The Domino Effect
How You Can Make A Difference Through Connections
11/19/03
I. Introduction
On Monday, August 18th, 2003, a 24-year-old woman from China tipped over 303,621 dominos, breaking a long-standing record for the world’s longest solo domino topple. Beijing-born Ma Lihua broke a 19-year-old record set by Germany’s Klaus Friedrich, who set up and toppled 281,581 dominoes.
“There was a time when I was not feeling well but I had a goal to achieve so I continued to persevere,” said Ma, who calls herself a “dominologist.” Ma said she put in 13-hour days for nearly seven weeks to lay out the dominos.
Bugs and rats meddled with her work. In one instance, a bug knocked over 10,000 tiles. Organizers spread pungent leaves from a local tree — thought to repel insects — around the Singapore Expo hall where Ma staged the record attempt. They also laid down rat traps. It took just over four minutes to knock down the series of white, red and yellow tiles that revealed the words “World Record” and images of electrical appliances.
How exactly does a domino topple work?
You see, it begins with one domino falling over to impact another domino which falls over to impact another and so on and so forth until all the dominoes have toppled over.
The domino effect, in essence, begins with one domino, who impacts another. And that domino impacts another, so that the original domino not only impacts one other domino, but it impacts ALL of the other dominoes.
And tonight, we’re talking about “How You Can Make a Difference Through Connections.” We’ve spent the past few weeks talking about how to make connections, and how to continue the connection, but it’s also important to know WHY we’re doing it. Why put all this effort into making a connection with somebody?
You may think, “I’ve got enough friends, I don’t need anymore.” Or “I’m happy with where I’m at, I don’t feel like connecting with anybody.” “What’s the point in making a connection?”
Well, we’re going to show you the point and the impact that you can have if you’re willing to do this thing called connecting.
II. Domino Disciples
Matthew 9:9-12 “9As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ’sinners’?’
12On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: ’I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”
Jesus Christ knew the power of connections. In fact, he chose twelve men to connect with. And in turn, those men were to connect with others. Who, in turn, were to connect with others, and the domino effect began with one man, Jesus, and the disciples began to domino.
A legend recounts the return of Jesus to heaven after his time on earth. He returned bearing the marks of his earthly pilgrimage with its cruel cross and shameful death.
The angel Gabriel approached him and said, “Master, you must have suffered terribly for people down there.”
“I did,” said Jesus.
“And,” continued Gabriel, “do they now know all about how you loved them and what you did for them?”
“Oh, no,” said Jesus. “Not yet. Right now, only a handful of people in Palestine know.”
Gabriel was perplexed. “Then what have you done,” he asked, “to let all people know about your love for them?”
“Well, I’ve asked Peter, James, John, and a few others to tell people about me. Those who are told will in turn tell others, and the Gospel will be spread to the farthest reaches of the globe. Ultimately, all of humankind will hear about me and what I have done on their behalf.”
Gabriel frowned and looked skeptical. He knew that people weren’t dependable. “Yes,” he said, “but what if Peter and James and John grow weary? What if the people who come after them forget? And what if, way down in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, people get too busy to bother telling others about you? Haven’t you made any other plans?”
“No, I’ve made no other plans, Gabriel,” Jesus answered. “I’m counting on them.”
Matthew 28:18-20 “18Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”
This business of making disciples is only going to come about through making connections. You can’t make a disciple of someone you’re not connected with. You have to be involved in someone’s life to make him or her a disciple of Christ. You have to be connected with someone to make him or her a disciple.
Jesus spent three years of his life with the twelve disciples. He ate with them. He drank with them. He had slumber parties with them. He did ministry with them. He spent all of his time with these men. You could probably say that these men were Jesus’ best friends. He had more of a connection with these men than any other people he knew. He invested his life into these men and expected them to invest their lives into others. And he not only expected them to do it, he commissioned them, as well as those who would come after the disciples, to invest their lives into others.
So, why connect? You gotta connect to make domino disciples. You gotta connect to carry out Christ’s commission.
III. Make a Change
Columnist Art Buchwald tells the story of a day when he was riding in a cab in New York City with a friend. When they got out of the cab, the friend said to the driver, “Thank you for the ride. You did a superb job of driving this cab!”
The taxi driver seemed stunned for a second and said, “Are you a wise guy or something?”
“No,” said the man, “I’m serious. I admire the way you keep cool in heavy traffic. Not many cab drivers are able to do that. I’m glad I rode in your cab today!”
“Yeah, sure,” said the cab driver and he drove off.
Buchwald asked his friend, “What was that all about?”
“I am trying to bring love back to New York City,” said the man. “I believe it’s the only thing that can save the city.”
“You think one man can save New York City?”
