Somebody Else's Story

Praise the Lord that you were here today.

Praise the Lord that you chose to worship pastoring a church

for 30 years in the metropolitan area.

Every other Sunday in our congregation we had a different

congregation. And being here at Cartersville

now, the time that we have been for Cindy and I, it is amazing

to me that you guys show up Sunday in and Sunday out.

It is absolutely amazing. We have, we are not accustomed

to that. We would see people coming in

and out on a regular occasion. And it is.

I just want to compliment you as a body of Christ that you are

faithful to come to Bible study and you're faithful to come to

worship. So it is indeed a privilege to

be here this morning. It's an honor to represent the

Lord Jesus Christ and stand in this place where Pastor Kyle

faithfully, faithfully teaches and proclaims the Word of God.

I love young preachers. It's crazy for me to even say

that because I still think that I'm young.

Ha ha, crazy. Many of you know that when you

get older, it just seems like yesterday that you were young,

and that's the way it seems like to me.

In my mind, I'm young, but my body is sure not responding in

like manner. So it's a privilege to be here

to represent the Lord Jesus Christ in this pulpit and to

share this time together. When Pastor Kyle asked me a

number of weeks ago to do this, I have been praying every day

for the Lord to use this time in such a way in your life and my

life to draw us ever closer to the Lord Jesus Christ and to

understand what it is to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus

Christ. The word disciple is used over

200 times in the New Testament and it means a follower, someone

who goes according to the standards or lifestyle of

another. I don't know if you're like me,

but I want to be like Jesus. Is there anyone here that would

like to be like Jesus? I see a few of you on raise your

hand, others of you, you'll be ready for the invitation time to

get your heart right, to come down and get your heart right

with the Lord. So let's pray together.

Father God, we are grateful. We are grateful to be in a

church. I was founded on the foundation

of Jesus Christ, and for years and years and years and years,

the body of Christ here has been faithful to the testimony to the

gospel of Jesus Christ. What a privilege is to be here

today, to share this time together to get into your word.

And Father, we would just pause for a moment and we would do

what our pastor just asked us to do.

We want to pray for Brother Kyle as he opens up the word in a

little bit as he proclaims the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Whatever you put on his heart and Lord, may you use him in a

in a very incredible and dynamic way.

May individuals there like individuals here be touched by

the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit of godfather.

I would pray that you'd use this time in each one of our lives in

a very productive way. I pray for the freedom of the

Holy Spirit through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

here in this place to weave in and through us in such a way

that we would humble ourselves in some area of life and we

would say yes to you. Lord, there is no doubt in a

crowd this size that there is someone that is struggling

beyond despair. There is someone that is

hurting. And Lord, I know no other person

than Jesus than to help them. And I pray, Lord, that they

would reach out. Let it be, let it be Jesus that

they would call. I pray, Lord, anyone here today

that know not the Savior, that know not Jesus Christ in a

personal way, that today would be the day they would come to

know Jesus. I pray likewise, Lord, for maybe

most of us here today that we would be so impacted by your

spirit that we would continue or maybe even begin to get involved

in someone else's story so that they in turn might come to know

the living God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, I pray in these moments together that you would speak,

You would hide me under the cross of Jesus Christ, and the

words and meditations of my heart would be pleasing unto

you, Lord, and you would speak truth and that truth would

radically change our lives here today.

And we pray this in the glorious and most powerful name that I

know, the name of Jesus and all God's people said, if you'll

open up your Bibles to the Gospel of John, the Gospel of

John. I really appreciate Brother John

and the music staff. A few weeks ago I called him and

asked him if he would play this song, somebody else's story.

So I got to give you the back story to this particular song.

At our church at Westside Baptist Church for 24 years, we

would go all across the country and hope Ministries and share in

the gospel of Jesus Christ through doing basketball

clinics. We started that in 1997 and

finished in 2019. In 2018, we were travelling on

our bus going to Virginia, then Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and

Vicki Parker, one of our faithful missionaries, handed me

this song, said Pastor. I want you to listen to the

song. That song impacted me because I

was going into New Jersey and I knew that two of my siblings

would be there to hear the gospel, and I was praying that

perhaps it would be the time that they would give their heart

to Christ. Unfortunately, they haven't yet,

but I want to read the words in that store, in that song again.

I want to be a part. I want to be a part of somebody

else's story, somebody's else's story of redemption.

