Sermon - Who's Your One? - Littleby Baptist Church - April 11, 2021

Who’s your one is an evangelism tool being promoted by the North American Missions Board and thought it would be good for us to take a look at it. The larger of the two cards you received will be our guide or outline this morning.

The first point listed is to Remember Your Purpose. We were created to Love God and told that loving Him is the greatest commandment, followed by Loving Others. Both of which should lead us to be witnesses and make disciples.

“¹⁸ As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter), and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ “Follow me,” he told them, “and I will make you fish for people.” ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” – Matthew 4:18-20

Jesus called out to Peter and Andrew to follow Him, and they did. Jesus told them that He will make them fishers of men. As we are called to follow Jesus, we are to be fishers of men, meaning we are to share the Gospel in hope that others will also follow our Lord.

I have not been fishing in a while, but the Hudson clan likes to go fishing or as I tend to joke, we like to go drown some worms. Meaning we are going fishing, but no guarantee we would be coming home with any fish.

Jesus told the guys that He would make them fishers of men. He did not tell them that they were going to change the hearts of those they spoke to. Jesus’ command in Acts 1 is to be witnesses… meaning we need to share with others. We cannot change hearts, but we can share with others how Awesome our God is and how He is working in our lives. We can help those who choose to repent of their sins and turn to Jesus to grow in their knowledge of Christ. We are to be fishers of men, but no guarantee that we will catch something every time we try.

The whole changing of the heart bit is up to the Holy Spirit, not us. 

Our Purpose that we need to remember is that we were created to know Jesus and to make Him known to others.

The next point on our sheets is that we are to Pray for Opportunities. We need to be asking Jesus to bring someone into our path each day that we can share Him with.

“² Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving. ³ At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains, ⁴ so that I may make it known as I should. ⁵ Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. ⁶ Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.” – Colossians 4:2-6

Here we read that Paul was asking the church to pray for doors to be opened so he could share the mystery of Christ with others. He wanted to share it with as many people as possible before it was too late. Then in verse six he turns and is encouraging the church to be prepared to share the Hope they have in Jesus with others. They are to be gracious to others and their words are to be ‘seasoned with salt’ or to be filled with Godly Wisdom.

Paul is telling us that we need to be praying for opportunities to share the Love of Jesus with others. We should be preparing to be the witnesses we have been called to be. We need to be praying for God to work in the hearts of those around us.  

“¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.” – Romans 1:16-17

If we believe that the power is God is truly without limits and has saved us from the wrath we deserve, then we need to believe that it can change the hearts of the staunchest atheist. If we believe that the Holy Spirit will bring people into our lives ready to hear the message that God has given us, then we need to be praying for those opportunities and the wisdom to speak as God would like us to.

“¹³ Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated, ¹⁵ but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” – 1 Peter 3:13-15

We do not know when the opportunity to share the Awesome message of Jesus will fall into our laps, so we need to be ready. Ready to share where our Hope comes from, to share how we have been set free, to share how we get to spend forever with our Jesus.

Pray for opportunities and pray for God to prepare us for them.

The third point listed is that we need to Engage People. We need to be intentional about interacting with people in our lives in hopes of being able to point them to Jesus.

“¹⁷ On one of those days while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and also from Jerusalem. And the Lord’s power to heal was in him. ¹⁸ Just then some men came, carrying on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed. They tried to bring him in and set him down before him. ¹⁹ Since they could not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd before Jesus. ²⁰ Seeing their faith he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” ²¹ Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ²² But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus replied to them, “Why are you thinking this in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.” ²⁵ Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. ²⁶ Then everyone was astounded, and they were giving glory to God. And they were filled with awe and said, “We have seen incredible things today.”” – Luke 5:17-26

One thing we can say about the friends in these verses is that they were intentional about making sure their paralyzed buddy had a chance to meet Jesus. If we are to share the Love of Christ with others, we need to intentionally engage people as we go about our lives. Our eyes need to be open; we need to be watching for that person that God wants us to love. We need to be intentional about praying for the person that we know needs Jesus, our One. We also need to be intentional as we let the Holy Spirit guide us to others in need.

It can be scary, we may feel unsure of ourselves, afraid we do not know enough, or don’t want to offend someone. That is where point number four comes in. We are to build relationships and have gospel conversations with Others.

“¹² “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father.” – John 15:12-15

It is so much easier to talk about Jesus with someone when you know each other. When someone knows you go to church each week and believe in the power of prayer, it is a lot easier to ask them if they have anything, they would like you to pray for. It is a lot easier to invite a coworker or someone you know from the gym out for coffee in hopes of getting to know them better and to talk about Jesus with them. Asking someone where they go to church or if they went to church as a kid can be an easy segue into a conversation about what they believe about Jesus.

We are to build relationships and talk about Jesus.

The final point is that we need to remain faithful.

“⁷ So, then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. ⁹ For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” – 1 Corinthians 3:7-9

If we are remaining faithful, we are to plant seeds and water. We are to share the Gospel faithfully to those who do not know Jesus. It is God who brings the growth, it is the Holy Spirit who can prepare their hearts to receive the seed and water, and it is only Jesus who can save them. We need to pray for others, love them, and share what God has done for them.

We may feel like we strike out every time we try to plant a seed or water, we may feel like all we are doing is drowning worms. Remember we do not have the power to save people, that is up to God, we are to be faithful as we love others and share how Awesome our God is.

The Second Card for the day lists three points with Bible verses, which are the same as what is listed under Share the Gospel on our outline today.

The first:

“¹⁶ For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

God loves us so much that Jesus came to earth so that those who choose to follow Jesus can have eternal life.

The second:

“³ For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” – 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

We are sinners and arguably the most important thing we can ever learn and share with others, is that Jesus died as the sacrifice to cleanse us of our sins. Jesus then rose on the third day defeating death and giving us new life.

The final verse is:

“⁹ If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9

If we confess that Jesus is Lord and Savior, Believe in Him, and Follow Him… our sins are washed away, and we are guaranteed an eternity with our Savior.

On the back side of the card, lists a sample prayer that you can use to guide someone or hand them the card to pray from.

These cards are tools for you. If you are sitting down with someone and have your Bible with you, these cards can help you know where to go and which verses to share. You can even pull up the verses on your phone and share them with someone. If all you have is the card, you can walk through three main points of explaining to someone that God loves them, that Jesus died for them, and salvation is there when they ask.

These cards are tools that we can use to be witnesses to those in our lives. If you use them as a guide when talking to someone or even leave for someone to read, you are planting and watering.

I want to encourage you to use these cards to help you make Jesus known. Pray that God will provide you opportunities to love on others. Purposefully engage people, build relationships with them, and talk about what Jesus has done in your life.

The results are up to God, our job is to faithfully be a witness.

I ordered a LOT of the small cards, please take them, use them, and give them away. Each one could be planting a seed or watering.

God Bless,

Robert