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What he preaches and help us to grow there by we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen Look at verse 15 the Bible reads But not as the offense so also is the free gift for through the offense of one many be dead Much more the grace of God and the gift by grace Which is by one man Jesus Christ had the bounded unto many and what I want to do this morning is I want to Focus on Romans chapter 5 for a moment, but also Talk about this one concept that we have here where we see the impact of one person and the title of the sermon this morning is the impact of one person the impact of one person and we see that through Adams transgression we all have to experience the Consequences of sin we have to experience the consequences of death But we also reap the benefits of that one person the Lord Jesus Christ and what he's done for us Go back to verse 6 the Bible says for when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly the Bible makes it clear that we have no strength to save ourselves There's nothing in ourselves that could ever get us to heaven. We are a completely without strength We don't have that possibility and when it says in due time If there was to define the word do in the dictionary it says expected at or plan for a certain time When we think of you know, a pretty common phrase the due date, right? What do we what are we referring to? We're saying hey at some point in future a baby is going to be delivered You know, it happens. Okay Women don't stay eternally pregnant, you know, praise God, you know, the Mormon Church wants that to happen But you know something's gonna happen and we see that Jesus Christ, you know in God's perfect plan He didn't come at the very beginning. There was a due date wasn't there? There was a time at which Christ was going to enter into the world and he was gonna fulfill all of the scriptures about himself He was going to die in the cross And so, you know, even though people in the Old Testament were looking to the cross and we look back to the cross It's God's divine plan that in due time Christ would die for the ungodly Look at verse number seven for scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet peradventure for a good man Some would even dare to die, but God committed his love toward us in that while we're yet sinners Christ died for us. So the beauty of the gospel is the fact that as Mankind some of us can be pretty Loving compassionate we could even consider ourselves of laying down a life for a brethren or laying our life down for somebody For a noble cause Oftentimes, you know, this is in pictured through the military, you know military people are willing to lay down their lives for the country They're willing to lay down their lives for their leadership or you know, perhaps maybe you have a Secret Service detail You know They're trained to be able to lay down their life or whoever they're guarding perhaps the president or the president's family or something And it's under the guise of a good person. Obviously, it's hard for us to imagine that about our president But I'm just saying obviously, you know, the thought is that hey, I there's a good man here This person's more important than me. So I would lay down my life for them But that's how Christ looked at the world Christ actually says hey even while we were sinners Christ died for us even though we were ungodly even though we didn't deserve it. That's why it's called grace. I Didn't deserve to go to heaven I didn't deserve for Christ to die on the cross for my sins and to plate my place and go down to hell So we notice the beauty of the gospel is the fact that Christ not only loves people that are good He loves the bad who he loves the ungodly because the reality is there's none good No, not one so he didn't die for any good people. He died for all bad people Look at verse 9 much more than being now justified by his blood We shall be saved from wrath through him for if when we were enemies We are reconciled to God by the death of his son much more being reconciled We shall be saved by his life and not only so we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ By whom we have now received the atonement Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin And so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned now Verse 12 is a pretty important verse because he's introducing the fact that sin entered in the world through Adam But we also are all sinners like him, you know, some people that teach a doctrine that you're born a sinner That's not what the Bible teaches The Bible doesn't teach that you were you born as a sinner in the sense that you've already sinned now Obviously we have a sin nature because our flesh Prophets nothing because our flesh, you know, is it in the deep with God and For all of sin it comes short of the glory of God, but the reality is no one's gonna go to hell having never sinned We all sinned for all of sin and control the glory of God Okay That's why also people can see pictures of David's child that baby when it died It went to heaven because that baby didn't sin that baby doesn't even know its left hand from its right hand It doesn't even know what's going on So obviously there comes a point in which you understand law you understand the commandment you have that understanding and once you start violating God's Word you become dead spiritually where the Bible teaches and Because we've all sinned we need a Savior now The title of the sermon is the impact of one person we could go on a long dissertation of the impact of sin and the impact of of the negative consequences But I really want to focus the morning sermon on the positive aspect if you want the negative aspect you have to come back tonight all right But look at verse number 13 front till the law sin was in the world But sin is not imputed when there is no law nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses even Over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression who is the figure of him that was to come so Even though we may not have sinned in the exact same way that Adam sinned we all are guilty We've all sinned in some way, and this is where people get this weird idea that all sin is equal That's not true. There are greater sins. There's lesser sins, but at the end of the day We've all sinned okay, and because we sin we all receive punishment And that punishment is a physical death and Adam was a figure of him that was to come Why is he a figure because he's the only other person mentioned in the Bible as being the Son of God He truly is a picture of the one that was going to come of what you know Christ is going to be But the verse was earthly the second is spiritually He's the Lord from heaven is what the Bible says and it says in verse number 15 But not as the offense so also is the free gift for if through the offense of one Many be dead much more the grace of God and a gift by grace Which is by one man Jesus Christ at the bound of many so he's saying in the same way that Because one person sin we all sin is the same fact that because of one man's righteousness many people can be Righteous, okay it says in verse number 16 and not as it was by one that sinned so as the gift for the Judgment was by one to condemnation But the free gift is of many offenses unto justification for if by one man's offense death reigned by one much more They which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation Even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life for as by one man's Disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one Shall many he made righteous now. I love this phrase Verse number 19 says so by the obedience of one Shall many be made righteous notice. It doesn't say by the obedience of everybody we become righteous No by the obedience of one. I'm not obedient I'm not gonna get to heaven based on anything that I did based on any of my obedience My fulfillment of the law no is by the obedience of one that I was made righteous and it wasn't me It was Jesus Christ that I get to go to heaven He was obedient. Look at the impact of one person I mean how