Sunday Podcast Flashback - Just One More

On today's Sunday podcast, we take it back to June 24th, 2025.

Pastor Tommy preached a message on just one more.

This sermon was pivotal for the future direction of the church.

Well, this morning I want to share with you something that is pressing on my heart, and I think that it's vital to the future of this church.

So while this is a sermon, I am going to preach the word of God.

This is also one of those Sundays that I'm glad that you're here.

And as you look back in the future, I think that you're going to be glad that you were here as well, because this is a Sunday where we're going to talk about why do we exist as a church?

Why do we do what we do as a church?

You know that we've been in the middle of a pastoral transition.

If you're new here, surprise in October, I'm going to be the lead pastor of this church.

Pastor Phil has been very gracious to give me the pulpit sum this summer while he's uh recovering.

And I just wanted to use this morning just a few minutes of our time together to share with you why do we exist as a church?

Now, there are a lot of reasons why we exist as a church, but I want to dial into one of them that's very important.

And I want to show you over these coming weeks how you can be a part of what Christ wants to do in his church and for this city.

So, why do we exist as a church?

Why do we do what we do as a church?

It's a great question for every organization to ask.

How many of you work jobs?

Okay?

How many of you are in charge of a company?

Could I see your hand?

Quite a few of you as well.

It's a good question for any organization to ask.

Why do we exist?

You know, I coached baseball for a little bit.

I'm not claiming that was a good coach.

I'm just saying that our teams won more games than what they lost.

In fact, our teams won the vast majority.

I'm not meaning to brag, but we always won, except for a couple of times.

But we forget about those because of the umpires, right?

Umpires, okay?

Sometimes as a coach, you can forget why you do what you do.

Sometimes as a coach, you get so caught up in wanting to win that you say nasty and me things to umpires who are they're they're not bad humans, they just can't see real well, okay?

I've screamed at an umpire.

I screamed at one umpire this year.

He had it coming to him.

If you're in the house sort, that was a terrible call, okay?

You need to get your eyesight saved.

But nevertheless, sometimes as a coach, you can focus on the wrong things.

You can focus on winning.

But the real reason that I coach, the real why behind me coaching, it's not so that we can win baseball games.

The real why behind me coaching is because those young men that are on that baseball field are going to grow up to be full grown men, and I have a little window of time that I can instill character and values into them.

That's why I coach.

All of the other things are just on the periphery, right?

You need to remind yourself why do I do what I do?

Why do I come to church?

Why do I volunteer where I volunteer?

Why do I run the business that I run?

The reason you run the business is not just to make money.

The reason you run the business is to make a difference in the world.

It takes money to do that in the world, but the money is not why you do what you do.

Every person should ask themselves, why do I parent the way that I parent?

Why do I volunteer where I volunteer?

Why do I treat my spouse the way that I treat my spouse?

If we forget why we do what we do, then we will end up doing the wrong things in the wrong way.

But if you continually remember why you do what you do, then what you do takes on a whole new significance.

Now I'm married to a third grade teacher, and my third grade teacher is amazing.

She's not my third grade teacher, although in the second grade I had an extreme crush on Miss Summers.

She was amazing.

But nevertheless, I don't know if I ever confessed that out loud, but Miss Summers, what a hottie in the second grade.

I just want to say, like, seven-year-old me, whoo.

Anyhow, I'm married to a third grade teacher, and I love my third grade teacher.

But how many of you know that in public education, at least, it is some, for better or worse, it is some of the most highly regulated environment that you could possibly imagine.

No third grade teacher got into teaching children because they love standardized testing.

They just thought, ah, boy, the pay's not super great, the benefits are okay, but I'll suffer through just for the standardized test.

I love me some end-of-year tests.

And how much of their evaluation is based on the performance of little Billy who shows up who may not have slept all night because he was up playing Call of Duty.

You you put up with these little boogers, and then you have to put up with the parents of these little boogers.

The reason that they're brats is genetic.

Not all of them.

Now there are a couple of them.

But unless the third grade teachers remember why they do what they do, eventually they're going to flame out.

And they're going to get real cranky with kids.

Now, I can't half blame them because, again, kids, right?

Not all of them, but kids and kids' parents, right?

But if you if you remember why you do what you do, then it'll keep you continually refreshed.

If you don't, then you're going to be a really angry teacher.

And you know what really angry teachers do?

They make kids hate learning.

And when kids hate learning, it just makes the doom loop even worse.

Any of us in our profession can forget why we do what we do.

It's easy for me to forget why I do what I do as a pastor.

You know pastors burn out a lot.

Do you know that?

