Just One

if you have your bibles would you turn with me to john chapter 4 it will also be on the screen john chapter 4 and we will start with verse 1. john chapter 4 we'll start with what verse 1. i want to tell you this before i read this message from the word of god that four weeks ago the lord began talking to me about this day he talked to me about this day and god has ordained this day i do not believe if you're here today i don't believe that you are here by accidents or by coincidence but i believe that god has ordained this day because he wants to meet and talk to you john chapter 4 and verse 1 when therefore the lord knew how the pharisees had heard that jesus made and baptized more disciples than john though jesus himself not but his disciples he left judea and departed into galilee the bible says that he must needs he needs to go through samaria then cometh he to the city of samaria which is called psychar near the parcel of ground that jacob gave to his son joseph now jacob's well was there jesus therefore being wearied with his journey sat on the well and it was about the sixth hour there comes a woman of samaria to draw water and jesus said unto her give me to drink for disciples were going away into the city to buy meat then saith the woman of samaria unto him how is it that thou being a jew ask a drink of me which am a woman of samaria for the jews have no dealings with the samaritans jesus answered and said unto her if thou knewest the gift of god and who it is that's saying to you give me to drink you would have asked of him and he would have given thee living water living water would you lift your hands before you're seated and would you ask the lord to speak into your heart today and to help you and to change you lord i thank you for your anointed word that you have given to us and now i pray god that you would begin to work in the hearts of people in this congregation i know god that you want to do a work in their lives i pray that our hearts would be open and ready to receive you and we thank you for what you're going to do would you clap your hands one more time and just praise him before you're seated lord we praise you today we worship you today because you are worthy you are worthy of our praise amen you may be seated

during war world war ii thousands of americans and japanese soldiers were killed there was a young man by the name of desmond doss who wouldn't touch a weapon or work on the sabbath would you put that picture on there brother jason he enlisted in the army as a combat medic because he believed in the cause but had vowed not to kill the army wanted nothing to do with him the army made doss's life miserable during training terry benedict who made a documentary about daw said it started out as harassment and then it became abusive he interviewed several world war ii veterans who were in doss's battalion they considered him a pest they questioned his sincerity and threw shoes at him even while he sat down and prayed to his god they just saw him as a slacker these men said someone who should not have been allowed into the army and somebody who was their weakest link in the chain doss commanding officer captain jack glover tried to get him transferred but as hard as they tried the army couldn't force doss to use a weapon a 1940 law allowed conscientious objectors to serve the war effort and non-combatant positions so doss went with his company as a medic to the pacific at okinawa in the spring of 1945 dawson's company faced a grueling task climbing a steep jagged cliff sometimes called hacksaw ridge would you place that up there to a plateau where thousands of heavenly armed japanese soldiers were waiting for them the terrain was treacherous it was full of caves and holes and there were the japanese soldiers that were hiding all over the place in these holes and they were dug underground under a barrage of fire and explosions doss crawled on the ground from wounded soldier to wounded soldier he dragged severely injured men to the edge of that ridge he tied a rope around their bodies and he began to lower them down to the bottom to the medics below

daw says i was praying the whole time i just kept praying lord please help me get one more please help me get one more soldier desmond doss crawled on his hands and his knees he would run and he would hide and he would search bodies that weren't alive and search to find bodies that were alive once he located someone that was ravaged by war that was either wounded or maimed or hurting or injured he would drag them to the edge of that ridge and he would tie a rope around them and as the bullets were flying around him he would begin to lower those bodies down to the medics but after he had got one he had to get one more he would go where no man would wanted to go back to the war zone with bullets flying and mortar shells exploding all around him he was so close he said to the enemy that he could hear them whispering as he was crawling around and walking around but that did not stop him he was focused on one goal i have to get one more i have to go and get one more what do you mean doss you've already saved 10 no i know i know i've already got to 10 people but but i've got to get to one more veteran carl bentley who was also at hacksaw ridge says it is if god had his hand on doss's shoulder it's the only explanation i can give dos saved at least 75 people including his captain over 12 hour period he couldn't stop at one pastor he couldn't stop at 10 he couldn't stop at 20 but he kept going and he kept going and he kept praying and he kept praying that god would let him get to just one more

president harry truman awarded doss the medal of honor and and more medals that day because of his bravery and what he did doll seemed to have the same mindset that jesus had modeled to us yes there was a whole world that needed rescued and yes there was a whole world that needed save but time after time and story after story that we read in the bible jesus was determined to reach people even if it meant only one person at a time

