James Merritt - The Domino Effect
The domino effect actually refers to this cumulative effect that’s pronounced when one event sets off a series of related events and it causes a chain reaction. I’ll give you a perfect example, classic example. Matter of fact, it was the domino effect that literally ended World War II. You see, the domino effect in what we call a nuclear or an atomic bomb.
Now, the principle’s very simple, but the application’s very powerful. When a nuclear bomb is detonated, this is what happens. The first atom splits. That releases more neutrons. And each one of those splits another atom. And before you know it, you’ve got this unstoppable, explosive chain reaction. But it all starts with that first domino, just the splitting of one atom brought the nation of Japan to its knees. Just the splitting of one atom, estimate now we probably maybe saved two million lives. But there’s also a domino effect in your spiritual life. There’s a spiritual principle, a spiritual, if you will, domino effect.
Jesus talks about it in the Sermon on the Mount, which is the greatest sermon. Every priest in the history of the world, if you’re existing with us today or your a guest on line, we have been in a series on the Sermon on Mount we’ve been calling, «Get Used to Different». And what we’ve been learning is that if you’re going to follow Jesus, really follow Jesus, not just in lip service, but I mean really go all-in in following Jesus, you’re going to live a radically different lifestyle, in a world that doesn’t follow Jesus most of the time, if even at all. But you see, here’s the thing you need to hear, there’s more to the domino effect, spiritually speaking, than just making sure that you knock down the first domino.
In the spiritual world, in fact, in the business world, in fact, in your personal world, you better make sure the first domino ought to be the first domino. You better make sure the first domino is the right domino because if your first domino is the wrong domino, all the other dominoes will fall in the totally wrong direction. I have an author I love to read. I’m into philosophy and Christian logic, and his name is Os Guinness. He’s a brilliant thinker. And Os Guinness was talking about just managing time. And here’s what he had to say. You’ll resonate with this. He said, «We now live in a world of speed, stuff and stress. And under the relentless tyranny of the urgent now, the boundaries between work and leisure, public and private, are dissolving, so that we have no rest and we’re all forced to be time jugglers and multitaskers. We’re all rats in the rat race. We are all overwhelmed by all we have to do. And we struggle with priorities to remember and agendas to keep under control».
I read the other day, somebody said, «We’ve gone from the survival of the fittest to the survival of the fastest». And if you don’t believe that, get on Interstate-85 tomorrow morning at seven o’clock, you know exactly what everybody is talking about. The latest survey said, and I’m really kind of surprised, the latest survey that just came out last week said that 71% of Americans believe that America is on the wrong track.
Now, the reason why that surprises me is because, frankly, I would’ve thought it would’ve been 100%. And it has nothing to do, by the way, it’s not a political shot, it has nothing to do with who’s in the White House. It has nothing to do with who’s controlling the Congress. It has nothing to do with how many conservative and liberal justices there are on the Supreme Court. The reason why I think and I believe we’re on the wrong track, and we have been for maybe centuries, is because we keep knocking down the wrong domino. And if you knock down the wrong domino first, all the other dominoes will fall in the wrong direction.
So the question is raised, of course, «Well, what is the right domino»? Well, I’m glad you ask. I don’t know, but Jesus did. And he tells us in this one simple sentence, and if you brought your booklet with you today, just turn to page 16 and you can write these notes down. Here’s what Jesus said is the very first domino. Jesus said, «Seek,» everybody say that word. Say it loud. All right, so this first. That’s not what I’m saying, this is what the Son of God says, «Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well».
So let’s stop for a moment. Why don’t we all just get honest with ourselves right now? Let’s just get honest with each other. You can’t lie to God anyway. Let me ask you a question. Be honest, what really is the first domino in your life? You really can’t hide it. Matter of fact, as I look at our country, as I look at our culture, as I look at our community, I see at least four dominoes that people are putting first in their life. One or more of these may be applying to you.
Some people seek first financial independence. They work overtime. They’re trying to climb the corporate ladder. They wanna make all the money that they can. They wanna get to a point someday where they can retire early. They wanna be financially independent. They don’t wanna be needing anything from anybody. They want to have all the money that they could ever spend, and even more. They don’t wanna just live the American Dream, they wanna be the American Dream. And there are a lot of people like that. In our consumeristic, materialistic culture, there are a lot of people.
