Looking For The One!

Sermon Summary:

What does it mean to truly fish for people? This message draws us into one of Jesus’s most beloved parables in Luke 15, the story of the lost sheep, to help us understand the heart behind evangelism. The shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to search for the one is not acting out of sentiment alone. He is acting out of genuine love and the knowledge that every single sheep has irreplaceable value. That same logic applies to every person we encounter in our daily lives. Each one has been created by God for eternity, and each one matters deeply to him. The parable reframes how we think about sharing our faith. It is not a program or a checklist. It is a natural overflow of seeing people the way God sees them. When we begin to grasp that God is already seeking after lost people, that he sent his Son for that very reason, our role starts to feel less like an obligation and more like a privilege. We are invited into something God is already doing. The challenge this message places before us is both simple and profound. What if we approached evangelism not as an overwhelming global task, but as a daily willingness to look for just one person? One person who needs to be seen, heard, encouraged, or introduced to the love of God. That single shift in perspective can transform the way we move through our ordinary days.

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Sermon Points: 

Key Takeaways:

• God actively seeks after lost people and rejoices when even one sinner returns to him, as illustrated in the parable of the lost sheep
• Jesus is the ultimate teacher and model for evangelism, and following him closely is the most organic form of evangelistic training
• Evangelism should be approached not as a recreational option but with the urgency of someone whose livelihood — or whose neighbor’s eternity — depends on it
• The SHARE acrostic provides a practical framework: See lost people, develop a Heart for them, Ask God to bring them into your life, be Ready, and then Evangelize
• A powerful and sustainable evangelistic practice is simply asking God each day to place one person in your path who needs him
• Believers do not need to know everything; they need to know what they believe about the gospel, be obedient, and be available when the moment comes
• Lost people are drawn to genuine love and acceptance; the Pharisees’ self-righteousness drove people away, while Jesus’ compassion drew them in

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Sermon Transcript:

And everyone said, amen, Right? Thank you so much, worship ministry, for leading us today in worship. Well, you know, as we continue our journey, flourishing together, we are focused on a different facet of what that means each season of the year. So for the fall, our theme is Gone Fishing. And y’ all remember that I have shared with you that I want us to have this image in our minds that when we leave our homes every day, we have a sign on our door that says gone fishing.

I’ve never had a sign that said a physical sign that said gone fishing. Because I’m just not much of a fisherman, at least in that the way you normally think of it. But this morning, coming into worship today, Steve and Charlotte Graham gave me a sign that says gone fishing. So now I have something to hang on my door. So thank y’ all for that.

But that’s the image that we have, that we have an assignment. We have something that we’re called to do every day, as we’re just living our lives out in a very real world with real people, and we just do it every day. So that’s the image that I want us to have. So with that said, let’s look at this text today. I’ve entitled the message today, looking for the one.

And the text is found in Luke 15. It’s a very familiar story. This page in Our Bibles, Luke 15, is a page where Jesus tells these very famous stories that have to do with lostness. And the first of those stories has to do with the lost sheep. So if you’ll look with me at Luke 15, I’ll begin in verse one.

I invite you to stand if you’re able, as we honor the Lord Jesus in the reading of the Gospel. Now, the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and teachers of the law muttered, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Then Jesus told them this parable. Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.

Doesn’t he leave the 99 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 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Thank you. You may be seated.

Obviously, this message from Jesus would have been somewhat biting for the Pharisees and religious leaders as he is somewhat challenging their sense of self righteousness. We get that right. That’s what’s happening in this text. But as he does that, he tells this very powerful story, and I’m grateful for it. Our theme verse for this entire series for the fall comes from Matthew 4, verse 19, where Jesus says, come, follow me and I will send you out to fish for people.

And if you’ll remember, this is something unique from Jesus because the prophets in the Old Testament never asked Israel, follow them. They would have never said, follow me. The prophets always pointed the Jews to God in Jesus Day. The rabbis, the teachers, they did not challenge people to follow them per se. They might invite someone who wants to be a rabbi to follow.

