The Power of One
Psalm 139
In the world we find that there is safety in groups, power in organizations, movement in the multitude, and force in numbers. But in the kingdom of God we find the Power of One. The power of one individual life.
If you look at Jesus life and ministry you find the central thesis for what I want to share with you this morning.
The power of one moves the heart of God.
Jesus life and ministry showed His willingness to respond to the call of one person. Over and over among the crowds of people we see Jesus look one individual in the eye as though there was no one else around.
„« The Leper - of Matthew 8 ¡V the multitudes followed Him off the mountain but at its foot stood a leper, an untouchable, unclean, unloved, uncared for. Jesus touched him and in doing so touched the AIDS epidemic of his age. Jesus saw in the midst of the multitude the suffering of one ¡V and touched him.
„« The woman with the issue of blood ¡V Luke 8 - again in the midst of a multitude ¡V a crowd that was pressing in all around Him. Yet the woman touched the fringe of his garment and was healed. She came trembling ¡V he stopped and comforted her. In this aged and infirmed woman Jesus saw a reason to stop.
„« The Little Children ¡V of Mark 10 ¡V In the midst of the crowd and multitude Jesus stopped to the dismay of his disciples and took the children into His arms and blessed them. Permit the children to come to me, Jesus said, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
We could go on and on with stories of ¡V Zacheus, the demon possessed boy, blind Bartamaeus, the man with the withered hand, - on and on they go story after story of the power of one to move the heart of God.
With almost 6 billion people in the world why does God care about one?
1) Every one is created with care ¡V In a world dominated by evolutionary thinking this is a foreign concept. You see evolutionary teaching tells us that we are all accidents of nature, the result of random genetic fluctuations that moved us from the primordial sludge to the complex human beings that we are today. But that is a far cry from what God says about us. Listen to God¡¦s word and the cry of David from Psalm 139¡V
For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Thy works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from Thee, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.
God doesn¡¦t sit in heaven with a cookie cutter going cucha cuhca cucha cucha there they are ¡V all identical all the same ¡V one after another. The Bible tells us that we are created specifically and uniquely by the hand of God. You are who you are because God made you who you are. I want to tell you something this morning that no one else might have ever told you. You ¡V each one of you ¡V is a unique unrepeatable miracle of God. Can you say that with me? ¡§I am a unique unrepeatable miracle of God.¡¨ You can move the heart of God because you are His special creation ¡V and He loves you uniquely in all the world. One moves the heart of God because each one is special unique and precious in His sight.
2) Every One is created with a purpose ¡V David continues - Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Thy book they were all written, The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. One moves the heart of God because we are created with a ministry. Each one of us has a special part to play in the plan of God. The apostle Paul said that we are all parts of one body ¡V Christ being the head ¡V the church working as the function of its individual parts. That¡¦s us! Every one is important in the perfect will of God. There are no throw away people. No useless people. Each one is important because they were created by God and created with a purpose for God. Many never fulfill that purpose. Many never understand what God wants for them. But God wants all of us in His service. You are important to God. Your gifts and abilities are important to God because you are the vessels He has chosen for this moment in time to meet the needs of this community.
3) Every One is created with an eternity- Every one ¡V every where ¡V has an eternity. We are created as mortal beings with an eternal soul. The ending of this flesh is but the beginning of life. That is the great blessing of Christ and the great curse of the enemy. Jesus says in Matthew 13
"The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father.
My friends Heaven is real and is the hope of all who live in Christ. But Hell is also real and it cannot be denied. It is the eternal destiny of all who deny the atoning work of Jesus Christ. Every one moves the heart of God because it is His desire not to loose even one of His beloved. His desire is that each and every one would be with Him throughout eternity. One sheep ¡V One shepherd.
I say all of this this morning to tell you that YOU are important to God. He created you, gifted you, and called you ¡V and He wants to be in an intimate relationship with you. Heaven moves and hell trembles all at the sound of one voice. A lost sheep come home.
