Jentezen Franklin - The Multiplication Blessing - Part 1
Hello and welcome to Kingdom Connection. I'm Jentezen Franklin, and I sure am glad that you have decided to watch this program. I think that it's in order to remember what happened in Israel. It was a terrible, terrible, brutal attack on October 7th last year. The dark forces of Hamas terrorists entered the sovereign nation of Israel and massacred innocent lives. Shooting, beheading, burning, raping, basically committing unspeakable atrocities. The Jewish people haven't suffered this type of devastation since the Holocaust.
So, we take a moment today to ask you to pray for the nation of Israel. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray for the return of the hostages, including the American hostages who are still in captivity. And I ask that you remember the lives lost on that awful day. We're believing God will return beauty for ashes. I believe that God can do it. And that's why I preached this today, "The Multiplication Blessing". As you listen to this message, I believe it's what God wants to do in Israel and what He wants to do in your life, and I believe it's gonna open your eyes to something magnificent. Listen to this word. It's gonna bless you.
Genesis 1:11. "Then God said Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself," everybody say that with me, "'Whose seed is in itself on the earth' and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and the 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". Verse 21, "So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, in the waters according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good".
Now here's my text this morning. It's all connected to what I just read. "And God blessed them," no human being was created yet. "And God blessed them saying, 'Be fruitful,'" He's talking to birds, He's talking to fish, He's talking to plants, He's talking to trees, He's talking to grass. "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth". I wanna preach to you today on the first blessing in the Bible. The multiplication. The seed was in the tree. The seed was in the tree, the text said. Whose seed is in itself. God put in the first tree the seed, in the first birds, the seed to reproduce and multiply, the grass to multiply, the plants to multiply. The seed was placed inside.
And that's why God said at the end of it, "And it is good". The reason that it's good is because God loves multiplication. God loves that everything that He created, He placed within it the potential to multiply. He said it's good because the first blessing in the Bible was a multiplication blessing and God said to them, the fish that He put in the water, maybe just two, and the birds that He put in the sky, whose seed is in itself, and He spoke out of His mouth, a blessing of multiplication upon everything that He created. Because God loves multiplication. God loves to see us grow. God loves to see us expand. God loves to see us become greater than what we start with.
Genesis 1:22 said that He talked to the birds and the fish, that the original ones that He created, and He said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply". When the concept of the blessing, this is the concept of a blessing being transferred into the earth. When it first was conceived in God's mind and first introduced, it came as a multiplication blessing. That's how important multiplication is to God. That we not be fruitless, that we not get stagnant and become stale. But God's dream for us, as He says it as the first blessing He ever put on His creation. And by the way, when Adam and Eve were made, He said the same blessing over them. He blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply". God says, "I want my people to multiply".
When it comes to that blessing, it is the will of God for this church to multiply. It is the will of God for your joy to multiply. It is the will of God for your peace to multiply, for your faith to multiply, for your family to multiply. It's the will of God for your business to multiply. It's the will of God for everything that you're involved in to become greater. The problem is five times zero is zero. A thousand times zero is zero. But God said, "I placed within everything I create, the desire for multiplication". Something in you says, "I was born for more".
Something in you desires to see more come out that you feel that you could potentially express in a powerful way. Be fruitful and multiply our businesses, oh God. Be fruitful and multiply our church, and our peace, and our joy. That God says faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And that's the powerful thing about multiplication. The tree will multiply from the inside out. The church will multiply from the inside out. It's not based upon what the world does. And when you let God take what He put in you and turn it out, then suddenly, amazing things begin to happen in your life. We're always looking for the miracle to come from the outside.
And in 2 Kings 4, there was a woman who was in such debt that her sons were being taken away to serve time to pay off the debt. And the prophet showed up at her house right before they were taken in chains. And he said, "What do you have in the house"? I'm sure she was sitting in that house thinking, "If somebody outside would just come, some rich person, and pay my bill, I wouldn't lose my sons into having to be slaves to pay off this debt". But the prophet didn't ask her about, "Who do you know outside? What do you have in the house"? And she said, "All that I have is a little pot of oil".
