One Matters

Lost Sheep

Today we are being a new series but what I really hope will be a new focus for the year

For the last three years one of the things we have been focused on as a church is something called Multiply 2025…

Now this was a realization that as a church we had plateaued…

Now this happens in the lifecycle of every church…They grow grow grow and then all of the sudden there is vision drift…There is comfort and complacency and the church sort of just levels off and just kind of does the same old thing

So we were praying about it and realized that something needed to change and what I feel like God wants from his churches and what I am convinced that God is calling us to do is to be a part of planting new churches…

So the question sort of arrises here, how can we ever have margin for ministry if we are always spending all of our money on broken facilities…

We had all of these 30 year projects at REC and we still have a few left to do but we had no money to do it…So we started raising 300,000 over 3 years to knock off all of these 30 year projects

and we said out of this project we want to be able to help plant a new church..>Well the original idea was to invest 30,000 in a well project and new church in south America, but the reality is as inflation hit us, every project became exponentially more expensive, we were not able to do that…In fact all of the projects we have done and still need to do will exceed the $300,000 marker…

But we have been able to give to a local church plant and bless them.

Our district of churches is planting 2 new churches this year one in Gilbert AZ and the other in San Tee and we are a part of helping with that!

So its my hope by the end of 2025 all of our projects are finished here…and we are able to focus on the next steps of launching new faith communities

So there is a reason why in 2025 we focused for a month on Sabbath and we had a workshop on developing a rule of life yesterday…

It is in taking time, intentional time with the Lord that we are transformed and that we begin to cultivate the heart of the father. So that is why we spent a month on Sabbath

So I am just calling this series, this vision for our church this year…One Matters…Because I think God’s heart can be summed up in the idea that one person matters before the Lord

There is a 16th Century Spanish Mystic named Theresa of Alva who was meditating on the scripture that called the church the “Body of Christ” and she wrote this poem:

Christ Has No Body 

Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, Yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Do you get it…what she is saying is that you are Jesus’ representative on earth! He is transforming you to reveal to the world what he looks like!

The way I view preaching is that I am equipping you for the week to go be Jesus to your world! whatever that may be…

So for the year whatever I am teaching on…Whatever I am doing…We are going to just have one focus…And that is “One Matters”

And I want to spell out what that means for us today and over this next series and year.

One Matters: means we begin to prayerfully cultivate the heart of the father to go after the one

Do you want to know the heart of God?

John 3:16 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God so loves the world: In our culture the word love is kind of empty because it means a lot of things but in greek there are 5 words for the word love, words to denote brotherly love or erotic love and the word that John uses to describe Jesus Love for the world is Agape. It is a self sacrificing love…a self giving love

And in the gospel of John you need to understand that “The world” is a character in of itself..

The world initially goes after Jesus

Then the world crucified him and hated him

So the heart of the father is that God loves the very people who kill him!

The very people who

That is the heart of the father

And Idealistically this seems like an easy hearty for us to cultivate…

But how many of you hear someone’s political opinion and instantly have distain for them?

Oh that person is a Trump person…I hate that guy what an idiot

Oh that person is a Harris person…I hate that guy -what an idiot

See what election cycles do is shape us into the mold of Babylon…We just become like everyone else

But For God so loved

Those who would kill him

Those with different opinions

Those who didn’t look or sound like him

God’s Very character at the core of who he is, is a deep abiding love

For God so loved that he gave Jesus

How do we get to a place in our lives where we have no enemies? How do we get to a place in our lives where relationships are not broken over political preferences?

How do we get to a place in our lives where we love like the father?

