INVITE ONE

Good morning, let's stand and praise the Lord, our God. I pray, Lord, my heart and hands I am healed by your stripes Your blood declares that I am free In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, calling on the power of heaven I proclaim, every weapon sworn against me You must pray, in the mighty name of Jesus My God, I'm coming here now to you The enemy has no rights to come Near my family No shame will ever want to blaspheme No matter the circumstance The cross has sealed my destiny In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, calling on the power of heaven I proclaim, every weapon sworn against me You must pray, in the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus I know, all the power of fear and darkness In my soul, is every key to every victory I hold, in the mighty name of Jesus So I will not fear, I will not fear When the enemy comes near On the doorframe of my life It's the blood of Jesus Christ I will not fear, I will not fear There's an army of angels here I'm protected on all sides By the blood of Jesus Christ

I will not fear, I will not fear When the enemy comes near On the doorframe of my life It's the blood of Jesus Christ I will not fear, I will not fear There's an army of angels here I'm protected on all sides By the blood of Jesus Christ In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, calling on the power of heaven I'll throw away, every weapon formed against me You must pray, in the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus Oh I know, all the power of fear and darkness They must go, cause every king's a weary victory I hold, in the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus Oh the name of Jesus Our Saviour sees all things He sees what the enemy is up to And He declares His truth over your life He is our victor. He's already won. The battle is won. It's won. I will not fear. I will not fear. When the enemy comes near. On the torn frame of my life. It's the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear. I will not fear. There's an army of angels here.

I'm protected on all sides. By the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear. I will not fear. When the enemy comes near. On the torn frame of my life. It's the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear. I will not fear. There's an army of angels here. I'm protected on all sides. By the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear. I will not fear. When the enemy comes near. On the torn frame of my life. It's the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear. I will not fear. There's an army of angels here. I'm protected on all sides. By the blood of Jesus Christ. In the mighty name of Jesus. I pray. Calling on the power of heaven. I proclaim. Every weapon formed against me. I must pray. In the mighty name of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus. I know. All the power of fear and darkness. It must go. Seven keys to everything.

Catch it all. In the mighty name of Jesus. It's in the mighty name of Jesus. It's in the mighty name of Jesus. It's in the mighty name of Jesus. ♪♪♪ Maybe we've made this complicated. More than it was ever meant to be. Hasn't it always been about the same thing? Lord, bring us back to simple things. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ And I hold on to you for the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say Jesus I love you for you ♪ ♪ You are the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you my savior all in all ♪ ♪ Cause you're the one I hold on to for the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say Jesus I love you oh how I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus I love you oh how I love you oh how I love you Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ oh how I love you oh how I love you Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ And my whole life for your glory my whole world for you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story let it be of you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life for your glory my whole world for you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story let it be of you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life for your glory my whole world for you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story let it be of you only everything for the honor of your name oh how I love you oh how I love you Jesus I love you ♪

♪ oh how I love you oh how I love you Jesus I love you and my whole life for your glory my whole world for you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story let it be of you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life for your glory my whole world for you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story let it be of you only everything for the honor of your name oh how I love you oh how I love you Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ oh how I love you oh how I love you Jesus I love you ♪ Jesus we love you can we say that together Jesus we love you Jesus I love you I thank you for your spirit here this morning it is moving being on our behalf. God is an act of God. He moves on your behalf. In Jesus name, Amen. Good morning, Revolution Church. It is so wonderful to see your beautiful, shining faces. Thank you for being here. You're welcome to take a seat. I want to welcome the first time visitors. Do you know how glad we are that you're here? And we want to connect with you. There is a card in the seat back pocket of right in front of you. If you wouldn't mind filling that out and bringing it out to the lobby. Our connection table hosts would love to greet you and they have a gift to give to you. And if you make the most important decision of your life today and make Jesus Lord and Savior, we want to put a Bible in your hands, the living word of God to guide you in your hands. There are congregational pastors out in the lobby after service and they want to talk with you. They want to pray with you and they want to give you a Bible. And we also have some announcements to say today. We have a mission meeting next Sunday. Next Sunday is our mission meeting after third service in room D. Did you know that there are still people in North Carolina that are not in their homes? After all these months from Hurricane Helene that they still need our help. So we are sending another team. So if God is moving on your heart to go next Sunday after third service in room D. And I would like to invite you, all of you, to our one night this Wednesday night at 7 p.m. We have our one night. This is our discipleship commissioning night, our mission night, our worship night, our movie night for the kids out in the pavilion. They're having pizza and popcorn. And also it is our group lunch. We have 18 new groups starting. Can you say that? 18 new groups starting this month. So if you're not in a group, come meet our leaders. They're going to be in the back of the sanctuary. We're going to have tables all back there. We're going to have cookies. Come, come enjoy this night together Wednesday at 7 p.m. Well, the very last thing we're going to do is we're going to pray for our offering. God is so generous to us, isn't he? He's such a giving