And the prophet said, "Get ready because God is gonna multiply what you have on the inside. He's not gonna bless you out there, He's gonna start it right where you are when you use what you've got". And then He gave another commandment. He said, "Go borrow vessels and borrow not a few". He said, "I want you to go to every neighbor, I want you to go to every relative, I want your boys to go all over the neighborhood and community, I want you to bring 20, 30, 50, as many as you can get. Get so many vessels in the house and set 'em out, set 'em on tables, set 'em on the floor, set 'em in front of the fireplace, set 'em in the kitchen, and then just begin to pour what you have on the inside out. Pour it out. Pour it, don't hoard it. Pour it".
If you'll start using what I put in you. You can't keep saying, "I'm waiting on a big break to come on the outside". You've got to pour the little bit that you've got on the inside. God says, "If you'll pour it". And then they poured from vessel, to vessel, to vessel. And the scripture said as soon as they ran out of pots to pour it into, the oil stopped. That tells you that God says, "I only bless people and multiply people who use what they have on the inside". And it may look insignificant, and it may look small, and many of you are sitting on what you can do and saying, "But, you know, I just need something out there," and God says, "Do what you can do with what I've given you".
The miracle of multiplication is never dependent on the outside. God reaches inside and begins... and there are businesses that were started in this room when somebody decided on the inside, "I'm gonna do it, 'cause God's leading me to do it, and God breathed on it, and the blessing of multiplication came on it". And you really can't take the glory. You worked hard, but you know the creator breathed on that seed, and it was the blessing of multiplication. That's how this church is here today, hallelujah. I'm telling you, this stuff is real. God can use and bless you when you begin to pour it out, pour it out, pour it out.
You can't get a revelation of how big God is until you get a revelation of how small you are. It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. I have that revelation every time I come to the pulpit. All I have is a bunch of words on a piece of paper. And to be honest, I'm scared to death. I still get nervous at 62 years of age after doing it 40 something years. But I've learned something. That I'm small, and I'm insignificant, but the God that I serve is magnificent. And the magnificent one on the inside of me, Christ the hope of glory that is in you, if you would just let Him take your little bit. Little is much when God is in it.
Oh, hallelujah. I'm telling you. You may feel like you're insignificant, but the magnificent lives in you. His name is Jesus and He can use you for His glory. Clap your hands and give Him praise. Hallelujah. The seed doesn't come from the trunk of the tree. He said, "Whose seed is in itself". But it does not come, seeds don't come out of the trunk of a tree, they don't come out of the branches of a tree, they come only from the fruit of the tree. And that's why some are not multiplying because God is waiting on some fruit. God will not multiply something that is not producing any fruit. When Jesus cursed the fig tree, He was angry at it because it was not producing fruit. He did not, listen, He said, "Be fruitful and multiply".
And when He needed that tree to have fruit, it had no fruit. It had a trunk, it had limbs, it had leaves, but it did not have fruit. And when He cursed it, He cursed it from the roots up. God will not bless the family and the individual life that is not producing fruit. Well, what is fruit? I'm glad you asked. Galatians 5:22 says, "The fruits of the spirit," there's nine of them. "The fruits of the spirit is love". Did you know love was a seed? Did you know that love is a fruit? And if you don't have any love, if you will start pouring out love, love your enemies, love those who despitefully use you. We're to be a people who is filled with love.
And the moment you start loving people, even the hard people that's harder to love, not just those that love you, and not just those that are kind to you, but those who it's hard to love them, they make it hard to love them, but you sow the seed of love anyhow. God says, "Ooh, there's one I can multiply right there". And if you give love, God will cause people to love you, and surround you, and you'll live a life that you're always loved. Joy, joy is the seed. Y'all don't hear me. Joy, joy. You shouldn't be sad, you shouldn't be down, you shouldn't be depressed all the time, discouraged all the time.