many people have existed in all time and how many offenses is that and All of them were wiped clean by the obedience of one by one person the impact of one person and There's no way to deny the impact of Jesus Christ He is the most well-known person on this planet period all nations know who Jesus Christ is You can't go to a place on this planet that doesn't talk about Jesus Christ Now obviously depending on what country depending on what culture that you grew up in You might have a different view of who Jesus Christ is But the fact is he's the most well-known person the most written about the most sung about The most popular when it comes to written literature. I mean the King James Bible is the most popular book on the planet That excludes all the modern versions even I mean if you add every type of Bible you had all the different Information and literature and everything. Look our calendar is based on Jesus Christ You can't escape Jesus Christ. That's why it's so insane when people tell me what about all these people ever heard of Jesus Christ I'm like, where do they live? Are they trapped in your basement and you're withholding information? I mean, where are these people? There's always the proverbial guy in Africa, right? Even though there's more Baptist There's more missionaries and there's more Christians going over there every second to constantly evangelize I mean, it's not like they don't know who Jesus is over there. Okay, go to Africa. They know about religion now There's a lot of false religion over there mind you Okay And I'm not saying that in parts of the country or parts of the world that there isn't a great need for the gospel Don't hear me wrong. What I am saying though is that they've at least heard the name They've heard Jesus Christ maybe in their language or whatever and Even tribes that are in Africa that are very isolated Many times missionaries are getting to them and giving them the gospel and if there is hypothetically a person out there That doesn't you know know of Jesus Christ then it guess what? It's our job to go tell that person and then as soon as you do that person doesn't exist anymore again I mean, I don't know where this person is. That's never heard of Jesus. You go to India They know who Jesus is you go to Russia they know Jesus is it doesn't matter what country now obviously to some extent some people have more or less knowledge and it's not necessarily fair in a Context of some people are raised in the atheist home. Some people are raised in an independent fundamental Baptist home That's a pretty big difference. Okay, but at the end of the day, there's no excuse You know God's obvious for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen Being understood by the things that are made even as eternal power and Godhead so they without excuse is what the Bible says You can't look at this world and think uh, it just happened The fool has said in his heart. There is no God Okay, and if you get yourself out of America, you realize atheism is even more dumb People that live in these poor countries and nations. They're not thinking the atheism. They just have a false God Okay, or they have a false view, you know atheism is for people that you know Play video games and just watch internet YouTube videos and are just full of themselves. Okay full of pride and arrogance But I want to focus on this fact that Christ made such an impact as a singular person Okay Go go to John chapter number 11 John chapter number 11 The Bible says for there is one God and one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus So a reconciled by Jesus Christ we have a mediator to God that's still by one man and It wasn't a multitude of people that God needed to reconcile He just needed the one and that was God in the flesh the Son of God the Lord Jesus Christ Who came down and he was perfect and he was the perfect spotless lamb and you know That's why we celebrate Christmas We want to celebrate the birth of our Savior the one who came down here put on flesh very humbling experience For the Lord Jesus Christ, we don't think of it that way necessarily all the time but for the God of the universe to humble himself and become a man and be you know limited in the same ways that we're limited and have to go through pain and suffering and And shame and people ridiculing him and knowing what was at the end of that road I mean that was a pretty humbling thing for him to do and he did it for people that were sinners For the ungodly for the unrighteous for you and me all the things that we've done against him That's what grace means. Okay. I want you to learn what grace is. All right, John chapter 11 look at verse 45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did believed on him But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council and said What do we for this man do with many miracles if we let him thus alone? All men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation now The Pharisees figured this out. They're saying this guy by himself is so impactful He's making such a difference that if we don't stop it if we don't try to hinder him Everybody's gonna believe in this guy Everybody's gonna believe the gospel. Everybody's gonna trust in him notice They thought that the gospel was effective Isn't it interesting that the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ think the gospel is effective then why don't Christians believe that today? Why don't Christians actually believe that God's Word is gonna make an impact is gonna do a big thing for God I believe it, you know, I don't want this stupid small church mentality of nobody wants to hear it Nobody likes it. Look we need to go out and Thunder forth the truth because the truth is attractive my friend The Gospels attractive a lot of people believe the gospel when we go out Look if I get the opportunity to actually sit down and explain the gospel to people more often than not they believe it The hardest part is not them believing the gospel It's more to getting an opportunity to present the gospel more than anything Why because the gospel is attractive the gospel is good news. The gospel is a free gift and it's very impactful That's why we want to go into all the world and preach the gospel every creature when you go to a foreign nation You'll see how impactful the gospel is when you get away from all the deceitfulness of riches and the luxury and the apathy of America you realize man people believe the gospel today and you know when the Apostles they left Jerusalem banging their head against the wall. They're like, wow, the Gentiles believe the gospel This thing's really working. They're building big churches great movements are being made and you know What maybe America may not have the same revival as a foreign nation. Why just want to go where there's gonna be a great revival How about we go to the Bahamas and see what happens and we go to foreign nations and see how impactful the gospel can be Look at verse 49 and one of them named Caiaphas Being the high priest that same year said unto them, you know nothing at all nor consider that is expedient for us That one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not Again, the impact of what one person now go to 1st Corinthians chapter 12 1st Corinthians chapter 12 We could preach the whole sermon about Jesus and that sounds great But I want to make a practical application this morning because you're sitting here thinking well, of course Jesus made an impact The Son of God the guy that created the heavens and the earth The guy that's you know, the alpha and the Omega, of course, he made an impact, you know You can make an impact to it Don't don't devalue yourself, you know, you say oh Christ made an impact. Well, you know what you're the body of Christ You're impactful and you know what it'd be great If people would realize the impact of one person and the impact that they can make in this world and in this life Look at 1st Corinthians 12 verse 4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit and there are differences of administrations But the same Lord and there are diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all