God. And we have the opportunity this morning to give back to him. That's who we're giving to. It may look like we're giving to our church, but we're giving it back into his hands because there's a mighty thing he wants to do. And we need resources to do that. So we're going to go ahead and pray for our offering right now. Lord, I thank you that you are a generous God, that you give generously to us. God, you supply all our needs according to your riches and glory. There's nothing that we need that you do not already have. So I ask that you pour out a blessing upon every single one here today, that they would be able to be those generous, cheerful givers that you call us to be. We bless this offering and invite your spirit here today. In Jesus' name, amen. Welcome to Revolution Church. We are so glad you're here. If you're first time visiting today, please stop by the Connect table. We have a gift for you. If you are here today and you decide to make Jesus the Lord of your life, we would love to connect with you and go over your next steps over at the New Believers table. Amy, we have a lot of stuff going on. So please, at any time, go to the Church Center app or website to learn any details that you might have missed today. But we also have a marriage class on March 15th called Marriage on the Rock, a 10-week series. Don't miss it. It's awesome, Amy. That's awesome. We're looking forward to that. Rev Kids is also hosting their annual Easter egg hunt on April the 3rd, and we need your help. We're looking to have some plastic eggs and some candy donated. You can drop those off in the Rev Kids hallway. Sounds fun, Amy. We also have the CR Race for Recovery, Saturday, March 28th. So come check it out. Support those with addiction and other mental health challenges. We'd love to see you there. Have a team, sponsor, walk, run, whatever you want to do. But check it out on the Church website and Church Center app. Remember, you can find all of our resources at churchcenter.org. all of this information and more on our website and our church throughout. Church, we're glad you're here today. How's everybody doing today? Anybody glad to be in God's house?

Awesome, and it's good to see all of you smiling faces. High five your neighbor and say, welcome to Revolution Church, come on. And everybody online, we're so glad to have you. Also help me welcome the 411 Campus. They're joining us live right now. Come on, let's give it up. Pastor Tim, Jenny, all the team down there. God bless you guys, we're excited. And let's not forget the 743 Correctional Facilities. Come on. So good to have everyone joining today. So, so thankful for each one of you being here. A couple things before we dive into the message is yesterday was our second chance prom ministry. And I happened to be here pretty early. The men were having a little donuts and coffee, like a small men's group. So I came by to say hey to those guys. And when I did, the parking lot was full. And there were smiling faces everywhere. And I found out that you guys served 228 young women and young men. Come on, let's give it up. 90 volunteers. So thank you all for the blessing that you've been. And Christina Killebrew did an amazing job and her team putting this together as always. And so let's give it up for those guys making a lot of people smile, happy.

Wedding dresses, formal attire. It was awesome. And then I also, before we dive into the message today, I would like to ask the church body if you would stand with me for one second. And I felt like the Lord said we need to pray for our nation. We need to pray for our nation as the body of Christ. We need to pray for our men and women that are serving us in the military. And just ask God's favor to be upon our country. Would you pray, let's just all pray together this prayer. Father God, we're so grateful to live in the nation that we live in, God, to be able to worship freely. The King of kings and the Lord of lords. And God, today we want to specifically lift up the men and women who are serving in the military, God. And we ask for protection, for favor, for guidance. Lord, we ask you, Father, to just bless this nation. And we're grateful for that, Lord. And we're so thankful for what you're doing in our lives. We pray, God, as we realize that times are really, it feels like that the end time is here, God. And that you said there'd be wars and rumors of wars. Father, we're excited because we know that Jesus is soon to return. Jesus is soon to return. And that excites us. And we're so grateful for it. But Lord, through the heartache of war and everything that's going on, we just

pray, God, that your will be done in Jesus' name. And everybody say it. Amen, amen. Thank you for that prayer. Thank you all for joining me in that prayer. Today we're starting a new sermon series. And every new series, what we do is we start with communion. And so hopefully, you guys, most of you have gotten your communion cups. If you've not got them, if you just hold up your hand, there'll be ushers that will come around real quick and provide you the communion cups. Hold up your hand real quick. Hold it up real high. If you didn't receive one, yeah, we've got a few. Come on, hold it up high. Keep it up so they can see where you're at. And we'll move right into communion here in a second. So when it comes to communion, a couple of things I want to share with you is Jesus, when he left planet Earth, he left the church with two ordinances. One of those is water baptism. And he told us to go out and baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. The second one was communion. And he said, as often as you gather, that we should do this. And I want you to understand the seriousness.