this morning i'm preaching to you on this topic just one just one i know that jesus preached to groups of people and i understand that he taught the 5 000 and he taught multitudes when he was given the opportunity and and he would speak to the masses if if he had the chance to do that but he did not let the need to reach the whole world overwhelm him and stop him from reaching one person at a time he had this commission and he gave us this commission that we've got to reach the whole world with the gospel and could you imagine as jesus is walking and he's doing his ministry for just a few years there's so many people that he's got to reach there's so many that he's got to talk to it would almost seem like he would only have time to preach to the big churches and the big masses of people and to the big multitudes but time after time after time we see jesus taking his time set aside for one person jesus exampled this principle just one important wasn't one person was important just one person was valuable just one person was worth the effort if it meant one person to be healed he was going to do that if it meant that just one person was going to be ministered to he was going to do that if it meant just one person for him to drop everything that he was doing on his way to somewhere else he was going to drop it because one person was valuable to him that's the example that he modeled to us the priority of jesus as he walked this earth was others jesus was willing to reach others even if it meant one at a time

before we get to matthew chapter eight in the following chapters jesus has preached his famous sermon on the sermon on the mount the bible tells us that he had just preached that to a multitude of people matthew 8 and 1 when he was come down from the mountain watch great multitudes followed him behold there came a leper there was one a leper and worshiped him saying lord if thou wilt thou can make me clean you see leprosy was a disease appearing in dry thin scales or scabs either on the whole body or some part of it usually it attended with violent itching and and often with great pain and it was highly contagious and it was considered incurable people also associated that if somebody had leprosy then they had sin in their life because that's the reason that they're suffering with this leprosy and and so a leper wasn't allowed to come within six feet of their own family uh the disease was considered so revolting that the leopard wasn't permitted if the wind was blowing they weren't permitted to be even within a hundred and fifty feet of people or their own family because of this disease jesus here in the scripture probably exalted exhausted from his preaching and teaching he just come down from the mountain to teach all these people he he could have had his 12 bodyguards his 12 disciples keep everybody away more than likely certainly he could have kept this one leper away but jesus had a mission to reach and to heal and to minister and to love people even the ones who society has crossed off even the ones that society is deemed incurable and too far gone and sinners that is the one that jesus went for matthew 8 and 3 the bible says and he put forth his hand and he touched him we're talking about a leper they were supposed to be six feet away but this leper cries out jesus if you if you will jesus if you will will you heal me and can you see jesus hold this for me can you see jesus as a leper that's one with his disciples over here and you see jesus jesus could have spoke the word jesus could have spoke the word but i can just imagine jesus walking up with those arms of love that he has and i know that we show and our pentecostal services we lay hands like this but can you see jesus grabbing this man in the state that he's in with the disease that he has showing love and compassion touching him showing him that i am willing to touch people that nobody else is willing to touch i know that i just talked to a multitude of people with the sermon on the mount but there is one that needs me and i am willing to go and to wrap my arms around them and show them my love because they are so important

god has sent me today to this morning to speak to those who may feel an outcast i've come to speak to you today that it doesn't matter how many times you have messed up and i don't care what you have done i don't care how far you have gone i don't care what sin you have committed i don't care who has crossed you off their list you may feel unclean unworthy and but jesus has come today to meet you where you are i've come with a word from god today if you will cry out like this leper cried out if you will cry out like this leper cried out he will come to you and he will heal you and he will restore you why because he loves you and he cares about just one he cares about just one if you are the only one here today and i doubt i seriously doubt that you're the only one but if you are the only one here god still would have given me this message because just one person is enough for him to show compassion and love to hear me today if you feel like the outcast if you feel like the one that i just talked to you're not alone because every single one of us were in the same position that you were in but jesus dropped what he was doing and he came to us and he wrapped his arms around us and he loved us because we are important to him one person is enough for jesus to show compassion and love to

luke 15 and 1 then drew near unto him all publicans and sinners for to hear him the pharisees and scribes murdered saying this man jesus receives sinners and he's eating with them he spake the parable into them saying what man of you having and hundred sheep if he loses one of them doth not he leave the 90 and 9 in the wilderness and he goes after that which is lost until he finds one but jesus you you have 99 of them over here but jesus you you have a church full of people but jesus there's so many of them that that did what they were supposed to do and stayed in the fold and and obeyed you and listen to you and they're here and and there's that one that has walked away and jesus says that shepherd is going to drop everything that he is doing and he's going to go out into that wilderness and he's going to find the one he says and when he found it he lays it on his shoulders and when he comes home he kills together all his friends and neighbors saying rejoice with me for i have found that one sheep which was lost i say unto you jesus says that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner he said over one sinner that repents more than all over the ninety and nine just persons with which need no repentance to put that in perspective jesus is willing to give this preacher today a message of hope and healing even if it does not pertain to the other 200 plus that are here today he is willing to come after you he is willing to fight for you he is willing to do whatever it takes to see you just one come to repentance and experience restoration and healing would you lift your hands right now would you thank him would you thank him that he cares so much for us lord we thank you today that you cared for us enough that you wouldn't leave the 90-9 and you would come to us because you love us and you care for us

