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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
Hey. Thanks so much for listening to Sandals Church. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. We hope you enjoy this message.
Claude Hickman:So I made a decision a couple years ago, to go to one of my high school reunions, and I'd I'd encourage you to try to go, but I'll just tell you what I learned. What I learned was, most people change, like, drastically change. I was blown away by how people change. And the main thing I learned is, you know, people aren't cool forever. You know, nobody's hot forever.
Claude Hickman:Nobody's shy forever. Right? Nobody's a loser forever. Like, most people drastically change. I was blown away.
Claude Hickman:But what I remember most about that weekend, I was going across the street. And across the street is literally this little Baptist church that I grew up in. My family grew grew up in it. I grew up as a child, in this church. And when I went across the street, it was like this church was frozen in time.
Claude Hickman:You know, like, they hadn't changed at all. The carpet was the same. Smell was the same. I think the sermon was the same. You know?
Claude Hickman:And I was there with my mom and, my and Rebecca, and my mom was kinda just bragging about, like, the ministry we were doing and, the books I'd wrote and stuff like that. And around the corner comes Mildred, and I got, like, a shiver down my spine when I saw Mildred, because Mildred's, like, a 170 years old. All my memories of Mildred are, like, yelling at me for, like, running or being too loud or wearing the wrong clothes or, you know, something like that. Wrong hair. So I see see Mildred, and my my mom's, you know, bragging and talking about, like, all this stuff God's doing through us.
Claude Hickman:And Mildred's kinda standing there, and she looks and then she looks at me, and she goes, you know, Claude, I I I just never really thought God would do anything through you. And I just I I said, well, miss Mildred, you know, I've changed. And then it took all the self control I had not to say, but you haven't. Right? You're still the same angry, bitter, critical person you were.
Claude Hickman:That was 10,000 sermons ago. How is it you haven't changed? Right? Like, living things grow. Living things change.
Claude Hickman:I don't know about you. Like you and the french fry in my car, they could have been there for a 1000 years. They look exactly the same. Because living things grow and when living things don't change, something's wrong. Right?
Claude Hickman:And I just wanna say, man. What about you and your maybe you've been a Christian Christian for a few decades. Have you changed? Can I just tell you what I've seen? Like, I've spoken to probably a 100000 Christians across the world.
Claude Hickman:And I'll tell you what I've seen. These are my personal stats. Okay. These aren't official, but I I most men I know, I'd say half of them have never read a book since high school. Most Christians I know are afraid to pray out loud.
Claude Hickman:Most Christians I know have never read the whole Bible or shared their faith. And I just wanna ask you, like, do you feel like you're growing or did at some point did you stop? Did something stop your growth? Is your heart, you know, is it becoming less angry, less bitter, and more forgiving, more generous the longer you're a Christian? Because if not, there's Jesus says there's a problem.
Claude Hickman:He told a little parable. He said, the kingdom of God was like, God throwing seed in the dirt, and most of it didn't grow. Most of it didn't produce. So some of it was, like, eaten by the birds. Some of it was scorched by the sun.
Claude Hickman:Some of it was choked out by weeds, and it died. It produced no fruit. I don't know if he's talking about our salvation, our growth, or both. But he says the one seed that lands in the soil gets the nutrients it needs, gets watered. He doesn't just say it grows.
Claude Hickman:He says it multiplies. Says 30 times, 60 fold, 100 fold. Like, if I told you, man, I wanna, you know, I wanna 10 x your life. You'd be like, woo hoo. Jesus doesn't even have a category for that.
Claude Hickman:He starts at 30. Right? You know, when God gets a hold of you, he's gonna 30 x your life. He's gonna 100 x your life. And I think what he's saying is, you're not gonna miss it.
Claude Hickman:Like, you're not gonna wonder, hey. I wonder if God got a hold of that person. You're gonna know it because they changed. And so I've been asking this question all year. Man, what is it that causes some people this 100x kinda growth?
Claude Hickman:Right? What is it that causes some people to change spiritually and other while others don't? And I'm gonna have to say it just like this, that we don't change until we have a mission. I I think that's it. We don't really change until we adopt a mission.