This is not just a ritual that we do. But there's absolute power when we recognize the great work that Jesus has done for us and we remember that work. And so today, what I would like to ask you, if you've never accepted Jesus as Lord, it's important that you don't take communion until you've done that. And there's a teaching on that. But you can do that today. If you've not accepted Christ, just repent of your sins. Say yes to Jesus. He's been dealing with you. He's had you on his mind for some time. And just say yes to Jesus right now. And for all the rest of us, I want us to bow our heads and just do some self-evaluation. Ask the Lord. I'm going to ask the Lord if there's anything in my heart that's not right, that's not in alignment with the Lord. God, would you remove it? Forgive me of my sins. Let's just all individually pray that prayer right now. Let's bow our heads. We love you in Jesus' name, and everybody said, come on, amen, amen. And so, I want to read out of the passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul was talking to the Corinthian church, and he was giving them the description or showing them how correctly to take communion. And so, if you'll go ahead and open your communion cup and take the bread, 1 Corinthians 11.23, he said, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord

Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took the bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, do this in remembrance of me. Let's take the cup. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Father, everything that we do is about you. We're so grateful for the sacrifice that you made, providing salvation, God, for all humanity, for your body that was broken, for the blood that was shed, today we want to remember that and just say thank you. In Jesus' name, again, everybody say it, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen. Alright, we're starting a new series today. You guys ready? Come on, say bring it. Let's go. You ready? So, the title, the name of the new series is Sunday's Coming. Sunday's Coming. Get ready. Sunday's Coming. Friday was the crucifixion, Saturday was silent, but Sunday was coming. Can I hear an Amen to that? Sunday's Coming. And what I've been praying and I'm believing in the Lord for is for a record number of salvations during this six-week period leading up to Easter. And I want to ask you to pray in agreement with me because we know it's the Lord's will that none should perish, all should come to repentance. And so, we're going to be placing great emphasis on prayer and also inviting the unchurched to our church services, to our weekend services.

So what can you expect during this series? You can expect to hear the word preached, to hear the gospel shared, and then a call for salvation during every single service. Amen? So if you bring somebody in here, that's what you can expect to happen, if you bring a visitor in or whatever. And so, the theme verse, and if you have your Bibles, your phones, you can go ahead and open them up. Psalm 100, 1 and 2. This is David speaking here. Here's what he says in Psalm 100, 1 and 2. He said, shout with joy to the Lord all the earth. Come on, somebody. He said, worship the Lord with gladness. Come on. Come before him singing with joy. Can we do that this morning? Can we just give a shout to the Lord? Come on. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Praise the Lord. Shout with joy. You know, David here, I mean, he was more than just an incredible warrior and a great king, but he was an absolute extravagant worshiper. He didn't care who was around him. He didn't care what group he was mingling with. When it come to worshiping the Lord, man, he was just radical in his worship. And I like that. Don't you?

I love that. So that's one of the reasons I get excited for Sunday. Sunday is a day, man, I look forward to. I look forward to it all week. As a matter of fact, I start preparing this sermon on Monday morning about 530 because I'm ready for Sunday. Amen? And so excited about it, excited about what God's doing. But I do want to say this, that when I was in the world, Friday was my day. You remember that? You remember Loverboy? Everybody's working for the weekend. You remember that? Anybody ever sing that? Looking forward to the weekend. That was when I was in the world. And I did. I couldn't wait. And it wasn't about church. It was about finished with the work. week we're out to go out and do what the world does but I was just wondering I'm gonna ask you a question why are Sunday special to you what what is it that makes them special to you well primarily it's because the resurrection of Jesus happened on a Sunday amen the first day of the week and it's also when most Christians around the world gather corporately to worship and there's a blessing that that's on that and so the resurrection when we talk about the resurrection of Jesus it's the most exciting documented event in the history of the world and I said documented all right you know it's something that not only did Christians talk about it Matthew Mark Luke and John but there were non-christians alike that that documented the resurrection of Jesus and

so it's something to celebrate it's phenomenal it's incredible what what the Lord has done and when we look at the Bible when you go from Genesis chapter one to Revelation 22 everything points to the life the death the burial and the resurrection of Jesus it's all about him I mean you can find him a Genesis one you can find him in Revelation 22 and so today the title of week one in this message is is simply these words invite one say that with me together invite one invite one there's power in an invitation and we go out in our community and we invite people it can change someone's absolute their entire life I want to ask you something could you imagine if if our church three services three English services one Spanish service actually four at 411 could you imagine if all of us between now and Easter said you know what I'm going to invite one person to church I'm not just going to invite them I'm going to ask them to come and sit with me I'm going to save them a seat come on somebody make it personal could you imagine what that would look like just in our community if all of our services did that if all of our people did that I'm going to ask you to really be praying about it and also you that are incarcerated you may say well I can't invite anyone to church but here's what you can do here's what the Lord told me to tell you invite one of your cell mates to come and sit down beside your your device and hear the gospel preach okay by Revolution Church there's 10,000 people just heard that imagine the impact if each one of these did this it would be phenomenal it would be incredible and so I'm excited about this series and we know when we when we talk about Jesus we know that Jesus was very interested in one invite one he was interested in the individual I have three points today point number one is this Jesus mission is personal okay it's personal he doesn't see you as a number in the crowd but he sees you as an individual he came for you he came for the one and especially when you're lost you're hurting or you're in need of redemption Jesus came for you amen look over to your neighbor and say he come for you he come for me amen he come for all of us so I want to share a parable a lot of you are familiar with this it's found in Luke chapter 15 and it's verses