you see today was not an accident today was not a coincidence god has had this day of restoration and healing on his calendar for a while this day today has been appointed by god for you to encounter god's love in our text john chapter 4 jesus is living leaving judea and he's going to galilee in jesus day there were three regions stacked on top of one another there was galilee to the north there was samaria and then there was judea the easiest and quickest way to get to one from the north to the south was to go right through samaria there was another route that could have taken some religious jews go east across the jordan river they enter into the region of prey then they go north and re-cross the jordan river and they would be in galilee this was not the easiest way but this way meant that they would not have to go through the samaritan territory you see the jews look down on the samaritans because of their mixed race and their religious heretics and the jews refused to accept the samaritans as their kinsmen and both sides developed this relentless and murderous hatred toward one another and it's kind of like the present day palestinians in israel now that brings us back to verse 3 which says that jesus needs to go through samaria says that he must needs go through samaria technically it was not a necessity and culturally it was not even customary to do so although passing through samaria is the most direct route between galilee and judea but because of the animosity which existed between the two people the jews chose to take a longer route a lot of times rather than having to deal with the samaritans the answer to why jesus needed to go through samaria is simple yet profound jesus went because he intended to meet one woman jesus needed to go to samaria because he needed to meet one woman he knew that she would be coming to the well at precisely that moment he was sitting there weary from his journey this was not an accident hear me today you being here today is not an accident that woman coming at the same time that jesus is at that well was not an accident

jesus needed to go that way jesus was on a mission and was giving us a pattern to follow to reach others even if it meant one at a time so this woman was despised because of her race and she was a person who may have been shunned because of her by her community because of her lifestyle but jesus intentionally purposed to meet with her he needed to go through samaria because he needed to minister to this one person jesus is sitting at the well and she arrives and asks for a drink here he asks for a drink and this woman is in shock and she cannot even believe that he spoke to her because of the animosity between the two uh peoples that let alone ask her for something and and then say at the woman of samaria unto him how is it that thou being a jew asked us to drink of me which i'm a woman of samaria for the jews have no dealings with the samaritans jesus answered and said unto her if thou knewest the gift of god and who it is that's talking to you right now and asked give me to drink you would have asked him and he would have given thee living water jesus answered and said unto her in verse 13 whosoever drinks of the water that i shall never thirst again but whosoever whosoever drinketh on this water shall thirst again verse 14 but whosoever drinketh of the water that i shall give shall never thirst but the water that i shall give shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life and the woman says unto him sir give me this water that i thirst not neither come to draw again jesus said go and call your husband and come back and she said i have no husband and jesus said you're right you don't have a husband you've had five husbands and the man that you're living with right now is not your husband and the woman said i know that the messiah comes which is called christ and when he comes he'll show us all things jesus said unto her eye he gives a revelation of who he is to an outcast to just one lady at the well a samaritan at that he gives a revelation that this christ and this messiah that you're talking about and looking for i am he verse 28 the woman left her water pot and went away into the city and said to the men come see a man which told me all things that i ever did is not this to christ then they went out of the city and came unto him in the meantime his disciples prayed him saying master eat watch this but he said unto them i have me to eat that ye know not of therefore said the disciples hath somebody brought him food jesus said my meat is to do the will of him that sent me oh i wish we could grab a hold of that today my meet is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work he's talking about this mission to reach others in this mission to reach the lost even if it means one person at a time he continues to tell his mission the verse next verse leads right into it he says say not ye there are four months and then comes harvest notice how all of this works together he's talking to a samaritan woman one that he's not even supposed to really be talking to and he's talking to her and he went specifically for her and he tells her the revelation of who he is and then his disciples against coming and asking him uh here's some food and he says that's that's not what i'm eating right now i'm telling you what i'm eating i'm doing the work of my father and this is what the work of my father is there are yet four months and then comes harvest but behold i say unto you lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest he was telling his disciples look at the city of samaria you may think that at an appointed time the harvest is going to come to this city but i say unto you look lift up your eyes and look at samaria and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest this the city of samaria is ready to harvest not in the future but right now oh i feel the holy ghost right now hear me apostolic pentecostal church i ask you to look at your city the city of saint louis it's not going to be later it's not going to be at an appointed time but though lift up your eyes and look on your city for it is white ready to harvest right now john 4 39 it says many samaritans from the town believed in him because of the woman's testimony they believed on him jesus reached he ministered to this one woman who was the social outcast a sinner a person culturally he should have not talked to but as jesus begins ministering to this one she in turn reaches her city the bible says that because of her testimony many believed on jesus because of him reaching one person an entire town of people were extended the opportunity to meet jesus so the people come to the town and they say stay stay with us for a couple days so when the samaritans verse 40 came to him they asked him to stay with him and stayed there two days and many more believed because of his words so not only do you have the people that are believing because of the woman's testimony and because jesus reached her but now jesus has the opportunity afforded to him to actually go into the town of samaria because of what had happened in her life and the people began to believe on him even more people verse 42 they said to the woman it is no longer because of what you said that we believe in the beginning that was the reason that opened the door for jesus to minister he they said for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is indeed the savior of the whole world why because now we have had our own experience with jesus and it's because jesus needed to reach one at the well that it turned into influencing the whole city