You're lucky.

I mean, you've only had two senior pastors over the last, what, like 65 years or something like that?

This is an easy church to pastor.

But in a universe far, far away, pastors do not last long in ministry.

There was a day where it was difficult for pastors to get life insurance because they'd flame out.

These scandals that you see, the burnout that you see, even pastors, I hate to say it, just deciding that life isn't worth living anymore.

All of that is because the pressures are so overwhelming.

So overwhelming.

And if you don't continually remind yourself why you do what you do, no person goes into the ministry for money.

Money can become a seduction that leads you away from the ministry.

So as a pastor, you have to remind yourself, why do I do what I do?

As a teacher, you have to remind yourself, why do I do what I do?

As a businesswoman, why do I do what I do?

As a dental hygienist, why do I do what I do?

As an athlete, why do I do what I do?

The why should drive your what.

And if you stay connected to your why, you'll stay focused.

It's easy in any profession to forget why we do what we do.

So why do I say all of this?

Because I want to take just a few moments.

This is not a long sermon.

I want to take a few moments to ask this question why do we do what we do as a church?

Why do we do what we do as a church?

I'll tell you there are a lot of reasons, but there's one of them that's on my heart as we move into October when this transition happens, and I want to get us in alignment right now.

There's one of the core whys that I think is an opportunity from the Lord for us to rally around together.

Why do we do what we do as a church?

Our big driving why is because God wants just one more person to encounter and go all in for Jesus.

God wants just one more person to encounter Jesus and to go all in for him.

You can say, aren't there other reasons that we exist as a church?

Of course there are.

But what I can see leading us into the future is that this is going to be a house of people that care about just one more person encountering and coming to know Jesus and going all in for him.

I think that's a why that's going to drive us.

You know, I could have said that I want just one more person to get saved.

Just one more person to get saved.

But the word salvation has been hijacked a little bit.

Whenever we say that I want you to get saved, often what we mean is I want you to pray a prayer so that you can go to heaven when you die because the other place is hot.

You ever seen the church sign that says, if you think it's hot here?

How much hotter can it be?

Like we're in Florida, we're like, I don't know.

Like if you're in Minnesota, you're like, whoo, that's scary.

But Florida, we're like, we suffer all the time, you know.

I'm teasing about that.

But salvation is not something that you get when you die.

Salvation is something that happens to your whole life here and now.

You see, what got Jesus and his disciples killed and crucified, what got them persecuted was not them going around and saying, hey, listen, we'd like to feed you all.

Jesus has this thing that he does to where he multiplies fish and bread.

I hope you like fish and bread.

If you don't, then go follow another rabbi.

But our guy does fish and bread.

He does lots of miracles as well.

And now that everybody is gathered around, if everybody could just bow their heads and close their eyes.

All of you bow your head and close your eyes.

And now what we want you to do, just repeat after me.

Dear Jesus, come into my life so that I can go to be with you forever in heaven.

Amen.

That was not the gospel message that got Jesus and the disciples killed.

It's not a dangerous message.

And if it wasn't the gospel then, it's not the gospel now.

The gospel is not that you can pray a prayer when you so you can go to heaven when you die.

The good news, which is what gospel means, is that Jesus is king.

Jesus is king.

Now, if Jesus is king and his followers were announcing Jesus is king, they were also saying, Caesar is not.

Herod is not.

The rulers around them are not king.

So to pledge allegiance to King Jesus was to break allegiance first and foremost, in the first place of their heart.

To pledge allegiance to King Jesus was to break allegiance with all others.

Now, sure they were supposed to pay their taxes, sure they were supposed to be good citizens, but their first allegiance was to King Jesus.

So being a disciple, one pastor says, John Mark Comer puts it like this He says, being a disciple is becoming apprentice and apprentice of Jesus.

How many of you know what an apprentice is?

If you apprentice under an electrician, then you watch the electrician, you work with the electrician, the electrician watches you, they monitor your work, and then you get to do some things on your own.

But how many of you know if you just throw somebody into electrical work with no training, they're probably not going to last very long, literally.

Becoming a disciple means becoming an apprentice of Jesus so that you can be with him, become like him, and do what he did.

To be with Jesus, to become like him, and to do what he did.

So the gospel message that says you can pray a prayer and go to heaven when you die, while it is true, the goal of Jesus' gospel was not to get you into heaven, but to get heaven into you.

So when Jesus teaches the disciples to pray, how does he teach them to pray?

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

You see, God sent Jesus to hit reset and restore the whole creation to the way it was in the very beginning.

In the beginning, there was a couple in a garden, and they sinned, and it was fractured.