Claude Hickman:People don't sit around and dream about growth. They dream about winning. You know, they dream about the mission. They dream about the end. And then the growth just growth follows vision, is what I'm saying.
Claude Hickman:And so I realized that I didn't start growing until someone came along and said, you know what? You can do the things that Jesus did. I thought that was for clergy. I thought that was for like the pastor or the professionals. But you know what?
Claude Hickman:It changed my life when I realized God is inviting me to do the work that He's, you know, wanting to do in the world. He chose me to get to be a part, and you to get to be a part of that. So we're gonna look at a moment that it's one of my favorite moments. It's just simply where Jesus chooses the disciples and invites him into his mission.
Morgan Teruel:Hey, guys. As we get going into this new series with pastor Claude today, I just wanna take a moment and invite you to be a part of the work here at Sandals Church. You can do that by going to donate.sc today. For now, let's get into the message. It's in
Claude Hickman:Matthew 4. And so let's just read it together. It says this Matthew 4, 19 through 20. Jesus comes along. The disciples are fishing, and he says this.
Claude Hickman:He says, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And immediately it says, they left their nets and followed him. Now, something you need to know is in that culture, ancient near east, like, in Jewish culture, really a student would choose a rabbi, like from a particular school or someone they wanted to learn from. They would come along and choose them, and then they would come under their discipleship. And so if these guys are in their career, they're fishing, they're they've kinda moved on, they're probably in their twenties, it means that they were either rejected by a rabbi, or weren't good enough.
Claude Hickman:In other words, they're the unchosen. Like, that's what you need to know. And we've probably all experienced that being passed over. I mean, I was £95 in high school. Like, I know what it means feels like to get chosen last, you know, or friend zoned or all those things.
Claude Hickman:Like we know what it's like to be left behind. And so can you imagine what it felt like for the disciples? For this rabbi who to every everybody was talking about. Not, he didn't wait for them to ask. He he initiates, he reverses it.
Claude Hickman:He says, I'm in I'm choosing you. I'm inviting you to follow me. And I'm sure they were like, do why us? But I'm saying yes. Right?
Claude Hickman:And then I love what Jesus says next. Says, follow me. Then He says, I will make you. I I find great comfort in this phrase. And I've been thinking about this phrase for months.
Claude Hickman:I will make you. And and what we're gonna be talking about in this series, is this idea of discipleship. Jesus is saying I'm gonna, I'm calling you but I'm gonna make you into something. I'm gonna disciple you into the type of person that God uses. That's called, in the Christian world, that's called discipleship.
Claude Hickman:That's how Christians grow. It's by someone helping them, someone coming alongside them, training them. And and that mission comes a lot of times before growth. That we we need a mission to drive and a calling to drive our growth to begin with. I've been on my phone.
Claude Hickman:I have 2 pictures. I've been showing people these it's kind of before after. So you talk about change, like all year, some of you in the room, I've I've showed you these pictures. And the first one is kind of before. It's just a good looking, you know, 6 foot tall guy.
Claude Hickman:He's like 180. Looks like a high school basketball player, and I'm like, you know who it is. And they're like, I have no idea who that is. And I show them the next picture, and they go, no way. Go back.
Claude Hickman:Go back. Go back. Go back. You know, because the transformation is amazing. And the the reason I have these pictures is we were watching, behind the scenes of one of the Marvel movies.
Claude Hickman:And they were looking to cast the part of a guy named Thor. And they were in Australia, And they're casting and they find this guy named Chris Hemsworth. And when I'm watching the video, I'm like, that's not Chris. Right? Because I didn't even recognize him.
Claude Hickman:He's 180. 6 foot like 1. Looks completely different. And then the director though said something that that really caught my attention. He said, we found Chris.
Claude Hickman:We loved him and we knew he had the framework that we could make into Thor. So I want you to hear that, Christians. What? He was cast as Thor before he was made. Right?
Claude Hickman:The growth followed his mission. I mean, at the time, he was doing nothing. He was unknown, trying to get work. He was like cleaning breast pumps with a toothbrush at a pharmacy. Okay?
Claude Hickman:So he's like, yeah, sign me up. Right? Between Thor and that, I'll take Thor, whatever we gotta do. But for the next like year, man, he becomes this, you know, ripped ripped dude. And I'm sure at one point he goes, you sure you want me?
