Christine Caine - You Can Grow
Hey everybody, I am so excited that you're here, I'm so excited that you've joined us today. Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us, I am fired up. We are about to start a brand new series on one of my favorite subjects in the world. It's called, you can grow. This is all about increasing your personal capacity, this is all about growing. Did you know that it is the will of God that you grow, that you multiply, that you reproduce and you can grow. This is an awesome series 'cause this has got nothing to do with dieting and losing weight, I'm giving you permission to grow, I'm giving you permission to expand, I'm giving you permission to enlarge, to stretch, to lengthen. This is the only Christian inspirational motivational show that's saying I want you to get bigger, I want you to get bigger in God. You're gonna enlarge, you're gonna stretch.
Do you know it's the will of God that every single one of us grows and enlarges. In the book of Genesis chapter one, the Lord said to... You know when he created a male and female in his image the Bible says, in Genesis chapter one verse 26 and 27, the first things that God spoke to the only thing he created in his image, he said, go forth and multiply, be fruitful, have dominion and multiply fruitfulness. Dominion and multiplication are woven into the very fabric, the very DNA of every Christian. We are not just on this planet biding time just kind of I'm a little Christian that listen to sermons and I'm just waiting for the rapturing. And that is not what it is all about, God has got a plan for us, God has got a purpose for us, God has got a destiny for us, you are on this earth on purpose, for a purpose. God knew the time and the season and the place that he placed you on this planet. I know this world is cray-cray, I know that things are chaotic, I know that there are economic and there are environmental and there are spiritual and there are political challenges around us but let me remind you greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.
We were born for this moment, we were born for this day, we were born to rise up and be all that God called us to be and do all that God's called us to do, we're called to be salt and light in the midst of our lost in a broken world. And I don't want out of fear and doubt and insecurity to pull back in this day and in this hour and to shrink. The world wants to shrink you to minimize you, to tell you that you're not good enough, to try to put you back in a box but God came to stretch us and to enlarge us and to make us bigger. I want us to be unapologetic as Christians that we're going to rise up and be all that God's called us to be and do all that God's called us to do. The same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives on the inside of us, you weren't created to live a small life, you weren't created to live an insignificant life, you were created in the image of God, you are filled with God-given purpose, with God-given potential. God's got a great grand purpose and destiny through you. God wants us to flourish in life according to the scripture.
The Bible tells us in the book of Psalms 92, it says Psalms 92 verse 12 to 16, "The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They're planted in the house of the Lord: they flourish in the courts of our God". I love this, this is what's God saying. Righteous people should flourish. Righteous people that are planted in the house of God should flourish. They still bear fruit in older age, that makes me very happy, and they are ever full of sap and green, that's right. You've just tuned in right now and you're like, I'm full of sap and green? Absolutely, you are thriving and you are full of vitality and strength and you are producing fruitful things in your life, that's what the green represents. And it goes on it says, "To declare that the Lord is upright, he is my rock and is no unrighteousness in him".
In this series, I want to inspire you to have a hunger to want to flourish in life, to have a hunger to be fruitful in life, to have a hunger to step up and into the purpose that God has put you on the planet to live for. John 15:8 it says, "By this my Father is glorified..". Let me just say, if Jesus is saying by this, my Father is glorified, I wanna know what this is. I wanna know what this is. It says that, "You bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples". So we've learned from the Psalms that we're called to flourish even into our old age. It is the legacy, it is the destiny of a Christian. Jesus tells us in the book of John, this is how God my Father is glorified, that you bear not a little bit but much fruit. You and I are put on this earth and we are fruit bearing people. We are supposed to be bearing much fruit for the glory of God. We are called to be on this earth, in this earth, salt and light on this earth. We are called to transform the world around us, to bring a slice of heaven to earth. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, where? Here on earth as it is in heaven.
And so our job is to bring a taste of heaven to earth and you have the Spirit of the living God living on the inside of you that enables you to do that. John 14:12, "Truly, truly"... Now when there's two truly's, you know it's serious, okay. It's not just truly, it's truly truly. "I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do..". And here we go, "And greater works than these will he do because I am going to the Father". I don't know about you but I am very conscious of the time that I'm on this earth. And I am very conscious that I want to be fruitful and I want to be flourishing for all of my days on this earth. I want to be fruitful and I want to multiply and Jesus said, greater works, and you know what, I don't know what they are but I want them.
