And we don't like change. We don't like anything to interfere with that box. We love staying in that little box. That box is comfortable. That box just suits us to a T. And all we want is that little box for our life. But Jabez was not of that mindset. He said, God, I want you to take the limits off of my life. I want you to take the boundaries off of my life. I want you to enlarge me. I want you to grow me. Lord, I realize there's more you want me to do. I realize there's more you want out of my life. Can I serve notice on Murrayville Baptist Church that God's wanting to do more in your life, through your life? Don't get in the box and get content with the box. Yeah, I'm gonna have to preach my gut out. I can see. Don't let me stay in the box. Enlarge my coast. Let me go to Africa. Let me go over the seas. Let me do something. And most of us are scared to death to pray this prayer of Jabez because we're afraid that God might answer it. We're afraid that God might say, hey, I like that kind of praying. And we like just to get down and say, God, give me, dear Lord, please give me money to pay my house payment. Give me money to pay my electric bill and give me money to have food, to be able to buy food in Jesus' name. And quickly we get out of there. Because if we know we go any further, that God, that God just might do something about it. If we go any further, God, increase my Sunday school. God, increase my youth ministry. God, increase my preaching. God, give me more hope. God, don't let me sit in a box, but enlarge my coast. Take the boundaries down. Lord, let me reach more. Let me touch more. God, let me do more in my life. But we get so satisfied with just that box. mentality. And Jabez called upon the God of Israel saying, Oh Lord, bless me indeed. And notice what he said, and enlarge my coast. And that hand might be with me. He didn't want to do it in his own efforts. He didn't want to do it. My shoe keeps coming untied. He didn't want to do it in his own efforts. He didn't want to do it with his own strength. He said in that vow, the hand would be with me. Everything, every move that he made, he wanted God's hands. He wanted God's blessings on it. I'm tired of man's efforts. I'm tired. I want to see God do something. I want to see God open up the windows of heaven. I want to see God do something great and mighty. I still believe that we serve a God. that's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. And I'm going to go ahead and confess it. I'm glad I've got the encouragement to preach this message this morning. I'm glad after 14 years, I've still got a heart to see God do more. Hallelujah. You say, why is that? Because churches, a lot of churches have become stagnant and stale and satisfied with my for and no more. And that is disheartening to the heart of Almighty God. That is disheartening and against what Jesus Christ died for. He died for the sins of the entire world. He died for my sins. He died for your sins. He died for your neighbor's sins. He died for Murrayville's sins. He died for the sins of the entire world. And He wants him to know that. Amen. He said that thou would enlarge my coast, that thine hand might be with me. I guarantee you when Akemi gets over to Africa, God's hand better be on me. Amen. Let me bring it home to us. I guarantee you when we go to work, God's hand better be upon us. I guarantee you when brother Stacey goes to work and he has to put that revolver on his side because he's a policeman, He knows this one thing, God, I need you. Can I go ahead and tell all of us this morning, it does not matter who you are or what you do, we need God's protecting hand of grace and mercy upon our lives. And he said that, thy hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. Oh, there's so much being offered to Christians today. There's so much sin being offered to people today. And especially the Christians are biding for it, are going for it. I don't know about you, but I want to finish and I want to finish it right. I want God's hand to stay upon me. I want God's blessings upon me. I don't want to go for the sin. I want to go for the Savior. I don't want to go for the lust. I want to go for the Lord. I want God to keep me from evil. And I realized this morning, had it not been God who was with me, head man, had it not been God keeping me, I would be lost. I would be out in the world. God, He's kept me this far. Amen. Amen. Look what Jabez prayed. And look what it said. And God granted him that which he requested. Now, I just had to preach my introduction so I could get to the crux of this matter on church growth. A lot of people look down on it today. A lot of people say, well, if you're growing, you've compromised. And we'll get to that in a minute. A lot of people say, well, if your church is growing, if people are getting saved, if people are joining the church, you must be doing something to compromise your stand. I've got one word for that. I don't know how you spell it, but that's my word for it. Amen. Amen. Do you know that there's a lot of preachers today that they've gotten in this mindset of just staying where they are? And there's churches that have gotten in this mindset of just staying where they are, that they become discouraged, and they become despondent and they're doubting the goodness and the grace and the greatness of God Almighty. Do you know that the law of increase is in everything we see? Did you know that when God created the heavens and the earth, He taught, whenever He created the cattle and the animals and the flying fowl, did you know that they were the first ones to hear the words, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth? Can I ask you something? Where does all these cows keep coming from that we eat on our table? Where does all these chickens come from that we get to partake of? I want to tell you, it's not Kroger, it's not Fidel, but it's God Almighty giving increase into the animal kingdom. Amen. Increases on everything. How many business owners we got in here this morning? You own a business. Amen. Y'all don't know it, but I pray for y'all's business. I pray that God give y'all, that God bless the businesses, owners of this church. Amen. I want to, I want to guarantee you