But the point was they encouraged them to give consideration to the Torah, to the law. Jesus just simply says, come, follow me. And then he says, I’m going to send you out as fishers of people. Which is a powerful, powerful challenge. So here’s what we’re doing this fall.

We are learning together about evangelism. And our hope is that we’re going to develop and continue to foster just an evangelistic sensitivity in our everyday lives. That’s what we’re after, that we just have this sensitivity regarding evangelism. And over the course of these next few weeks, we’re going to have three different evangelists who are going to preach for us. Next Sunday morning, Raphael Anzenberger will be here.

Raphael is the general secretary for the French Canadian Baptist Union, and he lives in Montreal, Canada, and he preaches with somewhat of an Alabama accent. And so y’ all should be right at home and be ready for him. So just practice that this week and you’ll be okay Sunday. But he is a powerful evangelist and God is using him in so many ways. In fact, we are connected to Raphael.

He’s been here before. He’s met with our staff, our Great Commission Council, and he’s one of our partners in our Canadian work. And I’ll be actually joining him the next week on a mission trip to Canada. Luke and Jalen have just come back from a trip to Canada working with Raphael, and so I’m looking forward to you hearing from him. Later in this series, you’ll hear from Oza Jones.

Oza is the director of evangelism for Texas Baptist. He’s been here before as well. When I say his name in the next service, all the youth will break into applause because he’s one of their favorite camp speakers. He’s been There leading our camp a couple of years, couple of times. And then our own Gary Stidham is going to be preaching as well, who we believe is one of the best evangelists.

He does evangelistic training for all of our campus ministers in Texas Baptist Life. So the focus is on evangelism. So with that said, let’s talk about that this morning. Evangelism, I see it like this. It actually just emerges from a partnership with the evangelist Jesus.

Right? Because Jesus is the evangelist. He’s really good at it and we can learn so much from him. And so here’s what Jesus says. Come follow me.

And then he says, I’m going to make fishers, fishermen out of you and you’re going to fish for people. That’s what he says to these disciples. He’s going to inspire them, he’s going to equip them, he’s going to teach them, instruct them, them. I would say he will do the very same thing for us. And here’s the thing, we need it.

We need to be instructed to learn how to do this. So if you, if you can use the metaphor for a little bit about fishing, I want you to think about that. Now, I will say this about myself. I’m not really much of a fisherman, okay. But I do go fishing.

I pretty much only fish in Colorado. So let me show you this photo.

This is from just a month or so ago in August. And if you were just to look at that photo, you would think I belong on the COVID of Field and Stream, wouldn’t you? I mean, I am standing in the Pine River. I have got the right equipment. I mean, I am, I am ready.

And I look like I am self contained and I know what I’m doing, right? Is that not how that looks? Let me show you the next photo just to make sure you understand.

Mike Steiger knows what he’s doing. Mike is sitting right back here. Mike is my teacher, my trainer, my instructor. He’s my inspiration. And here’s the thing about Steiger.

Steiger knows how to fish for trout. And we’re standing in the river right behind his home in Colorado, the Pine River. He knows what trout like to eat. He knows kind of where they are. He knows how to fish for them.

And he has taught me how to fly fish. I’m not very good at it, but I’m learning. It’s a, it’s a, it’s very different than the kind of fishing I did growing up as a kid. I’d never done anything like this before, but I’m learning. And let me just show you.

I’m fishing. And when, when, when I’m fishing in that river, the fun thing about it is, even if you don’t catch anything fun because it’s so, it’s athletic. But I’ve gotten good enough, y’, all, to where I’m actually catching fish. I’m talking about wild fish too. I’m not talking about fish in a barrel.