If Jesus says you're gonna do them, I want to do what Jesus asked me to do. I don't want a small limited contained Christian life, I don't want a life that doesn't impact the world around me. If God put me on this planet on purpose for a purpose and filled me with his gifts and his talents for the purpose of serving my generation, then I want to spend myself in my lifetime doing what God has put me on this earth to do. I want to do the fullness of what God has called me to do. And so our text for this series is going to be in the Gospel of Matthew, and I love this Gospel and it's... You know, Jesus tells this very powerful story that I think is important for all of us right there in 25 verse 14 and you know it's Jesus talking because it's in red and Jesus always spoke in red in my Bible. It's really awesome. But it says, "For it would be it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property".
I want you to hear this. The man called his servants and entrusted to them his property.
To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents, went at once and traded with them and he made five more talents. So also he who had the two talents, made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug it in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward bringing five talents more saying, 'master, you delivered to me five talents: here I have made five talents more. His master said to him, 'well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little: I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' and he also who had two talents came forward, saying, 'master, you delivered to me two talents: here I have made two talents more. His master said to him, 'well done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, I'll set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you didn't sow, gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid, I went and I hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what's yours.' but his master answered him, 'you wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I've not sown and gather where I scattered no seed, then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers and at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interests. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has more will be given. And he who has not even what he has, will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Okay, that's really intense. I don't really know what that place is but I don't want to be anywhere where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. That's all I'm kinda saying, that's like pretty intense. But here we have a story, it's a parable that Jesus teaches to his disciples and basically he's saying, you know what, if you are going to accept the stewardship, the responsibility to use whatever we have in the kingdom of God, then you have got to make a decision that I'm gonna be faithful with whatever God puts in my hand.
We're gonna start, I've got some of my team that are gonna help me which is awesome. If you're watching this on tv, a whole bunch of them are single. So please write to me and it's going to be absolutely fantastic so the Bible says that there are there are three servants. So the three servants are going to come up here. And two one, we've got one servant standing here, two one he's going to give... We've got one here one here and one here. So these servants are coming. And this is what the scripture says that the master comes up to them and he starts to give to one. And I'm going to have five of you very quickly. These are the masters talents, the master is giving to this one five talents: one two three four and five.
Now these are my talents which is a one talent is like thousands of denari. Okay so this is more than a year's salary, more than the average person is going to make in a lifetime is each one of these talents. And so it's very profitable and so it's a measure of money. So he's giving five to this one and then... But they're his, they're mine. And I'm giving my five to this one and now I've got two more. So I'm a very wealthy master because I've got lots of these talents to give. And over here, I'm giving to this servant. I'm giving two more talents, beautiful single women. And then I've got over here, I am giving one talent over here to this servant here. Now the Bible says that the master gave each servant a talent. And that it was based according to their ability. Now I need you to understand, not according to their gift, according to their ability.
So sometimes your gift may be greater than your ability. And sometimes do you think you know why haven't I been given this massive opportunity, I've got this great singing gift or I've got this great playing gift but you go hang on. Yes you might be gifted in that one area but your ability to be able to hold the weight of responsibility that is needed at this point, you don't have that ability yet. I've got teams all around world and some of them are unbelievably gifted but that doesn't mean they have an ability to carry a whole department. That makes a difference. So a lot of times we get frustrated with God because we want to be promoted according to our gift instead of our ability. But God says no, I'm gonna increase your capacity and I'm gonna increase your ability so you're gonna be involved in a lot of stuff that you don't think is that important but you don't realize I'm building your resilience, I'm building your strength.
