Celeste Contreras: Welcome to the Sandals Church podcast. My name is Celeste, and I am part of the team here at Sandals Church. We are so happy to have you join us today as we listen to this message with pastor Claude Hickman teaching from our gospel of Matthew series. If you've enjoyed our content, consider leaving us a rating to help this podcast reach more people. But for now, let's get into the message.
Pastor Claude Hickman: As a young Christian, I grew up with a fear not of losing my life, but of wasting it. I had a fear that I was gonna miss out on my purpose in life. How many of you wanna know your purpose in life from God? Yeah. And God sent somebody to knock on my door when I was in college.
It wasn't Jesus, it was just a guy named Todd. And if the Mormons had like a fraternity president, Todd would be the guy. Literally had a sweater tied around his shoulders, know, looked like Lambda Kai Kindle. And so I opened the door and Todd, with his wavy hair, he was like, hey, I wanna teach you what I learned from the bible this summer, which you can't say no to that. So I'm sitting down with him and he says, man, I think I found my purpose in life.
And so I said, I'm listening. And he said, it's in the book of Matthew, one of the last chapter, it's the last chapter and one of the last verses, and it's this idea of going and making disciples of all the nations. And I said, I've heard that verse before. And he said, but let me show you why making disciples is so powerful, Claude. And he took a piece of paper and he started explaining to me, if I made one disciple and then the next year that disciple made another, it'd be two, four, eight, sixteen, 32.
And he began to draw what I just call this kinda upside down tree of exponential growth. And he said, Claude, do you know how many people that would reach if you did that for just thirty two years? And I didn't know there was gonna be math at our Bible study. I like I didn't bring my scientific calculator, so a million. And he smiled and he said think bigger.
And then I was just annoyed and so I picked a number that was just ridiculous. I was like a billion Todd, just shut up, okay? A billion. And he smiled and he said think bigger. And then he put his hand on the paper and he started to write the number.
And I leaned in and when he moved his hand, he had he didn't write a number. He wrote two words, the world. And don't know how to explain this, but it was in that moment that I realized this is a vision that's big enough to give my whole life to. I realized that he wasn't talking about a vocation, he wasn't talking about becoming a pastor or full time ministry, he was talking about something anybody could do. He was talking about something that was global.
I wasn't gonna find anything bigger than global. He was talking about something that was eternal. I wasn't gonna find anything that lasts longer than eternal. And even if I died it would keep going after me. That day I found the why behind everything else in my life.
You know when your kids are young and they ask why about everything? Like, why do I gotta brush my teeth? Why do I gotta go to bed? You know? I remember one day our kids, it was like, why does spelling matter, dad?
Why does language matter? And I sat him down and I was like, what would John Piper say? You know, so I said, listen, God gave us language. Know, language is a gift from us. Know, it's how he communicates with us.
Jesus is the word. God created language so that we could have his scripture. And boys we have the most important message in the world that Jesus died for sinners like you and me. And so language matters and that means spelling matters. And then they said, dad what about math?
I said, is from the devil, okay? Divination just sounds like math. No, men Proverbs says what we need is vision. What kids were asking for is a vision. Proverbs says where there's no vision, the people cast off restraint.
That's why we stop. You know, that's why we stop growing in so many areas. You know, how many of you ever started something good for you and then you stopped? It's because, not probably because you didn't know how, you know like we all know how to grow mentally, physically, we know how to eat better, we know how to work out. Oh my gosh, spiritually I have bought so many journals and bibles.
How many of y'all have done this? You're like, you go home and you're like man this new lambskin, wide margin, left handed Gen X study Bible, this will fix me, right? No, never. The only thing that's gonna fix us is a vision from Jesus. We're looking at Matthew and Jesus starts his ministry with vision.
Come follow me, I will make you fishers of men. He ends his earthly ministry with them with vision to go and make disciples of all the nations. Our problem is vision leaks. We forget why. And when you forget the vision, not only do you stop growing spiritually, you stop fighting sin, you don't endure in trial, and you stop leaving a spiritual legacy.