Claude Hickman:Right? Well, but I'm saying yes. See, growth follows vision. I want you to write this down. I must choose God's mission before I will change.
Claude Hickman:First, we just have to say, Jesus, I'm all in. Wherever you're going, I'm following. And if you say you can make me, I'm gonna do it. I gotta be all in. Ephesians 4 puts it like this, I therefore as a prisoner of the Lord urge you to walk or live in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
Claude Hickman:So do you hear the tense there? It's past tense. You have been called by God, therefore live in a manner worthy of the calling. You've been cast into a role and guess what? It's a better role.
Claude Hickman:You've been cast into a story and it's a better story for you to get ready for. And until you really get that, you don't see the need to grow. You don't have a hunger to grow. Proverbs puts it like this. Proverbs 16 says, a worker's appetite works for him.
Claude Hickman:He's thinking about eating. Right? His his mouth urges on what he's doing. And so I just I had to sit back and go, man, what kind of vision do I have, and and is it showing up in my growth? Is it showing up in my my training, my preparation?
Claude Hickman:You know, Chris Hemsworth had to do like 8 meals a day. Now some of you would like sign me up for 8 meals a day. 8 meals a day, 3 workouts a day. His workouts I mean, I watch 1 on YouTube and pulled a muscle on my back. Like, they're crazy workouts.
Claude Hickman:He had a personal trainer, you know, with him that whole time. And so I I just gotta ask, you know, like, I can look at you and go, man, what's your vision? And I can tell by your workout. You know, how many spiritual meals are you eating a day for what God has you know, what has God prepared you to do and how are you preparing it for? How many, you know, prayer reps are you putting in for the vision God's called you to do?
Claude Hickman:Because because if it's just a 10 church and tithe, you don't need much for that. You get the SpongeBob workout plan for that. That's any anything will do for that. Who's your personal trainer? Who's the person who's discipling you?
Claude Hickman:Training you, getting you ready for the vision that God's called you to, the calling that He's called you to, that you grow into it. We grow into our dreams. It's like a paradox. What I love about this short little passage is that Jesus and and I I find great comfort in this. Jesus doesn't call made people.
Claude Hickman:He calls them to follow Him and says, I will make you. It's like a command and a promise. You do the following, I'll do the making. Ain't that comforting? And Jesus isn't bothered by where they are.
Claude Hickman:You know, they're looking at their stinky fish and all that stuff. And he's like, follow me. He's not bothered by where they're at, but change is implied in their future. Change is expected of us if we're following Jesus. Hebrews 6 says it like this.
Claude Hickman:Therefore, let us leave the elementary. Right? Let's leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity. Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God. In other words, we're expected to move on to maturity, living things grow.
Claude Hickman:Even Jesus, the son of God had to grow, learn from his father, learned at the synagogue, learned at the temple asking questions. Luke 2 says this, Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, favor with God. And, man, there's nothing shameful about saying I need to grow, and I need somebody to help me. Follow me, I will make you. But then Jesus says this, fishers of men.
Claude Hickman:Now if you think about that, it's inspiring, but there's a little bit of a sting to it. Because if you're a fisherman and your father's a fisherman and your grandfather's a fisherman and your identity culturally, what you provide for the community is this fisherman identity. When someone comes along and says, man, I'm gonna make you fishers of something better. There's a little bit of a sting to it. Does that make sense?
Claude Hickman:Loving, but a little bit of a sting. I remember I used to when I when I was at college, I started a little t shirt company and was actually doing really well. And until somebody came along and they were like, oh, you. They introduced me and somebody goes, oh you're the t shirt guy. That was the day I gave away the company.
Claude Hickman:Because I was like, oh Lord. I don't wanna be known. Like, I just saw that on my gravestone like, t shirt guy. It's like, nope. It stung.
Claude Hickman:The some of you guys business guys know this 40 years ago there was a guy named John Scully. He was the CEO of Pepsi. And he was trying to be recruited away by one of his college friends who was doing this tech startup. You know, and this is back when all the little tech startups are working out of their garage. You know, Bill Gates is down the street making a time machine, you know.
