[0:00] John chapter number 1 verse 35 will be our passage of reading today through verse number 50. And I've been looking forward to spending time in John chapter number 1.
[0:11] That's what we'll do together, Lord willing, in the month of August. And we will spend four weeks in this passage together. And I've really been looking forward to that. Before we begin to read, I'd like to give you something.
[0:24] The ushers are going to give you an invitation to a gospel conversation. And so if a few people can help Brian, so we'll go a little bit quicker. I know he's super fast. We could probably use a little bit of help. And they're going to give out a bunch of these real quick to everybody that's in the room today.
[0:38] And what you'll find inside of here is that you're going to find an outline of where we're going to be over the next four weeks together before we go to the book of Titus.
[0:49] Here we have an invitation to a conversation about Jesus. And today we're going to look at verse number 43 where Jesus seeks and saves the lost. And from the earliest points of scripture, we see that God is relentlessly pursuing lost man in the garden.
[1:06] In the New Testament, we see that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. Well, they've done such a good job giving some out. I want to give a couple out too. You know, they can say they've given out 50 tracts this week, all right?
[1:16] And the week just started, all right? So I'd like to ask Ty, my neighbor, to come up here and Tyler, my co-worker, to come up here, if you will, okay? We're not neighbors or co-workers, co-laborers in the gospel.
[1:30] And all right, thank you. Beat me to it, all right? And so as they give those out, I'm going to give out two this morning here. And so I said that this is an invitation to a conversation about Jesus.
[1:41] Well, the next four weeks, that's what we're going to focus on. And the evening service is starting in a couple weeks. We're going to walk through a marked New Testament about showing the gospel and the scriptures. And so we want to keep this simple.
[1:52] But I hope it's a significant moment in your life as it's been for me as I study this. So, Ty, we've been neighbors now for like two years. Unbelievable, isn't it?
[2:03] And I've just been, I want to have, you know, church is a big part of my life. You see me coming and going. But you and I have never had, this is throwing me off. You can't have two of those, okay? And, yeah, put those away, all right?
[2:15] Look, yeah, okay, look uninterested. There we go. All right. And you're making this too easy, all right? And so I see my neighbor, but we've never had a conversation about the things of the Lord.
[2:27] And I would say, Ty, you know, you see me busy at church, but since you moved in, I've been wanting to have a conversation with you about my love for Jesus and what he's done. And I would like, my information's in there, email and text.
[2:40] When you're ready to have that conversation, let me know. We'll get together for a meal and sit down. But ever since I've met you, I've been meeting to have this conversation. You're available now? Yeah, what are you cooking? Okay, what am I cooking, all right?
[2:51] Well, I have chicken wings, all right? Don't you know that? All right, get out of here, neighbor, all right? Brother Ty is an overactor. I don't know which way he's going to go on this, all right? He may just take over the service, all right? And then Tyler, welcome to the company, all right?
[3:03] I'm so glad. I've been working here for many years. And of all the things that I've ever been involved in, knowing Jesus is the most important thing. And I know things are kind of busy right now at work, and maybe we can get together sometime.
[3:17] But sometime in the near future, I want to have a conversation with you about Jesus, all right? When you're ready for that, my information is in there. Let me know. Don't we work at a church, though?
[3:27] We work at a church. That's true. All right? You just never know. You just never know. And so I heard a testimony of a pastor who was a freshman in high school, and he went to his locker.
[3:39] He was a small guy, and he was right beside the captain of the football team, the quarterback there. And the kid opened up his locker, looked down at him, and he said, Hey, you. You and I are going to have a conversation about Jesus someday.
[3:52] You let me know when you're ready. And that's what happened. He had a conversation about Jesus and came to know Christ, all right? And I love that. I love that when you have a new relationship that's been brought to you in life, however it happens, that you immediately let that person know, Hey, I want to have a conversation with you about Jesus.
[4:12] So I've been looking forward to these being printed and worked on, but I will tell you something, Travis, that this car did not take care of all of my problems. It has not removed all the fear that I have.