I want to be the one. I want to be the one to shine

the light of Jesus into their darkness.

So lead me, get this raised, lead me to that someone, I pray,

Lord, I want to bring you glory and someone else's story.

And then the bridge, this hope in me, this hope in me was not

contained. Was was not meant to be

contained inside. I got to give it away.

I got to give it away. And that phrase just because for

so long we have been giving away the gospel of Jesus Christ and

we had seen the privilege of individuals coming to know the

Lord Jesus Christ. And that song just was a

catalyst that moved even our hope teams to another another

level. And I'm praying today that as

you have shared Christ as the 20 individuals and a couple weeks

ago gave their heart to Christ because of the faithfulness of

so many of you during Vacation Bible school, that you were a

part of their story. It is my desire.

It is my desire to share the redemption story of the Lord

Jesus Christ in order for someone else's destiny to be

changed forever. And of course, that was not

always the case in my life. But as I allowed God's Word to

seek within me to get into my spirit and get into my soul, I

started understanding that I that is the most important thing

that I needed to do as a follower, as a disciple of the

Lord Jesus Christ. So I want you to look on your

sermon page there and I want you to see that statement, Soul

winning. Soul winning was the only

business big enough to bring Jesus out of heaven into this

world with spiritual heartache and need.

Jesus came according to the scriptures.

Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost.

And if I if each one of you are going to be a follower of the

Lord Jesus Christ, we need to do likewise.

We need to be a be about the business of what he came for in

the Gospel of John. Here we're going to discover a

number of lessons. Now I have 30 lessons.

Well, that's not going to work, is it?

So I'll, I'll, I'll just bring it down to some lessons that

would that would propel us to a deeper understanding of how

Jesus did soul winning. And maybe you and I could learn

some lessons from the Master soul winner today in the Gospel

of John chapter 4, beginning in verse one.

John 4 · chapter mention

I am reading from the NIV version, the New International

Version, the Scriptures read. The Pharisees heard that Jesus

was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in

fact it was not Jesus who baptized but his disciples.

When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once

more to Galilee. Now he had gone through Samaria,

so he came to a town in Samaria called Sakhar near the plot of

ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the

journey, sat down to the well. It was about the six hour, verse

7, when a Samaritan woman came to draw water.

Jesus said to her, Will you give me a drink?

His disciples had gone into town to buy food.

The Samaritan woman said to him, You are a Jew and I am a

Samaritan woman, how can you ask me for a drink, for the Jews did

not associate with Samaritans. Verse 10 Jesus answered her, if

you knew the gift of God and who is it that asked you for a

drink? You have asked him, and he would

have given you living water, Sir.

The woman said, you have nothing to draw with and the well is

deep. Where can you get this living

water? Are you greater than our Father

Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did

also his sons and his flocks and herds?

Jesus answered in verse 13. Everyone who drinks this water

will be thirsted again, but whoever drinks the water I give

him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him

will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal

life. The woman said to him, Sir,

give, give me this water so I won't get thirsty and have to

keep coming here to draw water. The first lesson I'll call your

attention to this morning is Jesus did not allow his

feelings. Jesus did not allow his feelings

to affect his sharing. Jesus and the disciples had been

travelling, He had been teaching and proclaiming as he was doing

all the time. He came to this town and he was

tired. The disciples went on into the

town to get some food, and Jesus was there by the well.

He was thirsty. He could have thought to

himself, I need a break. I am tired of being around

people. How many of you sometimes get

tired of being around people? OK, there you go, There you go,

There you go. I'm tired around being people.

I just need a break. But rather he did not.

He put his feelings aside and engaged this woman at the well.

He did not allow his feelings to affect his sharing.

Oh my goodness, how often? How often does that happen to

you and to me? How often do we allow our

feelings to get in the way? Every Sunday morning the pastor

was faithfully to get up and preach the Word of God and after

lunch he and his son will go out in the afternoon on Sunday

afternoon knocking on doors and giving out tracks.

On this particular Sunday, it was cold and rainy outside.

The son after lunch said dad, I'm ready, ready to go, it's

time. Ready for what?

His pastor dad said it's time to gather our tracks and go out

there. Son, do you understand how cold

it is outside and on top of that it is raining?

The son looked at the dad says dad, aren't people still going

to hell? Do people still need Jesus?

The dad said I'm not going out. The son said, dad, would you

please, Dad, would you please let me?

