David Hughes - 5 Ways Being More Like Amazon Can Make You More Like Jesus.

I'm one of the pastors here at CBG. And we're in the midst of a theme, a series entitled day one, day one. Day one has this big idea. It's the challenge not to wait, not to wait. Listen, God did not promise you tomorrow, but He blessed you with today. Let's step into this day with purpose and power. Let's be proactive. Let's seize this day and take a step into your divine destiny. And if you've not been around, we're enjoying a parable. Jesus would use everyday recognizable things to teach His audience deep spiritual principles. We're doing the same. So if you have your Bible, go to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. Hey church, stay with me. Psalm 119, louder, Psalm 119. If you have a paper Bible, it's the biggest chapter in all the Bible and the biggest book. Let your Bible fall open a couple of times in the middle. You'll probably hit Psalm 119. It's the Psalmist sharing how much he loves and his themes and is blessed by the word of God. The word of God. So we're gonna study a passage, talking about the value of the scripture. But we're using the metaphor. Our parable is we've been using some of those large,

global brands that have been highly impactful, not just financially successful, though they have been. I mean, paradigm shifting companies. And so of course today is Amazon. How many Amazon fans in the house? Lisa Hughes, you should be clapping right now. My wife loves her some Amazon. And Amazon, you talk about changing the game. Amazon's just highly profitable. Amazon has not just rewritten. It has revolutionized the way that humanity buys and sells. The way we barter and trade. It's changed the way we've done that for millennia. Yes, it's convenient. Yes, the choice is incredible. But it is responsible for the demise of the brick and mortar retail store that's been part of the American economy since the Industrial Revolution. It has changed the game on the way humanity does commerce. So you can't talk about Amazon. Without talking about its founder, Jeff Bezos. Jeff Bezos. Jeff, I think got married for the second time last year. Do you hear about this little small event? Jeff rented out the entire nation of Italy for the wedding. Very helpful for me because we're planning a wedding in my family in December. My oldest son, Charlie, is getting married.

So we're planning a wedding. By the way, I am the father of the groom. That means I do no planning whatsoever. All I do is the father of the groom is I smile. I'm supportive and I show up with a suit. That's it. So I'm not doing any of the planning of the wedding. If someone's planning the wedding, but guess what? The Bezos wedding is not going to help us at all because he married, I think, Lauren Sanchez, an actor. And my gosh, the budget was, they didn't rent all the Italy, just a chunk of Venice. It was a $50 million three-day event. The guest list had those famous people we know by just their first names, Oprah, and Usher, and Leo, and Melania. I wasn't invited. Were you invited? I wasn't invited. But Bezos is a very interesting story. In fact, he was not born Jeff Bezos. He was born, his birth name is Jeff Jorgensen. His parents, Ted was his dad, his mom, Jackie. They got pregnant as teens. They got married. People tried to work it out, and after a couple years, the marriage failed, always very, very sad. His biological dad, Ted, quickly drifted out of his son's life. But Jackie remarried a nice guy named Miguel Bezos.

A Cuban immigrant, they moved to Miami. Do you know Bezos is a date county boy. He's a graduate of Palmetto High School, a class of '82. Super smart went Ivy League Princeton, graduates top of his class, gets hired by a Wall Street firm. And by the age of 26, he's the youngest vice president ever in the history of his company. But he does some research. Young people way back in the olden days, 1900s. You weren't alive in 1900s. Back in 1990, as part of a project at work, he was researching this new thing called the internet. New thing. Hard to imagine a time when the internet didn't consume our life. In fact, I forgot my phone here at church. I didn't recognize it so I got back to the house. I wasn't coming back. I got ready 30 minutes sooner today somehow. Just not just scrolling and looking at my phone like an idiot, right? So the internet was a new thing. Very few people knew about the internet in 1990, but Bezos did some research. And the research showed the internet usage would increase projected 2,000% every single year. So he and his then wife, Mackenzie, Jeff Mackenzie divorced a few years ago, and divorce is always a very, very sad thing, always sad. But when she divorced him, there was no prenup. And Mackenzie became the richest woman in the world, OK? So you know, if Lisa ever leaves me. world, I'd probably feel so much better. Leave me some of this thing. Anyways, they left

