THE POWER OF ONE

Preached by Gregory W. Lee
31 July 2005

I. Introduction-- turn in Bibles to John 4:4-15

4. Now he had to go through Samaria.
5. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
6. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?"
8. (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9. The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. )
10. Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
11. "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?
12. Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
13. Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
14. but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15. The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

-- in the presidential election of 1824, there were four candidates for president -- John Qunicy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William Crawford, and Henry Clay
-- after the election was over and the electoral votes were counted, they found that General Jackson had got the most electoral votes with 99 -- but, he needed 134 to win a majority -- John Quincy Adams came in second, and William Crawford came in third
-- because none of the candidates received enough electoral votes or won a majority of the popular vote, the decision went to the House of Representatives to select from among the top three candidates
-- on the morning of February 9th, Congress met to elect a president -- each of the 24 states had one vote and the candidate had to receive 13 votes to be elected president
-- the congressmen of each state would vote for their candidate for president, and then the winner of the majority of the congressman would receive that state's vote
-- even though Jackson had won the most electoral votes, he did not have the support of the Congress -- John Quincy Adams had the promised vote of 12 states, but needed one more state to win the presidency -- it came down to the state of New York
-- there were 34 congressmen in New York -- 17 were for Adams and 17 were opposed to him -- in order to be president, Adams needed to get one of his opponents in New York to support him
-- One of those New Yorkers who was opposed to Adams was a rich old man, Stephen van Rensselaer -- he became the swing vote for the presidential election -- supporters for both sides came to see him -- they told him that his vote was the most important vote in the whole Congress -- in effect, one man -- Stephen van Rensselaer would decide who would be president
-- when the time came for him to vote, he still was not sure who to vote for -- he put his head down on his desk and asked God to help him make the right choice -- after this short prayer, he opened his eyes and saw on the floor at his feet a piece of paper with Adams' name on it -- Van Rensselaer picked it up and put it in the ballot box as his vote -- this gave Adams the vote of the state of New York and made him president of the United States
-- the vote of just one person had changed history forever

II. Scripture Lesson
-- as I have reflected on some of the current models of church growth that are being put into effect in our churches today, I have noticed a disturbing trend -- rather than focusing on individuals, we are urged to focus our efforts on groups of people
-- for instance, here in our Conference, Hispanic ministry is the current hot topic -- "we have to reach the Hispanics" -- "what can we do to reach the Hispanics?" -- we think of them and talk about them like they are an entity all their own, forgetting the fact that each one of them is an individual in need of a savior
-- we see the same thing when we talk about our communities in terms of geographic areas -- "we need to reach out to Alapaha Estates" -- "we need a church built in this part of Atlanta" -- and, while I think it's good to want to reach out and expand God's kingdom here on earth, I think we have lost the most important principle that Jesus seemed to teach in His ministry -- namely, the power of One

-- when we talk and think in these ways, we are left with two very real problems:
-- first, we forget that we are not called to save "the Hispanics" and "Alapaha Estates" -- instead, we are called to save individual people
-- when Christ gave us the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, He told us to "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded" -- Christ was calling for us to reach out to individual people from all nations and nationalities -- to make disciples of individuals -- not to save entire nations at one time
-- in other words, Christ wasn't looking at us to "take the city for Christ" or "save the Hispanics" so much as He was looking for us to bring others -- one by one -- to eternal life through Him
-- when we talk about reaching out to groups of people or to areas of people, we can easily get overwhelmed by the sheer size of the task before us -- we look at what we're called to do and think, "there's no way we can do that -- it's too much" and so we get bogged down before we even get started

-- let me give you an example -- a couple of weeks ago, I sent Brooke to clean her room -- after being in her room only a few minutes, she began to cry and howl -- she came running out to me in tears, "I just can't do it -- it's too much -- it's too big" -- Brooke is what I call a "big picture thinker"

-- in my estimation, there are two groups of people in the world -- those who see the entire big picture of an event and those who focus on the details -- when Brooke walked into her room to clean it, she only saw the big picture -- she only saw the enormity of the task before her, and it overwhelmed her -- she spent about an hour crying that it couldn't be done -- that it was too big

-- finally, I sent her to get a piece of paper and I sat down with her and we made a list of what needed to be done to clean her room -- put the books on the book shelf -- put the dirty clothes in the dirty clothes hamper -- make the bed -- put the games in the cabinet
-- and I told her, do one thing on the list at a time and then mark it off -- she went back in her room and followed her list -- one item at a time -- and had the whole room cleaned up in less than 15 minutes

-- I think that that's what happens to us a lot of times as churches -- we tend to look at the big picture of the Great Commission and we get overwhelmed by it -- and we cry out -- "we can't do it -- it's too much -- it's too big" -- and so we wring our hands and nothing gets done for the body of Christ
-- but, if we look at the life of Jesus, we see a different approach -- I think it's pretty clear that Jesus came to save the world -- John 3:16-17 says, "16. 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. 17. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. "