This is how discipleship work that you don't always get thrust into the very thing that you want to do over time. I didn't start preaching for seven years, that's not what I did. For seven years I didn't hold a microphone, I started doing a whole lot of other things. I wouldn't have known back then it was preparing me to run a global and e trafficking organization. I wouldn't have known back then it was preparing me to run a women's movement. I wouldn't have known back then as I served that I would be prepared to have a daily TV show but it was not doing the very thing I would ultimately end up doing that strengthened me to be able to sustain me to do the very thing that God had called me to do. You grow over time, you grow over time. And so he gave... Sometimes we really get things out of order at this point because we think, look what I've got. Five talents and you got no sweetheart that you haven't got, I gave them to you. I gave them to you. And I know I gave you these two, I gave you.
Sometimes your boss perhaps in your workplace, so perhaps if you're you know winning a ministry opportunity or some opportunity in life you go, well look what I'm do... We'll know you didn't really do this. I gave this to you, I gave you this ability... Now I wanna see what you're gonna do with what I gave you to see this is how it works in the kingdom. You grow to where you need to go. A lot of us were just waiting for God to drop it out of the sky. And God says no, I want you to flourish, I want you to multiply, I want you to be fruitful. No I don't want you to bear a little bit of fruit, I want you to bear much fruit but you're gonna have to grow to where you need to go. Some of you are so busy praying and God's saying get off your knees and start working. I need you to get a j o b, that's what you need to have. I need you to begin to be fruitful and begin to work. Some things where you can't pray into being, you've got to start doing in order for that to happen.
So then the Bible says that immediately, so this is a really good servant, this servant immediately went to work and it ran off and found five more. Five more, he's working them and they're doing that thing now. He took my five and he's got five more over here, there. And this one immediately went to work and there was two more. And then this one immediately didn't go to work and buried. This one, this is what he did. He absolutely buried it. And this is what some of us are like as Christians. We've got this big dream and we've seen it on Instagram and we've blogged about it and we've tweeted about it and we've told everyone this is what God has chosen me to do. I am the fourth part of the Trinity, step aside. I am here, I am God's gift to the planet. This is what I'm called to do and then we just bury whatever we've got because we're just waiting for God to do it.
Now this is what the scripture says but let me not read anything into the text. I don't even need to read into this. It's it red, Jesus said it, came out of his mouth in red right here. This is what he says, "Now after a long time..". The master went away for a long time, he's not micro managing everything. See I wonder some of you are looking for God to open doors of opportunity, you're looking for doors of promotion. See a lot of us we think if I just turn up a church and if I just sing my hymns the right way, and if I just look really good and I look like I'm putting the right amount in the offering and when everybody's watching, I'm not gonna say any four-letter words that are not in the Bible but when anyone's not watching... And Jesus has gone the master went away for a really long time. Sometimes you're not gonna be micro managed, what do you like when you're not being micro managed when no one but you and God know who you're sleeping with and is it your spouse? What you're looking at on a magazine and is it anything that's going to glorify God?
See all the stuff that you think doesn't matter, it actually matters, it actually really does matter. And goes, the master went away for a really long time and then he went to work so then he comes back and it says, "And here you had received five talents came forward..". Come forward, "... And bring me the five talents more". The more, so not my mine 'cause they're still mine but these are the more and this one incidentally is my firstborn. And so here the Bible says that, "He gave him five talents more, his master said to him..". So I'm about to say to you even though you're a her. "Well done good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a little, I'm gonna make you ruler over much. Enter into the joy of your master". And the faithfulness was the fruitfulness of these five. The faithfulness wasn't them, they're mine. The faithfulness was what he produced and what he gave back to the master. So it's the same over here.
The scripture goes on and says, "He also who had two talents came forward," Michelle single too, saying, 'master you delivered to me two talents, here I have made two more. Here is the two more talents.' his master said to him, her, 'well done good and faithful servant, you've been faithful over a little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' then he comes to this one. This is where it gets interesting. And he came forward and he said, "Master I knew you to be a hard man..". Isn't it interesting that the three servants saw the same master and your perspective determines what you come out with. I'm the same person. These two saw the master as someone that gave them opportunity. These two were like oh, you gave me an opportunity to grow and to multiply, you gave me five, look I gave you five more, you gave me two, look I gave you and the same master, this servant goes I knew you to be a hard man. Isn't it interesting how you can be the same person and people will view you differently. Something oh man she's hard, gee she's tough, gee that's really... And the other people like, I can't believe I get that opportunity.
