God's Web

You get it, I want you to just hold it up for me.

Y'all look like you're voting, but in reality, we're praying.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, I love you, and I thank you for the opportunity of worship today.

Your sweet spirit's been in this place.

I'm thankful for it.

God, with that same spirit, direct us right now.

Clear our minds, then fill our minds, oh God.

Show us what you'd have us to do, and give us the conviction to do it, oh God, I pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Easter will be here in five weeks.

I want to take an excursion today away from our sermon series on creation

to just talk about the importance of what's coming up.

I'll be dealing with Genesis chapter 3 for the next three weeks,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

and then on Palm Sunday, we'll look to the cross of Christ,

and on Easter Sunday, thank God, we'll look at the resurrection.

Easter is a great day to honor the Lord and celebrate our new life through resurrection,

and if you have other plans on Easter and can change them, change them, okay?

If you've not made plans for Easter, don't overbook it.

You don't want to miss it, I promise you.

One year ago, it was a significant day in the life of our church,

so much so that we won't do Easter this year like we did last year

because we can't accommodate it, thankfully.

Last year, we hoped for 300 in Sunday school.

We got that.

We wanted to double that in a combined service of an 8 o'clock outside parking lot service

and then a different service at 1030.

If we could combine both of those and maybe have 600.

We had about 200 in the parking lot.

We had 681 for worship.

Amen.

681, we can't handle that.

We had an overflow, and so we need to accommodate that better this year,

but man, what a day we had.

So I want you to get this schedule down, and I want you to understand it.

At 830, we will have a worship service in here,

and then at 915, we'll have Sunday school at 8 o'clock.

Excuse me.

You're right.

8 o'clock.

Thank you.

Don't show up 30 minutes late.

Thank you, Jerry.

8 o'clock.

And then at 915, we'll have Sunday school.

At 1030, we'll have the same.

Well, it says identical.

Ain't two worship hours I've ever been in has been identical, praise the Lord.

But anyway, but we'll have the same program in both,

and so the same order twice.

Our children options will be more advanced at 1030 than at the early one.

If you don't have a Sunday school class, don't leave, okay?

If you are not in Sunday school before Easter and you don't have a class,

then start on Easter.

I'm going to be holding a class in the fellowship hall,

so I want everybody here for Sunday school.

Either you come at 8 and stay for Sunday school,

or you show up for Sunday school and stay for worship.

We're going to have a great day in the Lord.

Last year, we made a commitment five weeks out, and it worked.

And lives were changed because God blessed our faithfulness.

So I want us to commit again today publicly

and to lay that out before the Lord.

The five-for-five card that you received has a tear-off on the bottom.

That tear-off is for you to turn in in a little while.

That top part looks much like a bookmark, and that's on purpose.

So that you can write names upon that list, make that a prayer list for you,

put that in your Bible, put that wherever you need to put it,

to pray over that daily.

Pray about five people that you can invite

to celebrate the resurrection with us on Easter Sunday.

Now, as I preach this morning, I want you to write those names down.

I've asked God to give you those names,

to make them clear to you, to remind you of those things.

I often don't want you distracted when I preach.

I want you distracted this morning

by five names that God lays on your heart to invite.

I'm not asking you to invite them.

I'm asking you to pray about inviting them.

Just write those names down on that sheet.

May God grant that.

Write them twice on both the top list and on the bottom list.

You'll keep the bottom list.

Excuse me.

You'll turn in the bottom list and lay it at the cross of Christ

at the close of this service.

And the top, you can just hold on to that as a bookmark.

I pray that God will let the names flow into your life.

God's been wonderful to us as a church,

and Easter is a wonderful time to invite people to come

and see what God is doing.

People will come on Easter Sunday that will not come any other time.

It is a great opportunity.

And we have something to share.

If you have Christ, you have something to share.

We have no idea how significant it could be to just pray and invite someone to come.

I will tell you that there was a name put on at least one of these cards last year

and placed at this cross.

And that man, since that time, has been saved and baptized as a member of this church

because people were praying.

More than that, but because people were praying.

So I'm firmly convinced that God blesses our efforts in that,

and I'm going to ask God to make that clear to you.

I've been praying in that way.

So I want us to look at John's gospel, John chapter 1,

John 1 · chapter mention

for just a few moments to give us a glimpse of what can happen

when we walk through the doors that God opens for us.

I want you to see how to respond when Christ walks by.

It's in John chapter 1, beginning in verse 35.

John 1 · chapter mention

It says this.

The next day again, John was standing with two of his disciples,

and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said,

Behold, the Lamb of God.

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them,

What are you seeking?

And they said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying?

He said to them, Come and you will see.

So they came and saw where he was staying,

and they stayed with him that hour, excuse me, that day,

for it was about the tenth hour.

