| Making Numbers Count |
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| Dr. Chuck Terrill |
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I preached a sermon, yesterday, titled, “Making Numbers Count.” It was about the symbolism of numbers in the Bible, the book of Revelation, in particular. Numbers matter to God! Make no mistake, Our church is all about the numbers. The number of lives that Jesus can transform through His gospel message of love and sacrifice. The number of marriages that can be restored with the Help of the Holy Spirit. The number of teenagers willing to stand against the world and follow the Lord. The number of depressed people who can find hope in Jesus. The number of dads and moms who don’t prioritize their families who will learn to order their lives by the Word of God and become Christian parents. What else matters? What else should we be about? Numbers are important to God! Two thousand years ago, Luke by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote: Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day...And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:41, 47). I want to be about numbers, too. And so should you. Steven Furtick wrote: “It’s unacceptable to me as a pastor that we would stop growing when the Lord wants to add to our number daily those who are being saved.” With that goal in mind, we need to track every scrap of statistical data at our disposal. We measure ministry numbers to measure our effectiveness and enlarge the Kingdom of God. Why waste a single dollar on a program, piece of equipment, or anything else that isn’t the best option for reaching people? You might be averse to numbers for a number of reasons. Maybe you don’t like the idea of big crowds. If that’s the case, you wouldn’t have liked the New Testament Church. And you really won’t like heaven. Maybe you think an over emphasis on growth steals away from discipleship. It’s possible. But it’s just as possible for that to happen in a church of 10 people as it is in a church of 10,000. Whatever your reason is, remember: every number is indicative of a story. I don’t want to put a cap on the number of stories God wants to redeem. Especially when I read this: I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God.” (Revelation 7:9-10) “A Great Multitude” is a number worth shooting for! Why would we be content until after death to see this? I don't want to wait until I die to see this. I want to see this partially fulfilled in my lifetime. I want to see more people worshipping Jesus than I can count. In the here and now! I think it’s what God wants, too. And that’s why we’re all about the numbers. Dr. Chuck Terrill Minister |