-- Jesus came to save the world, but look how He did it
-- when God sent Jesus to earth to save the world, the easiest thing to have done would have been to have Him come in glory and majesty -- to pronounce Himself as God in the temple and to draw all men to Him -- that would have been the most effective way to reach the world
-- but, that's not what Jesus did -- He did speak to crowds of people, but that was the exception, not the rule -- by and large, Jesus ministered to people one-on-one, just like He did with the Samaritan woman at the well in the passage we opened with -- just as He did with countless other individuals -- from Nicodemus to Zaccheus to the blind man by the gate -- Jesus ministered to individuals -- not groups of people

-- Jesus always balanced the Great Commission with the Great Commandment from Matthew 22:37-39 "`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' and `Love your neighbor as yourself.' "

-- as a church and as individuals called by God, we can't get bogged down by looking at the big picture -- we need to focus on the details, for each of those details is a precious child of God called for salvation -- instead of focusing on "saving the Hispanics" or "reaching out to Alapaha Estates" we need to focus on sharing our faith by just loving our neighbor as ourself -- living out the Great Commission through the Great Commandment

-- the second problem with looking at church growth in this way is that it causes us to think our contributions can't amount to much -- we look at the call to "save the Hispanics" or to "reach out to Alapaha Estates" and we think, "what can I possibly do to save the Hispanics? -- How can I reach a group of people or how can this church reach a group of people?"
-- it tends to cause us to not minister or share our faith with others because we don't see where we can do much good -- after all, we're only one person -- we're only a small church
-- but, we tend to forget the power of one -- in the illustration I opened with, I told you how one congressman from New York changed the history of this world -- imagine what one person filled with the Holy Spirit could do -- who knows who you can reach that no one else can -- who knows who you can lead to Christ that no one else can reach?
-- the effects of one person's actions can ripple through time and space and change eternity -- I have a good friend who passed away this week -- I've told you about him before -- he lived out the Great Commission and the Great Commandment in his life better than anyone I've ever known
-- everywhere he went, he witnessed to others and shared his faith -- he would make a friend, he would be a friend to that person, and then he'd introduce that friend to Christ
-- the overwhelming desire in his life was to lead just one more person to Jesus -- the last time I shared a meal with him, I was sitting in a restaurant with him and another preacher -- when the waitress brought our meal, me and the other preacher received our food with thankfulness -- but Rivers refused to take his food, until he found out if that waitress was saved or not
-- me and the other preacher were meeting and making plans to save the world while Rivers was actually getting it done
-- even after he got sick, he was reaching out to others -- when he was sick in the nursing home, he would load up his car and carry other nursing home residents with him to church
-- what effect did he have for Christ's kingdom? -- how many people did he save? -- we'll never know -- because that number is still increasing
-- because bringing people into the kingdom of God is a ripple effect -- when one person gets saved and they share their faith with another -- then there are two sharing God's love in the world -- and then when those two make disciples -- the number of people sharing God's love just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger -- God's word just keeps going on and on and on without end
-- can you imagine the impact you can have on the kingdom of God -- or this church can have on the kingdom of God -- just by leading one person to Christ? -- because you never know how many people will be saved as a result of that one person coming to know the love of God
-- think for a minute about the woman by the well -- in this passage, Jesus took the time -- tired as He was -- to minister to just one outcast woman -- and what was the result? -- we'll never know -- because after she was saved -- after she received the Living Water from Jesus -- it says that she went out and told others -- look down at verse 28

28. Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,
29. "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ ?"
30. They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

-- how many people were saved because of the power of One God working through one outcast Samaritan woman? -- she started a ripple effect that continues to this day
-- no, you can't save the world on your own -- this church can't save the world on our own -- but if each person in here was to lead just one person to Christ, we could change eternity

III. Closing and Application
-- as I close, here's my challenge to you -- we have Homecoming and Revival coming up -- what do you want to come out of homecoming and revival this year -- 5 people sitting in the pews or changed lives?
-- every single day of your life, you come into contact with others who need Christ -- you come into contact with those who don't have a relationship with Him
-- I want you to find one person -- and I want you to invite them to come to Homecoming and Revival -- but I want you to do more than just invite them, I want you to go get them and bring them with you -- and I want you to invest your time with them -- just by being their friend -- just by showing them the presence of Christ in your life
-- what can one person do? -- one person can save the world just by bringing a friend to Christ
-- will you commit to doing that? -- each one of you -- just bring one person with you to church for homecoming and revival -- I'm not asking you to save the world -- I'm not asking you to "save the Hispanics" or to "reach out to Alapaha Estates" -- I'm only asking you to reach out to one person for Christ -- will you do that?
-- let us pray