That’s their first domino, financial independence. But then for some people, their domino’s personal happiness. And that’s where some of you probably are, subliminally, you may not realize it. All you really care about is you wanna be happy. For example, let’s be honest, as long as the illegal immigrants are not coming across our driveway, we kind of go to sleep at night, 'cause we’re happy. As long as we’ve got what we want, what we need, what we desire, we don’t think a lot about other people and poor and the less fortunate because we’re happy. We just want to be happy. We wanna live a carefree life. Whatever makes us happy, that’s what we do, that’s what we eat, that’s what we drink, that’s where we go. We just wanna be happy.
And then for some people, and this is real big for young people, they want celebrity status. «I want a lot of followers on Instagram. I want everybody to know who I am on TikTok. I want everybody to know we’re Facebook friends. I want everybody to be just, I mean, just blessed by my Twitter feeds». Everybody wants celebrity status. Everybody wants to know, «I want you to know who I am. I want you to know where I live. I want you to know what I’m eating in this restaurant. I want you to know when I’m reading this book. I want you to know every boring thing about my life. I want celebrity status. Doesn’t matter if it’s the silver screen, social media, I want the red carpet pulled out for me everywhere I go. I want people to know who I am, and I’m a big deal».
And then I know you know this one, there are a lot of people, their first domino’s political power. They wanna be the people that pull the lever. They wanna be the people that fly the plane. They wanna be the people that steer the car. They wanna be the person that tells us how to spend our money, how to run our life. Now let me just be honest with you. I’m not standing up here telling you necessarily any of those things are wrong. I’m not saying that at all. But I wanna challenge you with something. The reason why none of those things should ever be the first domino in your life is because they may give you what they want, they will never give you what you need.
So, «What do you mean»? Well, you may want financial independence, but all you need is food, shelter and clothing. You may want personal happiness, but what you really need is eternal joy. You may want celebrity status, but all you really need is to know God and to make sure God knows you. You may want political power, but what you need is lasting significance. And so when you get to the end of your life, here’s the sad thing, if you get to the end of your life and you look back and you say, «I got everything I wanted,» but you never got what you needed, you have lived a failed, miserable life.
That’s why the domino principle is such a big deal, because I’m gonna tell you something that, again, I’m one of those guys, I like to make things simple. I’ve told you this many, many, many, many, many, many times. One of my favorite things about Jesus is he just simplified the complicated. We complicate the simple, he just simplified the complicated. And so as I was working on this message, it hit me like a ton of bricks. There are only two things that you need to, you might wanna write these two things down. You might wanna teach these to your kids and grandkids.
There’s only two things you need in your life. There’s only two things your kids need. There’s only two things your grandkids need. Here they are. You need to know God before you die. Whatever else is true, if that’s not true about you, you have blown it in your life. But you need to glorify God while you live. That’s the only two things you need. Know God before you die and glorify God while you live. You know why they come in that order? Because if you’re not ready to die, you’re not ready to live. So you know God before you die and you glorify God when you live.
Now, if you do those two things, the domino effect will kick in and everything else will fall into place. So in this simple little sentence that Jesus is giving us right now, «Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,» if you keep that domino first, here’s what God says will happen. Watch this. «When you go after what God wants for you, what you need will come to you. When you go after what God wants for you, what you need will come to you». So there are four things that are involved in making sure you got the right domino and you’re knocking it down. You ready? Four things, real quick.
Number one, first thing you gotta do, you gotta seek the ruler of the kingdom. That’s domino one, you gotta seek the ruler of the kingdom. Let’s go back to those very first two words, because Jesus identifies this first domino. He says, «Seek first,» so whatever comes next, I got it, Lord. That is the first domino. By the way, that word seek, it literally means to strive for it diligently. It means to desire extremely strongly. It means to have the hunger of a man who hasn’t eaten for three days. You just got this passion, «I want to seek his kingdom and his righteousness».
And oh, by the way, in the Greek language, the tense of that verb denotes continuous action. So what Jesus really said was this, «Keep on seeking first». That is, every day of your life, when you get out of bed, before you do anything else, you make sure you’re doing this first. And here’s why. If your number-one priority in life is to seek God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, he said, «Then everything you do ought to be filtered through those two things. Where you work, how you spend your time, who you hang out with, the person you marry, the things you buy, what you keep, what you give away». He said, «You ought to always be asking these questions, 'Is this for the kingdom? Does it relate to his righteousness? '» It’s, «What am I about to do? Where am I about to go? What am I’m about to say? Is this for his kingdom? Does it relate to his righteousness»?