but the Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom to another the word of knowledge By the same spirit to another faith by the same spirit to another the gifts of healing by the same spirit to another the working Of miracles to another prophecy to another discerning of spirits to another divers kinds of tongues To another the interpretation of tongues, but all these work at that one in self Spain spirit Dividing to every man severally as he will now in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 He's bringing up the fact that when it comes to the church there is going to be a diversity of giftings meaning that not any two people are going to be the exact same we're all going to have different abilities different skill sets and even back different gifts from God different ways to accomplish God's mission the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ the body of the church and We have you know right here in verse number eight some different things the spirit the word of wisdom Some people in this room are going to be gifted where there's a difficult situation Or somebody's needing some kind of advice and someone's going to be able to give them a word of wisdom That's a spiritual gifting That's a spiritual gifting for the Holy Ghost to come inside your heart and to reveal scripture unto you That's going to be very words of wisdom for a person. We need wisdom today There's so many decisions that we have to constantly make and things that we have to do and some people are gonna be gifted with The ability to give somebody great wisdom from the Word of God words fitly spoken. Okay, they're like apples and pictures of silver Okay, but it says in verse number eight also the word knowledge, you know, some people are just me very knowledgeable about things Not only they're gonna have great wisdom, you know, you ask them a question. Hey, I know about that or hey Let me give you some information about that and obviously the Bible's the preeminence But there's also gonna be a lot of people in this room that have all kinds of knowledge from their life experience that can benefit other people You know the older generation being able to teach the younger generation Hey how to parent how to raise teenagers how to you know, teach your kids how to drive a car that sounds intimidating Okay, you know all kinds of different life experiences how to handle yourself in the workplace, you know different life Circumstances how to breastfeed how to give birth how to handle a wife that just gave birth I mean all these different things that are life Experiences that people are gonna have knowledge and they can use the Bible and they can help people look It's not just a one-man show here. We're the body of Christ and everybody has value Everybody has importance. Some people are gonna be blessed with other areas of knowledge foreign language all kinds of different things It says in verse 10 diverse kinds of tongues, you know Our church is blessed with a lot of people who speak multiple languages and we ought to look at that as gift You got to realize the gift that you have God gave you a gift, you know, most people, you know I have to work pretty hard at learning Spanish, but there's a lot of people in this room They speak Spanish English and they didn't even work that hard for it It was a gift by their family because they were raised in a bilingual home and you got to realize that was a great Gift that God gave you. Well, here's my question. What are you gonna do with it? You know, maybe you're married to somebody that speaks a foreign language That's a gift because you know it can do you can say hey wife don't talk to me in English Or you can say hey husband Don't talk to me in English and you start learning each other's language and you have that free gift You can start growing and learning and getting all these wonderful things Look, if my wife spoke, you know a foreign language, I would try to learn it And if my if I spoke a special language, you know that my wife doesn't I try to help her learn it Why cuz that's even more intimacy between you and your spouse That sounds great. It'd be great. Sometimes if we could talk in a foreign language and our kids didn't know It'd be wonderful. Okay, so there's lots of benefit. Okay It also says the interpretation of tongues, you know, some people have a great gift where they can be an interpreter in certain situations You know maybe at a door or maybe you're going out soul-winning and there's gonna be a lot of Opportunities you use the gifts that you have if you're serving God and the reality is you know Every single person can make a great impact with the giftings that God has given you look at verse 12 whereas the body is one and As many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body So also is Christ notice Christ He reconciled us to God by one body and you know what we're now the body of Christ on this earth Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father. So he allows the body of Christ to be us You know, we need somebody to play the piano. It's great. We need someone to play the trumpet We need someone to play You know the guitar or the violin or whatever other instrument you can play. That's really great that I don't know about yet We need people to use like God gave you giftings. God gave you the ability to do things warm Why would you not use it? I Mean some people are great at singing. They're great at playing an instrument. They're great at doing these things Why would God give you such great vocal cords and such an ability to play an instrument and you have the book of Psalms? Which is just a constant, you know Concert to the Lord Jesus Christ and to God the Father and he wouldn't want you to use that God is look you need to look at yourself as God's given me everything I had for a reason God didn't make you on accident. God didn't give you the gifts that you have for no reason He did them so you could make an impact and you know what the impact of just one person Like one person playing the piano is so much different than singing acapella. And look I like seeing acapella I'm not against it, you know Just even one person one person that can sing really well versus a person that's tone-deaf makes a big impact One Person that can preach a really good sermon makes a pretty big impact don't they? One person just knocking on your door and preaching the gospel. It's a pretty big impact Look at verse 13 for by one spirit Are we all baptized in one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles? Whether we bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit where the body is not one member but many Some people don't realize you're important Every single person in this room is greatly important and It's many. Hey, it's not a one-man show up here. If nobody showed up. We wouldn't have Church We wouldn't have this building. I'd be having to do something else It's not about what it's not about one person The church is a body of people and you make a great impact You don't even realize how many people come to church because of you You know, I I'm new here People come to church just because you showed up You don't even realize how many people decide look I Tried to when you try to build a church from scratch It is extremely difficult When you only have like three or four people out there in your preaching to when a visitor comes they feel real awkward. I Mean I'm just being honest like I've tried planning a church where there's just there's not really any interest and it's brand new and There's nobody really coming and you'll have a visitors finally show up You can preach them the gospel or you gave them the invite they decide to come and you're real excited And then in the announcements, they just walk out Because it's just it's just like you and like two other people and it is kind of like hey, you know What are we doing here? So you don't even realize that you just even being in here makes a difference and you know What if you're a normal person? You really make a difference the more the more normal you are and the better a person you are look if everybody here is a weirdo and Dressed in