I grabbed that piece of paper from Todd. Actually, you know what? I still have the piece of paper today. I I hung this on my wall for a year and a half as in college. But before I grabbed the piece of paper, Todd said, hold on, there's a problem.
And he went down our spiritual sort of upside down tree and he circled one of the people and he drew an arrow and he said, the problem is this person decided this too hard. And he broke off a branch. And then he circled another person. This person is too busy. This person is chasing money.
And he started to break off branches in that tree and he said, Claude, you know why we haven't reached the world? Is most Christians aren't a spiritual tree, they're just a stick. And I realized that day, that day in 1993, I got not only the vision for my life, but I got a warning and what it would take to stop it. I want you to write this down. This is point number one, God's vision for my life has both eternal potential and daily peril.
In the book of Matthew, we're looking at the story that Matthew writes for us of how Jesus is raising up disciples to make disciples. And at the end of Matthew, he's gonna send them out to disciple people from all the nations. But Matthew 13 is what will stop multiplication from happening. That's what this parable is about. So let's look at Matthew 13 together.
Starting in verse three, says he told many stories in the form of parables such as this one. Listen, a farmer went out to plant some seeds. Now when you hear a parable, want you to know this, that usually parables taught one main idea. And the main idea that Jesus is gonna teach in this parable is very obvious at the end that seeds are meant to multiply. If you're a farmer, seeds are meant to multiply.
So I want you to watch when he explains this. The farmer went out to plant some seeds and he scattered some across his field. Some seeds fell upon the footpath, birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on the shallow soil and underlying with underlying rock. And so the seeds sprouted quickly, but because the soil was shallow, but the plants soon wilted under the hot sun since they didn't have deep roots and they died.
Now in other words, they didn't reproduce. Other seeds, verse seven, fell among the thorns that grow up and choke out the tender plants. And then verse eight, still other seeds though, here's the point. They fall on good soil, fertile soil and they produce a crop not just a thirty, sixty, but even 100 fold times as much as he had planted. The point of this parable is do the seeds multiply or not?
And then he says this, anyone who has ears to hear, let him listen and understand. You know why he says that? Because they don't understand. They go, why do you teach in these parables? One of the reasons Jesus starts to teach in parables now in Matthew is because the movie's not over yet.
Have you ever watched a movie back for the second time and like the second time you watch it, you start to see all the Easter eggs, all the foreshadowing starts to make sense. Jesus says listen, the old testament testament prophets would have loved to see what you're seeing right now. It would have made sense of everything. This is why we tell young Christians sometimes start with the new testament. That sounds really weird, but start with the new testament because when you read the old testament, you realize everything is pointing to Jesus.
But listen to this, because they ask him, he gives them eyes to see. You can ask God today to give you eyes to see and ears to hear. He explains to him what this parable means. So let's jump down to verse 18. Now listen to the explanation of this parable about the farmer planting seeds.
The seed that fell in the foot bath represents those who hear the message about the kingdom of God, but they don't understand it. This is me with any you know crypto or creatine. Anytime we're talking about crypto or creatine, I'm just going uh-huh, uh-huh, but I not always understand it. But look at what happens, the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. You know Luke eight says this, that the devil snatches away and keeps them from believing and being saved.
This first soil is a person who never becomes a Christian. And what's so scary to me about this one is that you and I could be sitting so close. You could be sitting in church today. You can say, man, I'm baptized. I was an elder.
I was a pastor. I was confirmed. Whatever it is, you could be that close. But have you ever trusted Jesus for your salvation? If not, the gospel bounces off.
And Satan's not gonna leave that seed there for very long. Now Satan doesn't want you to believe, but listen to me Christians, you know what he's really scared of? You multiply. Verse 20, the sea that falls on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and receive it with joy. These are believers who receive it with joy, but since they don't have deep roots, they don't last long.
They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word. When you see that word fall away, it does not mean they lost their salvation because we don't believe people can lose their salvation for many reasons. You're sealed with the Holy Spirit. The the Bible accounts for people who seem to fall away that they never really believe in the first place, first John. But the real reason is listen, you can't lose something that you did nothing to earn.
