March 25, 2007
Five In The Water
James 2:26

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

The song “Five in the Water” is a true story. Amy Goins sings with a wonderful Christian group called, Beloved, from Atlanta, GA. Her great-grandfather is the man in this story with a roof that needs to be fixed. He wasn’t a Christian and everyone knew it. He made no secret of it. He had no time for goin’ to church! He was a farmer, an honest man and worked hard on his farm in north Georgia along with his wife and children. However, this week was revival and the preacher wanted to fill those pews! This day, this farmer’s life was going to change forever and the legacy he would leave his family is one that continues today. The preacher went by the farm of Amy’s great grandfather and told him they were having revival that night and invited him to join the service. Grandpa politely refused stating he had to get this roof on the barn replaced and didn’t have time for going to church. What would you do if you were in that preacher’s shoes? Shrug your shoulders? Say, “Maybe next time”? Hem and haw around and then slink on down the road to the next person’s house? It’s easy for us to simply say to our Lord, “well, I tried and he didn’t want to come and what more can you expect of me?” But not this preacher! God had told him to get this man into that revival service tonight no matter what it took! The preacher decided to make a deal with Amy’s great grandpa. He would help with the roof, get it finished in time for them to all have supper and clean up and then they would go to revival services that night. Great-grandpa might have been a lot of things, but he was no fool! Somebody was offering him a helping hand and all he would have to do in exchange is go to church one night? Surely that was a good deal for him! God’s plan was being carried out by his child, this preacher. God knew that this act of obedience by his child, this effort to roll up his sleeves, work hard and be rewarded when this farmer came to church that night was going to lead to blessings beyond belief for generations to come! Don’t you know God was smiling as He watched his children working in that hot Georgia sun! As the song says, great-grandpa and his wife went to Revival service that night and Amy’s family tells the story that he was the first one out of that pew when the invitation came! Great-grandma was right behind him. And before the week was over, three of their nine children also accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. All because there was one who was willing to stay and meet the need of his brother, share the gospel that day. Many years later, Amy writes this beautiful family story into a song. She and her friends, Kim and Denise of Beloved record the song on their CD. They share this story of faith at their concerts. And now today, I am able to share that story with you. All because one person stepped out on faith and expanded his circle of influence. Does it make you wonder how different things might have been if that preacher had just shrugged his shoulders, walked away and left the farmer working on his barn. Would he and his family have become heirs to the kingdom of God? Would future generations have become children of God? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe this beautiful song would never have been written and the story of faith shared for many to hear. I never knew these men. You never knew them and even the great-granddaughter didn’t meet them. But the circle of influence, the waves created when you share God’s love continue on and on and on. This circle is like a pebble that is dropped into the water. First the ripple of waves around the spot are small and close together and then they get bigger and bigger and spread wider and wider and so it is when we share the love of Jesus Christ. The touch, the smile, the encouraging word, the sharing of the gospel touches those immediately around you. The circle grows wider and those whom you have touched reach out to others and then they reach out to more and on until our Lord returns to take us all Home! We all have choices. God made us with minds to think. He gives us free will to make decisions and act upon them. Jesus Christ came to this world in a human form just like you and me. He had choices, too. The devil tempted him unmercifully for forty days. Jesus Christ was God living in human flesh. As a human, he felt hunger, he felt pain and yet He made choices that He knew had to be made if God’s wonderful plan was to be completed. He didn’t have to die on that cross in such an agonizing manner, but He did. He allowed his body to be nailed to that cross so that you and I might have the eternal life God planned for us. I wasn’t at Calvary. You weren’t there. But we don’t have to witness it for ourselves for the circle of influence to touch us. Those who witnessed the death and resurrection of Jesus wrote it down for you and me to read today. They were led by the Holy Spirit and their circle of influence touches us now. What you and I do every day is going to influence somebody. It may not even be someone you know. It may be someone you love dearly. But you will have a circle of influence. When you rise up from your bed tomorrow morning, you will begin another circle and each person you come in contact with, each action you take will be another pebble dropping into the water, starting another circle. Let your actions and your words be Christ-like. Praise God with all your heart and all your soul and all your being. Let the Light of the World shine in all you do. Let your circle of influence be from Jesus.

Marla Talley