their pajamas. Everybody be like, I don't want to go to that church You know the more normal and the more friendly that you are you make an impact you make an impact in people's lives Don't look at yourself is not important Every single person in this room is extremely important and makes an impact in God's house All of them and anytime I think of a person that didn't show up to church, you know what it makes me sad I Like seeing every single one of you every single time every time I see you it brings joy to my face So no matter what anybody else thinks it matters to me. I Like seeing you I like visiting with you and shaking your hand Look at verse 15 if the foot shall say because I am NOT the hand I am NOT of the body Is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say because I am NOT the eye I am NOT of the body Is it therefore not of the body if the whole body were an eye? Where were the hearing if the whole we're hearing where were the smelling? But now have God set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him And if they were all one member, where were the body but now are they many members yet? But one body now he's emphasizing the fact that the body is going to be comprised of different parts I'm glad that my entire body is not just thumbs That would be weird, you know thumbs on my face probably wouldn't do a lot You know I like having eyes and a nose and ears and different parts and they're all important Look, there's a lot of body parts. You have you just have one of them and it's real important like a nose I'm glad I'm not missing a nose today Now some people might not like the nose. I like the nose, you know How about your mouth? Isn't that a pretty important piece of the body? How about the brain some people you kind of question if they have it, but That's a pretty important part to have. How about the stomach? I like the stomach. I Mean, there's a lot of pieces, you know, how about your heart? Is that one pretty important? Just one part What happens if you just lost your heart dead lost your brain dead lost your stomach dead lost your mouth Dead your nose. You can probably survive but it'd be rough and Look, that's what God's saying about the church Somebody in this room is the heart Somebody in this room is the nose and I still like you. Okay someone in this room is the stomach Someone in this room is all the different parts of the body, you know some couples they're the lungs, you know other parts They're the kneecaps. I like the kneecaps. I don't want any there's no part of my body that I'm thinking like I don't want that I like all of it and I want all of it and you ought to think of how important you truly are Because guess what when one part of your body no matter how insignificant you think it is starts hurting your whole body starts hurting If you hit that funny bone, oh man, the whole body hurts. That's annoying I recently had this and I hate this this is like my least favorite thing But I get charlie horses in the night. Okay, and it's just one part of your body It's just one little calf muscle or whatever tightens up, but when I get a calf muscle it hurts so bad I just like freak out and I like throw myself out of the bed and my whole body is like spat You can ask my wife. Okay, this is legit story. Like I throw myself out of the bed. I just like That's just one part it hurts And you don't realize hey one person in the church gets disgruntled and wants to leave and it's like a charlie horse in my heart It hurts Does it feel good? it's not fun when somebody gets offended and stop serving God and Decides to not go to church and not not do the right things it hurts Every single person is important and obviously, you know in the New Testament we have Church is It's not like you have to come to this church to serve God and if someone decides to serve God somewhere else great I'm talking when people just stop going to church and they stop serving God and they get out of the will of God It hurts You are important Go to 1st Corinthians keep your finger because we're gonna come back go to 1st Corinthians chapter 14 I'm not the pastor. Well, every single person is important and you know what? Not everybody in this room is gonna be a pastor and we just wake you up majority If not all are probably never gonna be pastor and that's fine You don't have to the hand is never gonna be an eye. It needs to get over it The eyes never gonna be the mouth the nose never gonna be enough but to look at a part of your body and say well That's not as important. That's not as needful. That's an ignorant mentality That's a foolish mentality. God has placed certain parts in the body as it pleased him is what the Bible says So you ought to realize hey, I'm here for a reason. I'm in the role that I'm in for a reason God wants me to fulfilling the job that I have for a reason I ought not try to be something that I'm not I had Embrace who I am and be the best hand that I can be and the best eyes that I can be and the best Nose that I can be all of it Don't look at your part and say well my parts not important No, your part is very important and I don't want any more charley horses. All right You know and one thing I think of is just how impactful you are coming to church If you look at other churches, okay, they're really growing and they're expanding a lot of times Their model of growth is what's called small groups Okay, they have all these Sunday school classes and small groups and things like that and say why is that? why the church is experiencing a lot of growth because those people in those groups are constantly inviting their friends and family to come to that group and Then they bring them in and they don't realize the impact that they're having in their church You know how people are gonna start coming to church you bring them with you You know people people don't just stumble into random churches, you know They often go to church because someone invited them because someone's asking them to come Because they heard about the church from a friend because their family member drug a man Just somebody's bringing them in and we ought not have this mentality of like well, you know, how does someone come to church? I guess you got to bring up you got to invite them. You got to encourage them to show up You know, obviously we don't have small groups so we don't have whatever and but I like Church better anyways, okay I don't want that small group where we all just talk about what we think, you know I like, you know, someone actually knows what the Bible says teaching and You know, if you really think your church is great. Why would you not want to invite people to it? If you really think it's a wonderful place, I mean, it's the body of Christ, isn't it? First Corinthians chapter 14 look at verse 10 there are it may be so many kinds of voices in the world None of them is without signification. I love this verse You know, every voice is important and every voice can guess what let every you know thing that hath breath Praise the Lord. That's that's that's a great way to use your voice. How about another one preach the gospel every creature? Look your voice has such an impact in this world and you have such a sphere and influence that you don't even realize your spouse Family members your children your co-workers Your brothers and sisters in Christ your voice has an impact in this world and what you say is gonna impact the people in Your life it's gonna impact whether they want to be around you more whether they think you need a breath mint You know all kinds of different things You got to realize that your voice has a major role in this world today You can do a lot of great things with your voice today Obviously, there's power the power of life and death is in the tongue, right go to Acts chapter 9 accept number 9 You don't have to be the pastor to be significantly impactful You know, there's some people in the church. They give generously of their time to the church There's people that give generously of their money. There's people that give generously of their energy There's all kinds of people that pour all kinds of effort into the body of Christ into the Church