Claude Hickman:And, this guy shows up to his office named Steve Jobs. And he's wanting to start a company called Apple. And he's but he's trying to recruit the CEO of Pepsi, John Sculley, from his corner office, you know, up in the high rise. John's like, my office is bigger than your garage, you know. Nobody wants a, you know, computer the size of a calculator or whatever.
Claude Hickman:Like like and so but Steve Jobs feels this opportunity slipping away. And then he says something that just echoes in business legend ever since. He looks at John Sculley and he says, do you wanna sell sugar water the rest of your life, or do you wanna come with me and change the world? It stung just enough. Had just enough reality to it.
Claude Hickman:And they did. He left his position and they changed the world. You know, Jesus is not afraid to say those things. You want true bread? I am the true bread.
Claude Hickman:Right? I I am the living water. I am the real treasure. Jesus isn't afraid to call you to live for better eternal things. So I want you to write this down.
Claude Hickman:You may not like this, but I'm a stop asking Jesus to follow my small plans. Just gotta you know, we live in a culture that affirms everything. That's the problem. Nobody's willing to go, you know, I don't I think that you could do better. I think that plan's stupid.
Claude Hickman:Nobody wants to say that. I think that plan's too small. But God's not afraid to say that. Isaiah 49 says this, God says to his people, it is too small a thing for you to be my servant just to restore the tribes of Jacob. Remember Israel?
Claude Hickman:That's just their own family. He's saying, I think bigger. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you might bring my salvation to the ends of the earth. God is saying, man, think bigger. There's a dose of reality in some of that.
Claude Hickman:That even though it stings, it calls us to this big global vision of what God's doing. And you know, really the question is not about like, is my life small or big? It's are you following Jesus or is Jesus like trying to follow you? Are you inviting him to follow your plan? 1st Corinthians 6 says this, you are not your own.
Claude Hickman:You're not, you were bought with a high price, therefore honor God with your body. When you chose to say yes to follow a rabbi, you were saying, I'll go where you go. I'll do what you do. I'll model my whole life after you. I think one of the problems is in our culture, we haven't met a leader that's that trustworthy to do that with, but Jesus is.
Claude Hickman:So when He invites you to follow Him, to choose Him, it's a loving thing. He's a good leader. 2 Corinthians 5 though says this, He died for His death. He He's a good leader. 2nd Corinthians 5 though says this, he died for all of us that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again.
Claude Hickman:It's a choice. You adopt his mission. Now, I'm gonna say this. I debated on whether to say this, but we live in a culture, something going on right now in our time called expressive individualism. You know it as I get to choose my truth.
Claude Hickman:Right? And all the conservatives got real bothered by that. Like, you know, I get to choose my this. I get It's my body. I get to choose, you know, this and that and x y z.
Claude Hickman:And you know, all the conservatives are like, no you don't. Right? No you don't. There's absolute truth. No you don't.
Claude Hickman:Everybody believes absolute truth until it comes to your life purpose. And then you go, but I get to choose my what I do with my life. You know what God says? No. You don't.
Claude Hickman:No. You don't. Right? The kingdom is not a democracy. Right?
Claude Hickman:You don't get a vote. The it's a monarchy with a king, and he's got a mission for you, and you gotta choose. You're a mission or his? Jim Elliott, missionary to the Auken said this in his journals. Lord, make me a crisis man, Not a milepost on a single road.
Claude Hickman:Make me a fork in the road that men must turn left or right when facing Christ in me. When you choose Jesus, man, it's a fork in the road. Your life purpose are his. And he's saying follow me. I'm gonna make you something great.
Claude Hickman:We're gonna fish for the world. But most people say no. That that's what amazes me. Do you know Jesus invited lots of people to follow him? If you read the New Testament, he's inviting people all the time.
Claude Hickman:I didn't realize this. But he's constantly inviting people to follow him and most of them say no. They have all these excuses. Like, but Lord, let me do this. A friend of mine, he gave a talk in college and I'll never forget the title.
Claude Hickman:I remember the talk, but the title of it, he called it the but lords. Alright. So don't Google that. Please, Lord Jesus, don't Google that. You won't find his sermon.
Claude Hickman:But it was like the butt lords, man. They had all these excuses. Luke 9, as they're going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you, Lord. And Jesus said, will foxes have holes of the and birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. And that guy disappears.