everything. They bet on themselves. He left that very successful, secure job on Wall Street. They moved from New York to Seattle, and they took all the money they had in their savings. They borrowed money from Jeff's parents, and they opened up a company back in 1994, a company with the name of... Cadavera, Cadavera. I set you up on that. The first name he picked was Cadavera, which I kind of like, that short for Abra Cadavera. But he ran that name by his lawyer. He said, "Wait, you're calling your company Cadaver?" Like, a dead body? No, no. So he thought, "Yeah, it's confusing." So he did pivot to Amazon. Why the name Amazon? Because the Amazon River is exotic, it's mysterious, and it's really big. He went to build the biggest delivery system in the world, and so they started Amazon Books. Incredible. He got a handful of his team that he hired, and they began in a garage. They start back. I think the website went live in July of '95. The first week they sold $12,000 worth of books. All they sold early on were physical books made of paper and trees. $12,000. Not bad week one, but more importantly, they sold at least one book to everyone in the 50 states and 45 nations. By the end of year one, they'd made about half a million dollars, but after that it began to grow and grow and grow. In 1998, they added other products besides books. They added CDs and videos. If you're a young person, Google CDs and videos. 1999, it took off so quickly. The Bezos was Time Magazine's person of the year. They continued to expand. They brought Amazon Prime on in the mid-2000s. It became to grow last year. They had $700 billion in revenue, and the company is valued at $2.75 trillion. It may help you understand a trillion. A trillion is a million, one million. One of those valuable brands in all the world, but more importantly, 40% of all e-commerce. It has changed the way that human beings buy and sell. Put your hands together if you bought anything from Amazon or through Amazon in the last month. Wow! And Bezos has done really well for himself in spite of that divorce. The SMA, he's worth $225 billion, personally. Again, as I throw all these numbers during this series, and by the way, thank you guys for being so responsive. We extended the series because you guys have been enjoying it so much. There's another week coming next week, at least. So thank you. I'm glad it's connecting and inspiring, especially the entrepreneurs in the house and people with big dreams, big, big goals. Anyways, thank you. Me and you, girl. Me and you. We got big dreams right here. We got it. But Bezos, I thought those big numbers, like $220 or $25 billion, I'll

tell you how much it is. I found out on my research, the average of American during the course of your entire work life, your entire career. Start working like 18 or 20 or 22, work to your 65 or 70. You earn on average $1.7 million. That's a lot of money. Listen, we are blessed with a great country, with great opportunities, and a robust economy over the course of the years, right? So you're fortunate to be in the land of opportunity. You want to clap for me? I will clap for myself. That's just true. And by the way, if on average, we earn $1.7 million. That is a lot of money. And I just point out, the issue is not, you think your issue is you need more money. More money is always helpful. But you got to learn to manage the money that God's already given you. And that's why, man, I guilt trip you to take financial peace university because that is the secret. You can learn to manage the money you already have and then how to invest that money and build wealth. That's the secret knowing God's full blessing and favor in that part of your life. So that's why it's so helpful. Yes, I hope you make more than that. But you make just that. You should be fine. Anyway, that's not the sermon. No charge for that. But Jeff Bezos is so rich. He earns that amount of money that we've earned our whole lifetime every 12 seconds of every day of his life. The brother is loaded. Now, how do I teach this with, as I walk you through Psalm 119, easy, easy. This one is a layup for me. I'm so excited about teaching this. Here's my sermon title. Five ways being more like Amazon can make you more like Jesus. That's a good title right there. If you're a person of faith, I want to grow in the image of Christ. I want to step into my sanctification. I want everything God has for me. I want to step in and find the fullness of my God-given potential. If you're not a person of faith, this is an entire year. Step across the line and give yourself by faith to Jesus. Today, this is your one day. So here it is. Five ways being more like Amazon. Take out your phones. Take out your phones. Take out those phones. Take out five things. Hit them fast. We'll make you more like Jesus. Number one, say number one. It started with a back in 1995, all Amazon sold was books. Now they saw all kinds of stuff now, I'm sure you're aware. In fact, I had my assistant just spend about an hour and said, find the crazy stuff you can find

to buy on Amazon right now. You can buy small houses, you can buy large SUVs, you can buy full-size excavators, you can buy a 55 gallon barrel of pickles. That is a lot of pickles. A five-person sauna, a five-pound bag of gummy bears, a 100 pound suit of wearable medieval armor. Armor, why, why, why? A giant human-sized hamster wheel. Again, I'm confused. And finally, they consented after shape. No, do not buy that, but those things are available. Back in '95, it was just physical books made of paper. It started with a book. Week one, they sold $12,000 worth of books, but the first book was one book called The Fluid Concepts of Creative Enalogies by author Douglas Hofstadter. That was the first thing that Amazon ever sold. And it was a book. It started with a book. Now, I'm not talking about business or money, I'm talking about your impact. And if you want to be a high impact Christian, it will start with a book. I have never met a Christian with a dynamic robust life who doesn't love the Word of God. You gotta be in the book. You gotta spend time in the book. You gotta go to U-version, find a reading plan.