of God And you know what? They're very impactful They might not be visible Now you have a lot of body parts in your body that are not on the outside They're on the inside and so they don't get all the recognition. They don't get all the attention They don't get all the praise, but they're very needful. In fact, most of the things on the outside are superfluous You're you could more likely go without parts of the body on the outside the parts in the inside. That's real important You can't just start chopping that up and survive Whereas you can go without a lot of those things in the outward appearance Acts chapter number nine. Let's look at somebody that's a great person. That's really impactful Look at verse 36 now there was a Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha which my interpretation is called Dorcas This woman was full of good works and alms deeds Which she did and it came to pass in those days that she was sick and died whom when they had washed they laid her in an upper chamber and For as much as Lydda was night a Joppa and the disciples had heard that Peter was there They sent him sent on him to men desiring him that he would make would not delay to come to them Then Peter rose and went with them when he was coming They brought him into the upper chamber and all the widows stood by him weeping and showing the coats and garments Which Dorcas had Dorcas made while she was with them But Peter put them all forth and kneeled down and prayed and turning him to the body said Tabitha arise and she opened her eyes and when she saw Peter she sat up and he gave her his hand and lifted her up And when he had called the Saints and widows presented her alive verse 42 and it was known throughout all Joppa and many believed in the Lord now what I like about this story is This is just some woman Who you know? In our mind we would think all is she really important but look how everybody else viewed her It says in verse number 39 all the widows stood by him weeping and showing the coats and garments as Dorcas had made This woman in the church. She was just a great woman She just did a lot of alms deeds and you know alms deeds is just helping people blessing people financially, you know And obviously she's probably not, you know, letting her left hand know what her right hand doeth She's just been a blessing to everybody in the church. Every loves Dorcas Every loves the coats and the garments that she's made for everybody She's just been a blessing to all these different people in the church. So when she dies, everybody's weeping everybody's sad You don't realize the impact that you can have in a church you say was Dorcas the pastor? No Was Dorcas someone that you know was probably well known to the outside world. No, but her church knew who she was Her church knew the impact that she was making Being a friend to lean upon You know, not everybody's gonna see that Now he's gonna know if you hey, I people they call me and they ask me for help all the time You don't have to go around I just want to let you know everybody calls me and everybody everybody I'm a great shoulder to lean on You know just be a good shoulder lean on You'll get recognition in due time maybe when you're dead But does it doesn't matter you're not doing it for recognition Dorcas Dorcas doing because he loves people Because she wants to be really impactful and look at the impact of one person all these people are so distraught because of Dorcas Because Dorcas is gone And obviously it's a great story because Peter brings her back to you know Back to life and she's restored unto them and because of that many people even believed in the Lord Notice that a lot of people got saved because Dorcas was a really great person Isn't that interesting how that worked out because she loved much because she did a lot of alms deeds Because she was really faithful in her church. She ends up having a lot of people care about her death They sinned unto Peter. He raised her from the dead and because of this great miracle many people believe in the Lord What would happen if Dorcas was just a constant gossip in the church? Good thing she's dead You don't think people think that way You don't think some people think I wish that person would never come to church again You got to be like Dorcas where everybody's like man, that's awful. She was a great person in our church She was constantly a blessing to our church and she had a great impact on the church Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 4 Ecclesiastes chapter 4 The Bible says in Proverbs 27 ointment and perfume rejoice the heart So does the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel So just like you like smelling things that smell good It's saying hey a friend that gives you good advice or or really gives you good counsel It feels good. You enjoy that you like it You don't want to go to somebody and ask them for advice and they're just like, oh, I don't care No, you want someone to hey, they gave you hearty counseling. They really care about it They're instilling wisdom unto you. They want to be a good friend unto you I've had a lot of people in my life who I went to with concerns You know I'm Struggling with what to do with my career or I'm struggling to do with with my life and they give me hearty counsel meaning They actually cared about the advice they were giving me and it was wonderful I remember talking to a guy that I was going to church with and he was real zealous for the Lord he he really had a zeal of God and You know I was considering when I was going back to college of getting like a degree in maybe computer science or maybe getting a degree in accounting and I Wasn't really sure what I wanted to do But I just sat down talked with a guy and you know He just gave me a lot of really heartfelt good information and it was great. It was great that I didn't come in He's just like you're an idiot. I don't care get out of here. No, he sat down. He took the time He cared about what I was saying and he gave me really good counsel The Bible says iron sharpened with iron so a man sharpened at the countenance of his friend You know when I see my friends that puts a smile on my face When I don't see my friends it can be a discouragement it can be something where I don't feel as good Don't think that you not your presence is not important. You are impactful as a person There's here's where you can be really impactful. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse 8 There is one alone and there is not a second. Yay. He hath neither child nor brother yet Is there no end of all his labor neither is I satisfied with riches neither sayeth he for whom? Do I labor and bereaved my soul of good? This is also vanity. Yea, it is a sore travail Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor for if they fall The one will lift up his fellow But woe to him that is alone when he falleth free hath not another to help him up again if two lie together Then they have heat But how can one be warm alone and if one prevail against him to show a stand him and a threefold cord is not quickly Broken now we're talking about the impact of one person You know what you can be that second person to a lot of other people You can be that silent partner to somebody when you go out and soul winning You can be that second person when someone falls when they have a problem when they're going through hard times You can say hey, I'll help you up the impact of one person and You know as much as I try I try to help people as much as I can but you know a church of This size and growing I can't always be that one person just pick everybody up It's nice when other people say hey, I can be that person I Can go visit that person and I can call that person and I can be a friend of that person and I can help Them up why because you're impactful the impact of one person saying hey, I can make a difference Go to 1st Corinthians chapter 12, you know makes me think again, you know going back to kind of my career I was starting it a job as a computer programmer And I really it was kind of just it was a pure gift from God that I even got this job opportunity because I had no