One Drop Away

Ripple Effect Sermon:  “One Drop Away”

Ripple: 

-One event triggering a continuous chain of secondary consequences

> EVERY RIPPLE STARTS WITH ONE SMALL MOVE/Drop

John 1:40–42

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

Philip Leads Nathanael 

John 1:44–46

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

• Personal invitations create immediate, personal turning points that multiply the number of witnesses.
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2 Timothy 1:5

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.

• Family discipleship creates a multigenerational ripple effect that impacts global Christianity centuries later.
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1 Cor. 3:6

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God gave the growth.

> Obedience is on us, the outcome is on God.

2 Kings 5:1-6

Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.  Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife.  She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”  

> You don’t have to make the miracle, you just have to make the ripple

Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.  “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents[b] of silver, six thousand shekels[c] of gold and ten sets of clothing. The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

There is something in the ripple that gets you closer to the reward.

> We tend to classify people based on what we see… but God only has two classifications.

SAVED & LOST

v. 15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”

V 17 “please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord.

This story has not just started here, but rather it’s been culminating over time in ripples…

KH:  “Sometimes God will throw a stone in the middle of your decision bc He wants to move you in the direction so that you will go where He wants you”.

> Often times it is the difficult ripples that get us where we need to be.

Love is the motivator

2 Corinthians 5:14-20

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God

We are compelled by Christs’ love and no longer live unto ourselves.  We have been reconciled and now have been given the ministry of reconciliation.

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes

> You make the ripple. God determines the reach.

> One drop can make a ripple that changes a generation

> You make the ripple. God determines the reach.