I don't mean to spend three hours a day, but 10 minutes a day, 15 minutes spend daily time, and then come to a church. If this is not your church home and you're traveling, if you're watching online, find yourself a church that obsesses over and teaches you the Word of God. Don't miss it because we value creativity and production values. We teach you the Word of God. Whether it's me or Pastor Nick or Pastor Charlie or last week, Christine Kane. We will teach you the Word of God at a rather sophisticated level. We're all about the book. We teach the book. As many things we value at church by the glades, we always say, what do we value the most? Two things. Jesus and His word. We're a radically Christ-centric church. And we love to teach the Bible. The Bible is so valuable, so helpful. Now, there's somebody you're new to the Word of God. You're like, but really, that old book, you guys, I get it, it's the good book. It's famous and everything, but it's sort of a dictionary. The Bible's kind of a negative book. It's full of commandments and rules, a whole bunch of thou shalt nots.

I mean, I don't want to limit my life by understanding and living by the Word of God. God does not want to limit you. He wants to release you. So on 119, so on 119, we can't read the whole thing. It's 176 verses. But sometime this week, get alone with your Bible and read the entirety of Psalm 119. But it says, in verse 45 on the screen right now, it says, I will walk in, not restriction, not limitation. I walk in freedom for I have devoted myself to your commandments. The author says, the more I study God's Word and live out His principles, the freer I become. See, God's agenda is not to limit you, it's to release you. It starts with the book. Our church is all about the book. We love our Bibles, we teach our Bibles. You need to be in your Bible every day of your life. Number two, number two, I wrote this down. Amazon responds fast. Doesn't it? It's crazy. You order something on your phone, you blink and it's at your front door now. How do they do that? Again, I'm not the Amazon person, it's Lisa, but if I wanted to, I don't know, I wanted to place an order for, oh, how about University of Miami hoodies

and honor of our third victory of the season for the whole family, add to carp, confirm, boom. Man, they arrive so fast, it is crazy. How do they even do that? Man, Amazon, wow, they're just so fast. Crazy how they're so fast, aren't they? Wow, did you like that, did you like that? (audience cheering) We practiced, they dropped on my head the first couple of times in a hurry, just to say. But it is remarkable. You see, Amazon Prime came out in 2005 and the deal was if you would purchase Amazon Prime, delivery in two days or less. They have figured out the less, haven't they? I mean, I'm shocked how quickly things come to my house. I'm shocked you order it in the morning and it says they'll be there between two and fourth, same afternoon. How in the heck did they do that? It's just like Harry Potter, Dark Magic. I feel like they got people in the bushes in my front yard, Just waiting for the order. They're so fast, they're so fast. Now listen, we do not save ourselves. I don't do one thing to secure my salvation. I'm going to heaven because what Jesus did for me at Calvary, and I just received that by faith. And you can receive that by faith.

We do not save ourselves. But after we are saved, to walk in God's blessing, to see your God's favor, I walk in obedience. As I align myself with the book, as I live out biblical values, I position myself to receive the help of heaven. And I want all that. I want God's power, I got what God's peace, I want God's purpose. So obedience helps me align to receive that. I want to respond to God. Let me show you some verses. You can stay in Psalm 119. But you might find these really helpful. It says, Jesus speaking in John 14, verse 15 on the screen right now, says if you, I hope you love him. He said if you love me, you will keep my commandments. How clear is that? John, I just go to James chapter one, verse 12 on the screen right now. It says, but be doers of the word and not here as only. If you just come and listen and don't plug it into your life, there's no blessing. You deceive yourself. I love Isaiah one, verse 19. It says, if you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things, the land. But check out Psalm 119, back to Psalm 119, verse 60 on the screen right now.

Press it on this one, 'cause here's what love is missing. It says, it says, I will, louder. I will, without, to obey your commands. I want to be an Amazon Prime kind of Christian. I want to respond same day, same day, same day. Not one day, but this being my day one, what God's laid on your heart. Amen. (congregation applauding) I wrote down number three quickly. It'll cost you something. Amazon Prime, it costs more money. I don't know what he even calls, but it is worth it. I mean, it's crazy. Now again, we are saved by grace. We're not saved by anything we do. Jesus paid the price. You don't buy or earn your salvation. Check out Ephesians two, eight and nine. Since for grace, you've been saved through faith not of yourselves. It's a gift to God, not a result of work. So no one can boast. So I don't save myself. You're saved in a glorious, beautiful moment by God. But after you're saved, again, you obey. And when you obey, you have to sacrifice sometimes. I have to say no to me. I have to delay my own gratification. And sometimes it's hard.

