is bearing fruit in growing throughout the whole world just as it's

been doing among you since the day you first heard it that's roaring
at the word acoustic from an truly understood it meeting learned an
ongoing student you have to not just hear it but you have to
continually learn ongoing leak gods grace in fact elsewhere in the
scriptures in Psalm 107 it says let the redeemed of the Lord say so
and so we prepare just a little video of a life from our church here
called Christian assembly of where the Gospels bearing fruit and
growing in our little part of the world now these say-so stories these
are something new were to do throughout 2014 and the idea here is I
just want you to see the back story of the faces that you run into
every week and you come here and you're little bit other story I want
to let the redeemed of the Lord of the chance to say so and as you do
that is you see the stories over the next year or so what I want you to
see is I want you to see while God is at work among us and God
keeps working and a great diverse city of ways it is each story is
very different we take a look at God's work to reach an change a life
even right here at Sia I grew up with an alcoholic father because I
didn't have a dad pat ting me on the back thing you're very near
worthy I love you and among doing the same having a girl with a
woman that a girl like that stage of my life give herself to me really
gave a value supply my 18th birthday I was married my wife to be
was already pregnant and I had fathered a daughter in my junior
year of high school valve two years into my marriage my girlfriend
from high school had already been very furrier to have I gave my
daughter up for adoption by the time I was 21 or 22 I'm now going
through a very painful divorce as my wife is having an affair I lost
my two sons given my daughter for adoption my life was falling

apart when I was going to my divorce the thought was call your so I
called them they said come on out would love to talk to family set
out in their front yard one Groves and they opened up the Bible a
letter to Christ's face and the sinners prayer with me I just started
weeping me something happening something changed immediately
started attending church and I thought I just need to marry a believer
and all have a good marriage and so I met a gal in church and I
should not have married her because she was a believer I married
her she left me I started looking the mayor and say something wrong
with me not the women I'm marrying it the kind of husband I am so
I began real intentional journey of looking for biblical wisdom on
being a good husband so by the time I met can occur in the last life I
was already in process of the better part three years later we got
married at this February will celebrate our 18 Bursary and what I
think is Tom God's wonderful redemption and sense of humor is that
we now participate in leading some marriage classes here at CA can
about of it was about a week after Janet and I got married that I
actually got reunited my daughter Sharon it up in such a huge part of
my recognition of, God loves so I look at my life I just think God
you so I my name is Ralph Delgado and this is my say-so story stew
parts a video really love same reaction last night whenever he said I
decided I just made a believer and have a great merit every lasted
ever some reason I have a pop-up like lease will know ourselves
well read don't you love the fact that he gave his daughter up for
adoption and now than 20 something years later they got to be
reunited they have a great relationship today I love how God is at
work redeeming and changing lives even here among us will only
apply some of this to us first of we need to hear the gospel and

maybe you hear the gospel or you've heard it in and you have a
sense of God awakening in you and if that's you and you're ready to
commit your life to Christ you simply just pray this is not magic and
the prayer of the words you say it it's really the power of grace alone
to change us and if you're ready you can to say God I need grace
alone to change me would you rewire me from the inside take my
sin the corrosive effects of it and take it to the cross and give me
make me new and if you pray that prayer bank urge you to get
baptized in fact there's information there in your bulletin you need
to jump into one of the classes will be doing at the end of this month
come up a couple weeks and I will do the baptisms in early February
all the information is there to hear the gospel seconding is learned to
live the gospel people sometimes hear the gospel may think that's
the end of that but really hearing the gospel just the first step it's
then what Paul says learn to live in an ongoing way being ongoing
student that's why our change lives really come from into the
performance a Holick's among us I want you to hear today that you
have to do anything to earn God's love God is already done
something in his son Jesus Christ to show you his love for you Billy
questionnaires we receive them it's grace from the gospel to the
fearful and anxious maybe those evermore identify with Timothy
among us well want you to hear this morning's piece and thanks
from the gospel the guy can actually give you a peace that surpasses
understanding and your life can be marked by gratitude and
Thanksgiving as you learn to live from the Gospel and sometimes
people say to me that they will time I tried Christianity didn't work
and usually when I sit with those people what they're really saying is
I heard the gospel I prayed a prayer one time and that was the end of