[4:24] You know, sometimes we think, well, if I get the right bicycle equipment, or if I get the right gym membership, or if I get this thing, when it comes in, then this is going to become easy in my life.
[4:35] I understand that those conversations that I just had with my neighbor and co-worker, those can be difficult, but they're so wonderful, and they're so important, and that God extends an invitation through us to this lost world.
[4:50] What a wonderful place to put yourself. It's between God extending His love to this lost world, and we can be part of that story. And so here, John chapter number 1, verse 35 through 40, then I want to pray.
[5:03] And again, the next day, after John stood, and two of his disciples, this next day comes after the baptism that had taken place with Jesus, and two of his disciples, two of the disciples of John, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God.
[5:21] And two of his disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? And they said unto him, Rabbi, which is the saved being in turn, where dwellest thou?
[5:35] He saith unto them, Come and see. They came, and they saw where he dwelt, and he abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
[5:48] He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted to Christ. And he brought unto him Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah, that shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone.
[6:03] The day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter, Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
[6:20] And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith unto him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.
[6:34] Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answereth, and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the son of God, thou art the king of Israel.
[6:48] Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou, thou shalt see greater things than these. Heavenly Father, I ask that your word will find its rightful place in the hearts of all my brothers and sisters here today.
[7:06] Father, I thank you for how precious this word is. Lord, I thank you when the first disciples were to come, that that story would be recorded. So much, Father, that we learn about Jesus here in this passage, and I thank you for it.
[7:19] Father, I ask that you would remove me from the equation, that you would speak directly to the hearts of your people. Father, in that I know that I have a responsibility here, and I want to fulfill my assignment for your honor and glory.
[7:33] Father, I pray that's what will happen this week among my brothers and sisters, that they will be people that are used of you to convey your love to this world. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
[7:45] So this is John chapter number 1. So the book of John, we've spent so much of our time in the book of Luke. And so you know this about the book of John as a church. We went through it some time ago, but there's no doubt on what is the purpose in which the book of John is written.
[7:59] It's given for us at the end of the book, and just laid out simply. In John chapter number 20, verse number 31, the purpose of the book is that you would know that Jesus of Nazareth is the eternal Word of God, that Jesus is God.
[8:12] But these are written in John, it says in John 31, go ahead and put that on the screen, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life through His name.
[8:25] And so John is written, the very beginning, in these first 18 verses, there's 30 separate statements about who Jesus is. 30 different statements.
[8:37] And the most remarkable of all of them, to those that were listening and hearing Him be called rabbi and teacher, was in John chapter number 1, verse 14, when it says, And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld the glory, the glory is the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, is that Jesus is God, that God has come in the flesh.
[8:59] He is the Son of God. And so here in this book, it proves that He is the Messiah, and that that Messiah is the Son of God. And from verses 19 on, that's what that book will do.
[9:11] It is introducing Jesus to the world. John the Baptist has come as the messenger, the forerunner, and there He is in verse 29 where He says, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the world.
[9:24] This portion of Scripture is so precious to us as believers. It's precious to us in its historical value. We see the first disciples.
[9:35] You came to Christ because somebody, a generation before you had come to Christ, and a generation before that had come to Christ, and millions and millions of people have been followers of Jesus.
[9:45] And we go all the way to John chapter number 1, where we find Jesus, and two disciples of John the Baptist come, and He extends the invitation to follow Him. It's the very beginning.
[9:57] We see Jesus' response has great historical value, has great practical value to us. We see how men come to Christ, and we see Jesus' response to them.
[10:07] The Creator of the universe is responding to these people. And it has Christological value, which means that there's so much to learn about the person of Jesus Christ.
[10:19] Five men here are introduced to a man in terms that they did not know. They saw Him as a rabbi. They were taught that He was the Messiah, and they learned that the Messiah was the Son of God.