How you perceive God is gonna determine how you reproduce for God. And if you see him as the loving God, a loving Father that gives you opportunity to grow and to multiply and to reproduce, you're gonna say okay, I'm in a hard place but God you've given me a shot. I'm gonna show you, I'm gonna give you more, I'm gonna make it... Say he goes, I knew you gonna be a hard man and over here he says that I'm getting into this part. I've made two talent, here... I hid your talents so I was afraid... This is what fear will make you do in life. It'll make you not multiply and not reproduce. Fear is gonna make you pull back and try to just protect what you already have. You won't take any risks, you won't take any steps of faith, you'll step back and your protect. It says, "So I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, have what it's yours".
Are you kidding me? No you're very nice but stay there. Okay so here have what is yours and the master looked at him and he said, "You wicked and lazy servant," he goes, "You ended up doing nothing with what I gave you. If you know I reap where I've not sown, I gathered where I scattered not, see then you oughta have invested my money..". At the very least, you should have at least put it in the bank and given me a little bit of interest. "For to everyone who has, more will be given". Can you stand up for me now. So to everyone who has, so he takes this one in the scripture and he adds, gives it to the one that's got five. So what is my whole point with all of this. He calls him a wicked and lazy servant. See we often call things faithful that God calls wicked and lazy. In the scripture, faithfulness and fruitfulness are synonymous.
We call someone faithful because they turn up every week and put the cute little rusty dusty on a pew and go well, aren't they faithful. Sister Gertrude's been running the women's miseries for 45 years. It hasn't grown, no one's gotten saved but their faith. That's not called faithful. In the scripture faithfulness and fruitfulness are synonymous. Is your life fruitful? Because if it's not, scripture says it's wicked and lazy and he says to him who has, more will be given. So this is the whole point of this series. You have the ability to either increase or decrease your personal capacity. The one that started with five, they had a capacity each according to their ability. Had the capacity to be able to steward five, they ended the parable with 11. The one that started with two ended the parable with four. The one that started with one ended with none. You can increase or you can decrease your personal capacity depending on what you do with what God has given you.
Are you going to put it to work? And a lot of us we get our nose out of joint because those that have more are added but God said we go, everyone should have equal and if this small thing, why should that big church have more people? God says, really? If they're doing a whole lot more with what I've given them, on return on investment, I'm getting a better return on investment. We think the one that's doing nothing should get more and God says, why would I give you more to mismanage if you're not already managing what I've given you? I'm gonna give them more to manage because I'm gonna reap a harvest that is great. Let me tell you the whole point of all of this. God has given each one of us the opportunity to either increase or decrease our personal capacity. He gives us and puts a little into our hand and he says, if you're faithful with a little, you'll become ruler over much. If you start with the capacity for two, you can end with a capacity for four. If you start with the capacity for five, you can end with the capacity for 11. It is up to you, you can choose to grow to where you need to go in Jesus name.
Part 2
Hey everyone. How are you doing? I'm so excited that you've joined us today. I'm so glad that you've tuned in. I know that God has a powerful word for your life. I'm so enjoying this series as we're learning how to increase our personal capacity. It is the will of God that we bear much fruit, that we live highly effective and highly fruitful lives in our Christian life. You know, a lot of Christians get saved and they don't realize that they're saved for a purpose, that we are saved from, to Jesus. We're saved from sin and from death to Jesus for his purpose here on earth. And we have got a world that's in a lot of confusion. We have got a world that's in chaos. We've got a world that's in darkness and it needs the people of God, the church of God to know who we are in Christ and to step up and into our God-given purpose.
See, a lot of us we think that people are just kind of born, you know there's sort of the lucky people and everybody else. There are the people that born with a silver spoon in their mouth and main they're just so gifted, they're just so talented. I don't really have a chance. There is nothing that God can do with me. And I think we've been looking at the parable of talents in Matthew 25 and we've learned that you can grow to where you need to go. You actually have the ability to increase or decrease your personal capacity. I know when I first found that out, it was like rhema revelation to me. I mean, I'm the kid that was left in a hospital, unnamed and unwanted. I'm the kid that doesn't even have a name on my birth certificate. I've just got a number: 2508 of 1966. I was sexually abused for many years of my life. I lived in such brokenness. I lived with such fear, such shame, such guilt, such unforgiveness, such hurt.