1 through 7 I want to read this parable and we'll talk about it today during the message it goes like this he said tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach this made the Pharisees and the teachers of religious law complain and check this out complain that he was associating with such sinful people even eating with them how many of you realize it's okay to associate with sinners how do sinners find Jesus if we don't take the light to him I'm glad that people didn't say oh stay away from pacer because he's a sinner but somebody came and shared Jesus with me and I'm glad for that and so we should do the same and he goes on verse 3 so Jesus knows what the Pharisees are thinking and and he knows that they're complaining about this so let's see his response Jesus told them a story he said if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost what will he do well they're listening he said won't he leave the 99 others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it amen and he said and when he's found it he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders when he arrives he will call together his friends and his neighbors saying rejoice with me because I have found the lost sheep it's exciting it's joyful and in the same way he said There's more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over 99 others who are righteous and haven't strayed away. A powerful, powerful parable. And so there's a couple things that we can read into this parable. Number one, we realize that Jesus ate and associated with sinners. This is the Son of God. This is what He did. And this is why many of the religious people didn't like Him. We also realize that the religious people, the Pharisees and the scribes, they didn't associate with sinners. They just hung out with their clique or their few, the religious crowd. And so another thing that I read into this is Jesus made it personal when He used the parable of leaving the 99 for one.

Say one. One. And so we're talking about the one today. Now, when a lost sheep strays away or gets lost, generally what they do is they just lay down and give up. Okay? And can't find their way back. This is where the shepherd comes, picks it up, puts it on his shoulders and brings it back to the flock. Guess what God's called you and I to do? Go out there, pick them up and bring them back into the flock. Amen? And so if you have your phones, and I know everybody's got a phone here today, grab your phone real quick. Grab it up real quick. Everybody's got your phone. If you don't have a phone, grab a piece of paper. We have pencils in the seat back. Grab that. I want you to do something real quick. Quick little exercise. Okay. How many of you today know someone who's lost? Everybody in here does. How many of you know someone who was part of the fold, part of the flock, and they've went astray? Most of us do. I want you right now, grab your phone, and I want you to type that person's name in. Real quick. Whether it's notes, you send yourself a message, a text, whatever you do, do that real quick

or write a note. And tell me, everybody say, I got it, when you got your name down. Anybody else? Got a few more. Come on, when you get it. Got it? Got it? Hurry. I know some of us older folks are slower with our apps, but we can get there. I didn't say abs, I said apps. Okay. Come on. Come on. Come on. You got it? Everybody got it? Okay. Here's what we're going to do. When I count to three, the name that the Holy Spirit put on your mind, whether it's a family or an individual, we're going to speak that name and call them home. You hear me? Now what we're going to do, we're going to do it so loud that nobody's going to hear a name. Because when I say three, we're going to do it loud, quick, and be done, amen? Because I believe there's power in the spoken word. There's power in your lips. The Bible says life and death comes out of our tongue, so we're going to speak that name and say, come home. Are you ready? Say ready.

Ready. All right, here we go. One, two, three. Ready to come home. Come home. Amen. Was that not awesome? Let's praise the Lord, because I believe He's bringing them home. So good. Second point. Second point today is a prayer. And this is something that I'm going to ask all of you to pray during this sermon series. The prayer is this. Awaken us, Holy Spirit, and send us to the one who is missing. Awaken us, Holy Spirit, and send us to the one who is missing. Would you be willing to pray this prayer? Between now and Easter, we won't have enough seats for the lost to come in here. We won't have enough services. You can't build a building big enough. When you energize the church, it creates momentum. Momentum is mass times velocity. It's everybody just doing something. I'm not asking you to go for the multitudes or the masses. I'm saying go for one. We can all go for one, amen? And so we're going to do that, and imagine what that may look like. Awaken us, Holy Spirit, and send us to the one who is missing. Now, back to the parable. When a sheep wanders, it usually doesn't run far on purpose. It typically drifts because it's distracted.