But Jesus promised that, as if any man would follow me, he must deny himself, take up his cross. So guess what? It's a sacrifice, but it's worth it. It's a sacrifice, it'll cost you something. But what you gain, God will never be your debtor. God is more resource, more generous and more loving. God's just waiting for you to trust him and to take that step. The step will be scary and uncomfortable, but do it. It's gonna cost you something, but pay the price. Pay the price, worth it. Number four, number four, I wrote down. There's a new thing out here called porch pirates. Have you heard of porch pirates? Can you believe some people? Maybe your neighbors will go to your porch and steal away your package. How dare they? It's a new kind of technology, new kind of commerce, new kinds of bad guys. There's actually real pictures of porch pirates who've been prosecuted. I hope your picture's not up there, 'cause that's a terrible thing to do. (congregation laughing) Now there's actually a response to this that is somewhat, I think it's kind of funny. There's a DIY version of what banks call an IBNS system. That's what they call an intelligent banknote neutralization system.

That's when a bank is robbed and the teller will sneak in like a little kind of bomb thing inside the money bag that it didn't kill the bad guy. They open it, it blows up with dye, and it stains the money, it stains the bad guy. Okay, don't do this at home. But some YouTubers like Mark Rober have created some kind of glitter bomb and they put out fake packages on the porch 'cause they're getting hit by porch pirates. And the bad guys take it and it blows up non-lethal, non-hat, don't do this, you might get sued, don't do this. You're the neighbor, I'm not endorsing this. But I kind of like it, I kind of like the thief. Kind of get blown up in the midst of stealing somebody else's stuff. I kind of like it. And I thought it'd fit the sermon 'cause you know there is a thief in the Bible, do you know there's a thief in your Bible? Jesus speaking in John 10, 10, great verse by the way. The latter part of this verse is carved into the floor in the original worship center called, I love this verse, but it starts out with kind of a bad news, good news. Here's the bad news says, the thief, I'll tell you this, the thief comes only to steal, great, we need to steal, kill, and destroy. But I've come, Jesus is there, they may have life. Have it to the full habit of bluntly.

"I'm an emancipator. "I want that for you." He said, "But there's a thief. "He's the only thing he does. "Never tries to help you. "Never tries to bless you. "He stills, kills, and destroys. "Who is the thief, you know? "It's Satan." To the devil, he's trying to mess you up. He's trying to steal away the packages of God's goodness, and it's great. Every time, but you can blow him up. How do you do it? I'm gonna tell you at the end. So stay with me, stay with him, many. Number five, number five, when it comes to Amazon, especially day of delivery, you can track your packages. You can track your packages. You can track your packages. Let me take those famous verse in Psalm 119. It is surely verse 105. It says, "Your word is a lamp to God, my feet, "and a light for my." We're saved in a glorious moment. If you're not certain, sure you're saved. You can be saved today, but after that, you start to grow and mature, hopefully. And you follow a path with Jesus. It's a journey with Jesus.

And how do you take a path? I got a hiking trip lined up here in a week. I hate to hike, but hiking is one step in front of the other is a sequence of steps. The faith journey is the same way. Faith is not a feeling. Faith is a movement. You're like, I can't wait for the faith feelings to hit me someday, why I want, it's not a feeling. Is seeing what God says in his word and taking the appropriate faith action step? And I want it today, not to just be there, I bribe you with shirts. I hope you'll come back next week for no shirts. Come back, show God, you don't need a shirt to come to church, amen? Amen, but I want to make this a practice on Newhouse. So you receive with the shirt a response card, find that response card and a pen. You've lost it, borrow from your neighbor, I don't know. I just want to help you figure out how to personalize and customize this moment. Because if you leave here without making a decision or making a step, all this is wasted. If you've laughed and enjoyed and maybe even moved or encouraged or inspired by the worship or the beautiful prayer moment, the Marissa led, it doesn't help you unless you make a decision. It doesn't help me unless I make a step. I want to get really personal what your step might be.

So we just created this card and it says, God may not show you the whole plan, just take the next step, meaning this, you want God's blessing. Like, hey God, I want your favor, I want your help. I want your vision for my life. Oh God, I need your peace. I want your spiritual security. I want those things, the Bible promises and God says, great, take your next step. Take your, I will bless you as you take that step of obedience, God blesses obedience. So I wrote down some things, I once just to attend, to attend, some of y'all you're here once a month, once every two months, swamp it. Man, this needs to be a holy habit you protect. It's not legalism, but this is such a beneficial hour in your life and so critical for your kids. I know we're all busy these days, but this is something you need to do religiously. Maybe you're committing to God, unless I'm sick or out of town, I'm here every single, good night, we have 37 weekend services. Find one, the Fisher schedule, come Sunday night, come Saturday night, make sure you're here every week and amen, amen, like three people clapping, thank you. The three of us will be here next week. That's better. Serve, serve, you have gifts and abilities and talents. Find a way to serve, fine, but I'm a new Christian, David.