The joy, Nehemiah 8 says, "Don't be sorrowful, the joy of the Lord is my strength". Hallelujah. You know how you get strong? I need more strength. I'm really going through a valley. I'm really going through a hard time. I'm really lonely. I'm really broken. I'm really beat down. How do you get more strength? You don't need more strength, you need more joy. And if you get more joy, it will infuse you with strength. That's why you come to church, and you rejoice. You re-joy yourself. You start singing about the greatness of your God. "Your name is the greatest, your name is the highest". And you re-joy yourself, and it gives strength to your soul. I'm just here today to declare that God says, "I've got joy for my people".
And it's not on the outside. The seed of joy is on the inside. If nothing changes on the outside, I can have joy and be a happy person. Hallelujah. We used to sing a old song in the church. "We're a happy people. Yes we are". Y'all can't sing that. Hallelujah. Joy is a seed. And He multiplies love, He multiplies joy, He multiplies peace. If you'll sow a seed of peace, God will multiply it. So, if you need more love to be multiplied, sow some love, peace, patience, ooh. That's the fruit of the spirit. Patience, gentleness, goodness. Fruit of the spirit, long suffering. That's patience. Long suffering. Hallelujah.
That means you keep coming to church and you worship anyhow. You keep coming to church because God's still good. Even though nothing good is going on, and the kids are acting crazy, and you ran over the cat on the way to church, and the door fell off your car when you got out, and then somebody cussed you out in the parking lot, and you just keep on coming with the... saying, "You know what? It's not gon' stop me because my joy, the world didn't give it, and the world can't take it away". And He multiplies the joy and the long suffering.
Listen to the fruits of the spirit: kindness. Kindness. Just being a kind person. You sow it. Kindness, you pour it out. Kindness, you're not mean, you're not angry, you're not ugly, you're not rude, you're not giving people half a peace sign, amen, in your car every time they pull out in front of you. Kindness, kindness, kindness. Everybody say, "Kindness". To be kind is to be holy. Goodness. You just go around doing good stuff. Just sharing the goodness, just helping somebody, doing some... You know, picking up, helping somebody with their car, pulling over to the side of the road and helping somebody or helping somebody open the door.
They can't believe, I was in a city somewhere recently and I held the door for some old ladies, and they went, "Oh, he's so kind, he's so kind". Because there's so many jerks out there. Just be a good person. Just be good. Something in you ought to help somebody if you see 'em and you do what you can do and be kind to people. Quit being a jerk. That's what a Christian is. When a Christian shows up, everything gets better supposedly. And we ought to be good people, we ought to be good people.
All that we can do, be good. Faithfulness is a seed. I'm using all my time on this and this isn't even my sermon. Faithfulness. Isn't that something? God says, "I'll multiply faithfulness in your life if you start exhibiting some". Come to church more than once a month. These are the manifestations that the Holy Spirit... they're fruits of the Holy Spirit manifesting through you. "It's just not my nature to be. To be gentle".
Well, that's 'cause the flesh is in control, not the spirit. Because when the spirit is in control, one of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit is gentleness. You're not a warmonger, you're not looking for some, you're gentle, you're gentle. You deescalate, you're gentle. You run deep. Gentle. Turn to somebody and say, "Calm down. Gentle, gentle. You too... Gentle".
I like this. Self-control is a fruit of the spirit. "I just can't help myself. I need a woman. I can't help myself". Self-control. "I gotta have that cigarette. I gotta vape it. I gotta get high. I gotta have a drink". Self-control, self-control. "Gotta look at porn". Self-control. When the spirit begins to fill you, when the spirit... And God says, "The more that you give of yourself, the more I'll give you. If a man wants to live his life, let him die to himself and then I'll give you life and life more abundantly. I'll give you so much life that you won't know how to handle it all". And you'll be blessed and highly favored of God. I need somebody to shout about the truth of God's word.