one thing y'all are interested in the increase. I'm going to take time out to tie this shoe or I'm going to flip my leg and it's going to land in somebody's lap. Amen. I got Caleb to tie it for me earlier and it didn't work. I'm going to do what you said, Caleb. I'm going to put a knot in it this time. I won't ever be able to untie it. I'll have to cut the strings off of it. But can I get a witness from the church that God is interested in increase? Well, I got four or five of you on board so far. I've got to preach my gut out to get the rest of them. Can I get a witness from the church? Did you know that they tell us that this universe is ever expanding? that there's no limits to it. And they found out that it keeps just pushing out and pushing out and pushing. It keeps increasing. It keeps growing. The universe that our God inhabits, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Oh, hallelujah. Oh, hallelujah. I'm glad that God is interested in increase. I love it when God increases things in my life. And I know what people just thought, money. I love it when God increases my faith. Sometimes my faith gets mighty weak, and I'm so glad that the God of all faith will come by every once in a while and increase my faith, where I feel like preaching again, where I feel like praying again, where I feel like going to church again. Thank God for the increase of faith in my life. I'm glad when He increases my joy. I'm glad when He increases my hope. I'm glad when He increases my will. I'm glad when He increases everything in my life. God is interested in increase. May not get to my message this morning, but this is a series. And praise God I ain't going to preach all the series this morning. And I was over there Monday night at Brother Lee's and God gave me a new message on the dangers of going to sleep at church. Oh, I thought God was going to let me preach it this morning, but He told me to do this. In Luke chapter 14, the Lord gives a parable about a nobleman going out to receive a kingdom and coming again. And he calls ten servants together and he gives every one of them a pound. And he says, Occupy till I come. But Leon Carson last year at our camp meeting preached a message on occupy. And that's a military term. It means to stand your ground. It means to take ground and look for more. It means to occupy. It means don't let up. It means don't give up. It means stay with it. And he preached on Occupy Telecom. And that no man told his ten servants, Occupy Telecom. And he did return. And he called all ten servants back together, and he said, now give an account of your servanthood. And they began, and the first one said, Lord, thy pound has gained ten pounds. And he said, thou good and faithful servant, he said, enter into the joy of the Lord, have rule over ten cities. Then the second one came, and he said, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. He said, good, thou faithful servant, have rule over five cities. But there was the last one that came, and he said, Lord, here's your pound. I kept it laid up in a napkin because I knew you was a hard man. I knew you was an austere man. And Lord, here's thy pound. And he handed him back what he had originally gotten. And the Lord rebuked that servant. He said, why didn't you do something? Why didn't you give it to the bank so that I could have my own money back with usury? He said, you didn't gain a thing. Take it from him. Take what he did have away from him. I'm saying that God blessed those that were interested. in gaining. And I know some people say, well, preacher, you're preaching this morning on dangerous ground because you got a motive of just making a name for yourself. I'm through with John Dale. I'm through with what I'm interested in. I'm interested in what God's interested in. I'm interested in what Jesus is interested in. He's interested in saving people. Amen. Amen. Look with me in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 just a minute. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Lest you think me to be arrogant, rude, crude. You know what people said about me when I started Bible Baptist Church in Waycross, Georgia. I was six years old as a child of God. And people started handing me money. I had a man one time come up to me and hand me a check for $350. I didn't know what it was for. He said, God just told me to give you this money. I said, I thought to myself, well, this is coming in. Him telling me that God told him to give it to me. I better be careful with it. And so I folded it up and I saved it. And then somebody else a few weeks later came by and handed me a $100 bill and said, I don't know why, but God wanted me to give you this $100 bill. And before long, God started putting everything together. The next thing I know, we got a call to be able to rent a building, and I had enough money put back that God had given to go buy some foldy up chairs and enough wood to build a pulpit and some mourner's benches, and we started Bible Baptist Church. And I started preaching and trying to tell people about Jesus Christ. You know what people started saying about me? They said, He's in it for the money. If I was in it for the money, I'd still be at the railroad. I'd still be driving freight trains. I'm not in it for the money. I'm not in it for John Dale. I'm in it for the gospel sake. Jesus Christ wants to save people. Amen. Amen. Now look in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Yeah, there's my Bible. 