Ephesians two says, men, we are saved by grace through faith is the gift of God not by your works. Fall away does not mean lose your salvation. I think it means exactly what happened to Peter when Peter denies Jesus three times. In fact, it says they're persecuted for believing God's word. These are believers who in times of persecution go dormant.
Peter fell away, but you know what? Jesus didn't say I'm done with you. He says, come back feed my sheep. He says, when you've turned back to me again, go strengthen the brothers. God doesn't say I'm done with you.
He says, come back. I got to pray with this family a couple of weeks ago that came forward at church and, they were just surrounding this little old man and I couldn't understand everything they were saying, they were so emotional, but they just had their hands on him and they said, he's back. He's back. Man, church is a church that says may come back because God says come back. Maybe there was a time you can think of where you're more vocal about your faith and you got scorched by your family.
You got scorched online and you went dormant, but you're not dead. Satan cannot take your salvation, but he can do something that's almost as bad. He can take your fruitfulness. Verse 22, the seed that falls among the thorns represents those who hear God's word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of the world and the lure of wealth and listen to this, no fruit is produced. That's his only point.
You know, the first person he talks about the with the shallow roots, they have a hard life. They face problems, suffering, persecution. This person, the lure of wealth, that sounds like a blessed life. Is it possible that your blessing and your comfort is a danger to your fruitfulness? Listen, I've traveled the world and when I come back to America, man, I love it and the American dream is both a wonderful idea and a danger.
That comfort is a danger to your faith. And if you don't believe me, to what Deuteronomy says, what God says to his people before he sends them into the promised land. And he says this, he warns them, beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God. This is Deuteronomy eight eleven through 14. In other words blessing from God comes with a warning label on it.
Beware that you don't forget your God for when you become full and prosperous, when you built fine homes and lived in them, when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else. Be careful and do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God. Listen, for some of you, you're a young Christian and you need roots. For some of us that are older Christians, you have allowed God's blessing to choke out the ministry he wants you to have in the world and I'm tired of it. Jesus gives warning.
This is almost like the Christmas Carol of the Bible. You know, Scrooge, these are the warnings in your future. But it's not a warning, he gives vision. He says, but listen, there's a seed that fell on good soil. You can be this good soil today.
And those who truly hear and understand God's word and they produce a harvest of thirty, sixty and a 100 times as much as is planted. Jesus is saying think saying think bigger. He's saying that just as seeds multiply physically, God wants you to multiply spiritually. Seeds make seeds, Christians should make Christians. This is what we're talking about today.
How do I leave a 100 x legacy in this world? How do I leave a legacy? So number one, want you to write this down. I must believe that God uses people just like me. I haven't always believed that.
My wife and I have been in ministry since we were in our twenties. And when we started the traveling team, the ministry I lead, we were traveling and preaching, 49 of the 50 states. But my youth sometimes made me insecure. And I looked younger than I was and that didn't help. I literally went to a church one time and the pastor brought me out to introduce me, and after he introduced me, he must my hair like you'd pet a puppy, and then handed me the microphone.
Oh yeah, like I wanted to come out of my skin. But it made me feel so insecure and so inadequate in that moment. Twenty six years in ministry with young people and college students, I love it. But man, we sat down with a pastor from a church in Tulsa and they wanted to ask me advice about how to reach out to young people. I knew going in, this is one of those Bible churches where like you have to have a PhD to be a greeter, and so but I went, we sat down and they started asking me and I just told my story.
I said, man, God God awakened my heart when I realized I could do this. I could have a personal ministry. I could make disciples as a college student. That's what got my heart. And the college pastor kinda smirked.
He looked at his pastor and he leaned in and he goes, Claude, do you really think a college student can disciple another college student? And my wife put her hand on my knee because she felt the the Hulk, you know, stirring. And I just said, yes sir, I've seen it. I've seen it. And what I wanted to say, man, it's the disciples.
Like I've seen the disciples. Don't know that I wanna punch them in the Bible. That's how you hurt people like that. You punch them in the Bible. I've seen it in history.
Listen, young people know they're inadequate. That's what makes them awesome. They rely on God. God loves to use the weak, the humble, the broken, the underdog, the comeback story who says yes and is faithful. He wants to use you.