I grew up in the poorest zip code in my state, very marginalized because of my ethnicity. My parents were immigrants from Alexandria in Egypt into Australia and because of my gender certainly I grew up in a culture where women were not esteemed and women were not encouraged to flourish in any other way. And so I grew up with a mindset that thought, well, this is just my lot in life. This is just is just how, and a lot of us, that's how we think. We think, well, I've just grown up in a poor family, I've just come from the wrong neighborhood. There's always been addictions in our family. Everyone kind of my blood line has either been an alcoholic or a drug addict and, you know, everyone kind of had a baby when they were young and that's just kind of how it worked and, you know, none of the dads ever stuck around or none of the mums. And we just think this is how life is.
Some people are just born to live successful lives and then there's just everybody else. But I believe that you've tuned into this T.V. Program today because God wants you to know that you were created in the image of God and let me tell you your level of success in life, your level of flourishing in life, it is not dependent on your ethnicity, your gender, your socioeconomic background, on how you started in life, or who you surround yourself with. What it is determined by if you're a Christ follower is who you are in Christ. And if you are in Christ, you have every spiritual blessing you need. You have everything you need pertaining to life and Godliness. There is the seeds for greatness in you. You are designed for accomplishment. You are engineered for success. You are a masterpiece of God. You are created in the image of Almighty God and you are filled with God-given destiny and God-given purpose. God has a plan for you.
But it was revelation to me to go, okay, so Christine you can accept that this is the zip code that you've come from, this is the kind of family tradition that you come from. You could just be another long line in that or you could make a decision that in and with Christ, you've drawn a blood line in the sand and you said, you know what, with me, things are gonna change, that I know, you know, I was left in a hospital unnamed and unwanted and I cannot change that, but I can the future for my children. I can change the future for the generations that are coming after me. I know that I was conceived in iniquity and that my biological parents, you know, were either in either some kind of adulterous affair or something happened and I, but you know what, just because that's how I got here, doesn't mean that I have to continue that down the line. I can make a decision that I can change all of that. Things can be different because of who I am in Christ. I am born again. I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus. Behold, the old things have passed away. All things have become new.
So you can start, and you know, there's some good benefits for being adopted and not having any of your records about anything before because then when you go to the doctor, they say, "Do you have a history of this"? I go, "I don't know, no, no". And I say to my doctor, "No, no, I got a new blood line. I've got the blood of Jesus, I'm okay". He said last time he checked, you know, last time I checked, he's pretty healthy. We're doing okay. It's alright, you know? I've got a new gene pool. I don't know what Cray Cray I came from, but I do know that I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus. It's really helpful. It's really great. Ignorance is bliss, it's wonderful. It's just like I'm in Christ. That's all I can say to you. I've got his blood and I'm part of his DNA so that's awesome. I've been adopted into the family. Yup, that's me. I'm the Cray Cray cousin from Australia. That would be me. That means I don't have to accept that what was in the past has to be what's in the future.
And some of you, you've never known that you can change. You've thought I just have to accept this. This is what I was born into. This is my lot in life. Yet the Psalmist says, "He makes my lot to fall in pleasant places". That was rhema revelation when I found that out. When I had for the first time and someone, you're just getting that right now. I can't even express to you how important this is that you're watching this. When I thought, you mean, I don't have to just accept this? You mean, there are not just some lucky people in life and some unlucky people in life? Now I cannot change how you started in life, but I am living proof that you ca start bad and finish good. I am living proof that in and through a relationship with Jesus Christ, your history doesn't need to define your destiny. I am living proof that you can grow to where you need to go.