1 Corinthians 9. I want you to look at this with me. This is from the heart of Paul. He said, verse 19, he said, "'For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all. Why, Paul, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law is under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. To them that are without law, as without law being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you." Merville Baptist Church called me 14 years ago to come up and be the pastor of this church. In 2004, always on any studies that I do, I always put the date up there. In 2004, I preached this message for the first time at Mervyl Baptist Church. We were in the little building, the old building. I'd been told the stories of how she got down to about 10, and Della Marlene and the Morris' said, let's just stay aground. I'd been told the stories of Marvel, their pains, and I said, God, I just want to be a part with them. And look where we're at today. Look where God has brought us to today. It's not by just being content with the box. It's by having a vision of God being God among us. I want to see God be God among us. I want to see the buses filled up with kids. I want to see children come to know the Lord. I want to see moms and dads get right with each other and get right with God. I want to see God bless Murrayville Baptist Church. There's a lot of preachers today that don't even have the encouragement to preach a message like I'm preaching. And my heart breaks for them. I got up this morning with this pounding in my heart and I got on my face and I said, God, thank you. Thank you, Lord, that you still got it in me. Thank you, Lord, that I've still got the faith that you're God. Thank you Lord that you still got faith built in me. The way I believe you're still interested in Murrayville Baptist. I could be like some of the others and just say there's no use. There's no use in the fight. There's no use in the struggle. But I believe God. But I believe God. But I believe God. I believe God. I'm gonna keep saying it, but I believe God. I believe God's able to give another song. I believe God's able to give another sermon. I believe God's able to give some more youth. I believe God is able to give, amen. In 2004, I preached this series of messages over in the little building. Little buildings set on block pillars, didn't even have a foundation. They had to go up under there and jack the floor up to hold it up. I remember the day that Warren Vickers and his family first walked in. She was so crowded, they had to come up and sit toward the front. I remember times we've had to ask the young people to come sit in the choir loft. To be able to make room for visitors. I told me and Brother Derek had a luncheon together this past week. And I said, Brother Derek, I said I would love to see it get to where we had to get all of our young people to go sit in that choir loft. Make room for people coming in. this building to hold about 300 people. And we've seen that meeting be so full that we had to open up the double doors and people were sitting down in the hallway looking in at what God was doing. Oh, there's nothing wrong with having a vision. Without a vision, the people will perish. Without us having a vision, a fresh vision of what God is able to do in 2015, We'll perish. Murrayville will perish. Your children will perish. Your family will perish. But thank God for a vision. Amen. That was on the pulpit before I ever got here. Little old band of people. Didn't have a pastor. Stayed together. Stayed with God. Why? Because he just believed those three. We believe God. You know why you're going to Africa? We don't have the same pulpit anymore. Had to get a shorter one for the short preacher. But we still got that in the hearts. Still got it beating down in our spirits. Still got it beating down in our hearts that God is still God Almighty. Is there anybody in this room that still believes God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think? Come with me before I say my last thing I want to say. Come with me to the book of I think it's Philippians chapter 1. We're not going to get into the book of Acts this morning. See that little church? Just began. Look, I noticed when I sent that to Brother Bobby this morning, I got to look at, look where it's sitting. There's nothing around it. And I can see God packing the little building out. There's no houses, there's no farmland, there's nothing around it, but I can see God interested in that little church. Look in Philippians chapter one. If I got the right verse. Verse 27, "...Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may be hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind." Here it is, striving together for the faith. of the gospel. Striving, that's effort, that's work. Together, that's unity. Together for the faith of the gospel. I was, God woke me up at 4.30 this morning. Got a little angry with Him about it. I was sleeping so good. Lord, that sleep was, I mean, it was on. God woke me up at 4.30. I tried to go in my den and just get back up under a little blanket. Debbie would have to build her nest each night. You men know how the wives do. Debbie would get over there and she'd get her little nest built and she'd get all covered up. All you could see was her eyeballs sticking out. I got that blanket and I tried to pull it over. The cat came over and she started pawing at me, acting like I was this mama or something, you know. I said, good grief. So I went up to the upper room. I was thinking about what God was wanting me to preach this morning. And I got up there and I got looking and I honestly, I had forgotten about it. But I looked at the date of these messages, 2004. And I said, well, I've already preached that here. And I remembered then preaching. And this is what I got to thinking. I'm 61 years old now. I don't know that I got another 10 years. But my last two years, I want to give it everything I got. I want to give it everything. Don't want to back up. Don't wanna let up. Don't wanna check out. Unless it's that way. However many years I got left. I just, being 61 and in the shape I am, I just cannot picture myself preaching at 71. I can see myself trying to get to the pulpit. Put my teeth falling out while I'm I mean, when you're 30, you don't think along them lines, but when you get in your 60s, you get to think about stuff like that. Derek don't even, he can't even comprehend this. I guarantee what I'm preaching right now for you, whoop, whoop, going right over his head. I don't want us to stay there. There's more to be done. More souls to be reached. More people to be saved. More saints of God that's just grown weary and cold in the churches that they are in. That's looking for a church that's still got hope and faith and God still comes and meets with them. Here's the invitation. Is any here among me this morning that come gather with me around these altars? And be a JBS. Sis, if you'll just come play something soft on this piano.