That’s not what’s happening. I’m actually catching wild trout in a wild river in Colorado in a life threatening situation. There are bears, mountain lions. I don’t even know what all is out there, but look how calm Steiger and I are. But if you’ll notice, even though I’m doing this, catching this fish, notice, I still have my teacher walking with me, my instructor, the person that has actually helped me do all of this.

And the cool thing is I think I caught seven this time. I can’t remember Mike, something like that. But every time I catch one, Steiger’s more excited than I am because he’s seeing his student actually do something that we are trying to accomplish. Well, here’s the thing. I could never have done that.

I have no idea how to fly fish. I don’t know how to tie the flies. I don’t know where the fish are. None of that would have happened without Mike. So he has taught me, walked me.

And I want y’ all to know I love it. It’s fun. It’s the only place that I ever do this is in Colorado. And it’s an awesome thing. And I’ve thought about it a lot as I was getting ready for this series about what does it mean to fish.

Now here’s what I would say about it though. When Jesus says to these men, I want you to follow me and I’m basically going to make real fishermen out of you. I want you to think about it. He basically was asking them to quit doing what they were doing for a living and go do something else because their livelihood depended on fishing, right? So when Jesus said to them, follow me and I’m going to send you out as a fisherman, for people, that meant something a little bit different in terms of imagery than it does to me.

Because when I read that, follow me and I’ll make you a fisher of people, I read that and I go, okay. I mean, I like fishing. I mean, it’s good. But you know, when I go fishing, when I want to, you know, I mean, and not only that, y’, all, the conditions have to be right for Me to go fishing. Okay.

I pretty much now only fish in Colorado in that river. That’s kind of where I fish. And the weather has to be, you know, it’s too hot today. I’m not. I’m just not going to go today, you know?

And who’s bringing the snacks? How long are we going to be gone, Mike? Do I need these kinds? Is it muddy? I’m getting in the water.

I might just sit here and read for a little while. I mean, so when I think of fishing, I’m just a recreational fisherman. That’s not who these guys were when Jesus is. In other words, if I were to have a conversation with Peter and Andrew and James and John about fishing, don’t you think their view be very different than my view? Their livelihood depended on it.

Well, what if you and I fished for people like our livelihood depended on it?

Now think about that for a second. What if we fished for people like our livelihood dependent on. Well, I would tell y’ all right now, I’d get good at it and I’d do it a lot if my livelihood depended on it. Now, don’t hear me say that you and I need to become full time evangelists, ministers, and we need to all quit our jobs. That’s not the point.

But you catch my sense though, right? What if it was really important? Let me ask you a different question. What if we fished like the fish’s eternity depended upon it? Whoa, come on now.

Now we done started preaching this early in the morning, right? That hits a little close to home. Because guess what? Fishes, their eternity does depend upon whether or not they get saved. Now hear me carefully.

Nobody’s eternity is in your hands. That’s not how it works. But I will say this. Every single person you encounter in your life, no matter where you meet them, every single one of them has been created by God for eternity. And you and I at least have an opportunity to speak into a moment in their life and be an encouragement to them in their eternal journey.

And if we start seeing it that way, then maybe we might be a little more encouraged to share what we really know and what we believe, if we really believe that their eternity depends upon it. So with all of that said, can I just say this to us? Let’s get really good at fishing. Okay? Let’s get good at it.

It takes time. I would tell you when I talk with Mike about fishing, it hasn’t just happened overnight. It’s taken time.

You got to think about it. You’ve got to learn some skills. So what I would say is let’s take this time, this focus, this fall, and let’s just commit to the Lord that we’re going to get good at this. Okay, so how do we get good at it? Well, I think there are a number of things that need to happen.

Okay? So first of all, we need to make sure our theology is right. Because y’ all theology is just of supreme importance because what you believe dictates how you behave. Okay? So here, here’s what I would say, just very simply, about our theology regarding fishing for people.