Said, sure, son, just be careful handing them tracks.

And off went the boy out in the cold weather, it's raining.

He goes up and down trying to find people knocking the doors.

And he has one track, has one track left.

And something inside says you got to give this track away and

turned. And he looked at this one house

that he had not been to. He turned to the first home,

that home, and started up the sidewalk to the front door and

rang the doorbell. Rang the doorbell, but nobody

answered. He rang it again and again and

again. Nobody answered.

He waited, but still no answer. Finally this 11 year old boy got

kind of impatient, right? And he started walking away, but

there was something inside him. Turn, go back.

He goes back, rings the doorbell and that, but then starts

knocking harder and harder. The lady inside was up in the

attic. She finally came down and she

said to the boy, open up the door and said, son, what can I

do for you? The older lady looked at the

young boy and said, man, he's got this great big smile.

The young little boy said, ma'am, I'm sorry if I disturbed

you, but I just wanted to tell you that Jesus really does love

you. So this is where we get you to

interact. You ready?

I want you to turn to the person to the right and left and look

at them and say Jesus really loves you.

It is amazing. Those words put a smile on our

face and many of you were not smiling.

So it's great to see you smile here.

It's great to see you smile. Jesus really does love you,

ma'am. And I came to give you my last

Gospel track, which tells you about Jesus and his great love.

With that he handed his track and he left.

She called him back and said thank you son, and God bless

you. Well, the following Sunday the

pastor got him the pulpit, and as he does always in this

particular country church, said, Does anyone have any word to

share? Any testimony?

Slowly in the back row of the church, an elderly lady stood up

to the feet, and as she began to speak, a look of glorious

radiance came from her face. None of you know me.

I've never been here before. You see, before last Sunday I

was not a Christian. My husband had passed away some

time ago, leaving me totally alone in this world, and last

Sunday being particularly cold and rainy day, it was even more

so in my heart and I'd come to the end of the line where I no

longer had any hope or will to live.

So I took a rope and a chair, ascended the stairway into the

attic of my home. I fastened the rope securely to

the rafter in the roof and stood on the chair and fastened the

other end of the rope around my neck.

Standing on the chair, lonely and broken hearted, I was about

to leap off when suddenly a loud ringing of my doorbell

downstairs startled me. I thought, I wait a minute and

whoever it is, they'll go away. I waited and waited, but the

ringing doorbell seemed to get louder and more insistent, and

then the person ringing also started knocking loudly.

I thought to myself again, who on earth could this be?

Nobody ever comes to see me. I loosened the rope and from my

neck and I started for the front door.

All the while the bell ringing loud on the ladder, the knocking

of the door. When I opened up the door and

looked, I could hardly believe my eyes.

There on the front porch was the most radiant, angelic little boy

that I've ever seen in my life. His smile, oh, I wish I could

describe it to you. And the words that came from his

mouth caused my heart that had long been dead somehow to just a

leap to life. Man, I've just come by to tell

you that Jesus Christ does love you.

Then he gave me this track. He gave me this track that I

hold in my hand as the little Angel disappeared back out in

the cold weather. I closed the door and started

reading the track. I just started reading the track

word for word, word for word, and then I went up to the attic

to get my rope and chair. I wouldn't be needing this

anymore. You see, I am now a happy child

of the King, and since the address of your church was on

the back of this gospel tract, I had to come and personally say

to you, thank you to the God's little Angel who came just in

the nick of time, and by doing so spared my life from eternity

in hell. You know that word that

politicians are using all the time now?

The word that is across society and when I was growing up, you

would never even say the word in church, the word hell, that word

where those who are without Jesus Christ will go and spend

all of eternity. That word that day, that little

boy didn't allow feelings to get in the way.

And because of that, someone else's story was forever

changed. Let's go to #2 #2 Jesus's

conversation began on the level of her understanding.

Verse 7 says when a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus

said to her, will you give me some water?

You may say, well duh, duh, duh. You see, Jesus, Jesus gets

people on common ground. You notice what he didn't say,

what he didn't say. Do you know who I am?

Imagine for a moment if Jesus said I am, that I am.

That's correct. I'm the Alpha and the Omega.

I'm the beginning and the end. I'm the 1st and the last.

No, Jesus treated this human being as a human being and said,

would you give me some water? Can I share a great truth

membership at Cartersville 1st and guests, here's the great

truth. Here it is.

