Who's Your One?

Who’s Your One?

Matthew 13:44-46

Please open your Bibles to Matthew 13:44-46.

Let me say at the beginning that every once in awhile I will have someone come up after a service with their listening guide and say, “Hey, I missed a blank.” Or, especially if i realize I’m running short of time and I start to fly through the rest of a message, I’ll realize that I missed a blank. So for all you type A folks who will get knotted up if you don’t get all the blanks filled in, I thought I would try something different this week and let you fill in all the blanks at the beginning. And I’m going to make it really easy for you: The answer on every blank—except for the last one—is ONE. That’s it. ONE. So we can all fill in the blanks together, right here, at the beginning, and just get it out of the way:

1. You were someone’s ONE

2. You were Jesus’ ONE

3. Jesus is the ONE

4. Is Jesus your ONE?

5. Do you know how to win ONE?

6. Who is your ONE to win?

Whew! Aren’t you a little more relaxed now? Now that doesn’t mean we can all go home now, but hopefully we can listen a little better! Because I want to talk this morning about this idea that everyone knows someone who needs The One, and you are THE one who can win YOUR one to that ONE.

Why are we talking about this? We’re talking about this because a lot of Southern Baptists have maybe lost sight of the fact that the Great Commission is an “all skate.” It’s not just the responsibility of the pastor, or the paid staff, or the evangelism committee. If you’re a student, it isn’t just for the adults. If you’re an adult, it isn’t just for the students. If you’re a senior adult, it isn’t just for young adults. Everyone knows someone who needs The One, and you are THE one who can win YOUR one to that ONE.

In 2018, there were 3,236 SBC churches in Alabama who reported a total membership of 918,125. The average weekly attendance was 284,292, which means that on any given Sunday, a little over one out of four people show up to worship Jesus and study the Word He left us.

There were 12,615 baptisms reported in our state (average 3.89 per church). Glynwood had 13, which seems really good. We might be tempted to pat ourselves on the back and say, “wow, we are doing so much better than the average Alabama church!” However, let’s look at it this way: if you divide the average weekly attendance by the number of churches, you get 87 people per church per week. Glynwood has around 350 per week. And if you divide 87 by 3.89. you get 22.4. Which means it takes 22.4 regular church attenders to lead one person to Jesus.

So when you take Glynwood’s average weekly attendance of 350 and divide it by 13, you get 26.9. So we are saying it takes 27 Glynwood attendees to lead one across the line.

Ladies and gentlemen, we must do better! Everyone knows someone who needs The One, and you are THE one who can win YOUR one to that ONE.

1. You were someone’s ONE

If you are a follower of Jesus, it is because it is because somebody told you about Jesus. The bible is pretty clear that saving faith is heard faith. Look at Romans 10. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” But it goes on to say that you can’t call on someone if you don’t believe in Him. And you can’t believe in someone if you haven’t heard about Him. And you can’t hear without someone preaching. Verse 17 brings it home: Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. It doesn’t say faith comes from watching someone act like a Christian. It doesn’t come from growing up in a Christian home. It doesn’t come from random acts of kindness. Let’s put to rest the silly notion of “preaching the gospel at all times, and if necessary using words.” Faith comes from hearing. Period. The end. Interestingly enough, as important as the Bible is, and as necessary as the Bible is for salvation, there’s no one record in Scripture of anyone coming to a saving faith in Jesus simply from Scripture. There was always someone explaining the Word so someone else could receive it.

So again, you are here because someone invited you. Someone taught you. Someone told you. Someone was patient enough with you to answer your questions and walk alongside you. Who in your life decided that they were going to make you their “one?” Let’s pause and thank God for that person right now. [Pray]