I think Paul felt like this. He says this in first Timothy, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who's given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him. And most people miss verse 13, even though I used to blaspheme. May God loves to use people that say even though there's no perfect people for him to work with, just us.
Maybe you say, Claude, I've tried this before. I tried to be a light in my family. I tried to be a light at my workplace. And then I got scorched and just stopped. I've seen that happen.
I was at a conference with pastors this summer and a JD Greer was there. You may not know who that is, I was sitting next to him, he's the president of the Southern Baptist, He's a pastor himself. And he brought with him these letters, from a 10 year old in his church, Laura Beth. And he said, just wanna read you guys these letter. He doesn't always get letters in the mail, but this is what it said.
Laura Beth, she just got back from like church camp as a middle schooler. And she wrote JD, I came back from camp and I wanna be a champion for Jesus. I wanna share my faith. God has put my friends down the street on my heart, my neighborhood friends, and I want you to pray for me. Will you pray for me?
So he writes back to her, he's like, Lord Beth, you're gonna be a champion for Jesus. You go in the power of God, God's gonna be with you, you're gonna feel it, it's gonna be okay. She writes him back second letter. JD, I really don't think I can be a champion for Jesus. She says, I went down and I tried to talk to my friends at the park and JD, they laughed at me.
And I felt like a big old coward. And she goes, it really didn't help when I started crying and I got on my bike and I left. And it was you said it would go okay JD but it didn't go okay. So he goes, then I wrote back to her and he said, oh, Laura Beth listen, you were successful because you were obedient. You went and got you know, faith and you spoke the word of God.
And you know Jericho, Israel had march around Jericho seven times. You don't know if this is the fifth time, sixth time. You know, our job is to throw the rocks like David and God's job is to bring down the glass. She writes back to him again. And she says, listen, I read all those verses pastor JD that you wrote to me and you said that I would feel God's power.
Well when I went out down to the park and I talked to those people, I didn't feel it. I didn't feel it at all. I prayed and I asked God to be with me, but when they made fun of me and I started crying, I just lost it JD, l o s s e d. I lost it and I was so scared. Are you telling me to go back?
I don't think so JD, I don't think so. I'll probably mess it up again. I don't think I can ever be a witness for Jesus. I'm just a loser. So JD's like, now I gotta write a really important letter.
And he said, but before I could write a letter back, he goes, I got a fourth letter in the mail. The first line of it says JD, it's a miracle. All capitals, it's a miracle. She says, I don't know why but some of those kids came to my house today and they showed up and they began to apologize to me. They said, Lord Beth, we're sorry that we made fun of you.
You know, you were trying to tell us about your God, but when you started talking about hell and stuff, it kind of freaked us out. Alright. And I don't know if I know Jesus And I she Lord Bess said, I ran and got my bible and I turned them to Romans six twenty three and it says, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. And one of the girls said, I don't know that life and she started crying. And then she said, I knew that she needed somebody and that that somebody was me.
And she said, I hugged her. We prayed together and then PS she said, JD, you're the best friend I've ever had. Thank you bro. Listen, number two, I must decide God's vision is worth the cost. I don't know about you but I could use some courage like that right now.
Some courage like a child. Second Timothy says this, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. I don't know for you, maybe you identify with Christ and maybe it was a comment online. Maybe you were mocked. Maybe people unfollowed you.
For some of my friends around the world, they have to be careful about what they say because it could lead to prison, it could lead to danger, it could lead to death. And Jesus doesn't hide that. That's what he means in Luke nine when he says to the crowd, if any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross and daily follow me. What is it gonna take to stop you? What is it gonna take to stop you from making disciples?
Is it a comment? Is it someone making fun of you? The strangest enemy though that we have is our own blessing. Our own blessing has crowded out much of what God wants to do through us. It's choked it like thorns.
My brother-in-law, they adopted two boys from Ethiopia, they already had a daughter, they got two dogs and a small house. I remember going over and he's looking at his backyard, he's like, man, we need more room. You know, we grew up in Oklahoma where you get outside, you play in the dirt, you break your arm, you have a tree house, you know, all the good stuff. And that's what he's kind of picturing for his family. And he's like, can't afford to move.