Programming experience I knew as much about computers as you did they turn on, you know You can hit buttons and stuff happens I I would maybe had a little bit more knowledge than that, but I'm just saying when it came to computer programming This is how most people think it's magic. Okay, that's how most people look at it They're like, how does any of this stuff work? I didn't know any of it worked I started reading a computer programming book on my own and try to study as much as I could but still I didn't really have much knowledge and I'm starting out in this new job and Really? It was just a trial by fire to say the least. They're basically like put you in a room I had to build my own computer day one Day two, I'm the lead web designer for our site for our website and they just said here's all the code go for it Now Let me tell you that's intimidating situation, okay, I vote very stressful that was a great opportunity But there was another person that worked in that company and he wasn't my boss He wasn't told by the management that he had to help me You know what? I just went and I was just like, can you please help me and he spent hours with me every day Before work he say hey, I'll meet you before where I'll show up early and I'll just help you Hey, I won't take a lunch break and I'll just show you what what you're doing here Hey, I'll just cut we can talk on the phone after work. He didn't have to do that He wasn't getting paid extra to do any of that. He's a salary employee. It's not like he gets the clock in You know nothing and it management from my perspective while they are probably somewhat appreciative I think they actually didn't like it. They didn't like that. I was Distracting like the great programmer, you know by my ignorance not knowing how to do programming and But here's the thing. It was really impactful in my life it made a huge difference in my career that someone be willing to Instill a lot of time a lot of effort a lot of energy into me and you know what? He's one of my best friends. He's a great person and you know through that conversation later I told him that 9-eleven was inside job. He finally believed me So, you know, I'm trying to help him out. He's on me out, you know, he's King James only He's he's believed salvation by grace through faith. I mean, he's he's great. He's a great person, you know He's blessed me in all kinds of other ways too. It's great to have a great friend You know, he he bought all the chairs for pure words Baptist Church And you know what? Nobody in that church has ever met him Not even one time the impact of one person you don't even know about him you didn't even know about that body part did you and Look, there's a lot of people they make a lot of sacrifices and they do a lot of big things for God and nobody Here knows about it You can be that person You can be a person that makes a great impact For God go to 1st Corinthians 12 go back and look at verse 21 The eye cannot say into the hand I have no need of thee nor again the head to the feet I have no need of you nay much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are Necessary and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable upon these we bestow more Abundant honor and our uncommonly parts have more abundant comeliness. You know what the Bible is saying here It's saying there's certain people in this room that have a bigger impact than you realize And there's no reason for you to go around and think all that person's not unimportant Who cares if they come to church and look? there's so many people that have a such a big impact in the kingdom of God and It's not realized people don't even necessarily see it with their own eyes or they don't see it in the physical realm We have to realize one person can make a huge impact for God. Don't look at yourself as unimportant You are very important every single person you will make a great impact Verse 24 for our commonly parts have no need But God had tempered the body together having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked That there should be no schism in the body But that the members should have the same care one for another and whether one member member suffer All the members suffer with it or one member be honored all the members rejoice with it. We ought to be One body as much as possible one unity when someone suffers we suffer with them We weep with them we call them and we pray for them and we want to bless them and when someone does something good When someone you know does a great work for God We ought not get envious of that person and be mad at that person hand. Why'd you do so good? You know you think that the quarterback for you know, whoever wins the Super Bowl. He's looking at his hand He's just like right hand, you know Shame on you for throwing all those touchdowns No It's like great, you know, even the left hand goes up, you know, they both go up They're both excited. His mouth is gonna praise his hand, you know, he's gonna be excited about it He's gonna take care of that hand. He's gonna treat it with dignity and respect. He's not looking at it like oh Stupid who needs you, you know, or the left hand is not like I wish I was the right hand Well, if you didn't have a left hand You probably wouldn't be able to balance that ball because your hand to be like this you'd be like kind of awkward You know, you're trying to hold it. Look you need that left hand All the other parts of your body. Hey, you need those feet so you can actually throw it because you're laying on the ground You're not gonna be able to throw the ball You need that elbow to be able to extend it and to throw it and if the hand starts saying oh I don't need you elbow. He's like, we'll try it now You know, it's not gonna work But unfortunately churches can look like that can't they they can look somebody that you know Doesn't have a lot of money that comes to church. Oh, we don't need them Wicked they might be the best so we're in the church They might be the person going around that everybody calls upon and needs advice from and help from and they know the Bible really well And they're a great preacher and they're great comfort to a lot of people in the room Don't look at people as unimportant. We ought to raise the value of people in our eyes Christ had great value for people You Know there was a man who's crazy. He's a lunatic. He has a legion of demons in his body nobody wants to touch him, you know what Jesus wanted to go and heal that man and Jesus is willing to kill 2,000 pigs for him showing the value of that one man saying this guy's Important. Hey, someone came to Jesus and said hey my daughter. She's dying. She's like, I'll go healer Hey someone comes and touches him healed why because the value of one person is so great Would you look at your spouse and put a number on their head Would you put a price on your child's head? There isn't there isn't a price We got to look at people today as invaluable or not invaluable There's no price that you can put on their head there they're priceless you can't you can't replace them Every single soul every single child every single woman every single man The elderly couple the newborn baby every single person is priceless That's how Jesus felt when he died on the cross for every single person That's how we ought to look at people today and not not just be so Hard-hearted and wanting to be mean to people and reject people and treat people like dirt Now Christ treated me. He treated me great, but I didn't deserve it Look at verse 27 Now you're the body of Christ and members in particular and God has set some in the church first apostles Secondarily prophets thirdly teachers after that miracles then gifts of healing helps governments Diversities of tongues are all apostles are all prophets are all teachers all workers of miracles Have all the gifts of healing you all speak with tongues do all interpret But covet earnestly the best gifts and yet show I undo a more excellent way You know that best get he's gonna tell them all about charity after that And you're saying not everybody's getting a pastor and everybody's gonna be in a deacon Not everybody's gonna get