Stop trying to impress people. Stop it.

Stop trying to impress people. Get over yourself.

Never, never in the 30 years of soul winning a West Side Baptist

Church, never did I tell people and I knocked on the door.

I am the pastor of West Side Baptist Church.

Never matter of fact, when people came and visited, they

saw. Why didn't you tell me?

I said if I told you what would happen, I would have run the

other way. There you go.

Some of you are trying to impress people.

Stop it. Here was Jesus.

Jesus got her on common ground. The thirdly, along with the

second one, Jesus expressed a personal need and asked for

help. Can you give me some water?

This is crazy. When you look at this is crazy,

Jesus who created water, who spoken into existence, who

created mankind, is looking to mankind and say, would you give

me a drink? The one who had all the answers

and all the questions didn't come across as the person who

had all the answers. You know, reason why some of you

are not used by God. This is why I really like

preaching to other places because you know when you're at

your home church, you can't be as open and transparent, but you

know when you're in a visiting church, you can just say

whatever you want. Amen.

Amen. Just say whatever you want.

Pastor Kyle's got to watch his P's and Q's, but I don't have to

watch my P's and Q's. So here's the I'm an equal

opportunity offender. OK, so if I didn't offend you

with the first one, here comes the second one.

Some of you are no good to anyone because you think you

know it all. You think you know it all.

Stop it. Humble yourself to the Lord and

stop it. You have to relate to people,

you have to get on common grounds.

You have to ask them for help. We're going.

We're going to talk about that in just a moment.

Let's go to #4 #4 Jesus saw her soul.

Here we go. And not her skin.

Should I go there? 1-2, three times?

Your what out? No, I won't go on #3 I'll just

stop right there. This woman, this woman, a

Samaritan at high noon, you may say why?

Well, all the ladies of the in Group, you know, all the ladies

of the Bible study group, you know, they all know each other

and they say knows that. They know it so, so much each

other that no one gets in the group.

Does anybody know about that? Anybody know about that?

You know the in Group? Oh, oh, we have a testimony.

You want to stay up and talk about it?

No, no, don't do it. No, don't do it.

All the ladies of the in Group go in the morning.

Respectable women, but Samaritan woman, half Jew, half Gentile,

The dirt, if you will, almost equivalent to a pig in the eyes

of a Jew. Go at noon.

And this one particularly because if you read the rest of

the story, she not only has one husband, but how many?

5 but Jesus. Jesus did not talk with did talk

with the Samaritan woman, didn't get into all of the issues Jesus

was concerned with meeting her need.

So watch this. When you and I get thrilled with

who Jesus is, I mean, when you get thrilled.

I mean when you get thrilled. I don't even know who you are.

What's your name? Hey, Alex, how you doing, man?

Long time no see. I don't know nothing about you.

Have we ever met? And I'm not going to ask you to

stay in and talk. What's that noise right there,

Alex? Or some of you in the back are

falling asleep back there. Don't answer this question.

If you're thrilled with something, you talk about it.

You come over here to the baseball guy.

He loved it. He loves getting embarrassed.

He's thrilled or used to be thrilled to talk about baseball.

But you know who he's more thrilled to talk about now?

What'd you say? Who are you?

Oh, his wife. Oh, man, his wife said.

Man, isn't that? Did we talk before the service

about where we're going to do this?

No, his wife says he's thrilled more to talk about Jesus then

he's still to talk about the profession that he excelled at.

Think about that. When you and I get thrilled with

Jesus Christ, you can't help it. It's got to come out.

It's got to what? It's got to come out.

It's got to come out. I'm thrilled with Jesus.

I'm going to tell everybody I can about Jesus and what he's

done and what he's doing in my life.

Let's go to number 5 #5 is where the rubber hits the Rd. #5 is

that clock is just moving so quickly back there.

I don't understand that thing. Did you guys start this?

Like with when I start up here, it's always started at 10

minutes. And man, because I practice this

thing and I'm not even my goodness gracious, OK #5 Jesus

turned the conversation from the secular to the spiritual.

Verse 10, If you knew the gift of God and who was to ask you

for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have

given you liver water. This is the most.

If there's one point in the sermon, your pastor's a lot of

different points. If there's one point in the

sermon, that's the, that's, that's it.