I want to suggest to you over the next few weeks that it is in going after the one

Luke 15:1–3 NIV

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable:

Now before the parable we need to look at Jesus’ audience

Tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to hear him

If you dont know, the Romans used jews to collect taxes and you might think, so what, everyone has to pay taxes…

Well the Roman government was not only taxing at an oppressive rate to pay for the civil war that they had been in years earlier but they were pagans and the money they demanded had false gods on it…Not only are these jews being traitors to their own people but they are helping Rome and their ungodly worship of false gods…

So if you were a tax collector…You were stabbing your own people in the back…You were a part and party to these nasty Romans helping them to do evil

If you were a tax collector, you were out of society

The sinners were people who were not following the law…

these are societal outsiders

And I just love the word picture that this forms…

Here is the most popular rabbi who has ever walked the streets of Capernaum The outsiders are in with Jesus and the insiders are on the outside muttering about Jesus…

So Jesus tells everyone this parable out of a response to look who this man welcomes!

Luke 15:4–7 NIV

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Here Jesus describes his whole mission. and the entire heart of the father…

Jesus is here for the sheep who have wandered away

Jesus is here for those who are outcasts and sinners

There are three parables of Lostness that Jesus tells back to back,

The lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son

and in a few weeks we will be looking at the parable of the lost son…

But all three of these parables develop a theme that helps us to understand the heart of the father for the lost…

The parables are connected by the theme and words of rejoice and celebrate!

and then Jesus actually gives us a picture of what happens in heaven…

I think one of the most remarkable things that Jesus says is found in Luke 15:7

Luke 15:7 NIV

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

If you are here and you are a christian…Wow…The moment that you said yes to jesus the angels rejoiced

God threw a party

This year I want to recenter us on the mission of Jesus

God wants us to join him in his joyful mission of finding lost people

One Matters! The heart of God rejoices when one person comes to the father! there are Parties in heaven

What if every day you just had this mentality of I want there to be a party in heaven today?

Now understanding that saving someone is not in your power…Salvation is by the work of the holy spirit not by what you do alone but by the work that God does

But we have these cards in the back of your seat that just say One Matters:

I want you to dream with me for a second

Who is one person in your life that you will commit to praying for that you just know there will be the biggest party in heaven if this one person comes to find and follow Jesus

and not only that…But maybe this person is a Lynch Pin person

Do you know what a Lynch Pin is? it is the giant bolt that holds your trailer hitch on…

When I was a kid we had a trailer and went camping a bunch! and when we were hooking everything up there was this massive bolt of steel that held the trailer hitch on to the truck

And yeah there are other towing safety features but everything kind of depended on this lynch Pin!

You have these people in your family…Like wow…If they came to know Jesus then their whole household would

Man if they came to know Jesus then everything would change

Guys I dont think it’s crazy to say that some of you will be helping me baptize them by the end of the year!

I believe in the power of prayer

I believe that one matters to Jesus

I believe that God wants that person!

So here is what I want you to do…Take that card out and prayerfully consider who will you be praying for? who is your one…

Now maybe you want to pray for 10 people! awesome do that…

But could you imagine what it would do for the kingdom if all 200 of us in this room just began praying for 1 person?

Now I care far more about the growth of the kingdom of God than I do REC.

I want us to grow too…

Imagine…that is 200 more missionaries

that is 200 more people living out the ethics of Jesus

That is 200 more people being transformed into the likeness of Jesus

Just imagine what that would do here at REC if all of the sudden your friends began to find and follow Jesus…

And you might be saying…Well what does this look like?

What is a lynchpin person?

Well I am glad you asked…

Flip with me to Acts 8, In the book of Acts, there is this structure

The church is waiting for the power of the spirit and they are told you will go

You will start in Jerusalem, then you will go to Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth

The disciples in Acts 8 are in Samaria preaching the gospel and a bunch of cool stuff happens and wouldn't you know it?

Philip is sent to a person who lives in the ends of the earth

Let’s pick up the story at Acts 8:26…

Acts 8:26–40 NIV

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

There is so much here:

Philip is sent to what is known as Old Gaza road, even in the time of Philip it was considered an old road because Gaza at this point was in ruins and uninhabited.