[10:30] That picture of who He is, it grows. They are drawn closer there. So you probably saw in verse number 39, Jesus said unto them, Come and see. And then that is the phrase in which they use when they go out in verse number 46, and people have questions.
[10:45] It is, Come and see. And so that's our title for these four weeks is to come and see. Simply stated, an invitation for people to meet Jesus is simply an extension of His invitation to them.
[11:01] Coach said it very well. If you don't know who Coach is, Zach Elrod, he gave the offering devotion today. It is Him, it is Jesus, that is extending this. It is Jesus that saves. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that is convicting people and drawing people to Him.
[11:16] This truth ran into me at full speed of about 15 years ago. It was at the 2010 Summit, Mission Summit, and I was going through a book like this.
[11:29] It's called Operation World. Stephanie said, Why is there a big book up there? I'm like, This is why, okay. I would encourage every family to get a copy of this book. It's also available online. It has all the countries of the world.
[11:40] It tells you about what's going on in the gospel presentation in that country, how many churches there are, and it's helpful as you pray through it. It gives you some prayer points for each country.
[11:53] We were in a workshop together, and I was just flipping through the pages, and I was bringing up different countries, and I came upon South Africa, and I read something, and I said, I asked the people that were working in South Africa, Is this true?
[12:06] And they said, Well, actually, there's this many more churches that have been started in the last year. And so, for the point of effect, I ripped the pages out, all right? I'm not going to do that now. I can't believe I did it then, all right? I don't like ripping pages of a book, all right?
[12:18] But I ripped the pages out, and I said, That's not true anymore. And we were just going through the book and talking about how God was making a difference in this world. Well, providentially, I came upon the country of India, and I looked at it, and I began to ask the people in the room as I began to read it, I would say, Can anybody tell me, Is this true?
[12:36] Is what I'm saying, Is this true? What is going on? And a group of people that had a love for the world, for getting the gospel to the world, right?
[12:47] They had a love for that. We didn't know much about India. So a friend of mine that's here today, he said, We got to go and see for ourselves. And so it was about a year later that we go to India.
[13:00] And we have many people through times, James is here today, and other people from India attend our church and fellow believers in Christ. And I don't want you to believe that India is synonymous with Hinduism, or the pictures that I tell you represents all billion people.
[13:15] I mean, it is a big country. And we worship Jesus and some of the most favorite church services I've ever been part of with the brothers and sisters there. But we've sought out to go to a place called Vard Narsi, which is, it is home of so much of religion, of Hinduism.
[13:32] So much happens there. So much training takes place. And so we have a picture, and this is called a Ghat, G-H-A-T, there on Vard Narsi, along the river there.
[13:44] And it was one night that while we were there, and we were watching, they do a cremation of about 200 bodies a day at this place. And as we were there, and just taking in the reality of the moment, the habitation of cruelty, as the Bible would speak about, and realizing that this was a religious ceremony that we were seeing here where people had come, not on this trip, but on another trip, I would go into a room that's not far from where this picture is taken.
[14:15] It's a room about this size, and it was all concrete. And elderly people had come there because it was cheaper to travel before they died, and they were just waiting in the room till their death so that they could be cremated at this place, and their bodies could go in the river that is in the picture.
[14:33] So with my Christian worldview, you can only imagine how heartbreaking this was for me. I didn't take this picture, and where I'm at would be a little bit farther back, but there have been that many people at it.
[14:45] And in the midst of this, and me seeing all of that, a young man comes up to me. He speaks, speaking in English, and he invites me to come and to get a closer look on what is going on, and he takes me past all of this, down to where the water is, and he tells me to come and to see.
[15:04] And he explains to me, he gives a gospel presentation. He gives a false gospel invitation, but he is giving me what he believes is good news.
[15:15] He's explaining to me how if I die, and if I bring my body here, and it's cremated, that I could escape this cycle of reincarnation, and that I too could go and live in bliss as well.
[15:29] And he wanted to draw me closer to see what was going on. You see, I understand this young man. I understand why he was seeking for answers. Because when I was the same age as him, I wanted to have answers about who God was.