It's this one. This is where it's the hardest

for you and for me, taking the conversation from the secular to

the spiritual, Jesus related physical water to the living

water. Jesus gives life on so many

different levels. This woman was going to get

water and Jesus takes what she's after and puts it on another

level. You see, you and I, in order to

turn the conversation from the secular to the spiritual, you

and I have to use these. We have to use our ears.

We have to listen to the person that we are talking to.

Too often we are thinking about what we're going to say rather

than listening to what they are talking about.

And when we say something, it does not do anything for them.

Not a thing. Let me tell you how this works.

When you meet an individual and they start talking, they are

always going to mention a need, a problem, a situation that

they're having that they are struggling with.

Every time this happens, if you engage people every time, I'm

telling you, you could say something like this.

I am so sorry for your situation, but there is someone

who can help and it won't affect your bank account.

Did you get that? Would you like to know the

person's name? You see, we just sang a song.

Let it be Jesus. Do you believe it?

How many really believe that Jesus Christ is the answer to

every single problem that we have?

Some of you don't believe it because see, in, in, in, in a

place that we are, where we're all majority.

We're not even willing to say Amen here.

That's late. That's just you just can't be

late. Just can't be late.

I want to encourage you. I want to to, to, to boldly tell

you that God wants to use you in someone's story.

You, not me. You and you and you.

But you got to listen. Oh, that won't work.

Have you tried it? It works every time.

Taking the secret to the spiritual.

You see, you and I must get reps in.

What are reps? See, in the sports world,

everybody has to practice over and over, over and over again.

What's your first name? Donovan.

Is it Donovan? Your first name?

Sorry. I know you.

I just know that he's the fast. He's a basketball, baseball

superstar. How many times you have to hit

the ball to get better? A lot.

Hey, Ben, how many times do you have to hit the hit, hit, hit,

shoot the basketball to get better?

A lot. What happens for us?

What happens for us? We do it once.

We do it once, maybe twice. And probably you fall on your

face. Am I identical when he was

hitting the ball, when Ben was taking the shot, they fall on

their face shooting air balls, bricks or whatever.

But you got to get reps in. The more you do it in basketball

called muscle memory, the more you shoot, the more you shoot,

the more you get the reps in, the muscle memory kicks in.

The more you engage people turning from the secular to the

spiritual, the more you are telling, the more you're through

with Jesus, the more you're mentioning His name.

You're getting used to it and used to it and used to it, and

God will open up the doors of heaven and so many different and

extraordinary ways in the spiritual world.

We need reps and conversations. We give up too easy.

Satan wants to discourage you. Satan tells you you're no good

at it. Well, when Satan tells you're no

good, just remind him where he's going.

He's going to hell. We discover how little

conversations. I'm done.

Do you have conversations with him?

Yes. Well, you're weird, man.

I know that. My wife knows that I am in love

with Jesus Christ. I want to encourage you as the

body of Christ to continue giving your story away.

But some of you are still. I go up to some of you and I ask

you about your children, man, I'll be there 15 minutes.

Grandchildren, forget it. There are some people in class I

teach. I don't even ask about the

grandchildren because they'll never let me teach.

They'll just talk and talk and talk.

But then when we talk about Jesus, can I remind you a little

bit about the characters of the Bible?

Noah. Next time when you think I can't

use you, just remember Noah had a drinking problem.

Abraham was too long, too old. Rather, Joseph was a daydreamer.

Jacob was a liar. Joseph was abused.

Moses had a speech problem, Gideon was afraid Sanson had

long hair and was a womanizer, Rahab was a prostitute, Jeremiah

and Timothy were too young. David had an affair.

David, the man after God's own heart, had an affair and was a

murderer. And on and on and on.

And yet God would use David. Did you know that Isaiah he

preached naked find outlook in the scriptures.

He did. How did you like?

Oh man, that scene. That's just awful.

Let's go forward, young man. Naomi was a widow.

Joe went bankrupt. John the Baptist, he had a bunch

of bugs. Peter denied Jesus.

How many times 3 The disciples fell asleep in Jesus greatest

time. They fell asleep.

What? Praying.

While praying, Martha worried about everything.

The Samaritan woman was divorced and more than one.

Zacchaeus was too small. He was up in the tree hiding

out. Paul was too religious and

Lazarus was dead. Think about it.

No more excuses, body of Christ, No more excuses.

God can use you to your full potential.

Besides, you aren't the message. You're just the messenger.