Philip point is empowered by the spirit of God and he is like preaching the gospel to everyone and it was probably and odd command from the angel of the Lord

Go to the road that goes to an uninhabited city…Philip might be thinking…Why? My task is to preach the gospel and Gaza is uninhabited!

That doesn’t make sense

But he listens to the spirit

And who does he run into?

An Ethiopian Eunuch who belongs to the court of Candice…

The twitter version here is that Candice is a dynastic name…it’s like a family name, this is an African empire that had lasted since 750bc!

So the practice was that they would take young boys and castrate them and form them to work in the court of the queen.

They would castrate them because as you can imagine keeping a clean family line was of the utmost importance

So if they had a worker in the court having sex with someone and having babies it would totally mess up the lines of succession

Now in Israel, this was a taboo practice and the law excluded Eunuchs from even entering the assembly of the Lord…

So this man was excluded from worship but here we find him actually reading the Bible

He’s got part of the story

Hmm…Maybe this was a God moment

and what is he reading

He is reading what we call today the “Suffering Servant” passages of the book of Isaiah

Isaiah 53:4 NIV

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

Now this part is not quoted in the book of Acts but lets look at Isaiah 53:12

And you see in Acts that Philip Explained to the man all that happened concerning Jesus

Isaiah 53:12 NIV

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

And the question that the Eunuch has is what am I reading?

Is this passage about the prophet who wrote it or someone else?

Guys, people just want to know what is in this book!

This is literally a picture of God sending Philip after the one!

One Matters!

So what did Philip do?

Acts 8:35 NIV

Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

Philip started with the Eunuch’s starting point…

Philip had a command enough of scripture that he was able to explain that Scripture and a bunch of others to explain who Jesus was and the good news of what he did…

I mean I can not even begin to tell you how many people are searching for something more in life…How many people have it all and at the end of the day wonder if there is more to life

And Phiulip is there to tell him! yes there is more…He is there just explaining…And trusting the power of God with him at that moment…

Does Philip forcefully make him decide to follow Jesus?

Does Philip drag him out of the chariot and say time to get baptized buddy!

He trusts God working, Philip did his part he just explains…Its the Holy spirit that enables people to choose God.

And what does the Eunuch do?

Look there is water?

What is stopping me from being baptized right now?

And there was a party in heaven?

There is no official record of what happened to this Eunuch

However we know that the Ethiopian church is one of the first to be established in the ancient world

To this day the tradition pf the The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is that this encounter…This act brought Christianity to Ethopia

Why does God go after the one? Because in God’s math, one multiplies exponentially… t

God goes after the one…He has gone after you and you know it

One Matters

Here is a point that I want you to hear:

The lord directs evangelism, I need to be ready to share

Take the pressure off yourself! You can never save anybody! You are not the messiah…Let Jesus be the messiah!

Your job is just to share your story..>What God has done for you

What scripture has spoken into your life!

I mean the Ethiopian Eunich had bits and peaces of the story….how many people around you are like that and just need somerone to explain to them what it all means

How many people around you just need an invite to church to hear the gospel?

What gets me so excited about this story is that the Ethiopian who was saved had a massive impact on world history..>We dont know his name, but he changed the world because he believed!

How will God change the world because of the one person you are praying for?

What could it look like if everyone here diligently prayed for one!

What would happen if you kept the name of your one in your car on your phone

Set an alarm to pray for them daily!

I want to invite the band up and as I do I want to invite you to write down your one

My One:

RESPONSE 1

Maybe your here and you are a lost sheep and you know it. Jesus lived a perfect life, willingly died as a sacrifice for your sins so that you can have relationship with the father. His deepest desire is to have a party in heaven because you came to him

His deepest desire is to see you made new! He loves you

He just wants you to put your trust in him (YES CARDS)

Response 2:

ONE MATTERS CARD: Names on Cards Come forward

We are going to make a visual reminder of who we are praying for!

Benediction:

Christ Has No Body 

Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, Yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.