all this recognition You know what? You can still make a huge difference go to go to Ezekiel chapter 22 Ezekiel 22 The Bible says in 2nd chronicle 16 for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth To show himself strong and the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him The Bible says that God's constantly looking for one person just any person that he can just show himself strong in the rehab Do great works through one person The impact that one person can make is Beyond what we can even think of you can make such a great impact as just one singular person. You don't even realize it Ezekiel 22 look at verse 24 Son of man, Zander thou art the land that is not cleansed nor rained upon in the day of indignation There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof like a roaring lion raving the prey They have devoured souls. They have taken the treasure and precious things They have made her many widows in the midst thereof This sounds like America her priests have violated my law and it profane my holy things They have put no difference between the holy and profane Neither they show difference between the unclean and the clean and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths and I am profaned among them Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves Ravening the prey to shed blood and to destroy souls and to get dishonest gain That's you know Your Lakewood Baptist Church of Joel Osteen right there and her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar Seeing vanity and divining lies unto them saying thus sayeth the Lord God when the Lord hath not spoken You know what that is? That's preaching your personal opinion. That's preaching what you think when the Bible doesn't say it Verse 29 the people of the land have used oppression and exercise robbery and effects the poor and needy Yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully and I sought for a man Among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it But I found them The impact of one person it just one person and said hey, I'll make up the hedge I'll stand in that gap You say hey, someone's hurting in the church. I'll make up the hedge Hey, someone's disgruntled. I'll be the peacemaker. Hey, this person was mean. I'll give them grace Hey, I don't know if I am the best singer or the best man just play You know just sing just fill your role be excited about the job that God has given you because the impact of one Person can be great If one person just one person God said hey, I didn't he didn't say I sought for a whole group of people doing right I sought for a man one person one person could say what an entire area of people You know makes me think of another person Jonah go to book of Jonah chapter 3 One person can make a huge impact on an entire area You know the Apostle Paul said in that in the book of Acts chapter 20 verse 26 Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men What an impactful statement you think the Apostle Paul was impactful you think he made a difference in the world one man One man that just had his heart right towards God that just said hey God just used me You know what? He wasn't a pastor either. Oh Man the most impactful person done even a pastor You know a lot of the Old Testament guys they weren't pastors Amos. He was just a herd man He made a pretty big impact Jonah, I don't know if he's a pastor He's gonna make a pretty big impact look at verse number four a chapter three verse number four And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey And he cried and said yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown like pastor So why don't you preach sermons that short? Well, you know you can go to Jonah Baptist Church and you can get a message like that It wasn't positive verse five So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth From the greatest of them even to the least of them for word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes and he caused to be reclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his Nobles saying let neither man nor beast heard nor flock taste anything Let them not feed nor drink water But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands who can tell if God will turn to repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not and God saw their works that they turn from their evil way and God repented of the evil That he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not you know I like about the story it just proves that hard preaching works Some people they don't like hard preaching you say what's hard preaching it's when you preach something that someone's doing that's wrong You know, what's hard preaching? Well, guess what? It's preaching something that the Bible says number one number two it's something that's corrective meaning that it's telling you're doing something wrong and number three, it's specific and oftentimes where people fail at hard preaching is the specific is They'll say hey don't do wrong. Don't sin don't do bad And everybody's just thinking like yeah, okay Well not gonna do bad today, you know And then you have to start talking about what bad looks like and then like it's not bad. What are you talking about? I'm not so shiny But guy actually cares about what I look like. Yes Guys, it cares about what I say. Yes. He cares about what you think. Yes. He cares about where you go Yes, all of it So then when you start actually pointing things things out then people get start freaking out but notice in Jonah chapter 3 He just he didn't give them any hope Your whole nation's destroyed Good luck And they still got right and look at verse chapter 4 verse number 11 and Should not I spare Nineveh that great city where there are more than six score thousand persons That cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and also much cattle over a hundred Thousand people are spared from God's wrath because of one Because of one person being obedient to God's commandment. He made such an impact He saved a hundred thousand people and look the population on this earth is greater than it was back Then you know that tells me one person could make such an impact for an entire nation for an entire area Don't Think of you as being in oh, I'm not that important. I'm not a pastor What if just one person just decided you know what? I'm just gonna try and save all of Jamaica I'm gonna try and save all of the Bahamas. I'm gonna try and save all of Mexico Just how many people are in Mexico? Just think how many people one person Could make a difference, you know why people are making a huge difference because they don't think that they're important They don't think that they have any value Look I'm here to tell you you have more value than you could ever possibly imagine God knows all he has all the hairs on your head numbered He has more thoughts about you than the sand on the seashore is what the Bible says You can make such an impact and the humble person will realize I can make a huge impact I need to try and serve God with my life the non humble person says on I'm worthless and I don't have any value. Nobody cares about me. That's called fake humility, and it's garbage, and I don't like it True humility says I can make a huge difference now the difference is they don't go around bragging about it Do you know how important I am? God died for me Just let you know he even knows how many hairs are on my head for some of you. That's not that hard of a count You know a lot of us it's impactful you know Go to 2nd Timothy chapter 1 go to 2nd 3 that form Say well, I'm not Jonah. I'm not I'm not Jesus. I'm not the Apostle Paul. I'm just a woman well remember Dorcas Let's look at another woman. That's very impactful in the Bible 2nd to me chapter 1 look at verse number 3 I Thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing I have a remembrance of thee my prayers night and day Greatly desiring to see thee being mindful of thy tears that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith That is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother you nice And I persuaded that in the also the impact of one grandmother Lois