Now when I started, I couldn't run a global organization. Well, I could I seed form, but I didn't have the capacity at that time. Well, 30 years later, I can now run 15 offices in 13 countries and growing. I can run thousands of propel chapters in over 50 countries and growing. I can have a daily t.V. Program. You know when I started, I couldn't memorize two verses. I don't think I cold say anything that made sense with three points and an introduction and a conclusion and now I've got to turn this on every single day. You grow to where you need to go. Where you are gonna get frustrated and where you are gonna quit is when you think you've got to start where you're gonna end up. No one ever starts where they end up.
I didn't start here 30 years ago. I started by driving six kids to youth because that's the only capacity that I had at that time. That was the ability that I had. And as I poured into those six girls as I told you that we then went into a youth center and then we went into a state youth movement and then went to a national evangelistic organization and then it went into a21, a global anti-trafficking organization, and then propel women and then daily t.V. And then teaching around the world and then best-selling books. It didn't just start. The first book that I wrote, it was hilarious. It was 53 pages in 16 point font, 16 point font! I mean, I was reading it the other day and we just laughed. 53 pages in 16 point font and every fourth page was a blank page so you could write notes. That's all I had to say about everything.
And nowadays, by the grace of God, we write out books and Bible studies that are hopefully full of, you know, the wisdom and grace of God that are helping people, but I didn't start there. I didn't start there. I started with 16 point font and a blank page every four pages and that still only got to 53. But where are you gonna start? Some of us, we never start. We are like the person that buries the talent. We're just burying it, putting it underground, doing nothing. I'm just gonna wait. No, no, no, I know I feel this call to be a worship leader, but I don't know want to go to worship practice because I'm too good and if the pastor really saw how good I was, he'd get a word of knowledge about me and I was just Levitate across the room and I would just stand on the platform and begin to lead worship and I would write songs that are better than oceans. Because I'm just so gifted. And I could out-preach Chris Caine.
I know, but you could, but you need to get out of bed. You need to actually write some sermons somewhere. And I find the difference between often those that do something significant for the Lord and those that don't is just some will actually just get up and do it. And they'll take the five or the two and they'll start putting it to work. And do you notice that the Lord didn't say much different to the five and the two? He said, "Well done, good and faithful servant". Exactly the same thing. So it's not a matter of whether you do a lot.
See, in our day of Instagram and Twitter and Facebook and Snapchat, we think it's got to be spectacular. You know, we put all the right filters on it and everyone's got to have a look at it and it's this big, great ministry and, man, if I'm not running a global anti-trafficking organization, I'm not... When I started it, I didn't know it was going to be that. I started it for one person. And I did for one. Now we do it for thousands or millions potentially, but it's for one, but it's only ever been for the one. God gives the increase, not me. One sows, another waters, but guess who gives the increase? God.
A lot of us, we are sitting and waiting for God and God is waiting for us to get up and start to increase our capacity, to embrace the stretch, to do some things that are uncomfortable, to take some risks, to start a new course, to get around some new people, to get into some friendship circles that make us a little bit uncomfortable so that we can stretch, so that we can grow, that we research, turn the television off, and start researching and start reading and start learning. Build your capacity so that God can pour more of himself into you and do more through you on the earth. That's how it works. That's how it works, but you've got to build your capacity.
And so my deal is that a lot of times we get our nose out of joint because people that appear to have a lot seem to get more. And we go, well, that's just because they're big. Well, there's probably a degree of truth in that. But here is the deal. The Bible says, "To him who has, more will be given". Now that runs so contrary to a lot of our thinking and we think, well, they just deserve more because they're just little and struggling. And there may be a case where that's true. I'm not dismissing that. But I'm saying, by and large, if you're ineffective with what you have, and you're mismanaging what you have, why is God gonna give you more to mismanage? He's not going to do that.
And if God thinks, you know what, they're doing a whole lot and I can trust them, that they're rescuing people and they're bringing them through a restoration program and they've got sponsors for freedom and their money's going far and they're being integrous with what they're using it for, you know what, you can add to them more because I know that I'm gonna get a great return on investment there. There is gonna be great fruitfulness there. They are multiplying, they're reproducing. Why should I give more to the one that's buried their talents, the one that won't do anything, the one that's just waiting for the opportunity, the one that's not even gonna get out of bed and work a little bit, the one that's not gonna stay at a job that they don't like a little bit longer just so that they can grow the capacity that they need to do what I've called them to do?
