Monday, August 5, 2013

ONE FOCUS: "It All Begins with One"

Here are the notes from yesterday's message at New Life Community Church.  This was the first in the series ONE FOCUS.  The title is "It All Begins with One."  If you would like to listen to this message, you may do so by going to our website at www.newlifesite.com.  God bless!



One Focus, Part 1                                                                               Sunday, August 4, 2013
 “It All Begins with One”


By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”  John 13:35 (NASB)

Keep it SIMPLE

We do life together…
            LOVE GOD
            LOVE EACH OTHER
            LOVE THE WORLD


Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:  II Corinthians 3:12 (KJV)


We always tend to make things complicated.

Story about Luke Wallace.

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.  II Corinthians 11:3 (NKJV)

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:16-18 (NKJV)

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—  Romans 5:12 (NIV)

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!  Romans 5:15 (NIV)

17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!  18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.  Romans 5:17-19 (NIV)

14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  II Corinthians 5:13-14 (NIV)

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  II Corinthians 5:13-20 (NIV)

It all begins with one.

The population of Ouachita Parish in 2012:  155,363.
Of that total, it is estimated that any given Sunday between 18,000 and 25,000 people are in church. 
That leaves perhaps 125,000 to 30,000 people who are with lost or unchurched.
How do we change that?  One person at a time.

The incredible significance of ONE.
A little bit goes a long way:
3 multiplied by itself 5 times is 729
4 multiplied by itself 5 times is 4,096

Illustration:  Lifesavers


THREE QUESTIONS:

WHY?


Because of the simple TRUTH.

God is real.  There is such a place as heaven and hell.  The Gospel works.  People need the Lord.

You need to be aware of two things:  WHAT YOU HAVE and WHAT THE WORLD DOESN’T HAVE.


WHO?


Illustration #1:  Jocelyn Rojas


This is five-year old Jocelyn Rojas.
On July 11, a little over two weeks ago, she was playing in her front yard of her home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania when a she vanished – couldn’t be found.  This is the ultimate fear of any parent of a young child.  As it turns out, she had been lured into a car by a man offering her ice cream.  When she couldn’t immediately be found, her parents called the police.  For the next two hours, police and neighbors scoured the neighborhood.  That’s when a 15 year old named Temar Boggs got on his bicycle and along with a friend took off in a wider circle looking for Jocelyn.  He spotted her in a car about a half-mile from her house.  Then for 15 intense minutes, he chased the car through the twists and turns of the streets of Lancaster.  The driver realized that he was being followed and finally stopped at the bottom of a hill, the door came open and he released little Jocelyn.  She ran to her rescuer saying she wanted her mommy.

Illustration #2:  Joseph Hodges

Chris Hodges tells of the time he and his family were on vacation and walking down the streets of a resort town in Colorado.  They were going in and out of shops and stopped in the Starbucks.  Chris’s youngest son is Joseph and he has a form of autism in which he does not communicate easily.  Somehow, Joseph wandered off.  He evidently walked out of the Starbucks and took a wrong turn.  Suddenly, where’s Joseph.  The Hodges have four other children, and so, counting Chris and his wife, immediately six people fan out in a frantic search to find Joseph.  Nothing else matters.  Chris tells how he approached a police officer asking, “Have you seen a boy …” and he described Joseph.  The police officer sarcastically asked, “Well, have you looked where you last saw him.”  It was obvious the officer didn’t want to be bothered by the problem.  That added anger to the desperation Chris felt.  The finally found Joseph, but until they did, nothing else mattered.  God Himself echoes this in Isaiah 43:6



People who God LOVES.



HOW?

First step is to PRAY.

Prayer and Fasting for the next 21 days.

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