She just happens that one of her grandchildren is Timothy oh, yeah pretty impactful person isn't you know what Timothy would have never been the person that he was without Lois Without his mother Eunice the impact of a mother every single great man of God. Let me tell you a secret had a mother all of them The impact that a mother has on her child is probably the single greatest impact Don't think of you. Oh, I'm not that important. You're super important The time that my wife spends with my children is priceless. It's invaluable. I can't put a price on it The impact that she's gonna make in my children's lives. It's just you can't even put any kind of figure to it That's why I don't want to give them to the devil Called the public fool system and see what impact they're gonna make. I want to see what kind of impact my wife can make You say oh, I'm a grandmother. You can make a big impact and your children and your grandchildren Huge impact there's a lot of people the reason the way they are who they are is because of a grandparent Say all my grandfather was like this my grandma was like that go to Proverbs chapter 31 don't think of the people in your life as You know Insignificant today look at them as great potential, you know when Timothy was born He was a little baby like all of them, but Lois looked at that child's like this child could do something great Every mother believes in their child They think this child could be the greatest person they could do great things and They ought to actually believe that in their heart and instill everything they got into their children Just give everything they got all the love all the attention all the education all the time all the effort all the Energy and realize I can make a huge impact in my child's life The single greatest impact on any person's life is their parents No person's gonna make the impact in your life more than your parents will and unfortunately for some it's negative You know what you can be a positive influence in the child's life You can do great things for your child I don't care what age you are and I don't care what age they are You can still make a huge impact Proverbs 31 verse 1 the words of King Lemuel the prophecy that his mother taught him What my son and what the son of my womb and what the son of my vows give not thy strength unto women Nor thy ways to that which destroyeth Kings. It is not for Kings o Lemuel It is not for Kings to drink wine Nor for Prince's strong drink lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more Open thy mouth for the dumb and the cause of all such as appointed destruction Open thy mouth judge righteously and plead the cause of the poor needy Who can find a virtuous woman for prices far above rubies? You know, I like about this. This mom is a hard preacher You say hey, I want to be a hard preacher, okay preach to your sons And you know what I love about this His it always reminds me my mom because my mom was a hard preacher Hey, you know what? She was always ripping on whores Being a derelict She would always rip on you if you did not have a belt on She would call you a fag She I don't know if she used the exact where I think she did I'm remembering that she did She would be really discreet about it though. Like she wouldn't go around just publicly but she would be like John Pull your pants up she's like in prison They wear their head their pants loose to let everybody know they're open for business and you say you're not open for business John Play your pants up put a belt on it She's a hard preacher and I liked it. You know, if a woman called me She just hang up on her Doesn't matter what the reason was it was a female voice and they're calling for John. She's just like bye My wife tried to call me one time when we were not dating and she said that my wife was super me She didn't immediately hang up, I guess but she was about to and then my wife She's like it's just for school and she's like, okay And she just took notes or something. It gave it to me I remember one girl that was trying to date she called me multiple times and left messages with my mom to call me and I never got the message. I Ran into it. She's like I've been calling you for weeks. What's going on? I was like, I didn't know that I asked my mom. She's like, yeah, I just threw away the messages. I Don't want girls calling you It's great You know my mother God bless her. She was not you know, right about a lot of doctrine, but she had a zeal of God She read her Bible every day Her Bible looked like you know had gone through World War two, I mean Marked up. She read the Bible constantly. She's constantly listening to praise music constant. Just she just loved God. She has zeal for God You know and she taught me all kinds of things. She taught me to be a great steward of the things that I had How to cook how to be a good person how to have good morals how to be polite She taught me how to have fun It was a great attribute. She taught me how to love family She taught me being respectful my dad and to her husband to be sacrificial a very sacrificial person She's very hard-working. She loved people You know, I don't know if she's on her way to heaven Or she went to heaven And it it really heats me up She passed away several years ago and the impact of one person We could have just asked my mom what she had to do to go to heaven When you go out this afternoon you really look at people like they're your mother They're your father. They're your child the impact that one person can have You know how much how grateful I'd be to one person that had made sure that my mom was saved And all the time that I spent with her and I could have just over my Bible But I went to a bad church that nobody's warning me about. Oh you preach against bad churches Yeah, I do cuz I hate them. I hate every false way I hate the fact that I wasted so much of my life in a bad church not knowing the people around me if they're saved How can you even go to a church and you don't even know the people are saved? Don't take anybody in your life for granted Check their salvation And no surprise you unfortunately sometimes It's sad the difference is a soul winner can make go to Matthew chapter 10 You know what I wouldn't be the person I am it wasn't for my mom And all of you are the same way there's plenty of people in your life you're the person you are because of your parents The impact of one person Matthew chapter 10 verse 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward and whose server shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a Cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple verily I send you he shall in no wise Lose his award look you don't understand the impact Even for just giving a cup of water Only in the name of a disciple you're gonna not lose a reward What kind of an impact is that I mean we're talking about the most insignificant impact. Just do you want some water? But think of the impact look there's been plenty of times I've been soul winning and I'm thinking like I hope this person offers me some water Hey, you know I'll tell you there's been a couple times where that prayer was answered I was just thinking like wow that was great. I really needed some water I was really parched and you know what they're not gonna lose the reward You're not gonna lose the rewards for the great things you do in this life Your life is impactful your life has meaning your life has value. Don't look at yourself as unimportant today Realize the importance of one person and realize hey, I can make a great impact today. I Believe Jesus believes in you Believe in yourself suppose in prayer Thank you father so much for these great words for the impact that one person can make through your power through your spirit I pray that people would just realize the value that they have That you bought them with the blood of Jesus Christ Just it's not even there's no price on it and that the impact that somebody can make in their lives I pray that they would realize the importance they have all the mothers all the fathers all the children all the grandparents all the friends All the just you know church members the musicians