Claude Hickman:To another, he says this, follow me. Same words, follow me. But that guy said, but lord, let me first go and bury my father. And Jesus said, let the dead bury their dead. Then another says, I will follow you.
Claude Hickman:Jesus said to him, well, okay. But first, he the guy said, let me go say farewell to my family at home. Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand in the plow looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. You know, it's most sad to me about Luke 9 is those guys are just nameless. You know, they had an opportunity to show up in the greatest story ever told, and they leave nameless, the but lords.
Claude Hickman:Number 3, I want you to write this down. Just because I've met Jesus doesn't mean I'm still following him. Just because I've met Jesus doesn't mean you're following him. I think we stop following sometimes because, man, it costs us our time and your vacations and your kids' stuff. It it's costly.
Claude Hickman:Jesus doesn't shy away from that. Matthew 16, He says this. He told His disciples, if anyone wants to come after me, He has to deny himself, take up a cross and follow me. That's what it costs. Sometimes we don't follow because we just flat out don't wanna do what Jesus tells us to do.
Claude Hickman:And he he calls it out. Luke 6, he's like, stop stop faking. Says, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and then don't do what I say? Just stop it. Then a rich young ruler in Luke 18 comes up to him, kind of this final story.
Claude Hickman:And says, Lord, I'm man, I'm good. I I wanna follow you. I I'm I've kept all the laws. Trying to kinda trying to impress Jesus, I guess, with how good he is. And Jesus is like, oh, but that's impressive.
Claude Hickman:Just you got like one more little thing that you missed. Go sell everything and give it to the poor. Alright. Just one little thing and then you'll have treasure. And then He says this, and follow me.
Claude Hickman:And it says, the rich young ruler became very sad because he was extremely rich. You know, he wasn't rejected by Jesus, was he? He made a choice. And it wasn't about money. It wasn't about him selling everything.
Claude Hickman:It was about him choosing to say yes. And that Jesus, you'll make me into something great. Not me, you'll make me. I think, man, that guy these guys missed out on one of the greatest opportunities. Most of you probably never heard of the the Legionnaires.
Claude Hickman:This is really nerdy, kinda Star Wars thing. They're the stormtroopers, you know, that make the gear and the costumes. And they try to make like Lucas film, like, you know, quality star stormtrooper costumes. There's 13,000 of these guys around the world. And, you know, my mom used to dress me up in costumes, you know, like in Star Wars stuff.
Claude Hickman:She would make them for me. This is before you could go buy it in the store. And my mom made some dialed costumes. Like we made a C3PO thing out of cardboard and stuff and like painted it gold. She let me wear it to church, which is weird.
Claude Hickman:And that's probably why Mildred thinks I'm a weirdo. You know? But I grew out of it. These guys didn't grow out of it. They're still, like, in their parents' basement, shaping fiberglass.
Claude Hickman:You know? Their mom's like, you better be making a time machine down there like that Bill Gates guy. And so, but what's cool is they do all this cool charity stuff for kids, hospitals, and all this stuff around the world. Well, a couple year years ago in LA, they sent out a call for these legionaries, these stormtroopers, to show up at a parking lot. They didn't know, you know, so like 40 of them show up.
Claude Hickman:Out of 500 in Southern California, 40 guys show up, get on a bus, have no idea where they're going. When they get off, they step off onto the set of the season finale for Mandalorian. Now, these are the nerds that would give a kidney just to see the preview, right, of the season finale. And they step off and they get to be in the show. Can you imagine that opportunity?
Claude Hickman:I mean, they were like, dialed. They they like, were awesome. But here's what the even cooler thing is that their uniform, as great as they tried to make it, it was never Lucasfilm official until they were in the show. But because they were in the show, their suits that those 40 guys own are now considered canon, Lucasfilm, Star Wars official. I mean, they had this opportunity and they didn't even know.
Claude Hickman:But see, I think the disciples knew. I think these people knew this is an opportunity and I don't wanna miss it. And the disciples, you look at them, says that they immediately left their nets and followed him. You ever wonder why What would cause someone to do something like that? And and these guys just so you know, it's not that they just left everything and followed him.