And so what happens is sin enters the world and wars and murders and all sorts of crazy stuff starts to happen.

And Jesus comes onto the scene.

The fullness of God comes in a human being and lives and breathes among us and preaches that people should repent, which is the most hopeful word in the world, because it means there's hope for change.

And what was his message?

Repent, for the kingdom of God is here.

And they kept waiting on Jesus to take up arms and to overthrow Caesar.

But Jesus is like, My kingdom isn't one of those kingdoms, it's a kingdom on the inside.

I'm fighting for hearts.

He's the king of hearts.

He wants the kingdom to be embedded in each one of your lives.

And so, what does he say to his disciples at the end of the journey?

He says to them, Listen, all authority on heaven and earth has been given unto me.

Now you go and make more apprentices who will be with me, become like me, and do what I did.

All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me.

Now you go into all the world and preach the gospel and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And what?

Teach them to obey.

Teach them to obey.

There's a lot of preaching that sounds like believe these ideas, but there's not a lot of preaching that says like walk the way of Jesus.

To become a disciple is not to believe certain things about God, it's to become a type of person who is with Jesus and walks with him and does what he did.

That's the invitation.

Because Jesus doesn't want you just to get to the other side and enjoy all of his presence.

He wants that, but he doesn't want that to wait for another day.

He wants the kingdom of God to come into your heart right now.

Why does this matter to me?

It matters to me because we can do a lot of things as a church.

But if we forget the one thing that Jesus told us to do, go into all of the world and make more apprentices.

Make more people that you can teach to obey.

Make more disciples, make more mini me's.

Christians is just little Christs.

So our mission is just one more devoted follower of Jesus.

Just one more person.

Why does this matter to me?

It matters to me because whenever I was 18, on January 31st, 1997, Jesus changed my life.

I had a good life, I had a great home, I had great parents.

I was darn near a straight A student.

I was excelling in athletics.

I was in a relationship that was not healthy.

I was not healthy, she was not healthy, it was not healthy.

And there were some circumstances around all that that I'll spare you for another time.

But my life was so disrupted that I remember lying on my bed at 209 Pine Street in Freeport, Florida, and I prayed out to God, if you're real, I need your help.

I was working in a golf course, and Chad Kinney and Josh Randolph started ministering to me.

I didn't even know what they were doing.

They just started sharing the gospel with me.

And then one day, Ryan Johnson, number 11 on Freeport High School's football team, is a wide receiver, in case you want to Google it.

The internet didn't exist back then, so you won't find anything.

Ryan Johnson was the backslidden, pot smoking son of the senior pastor of First Assembly of God in Freeport.

He was away from the Lord.

But for whatever reason, that backslidden, pot smoking son of a preacher man wanted to take me to the Brownsville Revival.

So we go to the Brownsville Revival.

We're sitting in the upper deck.

The man is preaching.

We both go down to the altar call.

There's a guy looking at us, and he says, Grab his hand.

I grab his hand.

He said, Grab her hand.

I don't know who she was.

The next thing I know, I open my eyes and I'm looking at the bottom side of a pew.

I can't move my legs.

I think I've hit my head and fallen down, and I'm paralyzed at this point in time.

And I hear the voice of God for the first time.

And it simply said this: Be still and know that I am God.

I knew at that point in time I had a new boss.

When you can't move your legs, you're like, how do you know that wasn't just you faking a bunch of stuff?

Whatever, bro.

I didn't fake my way into a new life.

I couldn't quit crying.

I couldn't quit trembling.

Jesus had gripped me.

He hadn't just saved me for heaven.

He had saved me for this moment here in time.

He set my heart on fire for him.

I went back into my school and I was obnoxious for Jesus.

Nobody had told me to go witness to people.

I just went and told everybody in my dang school about Jesus.

I've got some family members in the room.

They can say, Yep, because I told them about Jesus.

If you were by me in the goodwill rack, I was going to tell you about Jesus at the Goodwill.

Why?

Because Jesus changed my life.

He set me free.

He gave me meaning.

He filled me up.

All because Ryan Johnson saw me as just one more.

Just one more.

Don't underestimate the importance of your closest relationships.

Don't underestimate the importance of your closest relationships with your friends.

The people that are in your life are the people that God wants you to view as your just one more.

So I want to challenge this church to ask this question: who is my just one more?

Because if we don't remember why we do what we do, we can do everything well, but none of it will matter.

Because what Jesus wants is just one more person to go all in for him.

He wants just one more addict to be freed.

He wants just one more marriage to be restored.

He wants just one more prodigal to come home.