It drifts because it was distracted. That's what happens in our life, guys. When we wander away from the Lord, when we've been part, the problem is we didn't intentionally decide, hey, I'm just going to run, I'm going to leave. But what happens, we're distracted by the cares of this world, the things around us. It grabs our attention. Next thing you know, we're out. I was having a conversation. with a fellow the other day and I hadn't seen him at church in a while and I said I couldn't imagine my life, if I just went four or five weeks without church, I couldn't imagine. Because we need this, the Bible says we need it. If Jesus said we need it, then we need it, amen? And so he said forsake not the assembling of yourself, we need this corporate worship because it encourages us, it builds our faith. And so distractions many times are what causes people to wander off. I want to share a story with you that happened years ago. It was 1969. How many of you were not born in 1969? Hold up your hand. Yep, that's what I figured, the majority of you here today. The first service it was, you know, most of them were born, it's our older crowd, but I told the first service, I said in the 10 o'clock, every hand in the place is going up. In 1969, I was six years old and I remember it vividly. Family was on a camping trip. We were in Cades Cove, usually every year we would go to Cades Cove, parents would reserve a campsite and we would go there, we would load up our bicycles and man, it was the greatest time. We'd just ride bikes all week and then have a campfire and all that good stuff, 1969. It was June the 14th.

You may say, well, how do you remember the exact day? Because on June the 14th, 1969, my mother came to me and she said these words. She said, there's a young boy who's lost in the mountains. He's your age. He was six years old, soon to turn seven. And she said, he's lost in these mountains, so just stay close to the camp. Don't wander off and I'll never forget that. It just, it's like, wow, someone my age is lost. It's in Cades Cove. And so I remember in the days to come, we were there for a week, I remember the days to come that I started hearing helicopters as a little boy flying over, you probably worked at the park service then, Don, flying over the park. I started hearing helicopters and what I found out later in life was there was a family. They had taken a hiking trip and they had actually went up on Rocky Top, Russell Field and Spence Field. And so this is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. It's not easy to get to. It's about a 10 or 11 mile hike and it's pretty much straight up. I've been there many times on horses when I worked for the riding stables in Cades Cove. I've actually hiked there and took my sons when they were younger, but it is beautiful, especially if you go when the rhododendrons are in full bloom. It's absolutely gorgeous. It's a big field up on the very top of the mountain and you can look off one side and see Fontana Lake and then you look over to the other side and you can see Cades Cove, Maryville, Knoxville, and you just see forever. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful place. There was a family that had taken a hike and they had went up to Russell Field and let me explain to you where that's at. If you've ever traveled around the loop, the 11 mile loop right there in Cades Cove, you

know as you start around the loop, you're going to have the riding stables on the left, the mountain range that you see on your left, that big mountain range up there, that's Rocky Top and that top part up there is Russell Field and Spence Field. You've all seen it if you've been up there. It's a beautiful mountain. It's a beautiful top, but being there in person is incredible. This family was up there. They had stayed at Russell Field. It was a grandfather, a father, children, cousins, it's a pretty good group. They had been at Russell Field the night before. They're moving on. It's just a small hike up to Spence Field. There's shelters up there where you can camp. They were going to Spence Field and on their way to Spence Field, the young boy, six years old, by the name of Dennis Martin, asked his father if he could hide behind a tree to scare his cousins that were coming behind them. The father had no problem with it, so the little boy, Dennis Martin, goes over off the trail and is hiding behind a tree. Friends come, everybody comes on through, and Dennis wasn't there to scare the cousins. They started looking for him. They started calling his name. All the family members started to search. They didn't hear even his voice. They couldn't find him. He was lost. He had somehow wandered away from the group, and now he's lost. Now I remember it so vividly is because I was the same age and we were camping in Cades Cove when it happened. But I want to share more of the story. His cousin attends this church,

maybe in this service right now. Dennis Martin's cousin. I called him when we were at the high school and I was doing a sermon series called Search and Rescue. And I wanted to use this story, and so I called this fella, the member of our church, and I said, hey, can you give me any more information on this story? And he gave me a book, and he also shared some more with me. He shared this, he said, they never found Dennis. They searched day and night. It started out with the Rangers and all the people. I was talking to one church member in the first service and he said, we put together a bunch of us bear hunters and a bunch of us gathered together and we went up. But he said they didn't allow us to go in and search. But it started off with park rangers. If you're ever interested in how that worked out, there's a, I think it's a 11 page document on Google that the park service put together and a lot of it has to do with how not, the things not to do in a search and rescue. They brought the Rangers in, they brought other people in. And what eventually happened, they brought the National Guard. The Green Berets were there. People from everywhere had came in. Over 1,400 people were searching that mountain. Every hollow, you know, behind logs, caves,

wherever, they had searched and they never found Dennis Martin. How many of you have children or grandchildren? Let me see your hand. I want you just to imagine for a second how that must have felt. The church member shared with me, he said, it impacted my grandfather in such a way, he said he like lost his mind, practically lost his mind. He worked at Alcoa Aluminum Plant. He didn't go back to work Monday morning. He didn't go back to work Tuesday morning or the next week or the week after or the week after. He lived in those mountains. When you have grandchildren, you can just imagine. When you have children, you can just imagine. What you would do. I couldn't imagine. This grandfather did everything in his power to find his grandson. Yelling Dennis over every hill, off the Fontana Lakeside, over Cades Cove side, and nothing, nothing, not even a sound. There's a lot of theories, different theories of what may have happened. Nobody ever knows. But what we know is there was an intense search that went out for this little boy. They looked hard, diligently. And my family was there when all this was happening.