This story in Luke 15 helps me. Here’s what I know. God loves sinners. Aren’t we glad he just loves sinners and he has a heart for lost people. In fact, I would say this.

God is seeking after lost people. He cares enough about lost people to go looking for them. He sent his son to find them. So this parable that Jesus tells Jesus is trying to help us understand God’s heart. He says, now, you know a shepherd has a hundred sheep.

Well, in the first century, that would be somewhat of a middle class shepherd. According to the research I’ve done, if you had a flock of anywhere to 20 to a couple hundred sheep, you were pretty much a middle class shepherd. So this, everybody would understand this. This isn’t Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. This is kind of just a normal guy.

Jesus says a guy has a hundred sheep. Most everybody there would say, well, I know guys that have a hundred sheep. I get it. Well, but here’s the thing about that. That means each one of those sheep is incredibly valuable to that guy.

You know, it’s not like he has a million of them. He has a hundred of them and all of a sudden he realizes one of them has gone missing. Jesus said, now y’ all all know, y’ all all have friends that do this for a living. Y’ all all know what he would do. He would make sure the 99 were cared for.

He says in this parable, leads about an open country. The insinuation is probably somebody else will watch them for him and he’s going to go looking for that lost sheep, because that lost sheep matters to him. He only has a hundred of them, so his livelihood is at stake. And so he goes looking for him. And Jesus said, and y’ all know what’s going to happen when he finds that sheep?

He’s going to rescue that sheep personally, he’s going to bring it back home and he’s going to get everybody together and say, y’, all, it’s okay. I’ve Got them all. We’re all good. We found this sheep. And Jesus said, just imagine how God feels every time a lost person comes home to him.

He rejoices. Because he has a heart for lost people. He cares about them. And Jesus is basically chiding these Pharisees for being so smug about themselves, because these tax collectors and sinners, these people that are kind of the outcasts of the society, these Pharisees have every opportunity in the world to point them to the Lord, to develop a relationship with them and help them understand how to better follow the Torah. They’re just not doing it.

But I want you to notice what Luke says about those people. Luke says this. Remember in verse one, Luke says the tax collectors and sinners just couldn’t leave Jesus alone. They wanted to be with Him. Well, these Pharisees had the very same opportunity.

But guess what? These tax collectors and sinners didn’t want to be with the Pharisees. Why?

Because the Pharisees didn’t want to be with them, you know? You know when people don’t want to be with you, don’t you? You know that right now, some people don’t pick up on those cues, you know what I mean? But most of us do. We know when we’re not wanted.

And these people knew they weren’t wanted. But with Jesus, he wanted them because he came looking for them. In fact, Jesus. Jesus came for that very reason. Let me read you this quote from AW Tozer.

He’s a pastor from a generation gone by. Here’s what he says. Why did Christ come? Why was he conceived? Why was he born?

Why was he crucified? Why did he rise again? Why is he now at the right hand of the Father? The answer to all these questions is in order that he might make worshipers out of rebels. Now, in case y’ all don’t know, before you know Jesus, you’re a rebel.

You’re out of fellowship with the lord. And so A.W. Tozer says the whole reason this whole thing happened is so that we could somehow begin to worship God, be connected to God relationally. So here’s what I’d say about it. I think we do need training, and I want to be careful about it because, you know, you don’t have to go through some program.

That’s not the point. All you need to do is follow Jesus. That’s really the answer. Because Jesus is the best teacher, he’s the best fisherman, and he’s really good at it. So that imagery is a little hard for me, you know, because When I was a little boy, I wasn’t much into fishing.

My dad, that was not a thing for us. But my granddaddy liked to fish. He lived in Griffin, Georgia, and we had an uncle and aunt that lived with my grandparents, Uncle W and sister. Well, Uncle W and Granddaddy liked to fish. So when we would go there to their home, usually on the weekend, on Saturday morning, my granddad and Uncle W would take me and Tommy and Emerson to fish.