Let me just stop, I just wanna make sure you’re not going to sleep on me. Do you understand how powerful what I’m saying is? Do you understand how powerful this domino effect is? Do you understand just what this domino effect can do in your life? Do you understand that if today you were to make a new commitment or maybe a first-time commitment, do you understand, if you were to make sure, «Everything I do for the rest of my life I’m gonna do for his kingdom and for his righteousness,» do you understand how transforming that would be in your life?
It would transform your marriage. It would transform your personal relationships. It would transform you as a parent. It would transform you as a son or a daughter. It would transform the way you work. It would absolutely change your home. But there’s something you gotta remember, and this is, sometimes people forget this, some pastors have preached on this message, they missed it. Before you can seek first the kingdom, you’ve got to seek first the king, because you won’t even know where the kingdom is or what the kingdom’s all about until you know the king of the kingdom. That’s why the very first priority of your life is to make sure every day you seek the king of the kingdom.
Now, you say, «Well, how do you do that»? It’s real simple, simple, easy. You do it two ways. You seek the king through his word and through your worship. That’s how you seek the king, through his word and through your worship. Now, I’m not trying to be legalistic here. I’m not trying to be a pharisee here. I realize everybody’s got different schedules, some of you are night owls, some of your morning people, I get all of that. But I’ll make a suggestion. Even if you have to get up just a few minutes early, if you will spend the first part of your day in the word of God, if you’ll spend the first part of your day talking to God, praising God, thanking God, worshiping God, connecting with God, I’ll make a promise to you.
You will be more ready to go to work. You’ll be more ready to attack that to-do list. You will be more ready to respond to things that may happen today that you don’t even know is coming than you could ever imagine. Because as I get older, and I’m coming more, as all of us are one day, to the end of our lives, you know what I’m beginning to realize? As I look back on my life, if I’ve learned any one thing, I’ll tell you what I’ve learned. I look back on my life and I realize, the only thing I need and the only thing you really need is not a thing, it’s Jesus. That’s all you need. You may want anything else, but all you really need is Jesus. That’s why the place that Jesus wants to occupy in your life is first place. He doesn’t just want you to do that at the end of your life, but every day of your life.
See, here’s the problem that I battle with as a pastor. I pastored five churches, and all of my life, here’s what I’ve seen, for the vast majority of people. They don’t mind giving Jesus a place in their life, but they’re not really keen on giving Jesus preeminence in their life. And I’m not here, I can say this now 'cause it’s passed, 'cause I don’t do this on these two times a year, but I learned the other day, there’s a term I didn’t know.
There’s a term called Chreaster Christians. You know what Chreaster Christians are? They come Christmas and Easter, that’s it. They’re Chreaster Christians. Two times a year, they come. But even on those two days, they may give Jesus a place in their life, but they don’t really give Jesus prominence in their life. And see, I want you to understand this. Jesus does not want a place in your life. Jesus doesn’t even want prominence in your life.
Jesus wants preeminence in your life. He doesn’t want to be 1A, 1B, there’s only 1A and he’s it. He said, «Everything else, I mean your wife, your kids, your health, your money, your life, your future, everything else comes in second. I wanna be first». You gotta seek first the ruler of the kingdom. You put him in first place every day in every way. So if you’re sitting there right now, maybe the Holy Spirit of God’s convicting you and you’re saying, «You know what, Pastor? I wanna do that. I’d like to start today and I’d like to give Jesus the place he deserves, first place in my life,» let me just give you a simple challenge. Might wanna write these down. Just four things I’d suggest. And this will move you way down the road.
First of all, give Jesus the first part of every day. Secondly, give Jesus the first day of every week. Third, give Jesus the first part of every paycheck. Fourth, make Jesus the first choice in every decision. I make a money-back guarantee, it will revolutionize your life. It will so change your life. You will see people in a different way. You’ll see life in a different way. You will live in a different way. But it begins, you gotta seek first the ruler of the kingdom. Now, how do you know you’re doing that? Because if you do that, then you’ll do the next thing. Once you seek the ruler of the kingdom, then you will surrender to the rule of the kingdom.