[15:44] I wanted to have answers about afterlife. I wanted to know what to do with the sin that is inside of me. How would I purify it and get rid of it? I had all the same type of questions that he had.
[15:56] But because somebody had brought the gospel to my sister, when I went and I sat down with her at the age of this young man, I didn't stand beside a river, but I heard about Jesus Christ.
[16:10] And I heard about how he died for me. And I heard about how the God of heaven cares about me. And how the cross is the most clear statement of how he loved and he died for me. I heard about the God of heaven who sent his son, the God of heaven who had made it possible for me to be forgiven of sins, the God of heaven who made himself knowable to us, and the God of heaven that was pursuing me.
[16:32] As I felt conviction in my heart at that age, I knew that the God of heaven was pursuing me and was convicting me and I could find forgiveness of sins.
[16:42] And so, it was at that time to me that evangelism, sharing the gospel, it became synonymous with this idea of come and see.
[16:52] That young man was just taking me to the most wonderful thing that he could imagine, which was a chance to escape this vicious cycle of life and he was inviting me to it.
[17:03] And with everything in my heart, I wish I would have been able to invite that young man to come and to see. And so, I understand what this young man was seeking because I said, I sought it.
[17:13] I sought it as well. Sought after it as well. John chapter number 1 verse number 38. When Jesus turned and he saw them following, we saith unto them, What seek ye?
[17:25] I'm sure you were following along as I read the Bible, but sometimes we kind of zone out just for a moment. And I want to make sure you don't miss what was happening in the story. There's disciples of John the Baptist.
[17:36] They had been with him. He was preaching repentance and baptism. He was baptizing and they were there with him. Now that Jesus has come, they were saying, Is that the Messiah? And they leave where John the Baptist is and they come and now they're following behind Jesus.
[17:51] And Jesus turns to them and he asks them this question, What do you seek? What do you want? And they had questions here. They're looking for something. They're asking.
[18:02] And they answer his question with a question. He says, What do you seek? And their question is, Where do you stay? Where do you dwell? They were meaning, We need more time.
[18:14] We have a lot of questions. Where can we sit down? Where can we get our answers to all the questions that we have? And Jesus reveals himself to those who seek him.
[18:25] The first impression that these people would have had of Jesus was that he was a rabbi. It says rabbi, which if anybody asks you, if you know any Hebrew, you know one word, rabbi, right?
[18:36] It's a Hebrew word and it means teacher. It's interpreted here for us. We needed it interpreted. They would know. And so they would see him and they would say that he was a rabbi. He was an authoritative teacher.
[18:48] But he's going to move from being rabbi to being a messiah to them. And we won't stop there. That is not a place to stop. So Jesus is going to invite them to come and see.
[18:59] Verse 39, This seems to be about eight hours of time that Jesus gave to these two men that ask, where do you dwell?
[19:16] Where do you go? Jesus was not hiding from them. He gave time. The Bible tells us that through creation that the heavens declare the glory of the Lord. Psalm 19, 7 says, The law of the Lord is perfect as he is revealing.
[19:30] God's ultimate demonstration of his desire to know us is seen upon the cross of Jesus. Our God is not hiding from us, but he has pursued us.
[19:40] He has made himself to be known. And we see that here in this opportunity that these two men have. And as I said, they go from rabbi to messiah and messiah to the son of God.
[19:53] And we know this happens because of verse 41. It says, He first findeth his own brother Simon, and he saith unto him, We have found the Messiah which is being interpreted, the Christ. How did he come to this conclusion?
[20:05] Because when they spent time with him, it wasn't the dwelling that they went to. They didn't go to where Jesus was living and saying, Oh, wow. This must be, you must be the king of the universe.
[20:16] But they listened to him. He answered their questions. And they believed. And Jesus revealed himself to them. And it's significant. The difference between a rabbi and the son of God.
[20:29] Jesus is not just giving great teaching. He's not just a central figure in the history of Israel being the Messiah. But Jesus is God. And he knows us completely.