One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew,

Simon Peter's brother.

He first found his own brother Simon and said to him,

We have found the Messiah, which means Christ.

He brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said,

You are Simon, the son of John.

You shall be called Cephas, which means Peter.

As I prepared for this last week,

I read a devotion around this passage from morning and evening by Charles Spurgeon.

And once again, Spurgeon hit the nail on the head.

The old boy was pretty good at what he did.

And he said this, listen to this.

He said,

When Peter went to find his brother,

he little imagined how imminent Simon would become.

Simon Peter was worth ten Andrews,

so far as we can gather from sacred history.

And yet Andrew was instrumental in bringing him to Jesus.

You may be very deficient in talent yourself.

And yet you may be the means of drawing to Christ,

one who shall become imminent in grace and service.

Oh, dear friend,

you little know the possibilities that are in you.

You may but speak a word to a child.

And in that child, there may be a slumbering,

there may be a slumbering noble heart,

which shall stir the Christian church in years to come.

Andrew has only two talents,

but he finds Peter.

Go you and do likewise.

This morning, I just want to ask you to pray about it.

Who would God have you to pray for?

I don't want you to think about the awkwardness of bringing it up.

I don't want you to think about the fact

that you haven't cultivated a relationship

where you feel comfortable doing that yet.

I don't want you to think about any of that.

I just want you to write that name down.

I want to show you this morning how God works.

How he uses us,

and we don't even realize the impact.

And I want to illustrate that

with something called God's web.

I'm going to do it by looking at a hypothetical lady's life.

All of the experiences that I will share with you

are real experiences,

but not just in one life.

But it shows the strands of God's web

that I've seen in other people's life

and how he works.

I'm going to call this lady Lucille.

That was my grandmother's name.

And although this is not her story by any means,

I loved her,

and I thought about her when I was writing this.

So I want to name her Lucille.

Lucille was one who was not raised in a godly home.

Not a church-going home,

but she was invited to vacation Bible school.

And when she went to vacation Bible school,

people that invited her,

the workers that worked there,

the people who gave out the refreshments,

the friends that were with her there,

it was a positive experience for her to have at church.

It was only for one week,

and she never went back again.

But it made an impact.

As a student in high school,

she was invited to a youth function.

It was one of those overnight kind of events

that youth ministers love,

filled with fun games, lively music,

and good biblical preaching on salvation.

And as she looked around that room,

she saw those who lived that out.

She saw others that played at it,

didn't really live it out.

That confusion caused by their example

caused her to listen,

but to not move forward toward it.

As she grew older,

she had workmates,

workmates that went to church,

churchgoers.

Sometimes she would hear a little about church.

She'd hear them say something about their church.

That community intrigued her.

Maybe it was a place for her child.

She's home one day,

and she also saw a smiley preacher

in a big arena-type church on TV.

He gave a toothy, positive message.

It was not the gospel,

but it was positive,

and he was pretty,

and so she watched him.

She wondered from time to time

how that related to her earlier church experiences.

She heard some ladies one day

talking about a Bible podcast,

and so she downloaded it,

and she listened to that one day.

For just a few minutes,

it sounded relevant.

Food for thought,

nothing much more.

One day at work,

someone invited her to come to church.

She thought it may be good for her child.

Maybe the child would have a VBS-type experience,

and she told them she'd consider letting her child go,

and the one that invited her asked,

why don't you come with her?

Now, that hit her hard.

She was stirred by that,

so she talked to her mother about it,

and her mother surprisingly said

that she had been praying

for that very thing to happen.

She decided to go.

She started in morning worship.

When she attended there,

people were friendly.

She felt at home.

The message was relevant to her life.

The follow-up by the church,

by the pastor,

by those that had invited her,

led to a conversation

that asked her about giving her life to Christ,

and Lucille said,

yes.

Now, let me ask you some questions.

Was it the power of the sermon

that drew her to the Lord?

It played a part,

but not alone.

Was it the friendliness of the people

that drew her in?

Not only that,

but it played a part.

Was it her decision to go to church

that saved her?

No.

Was it her mother praying

that did that?

Was it the one that invited her

that did that?

Was it her persistence in asking?

Was it the TV preacher?

Was it the podcast?

Was it the workmates talking about it?

Was it her experience as a student?

Was it the VBS experience?

Did all of that play a part?

Yes, it did.

They all played a part in God

drawing her in

to a web of salvation.

Was all those steps equally important?

Yes.

Was all those steps

and responsibilities the same?

No.

Somebody

had to give a positive experience.

Somebody

had to invite.

Somebody

had to pray.

Did any of those people

do the saving?

No.

Who did the saving?

Who did the drawing?

Who designed the strands of the web?

And my question is

what would happen

if somebody

disobeyed God

in some part of that?