Now, here’s how that worked. We’d get up really early in the morning. Really early in the morning. We would get up really early in the morning, okay. Granddaddy would.

He had a 1950 model Ford. We’d load up in that car of his. And I’m still asleep. So my granddaddy would get me out of bed, take me, and right on the back of the back seat, there was a little flat area kind of in the back windshield. I don’t remember what we called that, but that’s where I went.

And I just stayed there asleep. And we would go to the Odell pond. Mr. Odell let us fish on his pond. And we’d get down there, and granddaddy and Uncle W and Tommy and Emerson would get up and they’d all go down to the pond. I would stay in my little spot asleep till I woke up.

The problem was between where Granddaddy parked and Mr. Odell’s pond, there was a bull. And I was scared of bulls, cows, and anything that looked like that. And so we had a really cool communication system. When I woke up and I was kind of ready, I would just climb over the seats and just honk the horn on the car. And that was Granddaddy’s cue to come up there and get me.

So he’d come get me, walk me back down to the pond, protect me from the bull. And then here was my assignment. Granddaddy had these little wire things stuck in the ground. He had a fishing pole in it and a bucket. And my job was to sit on that bucket, watch that little orange thing floating in the water.

And if it went down, I’m supposed to scream so somebody could come grab that thing and pull that catfish in. That was fishing. And you couldn’t talk because you would scare the fish. So it was awesome. You know, for a little kid, it was.

I dreamed about it. I couldn’t wait to get down there and go sit on that bucket. But the thing was, I mean, I wanted to be with my granddaddy, and I wanted to be with my brothers. So When I thought of fishing, I mean, you know, as an adult, I would think to myself, I think I’m going to wake up early this morning and go, let a bull chase me and go sit on a bucket. That’s how I want.

That’s my day. No. So I’m not the best one to talk fishing with. But I get the picture, though. And I’m watching Jesus, and what I see Jesus do is fish.

He went after lost people. He had compassion for them. He cared about them. He listened to their stories, he looked at them. Just go back and read the Gospels and see how many times Jesus will just look at somebody.

He’ll stop what he’s doing. And he always seemed to be really clear about what he was asking from them. There was certain clarity with Jesus. He seemed to call for response. He was just good at it.

And so consequently, lost people wanted to be with him. They hung out with him. That’s what Luke tells us. And so he’s our best teacher. That’s what I would say.

So the training, it’s not necessarily a program, if you will. There’s nothing wrong with learning the programs. I’m an advocate for it. But there’s just something dynamic and organic about just being with Jesus. And Jesus is just good at inspiring that.

You know, the woman at the well, when Jesus encountered her and shared with her who he was, all of a sudden she just became a natural evangelist. Y’ all remember, she just. She just went back home and told everybody, and lo and behold, that whole community responded to what she had to say. That, to me, is a pure form evangelism. Now, with that said, I will give you a little acrostic today that I use that’s just kind of in my mind.

Can I show that with just a little technique? And it’s the word share. So if you can just imagine the word share, here’s the acrostic. I’ll share with you that maybe you can just kind of put it in your mind. I would say this.

The S to me stands for just seeing lost people. I just think that everybody just deserves to be seen. Just to see them see their life, what’s taking place in their life. But I also believe this, y’. All.

The H to me stands for heart. Somehow or another, I’ve got to develop a heart for lost people. And here’s the challenge. In my day, so many people believe in our day, in our society, that Christians like us look down on other people.

They just feel like we’re really good at condemning. And somehow or another Y’, all, we’ve gotta. In my opinion, we’ve gotta recapture the ability to be like Jesus. Jesus just had a heart for lost people. The A stands for just asking God to bring people in your life.

You may say, well, you know, Pastor, I really appreciate you saying this, but all I hang around are Christians. Okay, good. Well, then ask God to start bringing some lost people in your life. And here’s what I would tell you. I believe he’ll do it.