He wants just one more conversation in your cul-de-sac to turn from the conversation about your neighbors to a conversation about his goodness.

He wants just one more marriage that's on the brink of divorce to say, you know what, there is hope for me.

Jesus wants just one more person in your life to come to know him.

Do not underestimate the importance of the people that are in your life.

God has them there because he wants just one more person.

You know what I see in this house?

I see a problem.

I see a problem of space.

I look into the back row and I see our Usher team having to pull out more chairs.

I'm sitting in a meeting now to where we're asking the question whether or not we can put seats on the stage.

We're having a conversation about when are we going to go to a second service?

Not as a gimmick, but because the growth is so much.

You see, I don't care about crowds for the sake of bigness.

I care about multitudes for the sake of just one more.

Because Jesus wants just one more.

We just came through a series called Prodigals, and in that story in Luke 15, what happens?

A widow loses a coin, what does she do?

Sweeps the house until she finds it, and then she rejoices.

A shepherd loses one sheep out of a hundred, and what does he do?

He goes on a mission to find it, throws it over his shoulder, and what does he do?

He rejoices.

A father has two sons.

One goes into the bad land.

What does he do?

An all-out prayer mission, I believe, until the son comes home and then he races to meet him.

Why?

Why?

Why did Jesus spend his time not focusing on crowds, but focusing on people like Aaron?

Focusing on people like Amaya, like Kelly, like me, like Brent, like Emily.

Like, why did Jesus care so much?

Because he sees the potential of each person.

Yes, because he wants you to spend eternity with him.

But even more than that, he wants salvation to come to your life right now.

Did you know that salvation in the original language actually means healing?

You know that to be saved means to become whole.

So what areas of our lives need to be saved?

What areas of your friend's life need to be saved?

Do you see what I'm saying?

If you catch a glimpse of why this matters, then all of a sudden you bring a friend on your arm on Sunday mornings.

All of a sudden you say, Say, hey, you can sit with me.

All of a sudden, on the job site, you start to say, Hey man, I know you're going through a lot with your wife.

She is crazy, but let me pray for you.

Because your heart is tuned to the heart of the Father.

I was sitting in a meeting the other day, and I love Pastor Jeff on our team.

He just, he knows basically everything about most things.

And I was just sharing my heart about just one more.

And previously that morning, I had actually been thinking about this movie, and Pastor Jeff said, you know what that reminds me of?

He said, It reminds me of Desmond Doss in the movie Hacksaw Ridge.

Have you seen that movie?

I'm not saying you should.

I'm just saying, if you do, what you're gonna find is a combat medic who didn't want to take up arms.

And they accused him of being weird and being strange and not being all in.

But when it came to the battle time, whenever the bullets started flying and they started getting slaughtered, he climbs this cliff and he goes and he rescues his comrades who are lying bloody and beaten and all kinds of maimed.

And he drags them to the rope and he ties them up and he lowers them down.

And then he does it again and then he does it again and then he does it again.

And the prayer that Desmond Das prays is just simply this Lord, just give me just one more.

We've got a room full of men and women who have served our country faithfully.

And I respect you and I appreciate you and I honor you.

And I recognize that this moment, this is a tense moment, and this is real.

For a lot of people, it's just headlines.

For you, this is real.

You know what it means to risk your life for just one more person.

For some of us, it's theory.

For you, it's real.

I've noticed that the people who actually saw a lot of action are the people who don't talk a lot about it.

The people who talk a lot about things probably didn't see a lot of things, but it's the quiet soldier that you ought to respect even more.

Is that soldier seen some stuff?

And I'm not saying your role isn't important if you haven't seen some stuff.

I'm saying it's that person who doesn't say a lot that I'm always listening a little closer to.

You know what it means to risk your life for just one more.

And maybe you do that from behind a keyboard, or maybe you do that by boots on the ground and kicking down doors.

But every person in my sight is a part of the Lord's army.

You're a part of God's kingdom.

You're a part of following King Jesus.

And if you ever forget that that's why you do what you do, then you've forgotten everything.

Don't forget.

Just one more.

I want to pray for us this morning.

I want to pray that God would stir our hearts.

Because over the coming weeks, and the sermon's done, over the coming weeks, what I want to do are talk about ways that this church and you and as individuals can become more effective in sharing the gospel of Jesus with your friends.

It would be unfair for me to say, go do it, without me saying, here's how you do it.

Or in the words of that song that's coming to my mind, this is how we do it.

And now it's in your mind.

And you're welcome.

Would you pray with me?

Just close your mind.

Join us next Sunday at 9 and 11 a.m.

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