"the New Math"

WHO’S YOUR ONE?

“The New Math”

Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 2:42-47

Please open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 28. If you were to ask me Pastor what are the 3 most important priorities in your life this is how I would respond. Number one is Jesus Christ. He has completely changed my life----because of Him I have a place in Heaven for eternity and a purpose in this life for now. There are many things Jesus will tolerate but being in 2nd place is not one of them. He is my first priority. And because of that I start my day with His word, a brief devotional book or two and a time of prayer. Jesus is my first priority.

2nd, my family. My wife is more important to me than anyone else in my life —except Jesus—and that’s the way she wants it because Jesus holds first place in her life as well. We have been married 43 years and I love her now more than ever before. We have 4 children---they bring so much happiness to our lives and have blessed us with 11 amazing grandchildren and one more on the way this year. (That’s the latest report). ?

3rd, my legacy. And what I mean by that is this …. When I am gone what will I be remembered for? Every one of us at one time or another should stop and ask that question---at the end of my time here on this earth, how will we be remembered? Or will we simply be forgotten without leaving any lasting influence?

It is a question all of should be asking. Now this is the 5th Sunday in a row I have asked you this question, “Who’s your One?” Who’s you One that you will reach for Christ? Who’s your one that you will reach for Christ? Who’s your one you will pray for and invite to church? Who’s your one that once you reach them will allow you to leave a legacy—to leave someone behind who will continue to tell people about Jesus ---to continue to reach one who will reach one---who will reach another one? In our scripture today we come down to the last words Matthew records that Jesus would speak. For you what would you want your last words to be that you would be remembered by?

Jesus would be known of course for at least 38 miracles we find in the gospels ---known for the multitudes he brought into the kingdom---that He ministered to in their time of need and most of all for his death on the cross for the entire world and for his resurrection. So what do you choose to say in those final moments before he would ascend to heaven? Well here they are…. Matthew 28:18-20.

Eagle’s Landing is no celebrating our 20th year. 20 years in 2020. In June of 2000 we wrote a vision statement as a church so that we could all be on the same page. So that we could travel together down the same path. This is it…..

Our vision is to enlarge the size of Heaven by taking as

many people as possible with us.

That statement has served us well for 20 years. As a result we have now baptized 290 people. Every baptism matters. Every ONE we reach matters. And we have done it together. You have no doubt heard of the new math; math is no longer done in the same way when most of us were in school. It has caused difficulty for parents who have the job of helping our kids learn the new system. But Jesus knew about this nee math a long time ago. And I think I could summarize his view of the new math in a simple statement.

We can reach more people by using multiplication

than we can by simple addition.

To enlarge a bit on that I would say this…..

When we count baptisms we add to the church.

When we count disciples we multiply the church.

What if every ONE who walked through these waters to be baptized; what if they became true disciples? What would happen if we began to use multiplication instead of addition? What if every ONE of us began to disciple ONE? This is the kind of math Jesus used. No addition; multiplication. He started with the 12 and He invested 3.5 years of His life in them and because they turned around and did the same, Christianity is still alive today. Still moving forward. Lives continue to be changed and as a result some ONE told some ONE else who told some ONE for 2000 years and you and I are here today—because someone found their ONE.

When the people were hungry Jesus took 5 loaves of bread and two fish and He multiplied it and fed 5000. On another occasion he fed 4000. On the day of Pentecost when there were 120 in the church in Jerusalem---the Holy Spirit came and the Bible tells us that “those who accepted his message were baptized and about 3000 were added in ONE day. Acts 2:41. In Acts 4:4 as they continued to preach we find these words: “But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about 5000. So another 2000 were added. All in a very short period of time. All because ONE was being reached who told ONE who reached another ONE. This is God’s plan to reach the world. Now let me take a moment and show you how this new math, God’s math, works.