And I don't know the Bible very well, don't need theology. You know, all kinds of places you can serve. Are you friendly? Greeting team. In fact, I want some of the young people in the house. I want you to be high schoolers and middle schoolers to volunteer on a regular basis. Be part of the greeting team. Don't need to know theology, just have all your teeth. And be friendly, that's it. Parking team, I need to help in the parking team. I know it's 103 degrees right now. We go out there and sweat for the same, and I love some of the ladies to join the parking team. Right now it's almost all guys. Man, you're way better looking than us. You're way better first impression. Find a place you can serve, tie, tie. God, I'm going to trust you financially. One reason God is not blessing you is because you're not being a generous, fine community. You need a life group. Maybe it's a personalized step of obedience. Maybe a habit. You need a break or a new discipline. You need to begin baptism. We saw over 200 people get baptized at the beach last Sunday night. Awesome. But if you're a Christian person, not water baptized,

not one of those people get baptized today. We'll baptize you today. We have a Baptist right there, we have clothes. Do it today, do it today quickly. And then to follow Jesus, are you 100% sure you're saved? Are you a 10 out of 10? 'Cause you can know for certain, the Bible says in 1 John chapter five, you can know with confidence you're a safe person. If not, check this off or come talk to our prayer partner or do both today. And if you will check this off, please give us your name, your phone and your email. We're not gonna show up at your door or something, but I'll have somebody reach out to you this week, probably by way of a text or an email. And this will ensure you're saved. We need people to encourage as whole as accountable to help us. So hundreds of these were turned in last night. You walk out the door, there's gonna be guest service people with baskets. Just put one in the basket, we will follow up this week. And by the way, somehow we missed that contact. You call the church office and say, "How's waiting for somebody to call me?" But we'll call you. I want you to take that step. Now, now, the devil, the thief is here right now saying this in your heart. Do it. The devil will say to you, "Do you need to do this?" "Oh my God, of course you need to be baptized." "You need to be saved."

"You need to join a life group." "You need to do something and serve." "You need to do that." "Absolutely." "It's what you're looking for." "It's just not today." "You're just gonna flip this side of good time today." "You got a lot going on today." "You're not worthy today." "Wait to get your stuff together then, then someday." "You know, clean up your act, then come to Christ, then be baptized." "What are you saying is, one day, one day you make this choice." "No." "Stay one." "That one day never comes." "This is day one." "You feel unworthy?" "You are unworthy." "So am I." "You feel ill-prepared?" "Always." "You feel uncomfortable?" "I've told you faith is not a feeling." "All the big decisions, God's laid on my heart." "I have felt nervous." "I wet my pants a little bit every single time." "You take the step." "You take the step." See, what was the verse, Psalm 119 verse 60 on the screen right now? God's infallible word.

It says, "I will. I will hurry without." You know, if you're a parent like me, you ask your kids to do something. And they do it as slowly as possible. Right, you ask your kid to obey you, you know, take out the trash or something and they drag their feet. You have to ask them six times and they roll their eye and their body just drifts with negativity. Aren't you blessed as a parent? Aren't you just amazed? Oh, oh, until my kid's growing up, slow obey is no obey. See, one of the devil's best strategies, he won't tell you there's no heaven. The liar won't tell you there's no hell. He'll just tell you there's no hurry today, today. And the way you blow up him, the glitter bomb to the thief is this, you obey right now. You obey right now. No matter how you feel, God, today is my day when I make them move to it. Somebody will need to go to the next steps, write the service because someone will talk to you personally today. And spiritual impulse buy, same way you click on Amazon without thinking about it. Do this in a good way. God, work in your life. May I pray for you? Next week's going to be fun. Thank you for being here. Come back without a t-shirt. Where your t-shirt? One, two. Wear a shirt in general. Please wear clothes.

Wear clothes when you come to church. Good general principle right there. Be pray for you. Father God, thank you so much. You are the God of today. Yes, you'll be there tomorrow and you're the God of eternity, but God, we're not sure we have tomorrow, but we have this moment. Help us seize this moment, steward this moment, maximize this moment. I see a room full of people stepping into this day one of their God-given potential. It may start small, it may start in a garage, but it's going to be a movement that changes the earth. That's our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. ♪ Hey man ♪