This generation just jumping from one thing to the next, not staying committed to anything, not building any capacity. You know what, your gift is gonna carry you for awhile, but eventually it's gonna catch up with you because you're not gonna have the capacity to carry what God wants you to carry. Your gift can carry you, but can you carry what God wants you to carry to your generation? That's an entirely different thing. For you to be able to carry what God has called you to carry to your generation, your capacity's got to enlarge, your capacity's got to stretch, you have got to become bigger on the inside. And we see that. We see the fact that a lot of us, we kind of get our nose out of joint and we think, you know, God it's not fair, you're harsh, God, you've got favorites, it's not fair. And God's going, "No, no, no, no, you're just lazy".
I like it, some people go, "Chris Caine, you're blunt". I'm nothing on God. God is so direct. He says, "You wicked and lazy servant". And it is fascinating to me how we as Christ followers often call faithful what God calls wicked and lazy. Have you been faithful with your life? He says to both of them, the five talent Christian and the two talent Christian, "Well done good and faithful". How beautiful. And the reason he said, "Well done good and faithful," is because they multiplied. Fruitfulness and faithfulness are synonymous in the scripture. Fruitfulness and faithfulness are synonymous. He says, "Well done good and faithful". I think that's pretty awesome.
So whether you're a five talent Christian or a two talent Christian, as long as you're faithful with what God's put in your hand, you're gonna get exactly the same reward in heaven. That's pretty wild. That's pretty wild. You're not responsible for my fruitfulness. I'm responsible for my fruitfulness, but you are responsible for what's in your hand. There's no point in you going, "Well, I don't have what Chris Caine has and I don't..". God's not asking you to have what I have. He's asking me to give an account for my life. You've got to give an account for your life. And you know, when I think about that, I think about the well done good and faithful there. There's a lady at church, the church I grew up in and you know she just loves, loves vacuuming the floors and volunteered, you know, several afternoons a week and she kind of had a super vacuum on her back, you know, one of those, she's like superwoman man and she would just like, you wanted to get out of her way. I mean, if you were in an intimate counseling appointment, it didn't matter.
If she was gonna vacuum this day, this was it. You knew that church was clean, 100% clean. And you know, she was just, she was so so awesome and had just a few health challenges, but this is how she served Jesus. This was the thing that she loved to do was come and vacuum the floors. Well, let's just say on judgment day when we stand before the Lord, she's gonna go in and say I'm standing behind her, and just imagine that moment. She walks in and looks into the eyes of Jesus and just the instant healing and wholeness that will come. And he will look at her and if she's done everything God's called her to do, faithfully vacuum those floors several times a week for decades because she loved to do it, she's gonna hear the most beautiful words: "Well done good and faithful servant. Well done, come and enter into the master's rest".
And say, let's just say I step in after her. And let's just assume and hope that I have done what I am called to do on the earth. Let's just hope and maybe my life has been a little bit more visible and it appears to be of a greater magnitude through the work of a21 and propel and whatever else I'm doing and nobody knows really this person that's been vacuuming the floors in the back of Sydney, Australia, but you know, but let's just assume I've done at best, top end, the absolute best that I could get and hope for, if I've done what Jesus has asked me to do is he'll look at me and go, "Well done, good and faithful servant, next". Now that is awesome. Much better than the alternative let me just say. But what I am saying to you as long as you have done the thing that God has called you to do, that is all that you are responsible for, to be fruitful and to multiply the thing that God has called you to do. You're not responsible for my life. You're not responsible for anybody else's life. Each one of us wants to hear, "Well done good and faithful servant". Our own well done, that's what it comes down to.
So how do we do that? How do we enlarge our capacity? How do we multiply and reproduce because I don't think God's into division or subtraction. He's into multiplication. "I want you to multiply". That's what he says in Genesis 1:28, multiply. God is into multiplication. So how does God's math work? You've got to think differently if that's the case. Multipliers think differently to people that add or subtract. People who multiply think how can I do this? How is this gonna happen? They're not thinking, oh man, I don't have the skills, I don't have the gifts, I don't have the ability. What happens is you don't worry and you don't sit around talking about it. You just start moving. You go, "Okay, I'm gonna get this happening". When we started propel, it was like I don't really know, but let's get moving. We're gonna figure it out as we go. That's what multipliers do.