He’ll help you intersect with people because he’s just really good at orchestrating these circumstances. The air. The R rather stands for just be ready. Just be ready. Always be ready.

Always be prepared to give a defense of the hope that’s in you. So be ready to do it. And then the E is real simple. Then just evangelize. You know, just.

Just be ready. You know, in the New Testament’s full of some great stories. You know the story in Acts 8 where Philip is doing this revival in Samaria and God tells him to go on the road to Gaza? Y’ all remember this story? Now, if you’re an effective evangelist in the urban center of Samaria, and God is bringing an increase and a revival is taking place, which is what the Bible says, so much so that the apostles had to come check it out.

And then all of a sudden, the Lord tells him to go to the road to Gaza. Well, y’, all, that road that goes to Gaza, nobody lives on it.

It’s just a wilderness road. So why would you take an effective evangelist and go put him out in the middle of nowhere where nobody lives? Well, it turns out there was an Ethiopian official on his way home. Y’ all remember this story? There’s an Ethiopian official on his way home.

And y’, all, the guy is in his chariot reading. Do y’ all remember this? And what was he reading? Isaiah. And Philip just walks up beside him and says, hey, man, do you even know what you’re reading?

The guy says, well, how can I know what I’m reading? I don’t have anybody explain it to me. And now all of a sudden, we know why God would take an effective evangelist and send him out to a lonely road where nobody lives. Because this man going to meet Jesus, he’s going to baptize him. And do you know that today we credit that part of Africa’s roots of Christianity to that one person, when they tell the story of their faith in that part of Africa, they tell this story.

And so God knows what he’s doing. But here’s what I’d Say, about Philip, he was accessible, he was available, and he was ready. He was knowledgeable. Doesn’t mean he knew everything there was to know, but he was knowledgeable enough, then he was obedient. Y’, all, come on.

That’s really what God’s asking from you. To just be available, to be accessible, and to be a little bit knowledgeable. So do y’ all know what you believe about the gospel? How long have you been going to church? Surely you know what you believe about the gospel.

If I were to poke you enough, surely at some point I could get to what you actually believe about it. Well, just work on what you believe people should know, and then be obedient when the time comes. So here’s kind of the encouragement I want to give you this morning. Okay. Y’ all still with me?

Okay, let me give you this encouragement. I came across this book a while back, Looking for the One. Here’s a tip.

Just looking for the One. This little book is by David McIver. It’s called looking for the One. He has been the chaplain for the Minnesota Twins, and he has a radio ministry. And as he was trying to figure out how to become a more effective evangelist.

Evangelism can be overwhelming because there are a lot of lost people in the world, right? There are a lot of unreached people in the world. I mean, there’s this. We know that. We know there’s just a lot of lost people in the world.

So you get overwhelmed by it. So here’s what McKeever said he started doing. He said every day, he just asked the Lord, just help me find one person. Just put me in the path of just one person today. It’s a person that maybe they need encouragement, maybe they need to be heard, maybe they need to be seen, maybe they need to be saved.

So, Lord, would you just give me one person today? Now, does that not sound reasonable to y’? All? So if I were to say to y’, all, okay, tomorrow morning, here’s our assignment. We’re going to meet here at the church tomorrow morning.

This group of people at this service, the next service, everybody in Bible study, and we’re going to go out tomorrow morning, and we are going to share the gospel with every single person in Arlington. 24 hours, we got 400,000 people, and we’re going to go take the gospel to every single person in the city of Arlington. Y’ all would go, no. Okay, so I get that. But what if we said, tomorrow, just go looking for just one person?

Just. Just one person that God might put in your path who just may need to be seen. Maybe they need a. You just see them and you think, oh, man. Maybe they just need a word of encouragement where.

Whoever they might be, once again, Jesus was just really good at it, wasn’t he, Nathaniel? John’s gospels. Jesus went to Nathaniel and just encouraged him to come follow him. The Nicodemus. Jesus just sat down.