[20:41] Do you understand the difference? Just like when that young man told me that day, I saw from a distance what he saw. But he said, Come closer. I want you to see this closer.
[20:52] That's what Jesus is doing. They saw him as a rabbi, as a teacher. But that is not where saving faith comes in. They saw him as the Messiah, but they needed to know that the Messiah was the Son of God.
[21:06] John 20, 31, This is written so that you will believe that he is the Christ, the Son of God. That's what changed their life. That is what they saw. Do you see the difference there?
[21:16] Jesus of the Bible, that is the teacher, you come here, he informs your life, you adjust your morals based upon his teaching. Jesus as the Messiah, the anointed one who will be the king, you recognize the religious role that he plays in your life, but do you recognize that this is Jesus, the Son of God, who knows you completely, who has seen you like Nathaniel underneath the fig tree, by the coffee pot, in the morning, at the work, at school, wherever you're at, he sees you and he knows you and he still extends an invitation to you to follow you.
[21:54] And it's all the difference in the world. And Jesus doesn't leave them where they're at, but he draws them closer so that they recognize this. John 16, 13 tells us how this happens today in the world in which we live.
[22:08] John 16, 13, How be it when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you in the all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever you shall hear that he shall speak and he will show you things to come.
[22:23] Sitting down beside my sister's bed when I was a young man and I sat down that day knowing that Jesus was the person that we talked about at church.
[22:33] I knew that Jesus had done many things, but it was in that moment that I realized that Jesus was God and that he knew my sin and that he would forgive me of my sin that I had saving faith in that moment.
[22:48] And I'm thankful that I was invited to come and see, that I was invited to go further in my understanding. We see Jesus continuing to do this from this time on. In Luke chapter number 4, verse 16, And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and as it was custom, he went into the synagogue, and on the Sabbath day he stood up the reed.
[23:09] So it says that it was custom, meaning that a traveling rabbi or a man here could go into the synagogue and they would say, I would like to do the reading of the day. That was customary. Nobody thought anything of it.
[23:21] He reads from Isaiah chapter number 61. Once again, this is nothing that would have been different than what would have happened on most days in the synagogue. But when he read the scripture, he pauses, and there would have been nothing.
[23:34] But that isn't where it stops. Things would get loud in verse number 21. He would say this, and he began to say unto them, this day is a scripture fulfilled in your ears.
[23:46] And then everything in that room changed. That room came alive because he was saying, I am not just the teacher, but I am the Messiah, and the Messiah is the Son of God.
[23:58] He would have read to them, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good tidings into the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.
[24:10] That that scripture, that he was the fulfillment, that he was the anointed one. Andrew didn't need to know what the word Messiah means. He knew, but you and I need to know. It is the Christ.
[24:22] It is the anointed one. And here the Father is the anointer, and the result is he is anointed of the Holy Spirit. This is God in your presence.
[24:32] Paul says in Acts 10, 38 like this, And God anointed Jesus and Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him.
[24:48] On Thursday nights, Brother John took us through teaching on the Trinity, and I see it more and more as I went through there. The Father anoints the Son, anointing here the Holy Spirit. This is God.
[24:59] How are you going to respond? And this group, they would have responded in a different way. And the story of Andrew that was there, he leaves and he says, We have found him.
[25:11] We have found what we are looking for. And so this is an understanding that those who have responded to the invitation, this is how they respond to them. They say, Come and see.
[25:23] When I was a student, went to a school right outside of Knoxville, I have no love for University of Tennessee or the Rocky Top song. But my brother-in-law does, alright? But I spent a lot of time at the University of Tennessee among the campus ministry, among international students.
[25:38] And I had a friend of mine named Ryan, and we would go out and we would go to different dormitories and we would talk to people. And this is the first time in my life that I had really shared the gospel on a consistent basis with people.
[25:51] And I wasn't just talking about the gospel with other people that understood it. Most of us spend most of our lives talking to the gospel with other people that understand it. And that is, we should talk about it. You and I should talk about the wonders of the gospel.