Claude Hickman:They end up dying for this mission. What what kind of vision does it take to get someone to drop their life and say, I'm I'm signing up for that. And you know, Chris Hemsworth isn't dying for Thor. But what's it causing some guys to go, Man, I'm gonna live for that and I'm gonna die for that. Because I think to us, when we look at the New Testament, it looks really small to us.
Claude Hickman:Because we see 12 guys falling a homeless dude around the wilderness, and we go, what's going on? That doesn't look real impressive in our culture. God's plan to reach the world looks really backwards. That God would become a baby in the smallest town, you know, in the near east, that he would choose 12, one of them flaked out and betrayed him. 3 of the guys are really the guys he spent the most time with.
Claude Hickman:We go, that's really small. After the resurrection, there's only a 100 and something sitting, you know, around the upper room scared. Jesus didn't leave behind, like, any resources or buildings or infinity stones, nothing. Right? Just leaves behind these random guys And we go, that looks really small.
Claude Hickman:Because in America, we have what I call addition mentality. We're just trying to add up numbers. How many people did your church have? Right? We just look and we just add up numbers.
Claude Hickman:Do you know 90% of churches in America are under 600 people? Sandals baptizes over 600 people every year. We add more people to our church every year than most people have in their church. That'll get you on the cover of, like, outreach magazine, won't it? 600 pea if if Sandals Church lasted for a 100 years, that'd be 60,000 people.
Claude Hickman:If you as an individual, you know, if you're an evangelist and, you know, Ted the evangelist leads somebody to Christ every lunch, every dinner, every single day and lives for a 100 years to do that, that'd be 60,000 people. When Ted shows up in heaven, Outreach Magazine will be patting him on the back and and there'd be a line you know, if there was a line of people, 60,000, and one came by every second to say thank you, You know, it would take almost a whole day for Ted to meet all the people that his life impacted. And that's pretty cool. But I wanna ask you, man, is that big enough? Is that big enough?
Claude Hickman:Jesus, I think, had a much bigger vision for what he's calling us to do. In Matthew 28, he says this. He came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations. Do you notice what starts in the beginning where He says, I will make you?
Claude Hickman:Now at the end of His ministry, He says what? You will make. He switched from addition. Jesus isn't adding, He's multiplying. He's saying the things that I've taught you, the things that I've trained you, the ways I've discipled you, I've made you.
Claude Hickman:Now I want you to go make. He's talking about multiplication. He's talking about 100x. You know why this image of the dandelion is behind me? It's because dandelions multiply.
Claude Hickman:Man, they're unstoppable, aren't they? Right? If you got a yard, you hate dandelions. Or the pranks. I didn't know everybody did all the pranks.
Claude Hickman:Like I was Googling and there's the one where you tell your friend to blow on their dandelion and then you stuff it in their mouth when their mouth's open. And people like, they go into their lungs. You know, people look like they're they've seen their life flash before their eyes. They see Jesus coming for them. You know, they're like.
Claude Hickman:But man, dandelions are unstoppable. Right? And you in your yard, you're like, man, I'm gonna you try to kick it and you make a 1,000. And that's why Jesus wants us to multiply. Did you know that in 19 fifties in China, when there was the cultural revolution, they kicked out every Christian missionary, every Christian worker.
Claude Hickman:All 50,000 of them were kicked out of China all at once. And for 20 years for 20 years, the church around the world just watched and just had no idea what's going on in the darkness of China. Is the church gonna survive? And you know what? When that lifted 20 years later, the church didn't just survive in China.
Claude Hickman:It multiplied by a 1000000 people per year. And then 20 years later, it was a 100,000,000 people. And then by 2018, 200,000,000 people. Listen, the church is unstoppable. Multiplication is unstoppable.
Claude Hickman:These 12 disciples, they look cute. Rome tries to kick them, makes a 1,000 more. Right? This is this narrow path that Jesus left us to this unstoppable change. If you, instead of being Ted the evangelist, if you disciple just one person for a year, and at the end of that year, they discipled somebody else and you discipled somebody else younger, and the next year, there's 2, and then there's 4, then there's 8, and 16, 32.