Jesus didn’t barge into the Sanhedrin. He could have, couldn’t he? Could Jesus not have done that? Could Jesus not have walked into the Sanhedrin and schooled every scholar on truth? But he didn’t.

He sat down with just one of them Nicodemus. He didn’t barge into that village in Samaria. He just sat down with that one woman, just talked to her. He didn’t just randomly heal everybody. That was lame Israel.

But he did find that guy by the pool of Bethesda, and he said, hey, man, do you want to get well? Just that one guy. Just looked at him. The guy that was born blind. Just that one guy.

Jesus just looked at him and he healed him. Zacchaeus, presumably the only guy hiding in a tree. I don’t know how many people were hiding in a tree that day. I don’t know. There’s one of them.

And he stopped and he looked at me, said, hey, man, come on down. I’m gonna go to your house today. I’m not going to everybody’s house. I’ll tell you what, I’m gonna go to your house. Just that one person.

Does that sound reasonable to y’? All? Just one person? Well, I’ve been trying it. It’s been interesting.

All the different people I’ve talked to just pray every day, Lord, we’ll just put one person in front of me today that just needs whatever it is you think I might be able to offer them. Now. I would say to y’, all, I told the folks this Wednesday night a week ago. Sometimes the fish just jump in the boat. I don’t know how that works.

Cindy always cooks lunch every Sunday, so we eat at home every Sunday. The kids come over and eat. We’ve been doing that for pretty much our whole married life. Well, a couple weeks ago, nobody was coming for dinner, for lunch, so we decided to go out to eat, which we very rarely ever do. So we’re sitting in this restaurant.

We go in, sit down. Our server walks up, looks at me, looks at Cindy. He says, so how was church?

I mean, I’m dressed like this. I said, it’s pretty good.

Gets our drink orders. He Comes back, put some drinks on the table. And he says, so, what was the sermon about?

I said, evangelism. He said, was it any good? I said, I thought it was pretty good. He said, really? So what did you learn?

And I was like, okay, dude, I’m actually the preacher. He just busted out laughing. So what did you talk about? And then he said, you know, it’s funny, kind of odd that I would run into you today, because my girlfriend and I are actually looking for a church. And I was like, come on, y’.

All. The fish sometimes just jump in the boat. Let’s just. It is what it is. So that was my one for the day.

One of our church members wrote me a note the other day and said, I’m in this Bible study with some folks, and we have a new person who’s joined it and not necess is very intellectual, very curious, but not necessarily understanding all of our theology. And just right in the middle of the Bible study posed the question, well, what is the Trinity?

Okay, well, now all of a sudden, we’re out in the ocean. We’re not. We’re. As she said, I’m fishing for a deep sea blue fish, bluefin tuna. You know, I’m not.

This is a very serious conversation. Sometimes it’s going to be challenging. The one that the Lord puts in your way. Our friend who’s our church planter in West Africa, we have two of them that we support in a very pivotal part of West Africa. And you, if you support our church and you support Restore Hope, you’re supporting both of those church planters together.

They have over 400 church planters out right now planting churches. While we’re meeting right here Today, there’s over 400 people on your behalf taking the gospel today in these villages in West Africa. When I was with him, last time I was with him, we’re on our way to this remote village up in the middle of nowhere in the bush, and we got all these. This caravan of these vehicles with big tarps on the top of them. We’re hauling all this stuff.

And all of a sudden a motorcycle pulls up next to us with a guy on the back of it, and our whole entourage stops. And we all get out, and I see Pastor Emanuel talking to the people on this motorcycle. And we’re watching. It’s pretty intense conversation. And so we.

He leaves. And Emmanuel comes over to me and he says, pastor Dennis, we need to pray. I said, okay. He said, that was the chief of the area that we just came through last time I came through. He told me if we ever came back, he was going to kill us.