So the first thing I’ve gotta do, I’ve gotta seek the ruler of the kingdom, but then I’ve got to surrender to the rule of the kingdom, 'cause how do you know? «Pastor, how do I know I’m really seeking first the ruler? How do I know that’s the first domino in my life? How do I know»? Well, it’s real easy. Just take today, did you get up this morning with this determination? «I just wanna do whatever the king wants me to do. I just wanna go wherever the king wants me to go. I just wanna be whatever the king wants me to be». Because if you get up every day and you say every day of your life, «I wanna do what you want me to do, be what you want me to be, go where you want me to go, say what you want me to say, live however you want me to live,» then you understand what it means to seek first the kingdom of God.
Now, when we define kingdom, you’ll see what Jesus meant, because when people think about the word kingdom, that’s referring to the rule and the reign of a king. When people think about the kingdom of God, they think about a place, like the Magic Kingdom in Disney World, like in Orlando. That’s not what Jesus is talking about. When Jesus talks about the kingdom, he’s not talking about a place, he’s talking about the rule, the reign of the kingdom, the authority of that kingdom. In other words, he’s talking about a lifestyle. I mean, you think about it, we don’t live in a kingdom, but just imagine for a moment the United States was a kingdom. Every kingdom has a king, and every king has a throne. And that throne is the seat of authority where the king rules and the king reigns. Now, what do the subjects of a kingdom do?
Well, they do whatever the king wants them to do. They have one agenda, «I wanna do the will of the king, because it’s his kingdom and he is the king and he is control. His is the only word that matters. His is the only word that goes». So I want you to get this picture in your mind right now so you’ll understand it, okay? Your heart is a throne. Mathematically, your heart equals a throne.
Now, somebody right now is sitting on the throne of your heart, and there are only two options. You or Jesus. Either you’re sitting on the throne of your heart or Jesus is sitting on the throne of your heart. One of those is true. In fact, in every decision you make on a daily basis, you’re always gonna make one of two decisions. Decide to do what you wanna do or decide to do what God wants you to do. Can I be blunt? Can I be honest? Every empty seat in this building is because people this morning said, «I don’t wanna do what God wants me to do. I’m gonna do what I wanna do». Can I be honest? The reason why some of you never support the church financially is because you do what you wanna do with your money, not what God wants you to do. And I know that may make you uncomfortable, I’m just simply saying this, I mean, this is serious business.
You may be thinking, I know it right now, let me just stop, you may say, «Wait a minute, when do I get to go after what I want»? And that’s a fair question. Well, let me tell you the beauty of what Jesus is telling us. This is how great Jesus is. Listen to this. When you decide that all you want in your life is whatever the king wants in your life, you’ll get more than just what you want, and better than what you want, you will get what you need. I mean, has it ever occurred to you? Sometimes we say, «Well, can’t I just get my will done every now and then? Just throw me a bone every now and then».
Here’s the wonderful news. You ever thought about this? If your will is always that God’s will be done, your will will always get done. Think about that, that’s pretty profound. If your will is to always want what God wills, then your will will always be done, 'cause I’ve told you before, and I know people don’t believe me, God does not want what’s good for you, he wants what is best for you. And the thing that frustrates me so much is I watch so many people every day of their life and they settle for second best.
You say, «What is second best»? Second best, listen to me, second best is anything you get, even though it’s good. Did you hear me? Second best is anything you get, even though it is good, because God wanted something else that would be best. My life, I’m a personal testimony to what I’m telling you. I’ve told you this before. Five years old, the thought hit me, «I want to be a lawyer». I thought that from the time I was five until my senior year in college. I’ve told you before, I didn’t wanna save 'em, I wanted to sue 'em. That was my goal in life. I had all those goals you talked about. I wanted to be financially independent by the time I was 40 years of age. I wanted to be known as one of the top lawyers in my state. I wanted to have a house that my dad never dreamed of having. I wanted all those things.