it for me and it didn't work what I want you to hears that's you or
you have any friends like that I would say no you didn't really try it
on because it's not just hearing but as Paul says it's then learning it's
becoming a mistake case in the grief it's learning ongoing late how
to live from the all that is been awakened in you how to learn to live
from the whole that is been awakened in the so hear the gospel learn
to live from the Gospel and then lastly spread the gospel W to go
Matt spoke about Matt thank you did such an amazing job and he
had us write down names of family members or friends or
coworkers or someone that we would love those of us who are
followers of Christ that we would love to see come to Christ in 2014
and faxed you know here and there there there out to lobby out
various places you can see the names of people and and I encourage
you to just read a name or two and it'll say you know the one I read
less like the time my father another one said Rachal my daughter-inlaw and just read those names and then pray for them sans Branford
Tom somebodies father and am praying for Rick tell somebody's
daughter-in-law to come to know Christ in 2014 and really those up
so we can hold out before us are friends family love one coworkers
that are around us that neither lives to be change and we can do that
being hopeful because Paul writes the same good news that is come
to use going out all over the world it is bearing fruit everywhere by
changing lives just as it did in your life from the day you first heard
it and understood the truth about God's grace you see the gospel is
really about God's generosity remember Jesus said for God so loved
the world that he gave see For as he came to know Christ but it
didn't stop there he then went back to his hometown to his city and
he began to speak about the good news to his friends and coworkers

and family members and not tell the church started there and I'm
inviting you to be in at the Frist throughout this series fact if you are
with us this past fall at one point I spoken I said that God has
strategically positioned you if you are a follower of Jesus to do
something not just a pray believe or think about something but to do
something to draw the attention of those around you not to yourself
in your own goodness but to God and the gospel of Jesus Christ and
after that we can I had a person come up and they they said I want to
do something but I don't know what to do in my everyday life is it
we pray that God would show her something to do but I walked
away from that encounter that Parikh was wondering how many of
the rest of us felt that same way I want to do something but I don't
know what to do I don't know how to draw people's attention to God
and the gospel of Jesus Christ that I remembered an idea that I had
heard of another church doing from a friend in Alabama and when I
heard the idea and they came back to my mind I felt God's
prompting saying that CA needed to start this year by making this
ID our own here's the idea over the next two months throughout the
series over the next two months we want to unleash 20,000 20,000
acts of generosity kindness and goodness and the name of Jesus into
the life of our city tour neighbors friends coworkers and classmates
so here's Howard under this we've made up these little business
cards this is what they look like they does have Christian assembly
that will see a logo and on the other side it says a little something
extra to show you God loves you back at the bottom it says visit CA
church tell the story of this card and we made of these bundles of
cards and in a moment your guy get one of these and there's about
eight little cards in each one that's one good thing you're in a do over

the next eight weeks per week and we want you to figure out little
practical ways to show the love of God and then leave this card
there they can do it anonymously or not anonymously but here are
some ideas from the other church that they did not thought these are
great ideas one is this you could go through the drive-through at a
fast food restaurant and you could pay asked the clerk that you
could pay for the order of the person bind you can they've already
ordered a arty know the total and you can actually pay for their meal
and then say would you give them this little card and just say pay
that person already paid for your meal and they wanted you to have
this card or maybe you can leave a card with that and especially
generous tip for a waiter or waitress now here's the deal if you guys
think 5% of generosity on a chip don't leave a card okay if you're a
5% or don't believe the card as we do not want them to know about
you the but if you know you you you feel like a God can is move
my hardened and I will not do something you can leave a little bit
more of a generous tip you know were talking up there in
percentage and an leave this little card with it others in this other
church bought groceries to someone that they knew were in need
and they just left the bag of groceries and candidates there with a
little card and at others wrote a letter to someone who needed to be
encouraged and they put the card and the letter I love this idea that
this was brilliant someone in their church they went to their dollars
store and they hit dollar bills on the shelves so that little kids going
through would find the dollar bill and they leave the little card there
so the kid could find a dollar bill and then action by like a little toy
from the dollar store that day even though maybe their mom
remember was like now we don't have a dollar to give her whatever