Why am I telling you this? Because it became personal to me. Andrew, you worked for the park. You've searched for lost people. I remember, you know, not long ago when you had someone lost for a while up in the park. But it becomes personal. Why is it personal? Because I have grandchildren. You have children. You know people. You have neighbors. You know that it could happen. It could have happened to anyone. I said that to say this. Jesus, when he talked about the one going astray, he made it personal. He wasn't necessarily just interested in the full 100. When one was lost, he intentionally went after the one. And that is exactly what you and I are called to do with lost individuals, people who are lost. See, I want you to understand something. We don't know what happened to Dennis Martin, but I'm convinced of this, that he went to be with Jesus when he took his last breath. I'm totally convinced of that. So he wasn't eternally lost. But for someone who never receives Jesus, man, they're eternally lost. And God places these people in front of us

on a regular basis. Just last week, Connie and I had the opportunity to meet two Israeli young men, 30 years old. It was a divine appointment on a Friday. And we talked to them. And one of them said, I was there on October the 7th. I was there when all the killing and destruction. He said, I'm here for five years. and his friend is a dual citizen now, he's here permanently. But I shared with him, I said, I understand some of your history. I said, I've studied your history. And he's like, really? I said, yeah. And he said, all the fighting. I said, I think I understand why all the fighting's happening. He said, why? I said, it started with two brothers. One of them's name was Isaac, and the other one's name was Ishmael. And this is what the word says. And there became a battle. And that battle is going to continue. And I told him this. I said, there will always be fighting until there's no more fighting. Now, I want you to listen to me. It was a divine appointment. He got tears in their eyes. I said, we love Israel. My wife and I love Israel. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And the 30-year-old said, we love America.

But then he said something that just stuck me in the heart. He said, I just wish Americans loved America. That's what he said. He was speechless. I had nothing to say. Because he was exactly correct. He went on to say, until you've lived in an area where sirens are ringing every day, alarms, missiles coming in, until you've lived a life of war and more war and more war, he said, you just don't know. But he said, here, we love it here. I don't know about you, but we've not dodged any missiles today. But yet we'll burn the American flag in the streets of our cities. Come on, I didn't plan on saying any of this. But it's a fact. Do you not appreciate what God's blessed you with? We're grateful. Is America doing everything right? No. That's why we pray for America. Is Israel doing everything right? No. That's why we pray for Israel. But I'm going to tell you, those two young men that I met, I shared with them, I said, the blessing of Isaac is running in your veins. And man, they were all ears at that point. You have that blessing of Isaac. You guys do. But I want you to understand something. If they don't repent of their sins and accept Jesus Christ,

they are eternally lost. Do you guys understand what I'm saying? They were created to be part of the sheep fold. But they're wandering. They're lost. And until they come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, we all have to come to that place. And that's what the Lord's called us to do. Dennis Martin, that story, that whole scenario has touched me so much because I realize how that could happen. But we've got to go after them, guys. I want you to look at Acts 8, verse 26. As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza. Now, I want you to see what's going on right here. An angel of the Lord gave Philip instructions to go down on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. Philip was right in the middle of an incredible revival. People being saved, being healed. God's moving. And an angel of the Lord tells him to leave. Now, look at verse 29. He gets down here on this road, and the Holy Spirit said to Philip, now go over and walk alongside the carriage. Now remember, he leaves the masses. He leaves the revival. He comes in alongside this carriage, and there's one person. Say one. Would God really call Philip to leave the multitude and the masses to go to one? Say yes. Yes, he would because he cares about the one.