“It’s not one man,” said the man. “I believe I made that taxi driver’s day. Suppose he has twenty fares. He’s going to be nice to those twenty fares because someone was nice to him. Those fares will in turn be kinder to their employees, shopkeepers or waiters, or even their own families. Eventually, the goodwill could spread to at least a thousand people. Now that isn’t bad, is it?”
“But you are depending on that taxi driver to pass your goodwill on to others.”
“Maybe he won’t,” said the man. “But I might say something nice to ten different people today. If, out of ten, I can make three happy, then I can indirectly influence the attitudes of three thousand or more.”
“You’re some kind of a nut,” said Buchwald to his friend.
“That shows how cynical you’ve become,” said the man. “Take postal workers, for instance. The reason so many of them hate their work is because no one is telling them that they are doing a good job.”
“But they aren’t doing a good job.”
“They’re not doing a good job because they don’t believe anyone cares if they do or not,” replied the man.
Buchwald and his friend continued walking down the street and noticed five workmen eating their lunch. The friend stopped and said, “That’s a magnificent job you men have done. It must be difficult and dangerous work.”
The workmen looked at Buchwald’s friend suspiciously.
“When will this job be finished?” the friend asked.
“June,” growled one of the workmen.
“Ah, that is really impressive. You must all be very proud of what you are doing here!”
As they walked away, Buchwald said, “I still don’t think you are doing any good.”
“On the contrary,” said the man, “when those workmen digest my words, they’ll feel better about what they are doing and somehow the city will benefit.”
“But you can’t do this alone,” said Buchwald. “You’re just one man.”
“But I’m not discouraged,” he said. “I’m hoping to enlist others in my campaign.”
They continued walking down the street.
“You just smiled at a very plain-looking woman,” Buchwald said to his friend.
“Yes, I know,” the man replied. “And if she’s a schoolteacher, her class is going to be in for a fantastic day.”
Do you believe that one man can make a difference? Do you believe that just one person can have such an impact on this world that because of him or her, everyone will have better days and years? I do. And I believe that one person can be you.
If you commit to make connections, you’re not only doing it to make domino disciples or carry out the great commission, you’re doing it to make a difference in this city, in this state, in this region, and ultimately in this world.
A couple of weeks ago I talked about how Jesus’ interest in the woman at the well changed her life, but how much more did Jesus’ connection with the disciples change their lives? Just look at Jesus’ connection with Peter. Peter was just an ordinary fisherman, but after spending three years with Jesus, he became the leader of a revolution – the beginning of the early church.
Acts 5:14-16 “14Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.”
Peter’s life was changed so much that even as his shadow fell on people, the power of God was healing them. From an ordinary fisherman to an extraordinary man of God, why?
Acts 4:13 “13When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”
From an ordinary fisherman to an extraordinary man of God, why?
Because of his connection with Jesus.
Who’s life can you change by the power of connection?
IV. Make a Difference
By changing someone’s life through the power of connection, you can make a difference at your school, in this youth ministry, and anywhere you meet people.
Making a connection with someone gives you the opportunity to speak into someone’s life. It gives you the opportunity to help someone. As I’ve said before, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Well, once they know that you care, you’ll be able to share your experiences with them and talk to them about how your life’s been changed by the power of your connection with Jesus, and in turn you’ll be able to help them.
When I was working at Buffalo’s Café, everybody there knew I was a Christian and that I was studying to go into the ministry. Now, I didn’t walk into that restaurant after I got the job and shout at the top of my lungs, “Repent, sinners, or you’re all going to hell.” I didn’t beat people with my Bible and try to make them “live right.” But I wasn’t ashamed of my faith, either. Instead, I made connections. And as those connections grew, as those friendships grew, I was able to share my faith to a LOT of people. And you know what, they asked me about my faith, “Why do you believe what you believe, Nate?” “Nate, I see that you’re always positive and have a good attitude, what’s up with that?”
And then there were others who would come in and tell me about what they did the weekend before. One guy was telling me about how he got drunk and went to Wal-Mart and spent all the cash he had buying these 70’s and 80’s cassettes that were on sale. Then he said, I don’t even have a cassette player, and they won’t take them back because I opened them. He said, “I don’t have any money to pay my rent or get something to eat, or anything.” So, I gave him 5 bucks for lunch, asked him if he realized how stupid it is to get drunk and I invited him to church with me. And so he said, “Yeah, I’ll come. If you come pick me up, I’ll come.” So I told him I would. And right there, because of the power of connections, I was able to have an influence on his decisions.
You can make a difference wherever you go if you want to. You have the potential to influence hundreds, even thousands of people through connections. If you influence two, and that person influences two, who influences two, then the domino effect is working for you and you’re on your way to influence a lot of people.
Let’s pray.