He said he just came up here to see what in the world we’re doing. Why do you have all these vehicles and what’s all this stuff on top of them? And I told him, well, these are people from the US and they’re coming to do a medical clinic up in a village up here. And he said, okay. The chief said, well, I hadn’t been feeling well.

You think I could come? So Emanuel said, well, yes. So the next day, we get everything set up. Sure enough, the chief shows up. Same motorcycle, same driver.

He gets treated. He then. So Emmanuel introduces him to me, and then he asks. He says, my wife hadn’t been feeling well. Can I go get my wife?

So he goes back and gets his wife, comes back the next day, she gets treated. The next day, he comes back up and says, why are y’ all doing this? All this free. We’re not paying for anything. And so Emmanuel is able to explain to him, well, you know, the last time I was up here, you told me you were going to kill me if I came back.

But I just need you to know, because of who we believe God is and what he’s done for us, this chief said, well, can you come to my village and tell my people what you’re telling these people? And so y’, all, today, that chief has become a Christian, and we now have a church in his village. Isn’t that awesome?

Sometimes the fish don’t jump in the barrel. They threaten. I mean, in the boat, they threaten to kill you. I’m just saying, when you’re looking for the one, you just don’t know how it’s going to go. But here’s what I know about the Lord.

The Lord knows, and he’s putting people all over, and he’s leading you and guiding you. He might even call you to a desert road in Gaza, because he knows who’s there. So let’s give him a chance. So I asked Kyle, our team here, to redo my business cards. And so they’ve redone them for me.

And so they’re now printed vertically. And I asked them to put this on the back of my business card. Okay? It’s called the Salvation Poem. Let me show it to you.

It’s a song. This is actually the refrain from the song by Matt and Sherry McPherson. And you can look it up online. You can just Google Salvation Poem. There’s a whole bunch of resources that go with it, but they’ve given us permission to use it for free Jesus, you died upon a cross and rose again to save the lost Forgive me now of all my sin Come be my savior, Lord, and friend Change my life and make it new and help me, Lord, to live for you.

That’s on my business card. So now I’ve probably given away almost 300 of them, 250 or so. And I always say there’s a little poem here on the back of this. Actually, it’s a prayer. You could pray it.

And here’s what I want you to know, if you don’t know this already. You need for Jesus to be your Savior, your Lord, and your friend, and you can ask him to do that. And I’ve had so many comments from folks who are contemplating thinking that little poem has been very effective. All I’m saying is I don’t know how you need to do it. I don’t.

I just know we need to do it. And so somehow another Can I just encourage us to just look for the One and then give God the opportunity to bring that one, and then whatever it is, and however it is that you and I can engage them, let’s just do it and let’s just see what God does with it. So with that said, y’ all know that we are praying every week the same prayer together for this season. And so we have a prayer for this week. Okay?

So let me put the prayer on the screen for y’ all this week, and let’s pray this out loud together. Father, please place someone in my path who needs to know that you truly love them and are seeking after them. Amen and amen. May God use us to be faithful evangelists. This week, let’s pray together.

Well, Lord, we love you. We thank you for your love for us. We thank you, Lord, that you love lost people, which means you love us. You love sinners, you love us. And I just pray, God, that somehow you’ll help us to find our way into somebody else’s life who needs to know about you.

And so, Lord, help us to look for that one, whoever it might be that you place in our path. Maybe it’s to offer a word of encouragement. Maybe it’s just to help them find their way. Maybe it’s to meet a need in their life. Maybe it’s just to pray with them.

Maybe it’s just to encourage them. Maybe it’s just to see them. Maybe it’s just to help lift a burden. Maybe it’s just to pray over them. Maybe if it’s just to silently offer a prayer on their behalf.

But it could also be that we just happen to intersect them at just the right moment when they need to hear about who you are. And so we’ll place those people in our path, and may we be faithful in sharing the good news with them. And we pray that in Jesus name,