and cyber that was really brilliant for those of us that like little kids
to just cannot put that the area and leave the little card there is well
maybe could make a batch of cookies for a neighbor leave them
anonymously on the door better yet don't do it anonymously go
introduce yourself and tell them that God prompted you to want to
do something nice for them now apart from saying the card says a
little something extra show God loves you the car directs people to
the CA website where they will have the opportunity of they so
choose to write in and tell us the story of how they got the card and
what it meant to them and so when you come to our website it's
already up actually the first rotator page will say something like I
got a card and then there'll be a little way for them to build email in
and say here's what the card is and this is what it meant to me 11
page there that will tell the basics of the gospel and how the gospel
makes us want to share good things with others because of the
goodness of our God so the church that originated this idea they've
been doing this for many years and I was listening to the guy and he
was saying that they receive a lot of calls and emails and phone
cards of phone calls over the year about people's lives even touched
a blessing change in some way but one of the most dramatic was
among the share with you just to show you what this could look like
the woman called the church one day this church in Alabama and
she was given one of these cards at a fast food drive through some
of it paid for meal and left to guard their and she said that that day
everything was going wrong in her life in fact it'd been going wrong
for a very long time she said she felt like no one saw her no one
cared and so she decided that that word that she would go home that
night and commit suicide but on the way home she thought a

prompting to stop and have her final meal her last meal before she
would go home and kill her self and so her favorite meal was this
particular meal at this fast food place so she got in line in the car and
ordered it and when she got up there the clerk said the person in
front of you just drove off is paid for your meal and they simply
want to me to hand you this card so when she got the car and she
read it she said that the timing of that act that little act of generosity
caused her to recognize that maybe God did really see her and
maybe God did really care what she was going through and maybe
he wouldn't really want her to end her life so she decided not to
commit suicide but instead she committed her life to Christ and is
learning to follow him with grace and peace and thanks even to this
day of course not every story is can it be like that but each car that
goes out with an action is a like a seed that is going out 20,000 little
seeds going out from this church into the lives of our neighbors
friends and coworkers and people in the city a chance to change a
life each little bundles about eight cards and am asking every single
Christian here to take one bundle with you and do a practical things
to show God's love to others over the next eight weeks is pretty easy
it's only about one a week however you want to do more next week
what more cards available the lobby for you if you run out now is as
good a work our lives can be changed we don't really know we've
never done this before but we're praying that in these 20,000 acts of
generosity and kindness that God would touch many many lives and
that they would know that God sees them and that he loves them
that the gospel would go out and change the lives just as it's done for
my life just as the sun for many of you the same good news that
came to use going all out going out all over the world how how's it

going out its going out by everyday normal people like Apple for its
people like you and people like me and what's can happen when it
goes out Paul writes and says this is bearing fruit everywhere by
changing lives just as it change your lives from the day you first
heard and understood the truth about God's wonderful grace and so
Tommy wherever you are you can come as we sing this final closing
song were to have the ushers pass the blue buckets but here's the
deal were doing it differently right don't put anything in the buckets
but take something out of the bucket take one a little bundle of
guards out of the bucket and use that over the next eight weeks to
unleash eight acts of generosity and kindness in Jesus's name if we
all do that together 20,000 acts of generosity and kindness will be
sent out in Jesus's name over the next eight weeks ushers you can
begin to come and pass the blue buckets and as we do
Hy cu nguyn. Ly Cha, con cm n Ngi v s tt lnh ca
Ngi. Con cu nguyn cho nhng let's pray God thank you for your
goodness and I pray over these little bundles of a cards only one
active week that there'd be some little act of anonymous generosity
your kindness or does it have to be anonymous that we would do
each of us each week so that we could be part of your good news
going out into the city and Lord I pray but the timing and
providence of one people receive these cards what highlights of
them just how much you love them that for some you would call
them back to faith in you for others it would be the first time that
they would begin investigate you and for still others may be there be
believers that receive this card anonymously and that would just
encourage the sons and daughters of Christ that you see is that you
love us that you care for us to God make us kind make his creative

make is generous and let us participate in everyday ways to send

your good news out to those around us we asked it would bear fruit
in Jesus name amenver the old item that is now made new is
unveiled what wasn't working