I mean, I had it down. And I’m not trying to brag, but I think I would’ve made a decent living. I think I probably would’ve been pretty successful. But boy, I look back on my life and I realized, «Man, it might’ve been good, but I would’ve missed out on the best». If I’d gone to law school, I probably would not be married to the greatest woman in history today. If I’d gone to law school, I would’ve never seen the things that I’ve seen, I would’ve never been to the places that I’ve been, I would’ve never pastored the churches I’ve pastored, I would’ve never met the people that I’ve met, I would never have made the friends that I have, if I’d done what I wanted rather than what God wanted.
So let me let you in on this little-bitty secret. When you surrender to the rule of the kingdom, God will lead you to say yes to the best things and no not only to the bad things, but even to the good things that could have become a substitute for the best things. So the simple question you ought to ask yourself right now is real simple, really, who is in control of your life? Or maybe better, what is in control of your life?
Can I be honest? I’m gonna dabble and then get back out real quick, as I do your money. I have seen marriages destroyed because the parents let the children control their life. I’ve seen marriages blow up because of that. I could give you example, after example, after example, after example, because, again, the only two possibilities, who’s in control of your life? You are God, I’ve got news for you. You may think everything’s going great, you may think everything’s going swimmingly, you may think, «Hey, listen, God’s not first». Maybe your honest enough to say, «No, sometimes I put him first, but most of the time, I’m first».
Well, here’s what you don’t realize. If you are in control of your life, everything’s out of control. You may think it is, it’s not. If you’re in control of your life, everything is out of control, whether you realize it or not. But listen to this, if God is in control of your life, everything is under control, whether you realize it or not. Your life may be one hot mess right now, but I’m telling you right now, if Jesus is first in your life, everything’s under control. Can I get an amen to that? Everything’s under control if you put Jesus. Yeah, give the Lord a hand. If Jesus is first in your life.
So the number-one rule of the kingdom is, you surrender to the ruler of the kingdom. That’s the number-one rule, you surrender to the ruler of the kingdom. Now, think about it this way. I’ve told you before how God wants what’s best for you and God wants what’s right for you, and I I’m trying to get you to believe it. But let’s just say you’re buying in. Let’s just say you’re saying, «Okay, I’ll put my chips on the table. I wanna seek the ruler of the kingdom and I want to surrender to the rule of the kingdom,» okay?
Let me show you what will happen. You won’t even have to try to make it happen, it’ll just happen. When you seek the ruler and you surrender to the rule, you will then show the righteousness of the kingdom, you will show the righteousness of the kingdom, because Jesus said, «I don’t want you just to seek the kingdom,» he said, «I want you to seek his righteousness». In other words, not only, on a daily basis, every day of my life, am I to seek, go after, desire with everything I have God’s control over me, but I also wanna seek God’s character within me.
And here’s the beautiful thing, you don’t have to force it, you don’t have to manufacture it. It will naturally happen if God is ruling over you, because when God is ruling over you, here’s what will happen, his righteousness will just spill out of you. You don’t have to say to a tree, «You gotta work hard to bear that fruit». A tree doesn’t have to do a thing. We’re gonna talk about this later in this series. If that tree has the right root, it will bear the right fruit, 'cause the root determines the fruit. And if you are seeking the rule, the ruler of the kingdom, and if you’re surrendering to the rule of the kingdom, you will show the character of your kingdom, because here’s all character is, character is simply the outward expression of whatever is inwardly controlling you.
And so Jesus said there’s this cycle and it’s so brilliant and it’s so beautiful and it’s so complete. When I seek God first privately, people will see God in me publicly. And let me just tell you something. If there’s anything right now that our nation needs to see, if there’s anything right now that this world needs to see, they need to see people who claim to be followers of Jesus, they ought to see in them the character of God in their lives. I mean, I got news for you. We are never going to make a difference in this world until the world sees a difference in us. Talk’s cheap. We’re never going to make a difference in this world until the world sees a difference in us. That’s why you gotta seek after this righteousness.
By the way, it won’t just happen, I mean, you got to go after it, because the truth really is, and we all know this, at the end of the day, I can stand up here and preach to you 'til I lose my voice. At the end of the day, we do what we wanna do, we go after what we wanna go after, we become what we want to become, unless you begin to say, «I’m going after what Jesus wants me to be. I’m going after what Jesus wants me to do. I’m going after where Jesus wants me to go». That’s why Jesus said back up in Matthew 5:6, «Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they will be filled».