Claude Hickman:You know, if this went on, that it just is 16 years, you had passed Ted. In 16 years, 60,000 people, that's it, and you're still going. But if you made disciples, listen to this, for 33 years, you wouldn't have anything left to do. The only way to explain how big that number is, is by calling it the world. 33 years, 8 and a half 1000000000 people.
Claude Hickman:Just to give you the difference, if you line those people up and one every second went by, it wouldn't just take a day. It would just take a year. It'd take 270 years. Listen, multiplication is unstoppable. Jesus isn't asking how many people are coming to your church.
Claude Hickman:He's asking how many churches are coming from your people. Okay and the only thing stopping the church from reaching the world is when Christians don't multiply. So number 4, I wanna just challenge you to this. We were designed by God to multiply. Living things multiply.
Claude Hickman:I have made this my life purpose. I don't care if I preach. I don't care if I get a microphone and a stage. Whatever career, whatever vocation I'm in the rest of my life, I'm doing this because it will impact the world. I believe it's the most strategic way to change the world.
Claude Hickman:And no matter what happens around me, I'm gonna quietly just keep making one disciple and keep making one disciple. You know, God told Adam, and he'd be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth. When Noah gets off the ark, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, I'm gonna multiply you like the stars. Joseph, I'm gonna multiply your descendants over and over throughout the old testament.
Claude Hickman:God is a God of multiplication. He wants us to multiply. That's what we're designed to do. We want things to do what they're designed to do, right? When you get in your car, you want the AC to work in the Inland Empire, amen?
Claude Hickman:You want things to do what they're designed to do. I was reading about the James Webb, telescope. It's designed to go for like 5 or 6 years. It's now it's like a 1000000 miles away, and it's still sending back these incredible images. I thought that was pretty cool till I read about the Voyager.
Claude Hickman:Anybody remember the Voyager? The Voyager is almost as old as me. It's been going for 45 years. This this tells this thing out in space, I don't even understand what it does, but it's still sending back messages. Right?
Claude Hickman:Like, before we had a calculator wristwatch, you know, this thing is still going. It's, 15,000,000,000 miles away, and it's still sending back messages. It's still doing what it's designed to do. I just want NASA to create a refrigerator that has a icemaker that works for 6 months. You know what I'm saying?
Claude Hickman:Like, we want things to do what they're designed to do. But, reading about the James Webb Telescope, somebody mentioned this, and I had to go look it up because I didn't believe it. But it took a picture of something called the pillars of creation, and you need to go Google this later. And it looks like these huge cloud pillars and I think they actually look like fingers, like these 4 big pillars. And the tips of the fingers are glowing red.
Claude Hickman:And they took this really high image picture of it, and they asked, well, why are the pic why are the fingertips of it glowing like red? And they realized from a picture they took 20 years ago that stars that were here are now way out here, And new stars are formed right around the ends. Do you know what's happening at those fingertips? The universe is still multiplying. It's still creating stars.
Claude Hickman:God spoke in Genesis 1, and the stars are still doing what they were designed to do. The universe is still multiplying. It's the same voice and the same power that calls you and me to multiply our life, to do what we're designed to do. This series is gonna teach you how to multiply your life, how to get someone in your life that disciples you. We all need someone that helps us grow.
Claude Hickman:And then God is calling us though to take the hand of somebody behind us, younger in the faith. And that might terrify you, but listen, you do the following, Jesus will do the making. For us to make disciples of those behind us, and together be fishers of men so that we can reach the world. Can I pray that for us? Let's pray.
Claude Hickman:God, we just first of all confess that that we have stopped following you in this command to multiply our life. Living things grow and living things reproduce. And somewhere, God, we've stopped doing it. We've We've left it up to the world to multiply their values into the next generation. So God, would you help us wake up as a church and see that the things that we've chosen, the plan that we've chosen is small.
Claude Hickman:But God you invite us into this incredible mission that you have to reach the world. And we don't have to feel ready, God, but we're ready enough. You choose us and you say, God you'll do the making if we do the following. And I find great comfort in that. So would you help us say yes?
Claude Hickman:And God would you make us into a church of disciples who are making disciples. God, would you make us into a church that's part of reaching every nation, every tribe, every tongue as we multiply with you. And it's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.