You're just the messenger. Very quickly, let's go to #6

Jesus continued sharing even though she did not understand.

This is where it really gets interesting for you and I Jesus

keeps on talking to this woman and says that you have nothing

to draw with with and the well is deep.

She said where can you get this living water?

Are you greater than a father's Jacob?

Then Jesus said everyone who drinks this water will be

thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give will

never thirst. Indeed, the woman, the water I

give you, will become in him a spring of water well enough to

eternal life. Do you think she had a clue of

what he was talking about? No, some of you read in that

text, maybe for the first time. I said, what in the world does

that mean? Jesus is the substance of life.

Jesus is the very being of life. This woman had no clue what

Jesus meant, but the Lord was planting seeds.

The Lord was planting seeds. And in Isaiah 5511, listen to

this. So is my word that goes out from

my mouth and will not return to me empty.

When you share something about Jesus and you share Scripture,

as Jesus Christ said on the way, the truth and life, you share

something about Jesus. God will take that in his

supernatural way and do some things in their life that you

cannot even imagine. And as you begin to engage

people a little bit more, as you get more reps in, there'll be a

times that you'll think for yourself, Where in the world did

that idea come from? I, I wish I, I, you said it, I

can't remember what I said, but somehow had an impact on your

life. You got to remember Luke 1212.

The Holy Spirit will teach you what you need to say in the very

hour that you needed. You see something.

You got to get on the edge. You got to get on the edge.

Stop dependent upon yourself and depend upon the Holy Spirit of

God. Did anybody know what I'm

talking about? You're embodied by the Holy

Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit wants to use you and urge

you just like that little boy that wanted knock up knocking

and wanted to get away. But that Holy Spirit, that Holy

Spirit kept him, kept him there. I wish I could share some

stories with you about seeing this work, but I'll just share

this one very, very quickly. For 18 years I planted seeds.

For 18 years I planted seeds in the senior adult 18 years.

And a couple of weeks ago he gave his heart to the Lord Jesus

Christ. Now I, I, I can't tell you what

it was. All I know was a series of

things that that, that, that he heard and he kept and the Lord

just kept on doing in his life #7 Jesus increased her appetite

for spiritual things. The woman said in verse 15, the

woman said what? Give me some water?

The Bible says that we are to be.

What salt. Do people want to be around you?

What does salt do? Salt makes you what, thirsty.

When you walk in the room, do people just walk away or do they

walk towards you? Because you use these two ears,

you listen and you engage. How do people view you?

Or do you think, or do you think that you're a secret disciple?

Yeah, maybe some of you think that your secrets, it's a secret

with you and the Lord Jesus Christ.

May I remind you in the Scriptures that if you will not

profess me before men, I'll not profess you before my Father in

heaven. There may be a man or two here

that gave their heart to Christ. A woman or two gave their heart

to Christ. A teenager here gave their heart

to Christ. And you're sitting there and

says I'm not going to stand up. I'm not going to be, I'm not

going to do that. I'm not going to do that.

Well, that tells me you're not in Christ.

You don't have a fear of standing with a bunch of

believers to hear an Amen. You'll want to get up now.

Yes, there'll be fear. What will they say?

They're not going to say they'll be they'll be rejoicing with

you. They'll be rejoicing with you so

you you at times we major on what we don't and it kills our

enthusiasm for what we do know the Lord God wants to use you in

an extraordinary way and somebody else's story.

The question is will you allow a number of years ago at West Side

and churches across the Southern Baptist Convention.

We had churches, we had church evening services.

How do you remember services in the evening?

Let me see. OK, All right.

This one particular evening service, this country church

pastor said I have a young, I have my friends are going to

come up and give a testimony and this man came up and gave his

testimony. He said a father and a son and a

friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific Coast.

He said when a fast approaching storm blocked any attempt to get

back to the shore. The waves were high and even the

father, who was inexperienced at sailing, could not, could not

keep the boat upright. And the three, the father, the

son and the friend were swept into the ocean.

The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with

the two teenagers, the two teenagers way back in the back,

and all of a sudden they started listening to the old man's

story, the old man's testimony. Grabbing a rescue line, the

father had to make the most excruciating decision of his

life. To which boy would he throw the

line to? He had only seconds to make that

decision. The Father knew that his son was

a Christian. He had given his heart to Jesus

Christ and he knew that his friend, son's friend, did not

know Jesus. The agony of his decision could

not be matched by the waves that were just going over and over.