So I want you to realize what's happening. Philip was obedient to the Spirit. He comes alongside the carriage. He sees an Ethiopian eunuch. This Ethiopian eunuch is reading a book. Anybody want to guess what book it was? It's the book of Isaiah. He's in chapter 53 before the book of Isaiah had chapters. So he was there around chapter 53. You guys with me? He's reading a passage, this Ethiopian eunuch, and the passage he's reading is, and there was a lamb that was led to slaughter, didn't open his mouth, willingly went. He's reading this and he's wondering, he said, who could this be? Who is this man? Who is this person who is led as a lamb going to slaughter? And so as Philip comes up, Philip asked him, he said, do you understand what you're reading? He said, no, how could I know unless somebody explains it? And he said, well, what do you want to know? And he said, who is this person? Who's this person being led like a lamb to the slaughter? And he said, oh, that's Jesus. Let me tell you about him. He was born from a virgin Mary. He lived about 33 years on planet earth and did nothing but good. He had a group of disciples that he poured into and showed them the way and empowered them. But while he was here, he worked miracle after miracle after miracle. He even raised the dead, opened the blinded eyes, healed the lepers. He did all of these things. I can imagine the Ethiopian eunuch just all ears and listening.

But he said then he was betrayed by one of his 12. They took him. They tried him. They falsely accused him. They crucified this man on a Roman cross. He said they took his body down and a fellow loaned his tomb and they laid Jesus' body in there. It was Friday. He was crucified on Friday. Saturday nothing happened. Saturday was silent. But Sunday was coming. Come on, somebody. Tell me about Sunday. I want to hear about Sunday. Tell me. And so he goes on and he said, okay. Sunday came around and God rolled the stone and raised his son from the grave. And not only did his disciples see him, people like Mary Magdalene and the other Mary and those disciples, 500 people at one time saw him alive. He said, you know, this has all happened. And as a matter of fact, I could imagine him saying this. If you would like to see the tomb where they laid him, if you want to follow me, I'll take you there. I could show you the place where his body was laid. Man, you're talking about convincing. Who would not believe that? And so the Ethiopian says, well, you just tell me what do I need to do to be saved. I'm ready right now. What do I need to do?

Repent of your sins, believe in Jesus, believe that he's the son of God. I believe. I believe. I repent. I receive. And then they're on the carriage and he sees this water over here and he said, well, there's some water, could I go ahead and be baptized? You know, that's a, that's a interesting question. Can I be baptized? Yes. And we're going to do it now. And he did. All for the one. But here's the rest of the story. You never know the one that you're reaching and the impact that it will have. Don't ever minimize the one. Jesus didn't and we shouldn't. So listen to what happens here. This Ethiopian eunuch was on a mission for the queen. He was over all of her treasury. He was here on a mission for the queen and now he's radically saved and baptized in water and he's going back to his hometown, the continent of Africa. The first soul saved in Africa. So all Africa today was probably impacted by the one. Are you guys with me now? Do you understand what I'm saying? This is the impact and the power that the one could have and it did have. So I want to encourage you, don't miss the one. You know, a few years ago we were in VBS, some of you have heard this story. VBS, it's coming up not long from now, but lots of kids, the volunteers had made 500,

over 500 grilled cheese sandwiches. And one night, all the kids are eating the grilled cheese sandwiches and they're gathered around their tables, the volunteers are going through making sure the kids have their sandwich and one of the volunteers noticed that. One little girl was not eating her sandwich. She had slid it back from her. So the volunteer walks over to her and asked her, he said, ask if she was not hungry. And she said, oh, no, I'm just taking that home to my mother. This happened in our church in Blount County, Tennessee. I'm taking it home to my mother. Well, the leader hears. She gets with some other leaders. They go to the grocery store. They buy bags of groceries. So when the lady come to pick up her girl, she got more than a grilled cheese sandwich. They gave her groceries. Amen? Praise the Lord. That's the way it should happen. But I said that to say this. Had I been the one that walked by that table, I probably would have missed it. Be looking for the one. The reason that leader later said that she saw that, noticed it, and acted on it, she said, I was a little girl who was hungry at one point in my life. So she was looking for it. For me, I would have probably said, oh, they've had candy.

They're not hungry, and moved on. Don't miss the one. We made bracelets that year that said, don't miss the grilled cheese sandwich. And we handed it out to the church. Just look. So during this sermon series, let's be aware of the one. OK, I'm out of time, so I'm going to fast forward to point three and wrap it up fast. You guys ready? Come on, say, bring it fast. Bring it fast. Point number three, Sunday's coming, and so is Jesus. Amen. Come on, somebody. I'm going to say it again. Sunday's coming, and so is Jesus. He's coming back for a church without spot or with wrinkle. And I believe, guys, that it's closer than it's ever been. Read Matthew 24. Read the book of Revelation. Daniel, you're going to see and you're going to know that the signs of the times are all around us. Jesus is coming back. It could happen any time. You know, several years ago, I coached youth football. And there was a little boy that I had, and he played middle linebacker. And he was tough. I mean, he would come after you.