What if somebody

was not sensitive?

Who knows?

I don't know.

We know all of that

played a part.

So this is what I ask.

Let's play a part.

Let's just play

a part.

Because we do know

a few things.

One is

we know that God

is at work

in your life.

He's at work

in my life.

No matter who we are

He is working

around us

and He is working

in us

and the question is

are we picking up

on it?

Do we sense it?

Second thing

is this.

God is at work

in people's lives

around us.

No matter who you are

no matter who they are

He is working

in people

around us.

He's also working

in us.

So the question is

are we working

with Him

about them

in their life?

Not only that

but God

is drawing.

God's drawing.

He's drawing

people to Him.

He's drawing

Christians

into His work.

God

is at work.

And lastly

we're not to miss

a divine opportunity.

You never know

the difference

that God can make

through you

just inviting

someone

to attend

an Easter

resurrection

celebration.

You have no idea.

You also

don't know

what God

will do

in you

when you

commit to pray

for people

to invite

to an Easter

resurrection

celebration.

Whether it's

an out of church

member

of a long

time ago

that we

just ain't

seen.

Whether it's

somebody that

you know

that might

just need

to be

encouraged

along the

way.

What about

that crusty

neighbor?

The one

you don't

like?

The one

you avoid?

The one

that God

always brings

up to you

when somebody

says you need

to share

your Christ

with somebody?

Has God

placed anybody

in your life

and you go

no not

him.

Not him.

That guy.

Write him

down.

What about

somebody who's

got hangups?

They're messed

up.

What about

somebody that

looks like she

has it all

together and

don't need

anything else?

Write her

down.

Will you

just commit

to pray

for five

of them?

For five

weeks?

Lord,

who would

you have

me pray

about

inviting?

We'll talk

about the

next step

later.

We'll provide

materials for

you to help

with that

process.

But let's

preface

everything we

do

with just

praying.

A concert

of prayer

as individuals

for folks

that God's

laid upon

our heart.

What

difference

would it

make

if hundreds

of people

are prayed

for?

Would that

make a

difference

in people's

lives?

I believe

it will.

And I'm

excited not

only to see

what God

will do

in those

that prayer

may lead

to an

invite

and for

those

who are

committed

to just

pray about

it.

if you

would bow

your head.

I don't

want you to

close your

eyes though.

I want you

to look at

that sheet.

And if you

don't have

five names

yet,

I want you

to ask God

to give you

clarity in

that,

to know

what that

is.

again,

you duplicate

those names.

You write

those on

those first

five lines

so you can

keep that

for yourself.

You write

them on

those bottom

five lines

so you can

rip that

off.

It's

perforated.

You can

rip that

off and

I'll give

you instruction

for that

for just

a moment.

But before

we do

that,

I must

ask,

is it

possible

that someone's

here today

and you've

never given

your heart

and life

to the

Lord Jesus

Christ?

And you

realize,

you realize

that you're

separated from

God.

You realize

that God's

placed you

in this

place today,

maybe many

times over

and over

again,

but he's

placed you

here because

you need to

commit your

life to the

Lord Jesus.

I'm going

to tell you

that Jesus

came to

seek and

to save

that which

was lost.

And I'm

thankful today

that he'll

save you.

He'll

change you

if you

surrender

your life

to him.

I encourage

you as we

give the

invitation in

just a moment

for you to

come.

I'll be here

ready to pray

for you.

Be happy to

thoroughly show

you what it

means to give

your heart and

life to the

Lord Jesus

Christ.

Don't put it

off.

Maybe you've

done that,

but you've

never publicly

acknowledged that

through baptism.

Jesus, by his

example and by

his commission,

told us that's

how we show

folks that we're

Christians.

So I encourage

you if you've

never done that,

come.

Make that

right.

We'll line

that up for

you when you

come.

Maybe you're

here and God's

drawing you to be

a part of First

Baptist Church.

You know this is

where God would

have you to serve.

I encourage you

to come.

I encourage you

to come.

I'd love to pray

for you.

I'd love to guide

you in that process.

Or maybe you're

here and you've

got something you

need to lay

before the Lord.

Might be

something about

your own life.

Might be

something about

somebody else's

life.

But you just

need time before

the Lord.

These steps here

are a makeshift

altar for us to be

able to lay things

down before him.

I have no idea how

God's guiding you.

I don't pretend

that.

I just do what

God leads me to

do.

I just encourage you

to be obedient to

follow him in every

way.

We'll stand

together and we'll

sing.

But more important

than that, I

encourage you to

obey God as he

speaks to your

heart and life.

Lord Jesus, I love

you.

And I ask your

God that you'll

guide each and

every one today to

simply follow what

you would have them

to do, oh Lord, I

pray.

In Jesus' precious

name, amen.

Amen.