So I went back over, you know, one day and he had chopped down his fence in his backyard. He just chopped it down. I'm like, what in the world are you doing? He goes, Claude, I've been robbed. I'm like, what are you talking about?
He's like, I'm being robbed. He goes, all of our neighbors are being robbed. He says, my neighbors have accepted that this fence line is the end of our property and it's not. He goes, I called the city in Riverside and I find out I actually own all of this land that drops down to that ravine to the next fence. I couldn't even see the other fence because it was overgrown with trees and weeds and thorns.
He's like, but I own all of this and I got three things my neighbors don't have chainsaws, college student friends and a vision. And he's like, I'm taking my land back. So I came back a few months later, literally he built a deck, you know, he had a dog run. He doubled his backyard. They had a tree house, you know, and a swing.
I was like, this is like finding Narnia, you know, in your own backyard. And his property taxes didn't go up at all because he's already praying for it or he's already paying for it. Listen, what are you being robbed of right now? I wish you could see. Gosh, I wish you could see what's on the other side of that fence that's been overgrown and stolen.
I want you to write this down, I gotta make room. I must, I wanna challenge us. Will you make room in your life to make disciples? It's gonna cost you. Gosh, most of us are unwilling to take a chainsaw to our schedule, to serve, to mentor, to disciple people, to grow.
And you're not gonna be able to run this race called the Christian life. You're being weighted down. Hebrews puts it like this, Hebrews 12, therefore since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off, let cut down, chop it down. It's not even necessarily sin, but he says, man, throw it off, throw off everything that hinders and the sin that easily entangles you so that we can run with perseverance this race that's marked out for us. God wants you to spiritually multiply.
Now here's the good news. Vines take a long time to grow, but they can be cut down quick. They can be cut down quick. It might make you look a little crazy, but they can be cut down in a day. Are you willing to have a lifestyle that's a little different than your friends?
Every Christmas, from Oklahoma, aunt Tanya flies out and I love aunt Tanya. Aunt Tanya walks with Jesus, she's single, young lady. When she was in college, she led tons of sorority girls to Christ, discipled them. They went on to make disciples. Then when she graduated, all her friends were just kinda doing the normal thing, getting married, pursuing career.
She moved to India for a year, helped start a ministry there, still going to this day. She kept making disciples, but every Christmas when she comes out, my kids are young, but like, Tanya, when are you gonna have kids? You know, aunt Tanya, when are you gonna get married? We're like kicking them under the table. You're like, shut up, you know.
But aunt Tanya just faithfully, now she's in her forties, faithfully making disciples. Well, this summer, well, every time she visits though, I'm wondering, do people think Tanya has wasted her life? That's the question I sorta that she brings to my heart every time I see her. But this summer I was in Florida with hundreds of college students. They're all from, Oklahoma.
And, I was there to speak, but when they found out I knew Tanya, I became a celebrity. And they said, no, no, no, Last week, all of us, like hundreds of them, all of us, we began to trace back our spiritual family tree. And he pulls out his phone, he goes, let me show you a picture. He traced it back seven, eight, nine generations, but guess whose name was at the top of their spiritual family tree. Tanya is not wasting her life.
Right, that lifestyle she's living for something that's gonna last. You know, why is it that I think my iPhone and my car and my bank account are gonna rise from the dead and thank me for giving my life to them? They're not. So I wanna challenge just stop living for a lifestyle. We have to start living for a legacy.
Start living for a legacy. Ezra made a decision. It says this, he set in his heart. For some reason that phrase jumped out to me this week as I reread this. He set in his heart, a decision was made to study the law of the Lord.
In other words, he needed roots to practice it or this version says to do it. In other words, to stay faithful, to persevere, to cut down the vines of the thorns. And then to teach his statutes in all of Israel to multiply. Second Timothy puts it like this, the things you've heard me say, Paul says to Timothy, the things you've heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust them to reliable people who will be qualified to teach others also. Four generations, you know, the world's definition of success is a lifestyle.
God's definition of success is a legacy. Living things multiply. Living things multiply. That's how God's designed it. In 02/2023, I went to one of my last BMX events and this guy walks up to me named Joe.