He'd bust through the line. He'd sack the quarterback. His name was Joey Fiegler. Joey Fiegler went on to become the quarterback at Alcoa and, I think, played college football. But I was coaching him when he was little, and I don't know how many sacks, quarterback sacks, he had that year. But this little boy had a saying, and I loved it. And I picked up on it, and it's awesome. Here's what he would do. When he would sack the quarterback, he would get right down, face mask to face mask, and he would say these words to the quarterback laying on the ground. He'd say, Jesus is coming back. He did. Right in their face mask. Little boy. He'd say, Jesus is coming back. He didn't end there. He would go on to say, and I am too. I loved it. Let's stand. Jesus is coming back. Can I hear an amen? Amen. Jesus is coming back. He's preparing a place for you. Let's pray.

Father, if there's anyone lost that hears this message, if there's anyone wondering that hears this message, God, let them know that they're loved. They're not being judged. They're not being condemned. They're being loved. And we invite them back into the fold. We invite them to come home. Lord, and if we need to go after anyone and carry them in, help them in, show them the way in, God allow us to do that. I'm going to ask Pastor Tim if you would come. Lead your congregation in this prayer. If you're here right now and you just say, Pastor, I need to be saved. I've been wondering. I've been lost. But I realize that God has me here on divine appointment. With everybody praying, please pray. Just right where you're at, if you just say, Pastor, will you remember me in prayer? I'm lost. Can I see your hand right now across this building? Come on, hold it up high. Let God see it, amen? Amen, amen. Any hands going up? Amen, yeah, the Lord sees them. Anybody else? Thank you, Lord. Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you, Jesus. If you raised your hand today, you've come to the right place. You've come to a place that loves Jesus and is going to love you. If you'll say yes to Jesus, if you'll repent of your sins, ask Him to forgive you of your sins, He'll save you right now. And you'll never be the same, never, ever. forever be the same. My prayer is God would give you the boldness right now to repent, say yes to Jesus, and before you leave today, make sure you stop out and talk to one of the congregational pastors in the foyer, grab you a Bible, dig into the Word, and let's grow together toward Jesus. And everybody said, Amen. We're going to sing this last worship song. Here's what I'd like for you to do. Everybody had a name. If you didn't have a name, then you're going to get one now. I'm going to ask you not to leave until this song's over, because what we're going to do is we worship. I want you to lift this name up before Jesus, okay? And ask the Lord to bring him in. Let's do that together. I'm calling on the God of Jacob, whose love endures through generations, I know that you will keep your covenant. I'm calling on the God of Moses, the one who opened up the oceans, I need you now to do the same thing for the whole world to do it for me. Oh God, my God, I need you. Oh God, my God, I need you now. How I need you now.

Oh rock, oh rock of ages, I'm standing on your faithfulness, on your faithfulness. I'm calling on the God of Mary, whose favor rests upon the holy, I know with you all things possible, I'm calling on the God of David, who made a shepherd boy courageous, I may face good life, but I've got my own child. Oh God, my God, we need you. Oh God, my God, we need you now. How I need you now. Oh rock, oh rock of ages, I'm standing on your faithfulness, on your faithfulness. Oh God, my God, I need you. Oh God, my God, I need you now. How I need you now. Oh rock, oh rock of ages, I'm standing on your faithfulness, on your faithfulness. Yeah. You hear your children, you hear your children now. You are the same God, you are the same God. You answer prayers back then, I hear you answering now. You are the same God, you are the same God. You are providing back, you are providing now. You are the same God, you are the same God. You are the same God, you are the same God. You are the same, God. You are a hero that God will need You to heal us now. You are the same, God. You are the same. You better believe You are the same, God. Oh, God, You save us now. You are the same, God. You are the same, God. Oh, God, my God, I need You. Oh, God, my God, I need You.

Lift up your voice and say, I need You, God. There's nowhere else to go, God, just You are the rock of death. I'm standing on Your faithful hand. On Your faithful hand. Oh, God, my God, we need Your love. Oh, God, my God, I need You. Yes, we do. How I need You, God. Oh, rock, oh, rock of ages, I'm standing on Your faithful hand. We're standing on Your faithful hand. We're standing on Your faithful hand. We'll never change, God. We'll never change. And we need You, Lord. We need You, Lord. We need You, Lord. You feed the captives. You're freeing hearts right now. You are the same, God. You are the same, God. You touch the lambs. And I feel Your touch right now. You are the same, God. You are the same, God. You'll never change, God. And we know You'll do it again, Lord. Because You'll never change, Lord. We call on Your name. We call on You, Lord.

Come and rescue us, Lord. I'm calling on the Holy Spirit. Oh, mighty river, come and fill me again. Come on, say it, come and fill me. Come and fill me again. Say it one more time. Say Jesus, come and fill me again. Jesus, You hear Your people, God. And we're standing here, God, we're standing on Your faithfulness. And I know, God, that You will touch us just like You have done before. Because You'll never change. God, we pray for every single name that was left up in this place today, God. We love You. And we thank You for what You have done and what You will do. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.