can i tell you somebody that you have no idea the influence of just one person you have no idea the one person that you reach and the one person that you influence you have no idea their influence on their family you have no idea their influence on their community on their neighborhood you have no idea the influence that they have at their job and it's not for us really to worry all about that all our worry is supposed to be and our mission is to reach one because if we reach one opportunity will arise jesus made it a priority and gave us an example to reach others that nobody else would reach luke 5 and 30 said but the scribes and pharisees murmured against his disciples saying why does he eat and drink with publicans and sinners jesus said unto them they that are whole need not a physician but they that are sick he said i came to call the not to call the righteous but i have come to call sinners to repentance jesus i don't have time to go through it all today but if you read the new testament you'll find story after story after story of jesus healing a blind man and cleansing a leper and raising this one from the dead and talking and teaching and ministering to this one why he had this mission he had this mission to reach the whole world but even jesus god robed and flesh understood that i've got to reach one if i have that opportunity

would you stand with me you know when when we think about the work that is ahead of us when we think about the mission that has had ahead of us sometimes and i'm in this boat maybe it's just me but i i begin to think of of all the work that has to be done and all the people that have to be reached preach this gospel to the whole world and and our mission go into all the world and preach the gospel and and there's just so much work to do and i fear that if we're not careful we'll focus so much on all the work that we have to do and we will not put our focus on just the one that jesus has placed in our path you see jesus would teach and preach to all the multitudes i'm glad that he did and we have rallies and and we have these crazy revivals and i'm so glad that we do but more than jesus you study it more than jesus in the new testament preaching to crowds and multitudes and groups of people jesus was worried about the one here that's sitting on the side of the road or the one here that needs help or the one here that doesn't have it all together or the one here that's walking down the same road that he's walking down jesus is concerned about one

dad would you come here today god gave me a two-fold message i want you to listen to this very close if you've come today and you feel broken if you've come today and your life is in shambles maybe you feel like the outcast maybe you feel like you've messed up too many times maybe you feel like god would never forgive you i've come with this word from him today that god has come to meet you today and if you this is what i saw as i was praying if you will take the step down towards him he is going to take the steps towards you and wrap his arms of love around you today jesus wants to minister to you today jesus wants to wrap his arms around you today jesus wants to forgive you today jesus wants to heal you today jesus wants to restore you secondly the second part that he gave me is it's time that apostolic pentecostal church reach others our commission is broad and overwhelming at times to reach this whole world but he modeled how to reach him pastor brad he modeled how to reach him and that may be just one holiness just one soul at a time this man's father this man's father didn't want to pray and didn't want anything to do with god because he said he'd killed too many men in the vietnam war but on his deathbed my dad began to tell him that god's love supersedes anything that you've done and god loves you and god can heal you and god can restore you and god will forgive you and my grandpa late in life repented of his sins and god filled him with the power of the spirit and he was a new and changed man so what i'm trying to say today is you haven't done too many things wrong that god won't forgive you secondly i'm thankful for those men in the army that decided that one man one man was worth it to reach out to and to pray for and to invest in they did not know what would happen with mike mcguire they didn't know that mike mcguire would reach his mom and his dad and his sisters and his brother-in-law's and his nieces and his nephews and over 25 people were filled with the baptism of the holy ghost and baptized because of one man it's because somebody grabbed a hold of the mission and said one is it important enough for me to talk to and me to reach i'm opening these altars right now for anybody if you feel like you're the outcast if you need god to touch you and restore you and heal you and help you and give you peace i invite you to come if you're part of this church i implore you to come to this altar and lift your hands and grab ahold of the burden and grab a hold of the mission to reach others and to reach