Joe's from Ohio. I've known Joe for over a decade. Joe's never been interested in spiritual things. I've tried to have conversations with him. The gospel just bounces off and he's actually a really brilliant person.
But he walks up to me, he's the last guy I would expect to say, man, I need to talk to you about my relationship with God. I was like, alright, what happened? And he said, had a dream. He said, God spoke to me in a dream. I actually thought he might have been messing with me.
First, I was like, what did God say to And he said, God spoke to me in a dream and said, Joe, your entire life, you've been playing chess with me and I've been playing chase with you. He said, I woke up in a cold sweat and I'd realized I need to talk to Claude. We started FaceTiming once a week after that. And Joe started reading the Bible on his own. He downloaded some weird app and he texted me.
He's like, I'm reading 43. It's beautiful. I'm reading 43. I had no idea what he's talking about. And the app numbers the books of the Bible.
So John's the forty third book in the Bible. Now I know that forever. I'm like, need to get him a real Bible and so I went and bought like a nice leather and I like the NLT, it's easy to understand. So I ordered this NLT bible, it's sitting on my desk and before I can mail it to Joe, he texts me out of the blue. He says, man, I went out outside and I was praying over my house and I was praying and I opened my mailbox and this is the picture he sends me.
In his mailbox is a Bible. And here's what I noticed, it's not wrapped. Like it's not even it wasn't even mailed to him. I zoom in on it, it's NLT. He's like, is this normal?
I said no, but God likes you. God must really like you Joe. And so then a few weeks later I was telling him how my burden is for all of our BMX friends. And it actually weighs kind of heavy on me sometimes. And he smiled.
He goes, oh Claude, you don't need to reach them all. And then he grabs a piece of paper and he starts writing and he starts telling me, and I might be the only person he's told this to. He says, Claude, I haven't told you this, but my wife and I, we can't have kids. And so I've always known that if I was gonna leave a legacy, it was gonna have to be an idea. And he said, Claude, you know how ideas spread?
And he holds up this piece of paper. He says, they multiply. And I said, will you hold that still for just a second? As I'm crying. Proverbs 11 verse 30 says this, the fruit of the righteous is a tree, a tree of life and he who is wise wins souls.
What does your spiritual family tree look like? What does it look like? Listen, some of you are coming this weekend and maybe you've never trusted Jesus. And so I wanna say to you very carefully, the seed of God's word might be laying right in front of you, but it's not gonna be there forever. The enemy wants to steal that away and keep you from believing.
Today might be the day for you to believe. But for those of us who know Jesus, my prayers that you would produce thirty, sixty, 100 fold. Life is a mist. Life is short. There's only time in life for one legacy, one vision.
Let's pray that together. Let's pray. I just want us to pause, and ask God, can I make room in my life? God, where can I make room in my life to make a difference in eternity? God, we bring our excuses to you, bring our schedule to you, our priorities to you.
Man, one day none of those things are gonna matter. And I think for some of us the prayers this, God, I've been dormant but I'm not dead. God, would you awaken some champions right now? And God, some of us, we say we've been distracted from reproducing disciples, but our legacy isn't destroyed. We're not going to let the enemy take it.
Would you come back? Jesus invites you to come back. God, give us a vision, that makes sin boring. It makes suffering brave. And I pray today that it would be a decisive moment like it was for me.
Jesus, you have the only vision that's worth following. Will we put our yes on the table? And God, we pray that together as a church in Jesus name, amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos: We just wanna take a moment to say thank you so much for joining us here at Sandals Church, and we pray that you would collectively set aside the lifestyle and embrace leaving a legacy as you follow Jesus. And we wanna help you do that. You can reach out to us at sandalschurch.com/pray. But also, I wanna encourage you, if you've been blessed by the work here that God is doing in and through our church, would you pray about supporting this work? To do that, you can go to sandalschurch.com/support.
Grace and peace. We'll see you next week.
Morgan Teruel: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you want more content from this series, we have a YouTube playlist linked in the description. And if you want more information about who we are and
what we do, you can
go to sandalschurch.com.