So when you are really surrendered to the rule of the kingdom, here’s what that means. I desire to do right. I desire to be right. I desire to act right. I desire to live right. I desire to think right. I desire to speak right, as much as a hungry man desires food and a thirsty man desires water. That’s the domino effect. You see how it works? You seek first the ruler of the kingdom. When that domino falls, you will surrender to the rule of the kingdom. When that domino falls, you will show the righteousness of the kingdom. And now comes the moment you’ve all been waiting for. «What about me? What about all these things I’ve stressed out about? What about all these things I’m worried about»? 'Cause remember, Jesus just talked about worry. All that I’m talking about right now is right after what he talked, when he said, «Do not worry». Okay, you ready?
Domino, remember the domino? One falls, two falls, three falls, here’s the fourth one. You will see the resources of the kingdom. You seek the ruler, you surrender to the rule, you show the righteousness, you will see the resources of the kingdom, 'cause there’s one last domino to fall, it’s the one you’ve been waiting on. And this last domino is really, Jesus described, remember, there’s this chain reaction. You follow the right domino, you put the right domino first and you make it fall first. Because Jesus says, «Okay, if you will seek first the kingdom and his righteousness,» now watch what he says, «all these things,» what things? The things we talked about earlier being worried about.
«All these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own». It’s so simple. When you put God where he needs to be first, he will take you where you need to go. He will give you what you need to have. And if you put God first today, guess what? You don’t have to worry about tomorrow. You say, «But this could happen tomorrow or that could happen tomorrow». That’s true. In fact, something bad may very well happen tomorrow. But guess who’s already there? He is. He’s already taken care of it before you even wake up in the morning.
See, here’s the problem, most people, they’re in the things business. That’s where most people are. They think it’s about stuff and success and safety and security and stability. Did I touch any button in your life? Stuff, are you really hungry for stuff? Success, safety, security, stability. Jesus says, «Don’t worry about those things. Don’t worry about those things». He says, «Look, here’s the way it works. You worship God, you love people, you use things». That’s the way it’s supposed to be. You know what most people do? They love things and use people and ignore God. And you wonder why we’re on the wrong track in America. Really? That’s where we are. We don’t put God first, we put all these other things first.
See, Jesus talked about worry. Do you know what causes worry? Can I just tell you the root cause of worry? Very simple, you’re not gonna like what I’m gonna tell you. If you’re worried about anything right now, and I don’t want you to raise your hand, if you didn’t raise your hand, I’d be worried about you. Everybody in here is worried about something. Do you know why you’re worried at the end of the day? Do you know why you’re really worried? You got the wrong domino first. I don’t know what it is, you got the wrong domino first.
Well, tomorrow I may find out that the tumor’s malignant. So, you putting your health first? I may worry that I would lose my job. So, you putting money first? Whenever you’re worried about anything, you have absolutely put the wrong domino first. And when you put the wrong domino first, guess what’s going to happen? You’re gonna worry, you’re gonna fret, you’re gonna be anxious, you’re gonna be irritable, you’re gonna complain. You only celebrate Thanksgiving one day a year, when the truth of the matter is, we ought to celebrate Thanksgiving every day of the year, because God is good, and God is good all the time and God is good every day all of the time.
Now, there are a lot of people out there. Let me just tell these kids something over here. There are a lot of people out there that will tell you, «You better make sure you climb the ladder. You better make sure that you get there fast. You better make sure you get to the top». Well, Stephen Covey wisely said it this way, «If your ladder is not leaning against the wrong wall, every step you take will just get you to the wrong place faster. If your ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step you take will just get you to the wrong place faster».
So I don’t know who wrote these words, but they put it a whole lot better than I can. «What does your life revolve around? Remember this as you consider your answer. We have made ourselves the center of everything in this world, but God will be the center of everything in heaven. The decision you made or will make, either for or against Christ, will be measured by what your life revolves around. If it is not God, you won’t like heaven and you probably won’t get to go there».
So remember the domino effect? Let me tell you something fascinating I found out. This will blow you away. This is unbelievable how powerful this is. There was a physicist, his name was Lorne Whitehead. And he took a scientific interest in this effect. And here’s what he discovered. I want you to watch this. He said, «The domino is capable of knocking over another domino that is one and a half times its size».