The Father yelled out, I love you son, and he threw the line

to the son's friend, and he brought the son's friend back to

the boat, and he turned to find his son, and his son was gone,

never to be found. He had disappeared.

At this time the two teenagers were sitting straight up in the

Pew listening to the very next words coming out of this old

man. The Father, he said, knew his

son would step in the eternity with Jesus, and he could not

bear the thought of his son's friend stepping into eternity

without Jesus. Therefore he sacrificed his Son.

How great is the love of God that he should do the same for

us? With that, the old man stepped

down and sat down. Within a few minutes the service

entered and the two teenagers came right up to the old man's

side. Sitting right up front, one of

the young men said. Well, that was a nice story.

I don't think, though, it's very realistic for a father to give

up his son's life in hopes that the other boy would become a

Christian. The old man said.

Yep, you got a point there. Glancing down at his Bible, he

says you have a point. Then a smile brought in his

narrow face and he once again looked at the boys.

It sure isn't very realistic, but I'm standing here today to

tell you that that story gives me a glimpse of what it must

have been like for God to give up his son for me.

You see, I was the son's friend. I was the son's friend.

True story. I wonder this morning how many

lives could be changed in Cartersville and on the

outskirts if we, if we as the Body of Christ, really got

thrilled with Jesus enough to share and get into someone

else's story. I'll forever be in debt to my

precious wife who took me into a Southern Baptist church and I

heard John 316 as a young New Jersey punk and started a

journey. And in October of 1977, because

of her, my story was changed. She was thrilled with Jesus.

Would you close your eyes for just a moment?

No one is going to come up near you.

No one is going to touch you. Maybe today it's all come

together for you. You've been here for weeks and

you've heard the gospel from Pastor Kyle and you've been in

the Sunday school class and it's just all come together and, and,

and you know, you know, you know right where you are that if you

were to die, you know you are not going to heaven.

You know that today could be changed day for you.

You could say this simple prayer and mean it with all of your

heart right where you are. I'm going to help you with that

prayer. The same prayer I've done

hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times all over

across the country. A simple prayer, but you mean it

with all of your heart. If you would like for your story

to change from death to life, you can say these words quietly

to God. I'm going to say a few and then

pause and give you opportunity to say them.

You'd like Jesus to come inside your heart.

You can say this prayer. Here it is.

Dear God, I am a Sinner and I need your forgiveness.

Jesus, forgive me of my sin, and Jesus, I trust you as Savior and

Lord of my life. Jesus, would you please come

into my heart right now in the name of Jesus, every head bowed,

every eye closed. If you've just prayed that

prayer, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord.

The angels in heaven are rejoicing.

A Sinner has come home, but I don't know who you are.

In just a moment, Pastor Stephen is going to be down front.

If you've given your heart to Christ this morning or even this

week or weeks ago, and you've not told anyone, today's the day

for you to stand up and tell somebody that you've asked Jesus

Christ inside your heart. Congratulations.

It is the greatest decision of your life and we would love to

rejoice with you. Maybe for the most of us here

this morning, this invitation is for you.

Will you allow the Lord to use you in somebody's else's story?

Would I have to make a commitment?

Oh yeah, you have to make a commitment.

You can make make commitments standing up, sitting down on

your knees. You can come down here and share

it with the encouragers. What a word of encouragement

that would be to the encouragers.

We need to encourage each other in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes we just stand and we and we don't respond.

And the Spirit of God is moving in this place and wanting you to

respond, wanting you to take a step of faith, believers in the

Lord Jesus Christ, disciples of the Lord, wanting you to do

something now. Now this is the now for you.

For those of you in Christ respond, make a commitment to be

involved in somebody else's story and you don't even know

him yet. That's the greatest thing about

it. Father God, as we stand and

sing, oh Lord, I pray with every fiber within my heart.

And Lord God, you rise up the army of God in this place in a

greater way than it has been, for you've already done great

things in this place. But God, I believe there's

greater things still to be done because you're not finished with

this church. You're not finished with this

body, You're not even finished with me.

So Lord God, give us the courage to respond here today, and I

pray this in the precious and powerful name, the often the

Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the

living Lord Jesus and God's people said Amen, where you

stand, it's time to respond body of Christ.

It's time to be the Army of God.