People like me, it's like shoot first, aim later. Let's just go and we're gonna start moving and we're gonna figure this and that's how we've grown a21. You know, 10 years later, that's how we've grown propel is that you start moving because multipliers are thinking how. How am I gonna get this done? I'm gonna get this done. No is not an option. And so I'm not gonna look at my limitations. I'm gonna look at my opportunities, and, you know, multipliers understand that they're not looking for balance. They understand that there's seasonal imbalance. And so if you're looking for everything to be balanced, you know, like scales, they're just balanced. They're not moving when they're balanced. I'm not not moving. I want to go forward. That means I have seasons.
So when I writing a book, now I don't live a balanced life where I just write two sentences a day for 25 years and then there's a book. When I'm writing a book for three months, I live a very imbalanced life. It has a lot of my attention, it has a look of my focus, there's a lot of other things I don't do because that's where I'm, but that's okay because when that three months is over, I tip it over here and I'll be doing a whole lot of other stuff. So I think if you can get comfortable with a perfectly imbalanced life and stop looking for balance because you're not gonna find balance this side of eternity. Balance means static and it's not moving like a set of scales. I don't want a static life. I don't want a life that's not moving so I'm gonna live a perfectly imbalanced life.
There are seasons where some things are just like full on. If I'm traveling, you know, I did an outcry tour. I did 13 cities in 18 nights. That was not balanced. I wasn't home for dinner every night. But that was okay. It wasn't forever. It was for those 18 nights and that worked. Six and a half thousand people came to Christ. Amazing things happened around the place. So was it a good season of imbalance? Absolutely. And so I've learned in my life that there are different season of imbalance rather than seeking balance and it works out really well. And you know, multipliers look at results. Man, we are very results focused. So how is your fruitfulness? Are you looking at your life and saying, "Is my life being fruitful? Are these friendships fruitful? Are these relationships taking me to my destiny? Are these conversations speaking life or death? Are the things that I'm reading building me up"?
I analyze every aspect of my life: what I'm watching, what I'm listening to, in my car. My car is my university. I'm always playing podcasts. I'm always learning, I'm always growing because I want to keep building my capacity because until the day I die, I get to choose how much I want to grow. I get to choose and I want to continue to increase and I want God to use me. Multipliers prioritize and multiply their time. So we make sure that, you know, everyone have you noticed how stressed out everyone is? Everyone's got no time for anything and I'm like, wow, wow. And yet if I want to get something done, I give it to the busiest people on my team because they are the ones that I know they're gonna figure out a way to multiply their time. And everyone says that if you want to get something done, give it to someone that's busy because they're gonna work out how to prioritize their time and multiply their time and you're gonna find these people don't waste time.
Now, they're not workaholics either. They know how to have fun, they know how to have joy. They're just not gonna waste a whole lot of time. They're gonna leverage their time, their relationships, their resources to get maximum results. So we need to be thinking along those lines. And we just keep eliminating constantly. Just get rid of the stuff that you don't need. Some of you are too attached to your stuff, too attached to your schedule. You've made an idol out of your schedule. You're made an idol out of your leisure life. You've made an idol out of your routine. You're got to stay flexible and continue to trim the fat and go, "I don't need this in my life. I don't need to be doing this". And then what happens is you've got to make a decision that I'm gonna act now. It's harvest time.
The Bible says that, you know, Jesus said, "Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into the harvest. The harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few". I don't know if you know much about farming. I'm not a farming chick, but I know enough to know that during the harvest time, the farmer is not asleep. During the harvest time, the farmer is not on his computer playing games. During the harvest time, the farmer barely ever sleeps. He gets on that truck and he begins to harvest. This is harvest time on the earth. It's time for the people of God to be fruitful, to get with the program, to increase our capacity, to grow and to multiply and to bear much fruit for our father's glory in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name. Amen.