So listen to this. A two-inch domino can topple a 3 ½-inch domino at infinitum. So the next domino is always one and a half times the size of the preceding domino, right? You ready for this? If you were to start with one domino, by the time you got to the 18th domino, you could knock over the Leaning Tower of Pisa. By the time you get to the 21st domino, you could take down the Washington Monument. By the time you get to the 23rd domino, you could knock down the Eiffel Tower. By the time you get to the 29th Domino, you could take down the Empire State Building. Powerful.
If one domino could have that effect, how much more could God do in your life if you’ll just make that first domino, «I’m gonna seek the king, I’m going to seek his kingdom. I’m going to seek his righteousness»? As a matter of fact, I’ll close with this. Just look at what a domino in the shape of a cross did. That one domino knocked down a rock in front of a tomb. And that empty tomb knocked down the biggest dominoes we face, sin and death. The cross took care of our sin and the empty tomb took care of our death. So maybe you’re sitting there saying, «You know what, Pastor? I’m ready to knock down that first domino». Are you?
Well, let’s see if you are. Let’s see if you’re ready to pray this prayer, and that will let you know whether you’re willing to knock down that first domino or not. Lord, don’t put up the next one yet, guys. «Lord, I’m willing». Are you ready to say that? You say, «Willing to do what»? Doesn’t matter. If you’re not ready to say that, you’re not where you need to be. «Lord, I’m willing». Watch. «I’m willing to receive what you give. I’m willing to lack what you withhold. I’m willing to relinquish what you take. I’m willing to suffer what you require». When you can say those words, you have put the right domino in the right place, and it will change your life forever. So my question, very simple, very direct, very personal, but very real.
What’s your first domino today? Seriously, I mean, really, don’t talk, look at your life, what is your first domino? Is it your paycheck? Is it your kids? Is it your home? Is it your health? Is it your success? Is it your popularity? Is it your girlfriend? Is it your husband? What’s your first domino? If your first domino is not Jesus, this second, you’re living a failed life. So I’m gonna ask, there’s some of you here today, if you’re honest, it’s not that Jesus isn’t your first domino, he’s not even on the board. Why don’t you today surrender your life to the ruler of that kingdom? I wonder how many of you today would be willing, sincerely, for the first time really in your life, to pray this prayer with me in your heart right now?
Lord Jesus, I have been king of my life long enough. This moment, this day, this second, I am surrendering my life to you. I believe you died for my sins. I believe God raised you from the dead. I believe you’re alive right now. I want you to come into my heart, save me, become my Lord, become my Savior. I repent of my sin. I turn away from all of those things I thought were good, but they’re not good, they’re worst. And I turn my life over to you and trust you to save me.
You’re watching on the screen right now, you prayed that prayer, you’re in this building right now, you prayed that prayer. If you’re watching on the screen, I just want you, if you don’t mind, would you just go to this website right now? It’s called crosspointechurch.com/next. Just go to that website. We wanna hear from you to know about the decision that you made for Jesus. Well, what about those of you in this room? Did you pray that prayer? Did you meet it? Yep, oh, we’ll find out, 'cause if you did, you won’t mind doing what I’m gonna ask you to do. When this service is over, I want you to go back to our lobby. There’s a table back there called Next Steps. I want you to go back there to that table, and here’s all you gotta say, «Today, I became a part of God’s kingdom. Today, I surrendered my life to the king,» that’s it.
We’ve got some information we wanna give you to help you begin to follow Jesus. You know what being baptized is? It’s just surrendering to the rule of the kingdom, 'cause the king wants everybody to be biblically baptized. Some of you have never been biblically baptized, ever. You need to go today to that table. Say, «You know what? I need to follow Jesus. I need to let people know I’m a part of his kingdom,» or maybe you need to join this church, or maybe you need to get in a small group, maybe you need to serve. I tell you what we all need to do, we ought to be so passionate about the kingdom that we take the names on that wall out there who are not a part of the kingdom and do all that we can to introduce them and bring them into the kingdom.
So, Father, my prayer is this. No matter who else does it or who else doesn’t, I wanna live my life in such a way that people can see in my life what I preach today. I don’t wanna just practice what I preach, I wanna preach what I practice. So thank you for your word, and I pray everybody will leave today with that first domino right in their life. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.