[26:03] When nobody else is around, I should be thinking about the gospel and talking to myself, not out loud, sometimes, but not out loud, but to myself about the gospel. But this is the first time in my life that I'm talking about the gospel with people who are just saying, I don't know that that's true.
[26:19] I don't know if there's a God. I don't know any of these things. And I found myself just constantly thinking, how am I going to make any difference here? How am I going to convince this guy who has a doctor's degree in physics that's over here to study that I, with hardly any education, is going to be able to stand against him and make an argument?
[26:40] And as I began to ask people, I was shown Hebrews chapter number 11 verse number 6, One night with just a broken heart with a man that I just tried everything in the world, I'm just like, how do you not see it?
[27:02] I see it. How do you not see it? It's right here in the scriptures and he just didn't see it. And I left him that night and he said, I really want to know. And I said, well the Bible says that if you diligently seek him, you will find him.
[27:17] And so I prayed with him that night and I left never expecting that I would see him again. And he calls me the next day and he said, Jesus is God.
[27:29] And I said, how do you, and I was so excited. And he said, because I knelt down and I prayed to him and I said, God, I want to know you, would you reveal yourself to me? And God did.
[27:41] God did that. And that's what happens in all of our stories. No human instrument was the major player in all of our stories. God had revealed himself. The gospel was brought and we see it and he allowed us to respond.
[27:56] And I was so encouraged by that. And so there was a time when they saw Jesus as the son of God. The timing here, verse 39, for it was about the 10th hour. It was very specific. You might have grown up singing that song, it was on a Monday or it was on a Tuesday, must have been the hand of the Lord.
[28:13] You know this song and when it was the day of the week in which you got saved, I got saved on a Sunday night. When it would come around, it would be your turn to sing it. Well, some of you wouldn't know the day and that's understandable, but you need to know that there was a time that your understanding of Jesus went from rabbi, teacher, to the son of God who is the Lord of my life.
[28:36] That it took place in your life. Joe Naylor's been visiting with us. He's not here today. He's working and asked if I could share his story and we'll probably share it by video someday and I just love it so very much and he is told how he was, I think it is mid-twenties and he was at a church and it was on Easter and he never went to church and his wife took him to church on Easter and they were taking the Lord's Supper and he didn't know any better.
[29:01] He just took it. He was just going through all the motions. He had no thoughts about the service. His kids were in children's ministry and so he went to pick them up and he thought, well, listen, these are nice enough people but I might come back next year but had no real thoughts.
[29:16] As he's talking to this getting his kid out of children's ministry, a 14-year-old teenager walks over to him and says, sir, if you were to die today, what would you tell God why you should be able to enter in the heaven?
[29:29] And he said, you know, I'd tell him I do pretty good. I'm a pretty good guy and he said, sir, let me show you what the Bible says and he sat down with that man and Joe said, as soon as he sat down and he laid eyes upon those verses and Romans, he said, I knew that my life would never be the same.
[29:49] Jesus stopped by. He met Jesus that day. How incredible is that? That that man would come to know Christ and he, on his way home that day with his family, he said, I'm going back to that church and he's been going back to church ever since and that young teenager is now a missionary in Ukraine and it was just so wonderful that this man having no thoughts about it, there was no felt need that the church was meeting, there was no group that he wanted to be part of, everything in his life, it wasn't falling apart, everything seemed to be fine, but he had an encounter with the God of heaven and he was saved.
[30:27] And I'm so grateful that I get to hear that story and share that with you. When he shares it with you, pretend like you haven't heard it, alright? He'll tell you again. And so Jesus reveals himself to them and that's what is happening.
[30:41] He does that to them. He is revealing himself. He's saying, come and see. Come further and see. And so this is our understanding of God's word here.
[30:52] And so notice the evidence that Andrew truly saw who Jesus was. Verse 41, He first findeth his own brother Simon and he saith unto him, We have found the Messiah which is being interpreted the Christ.
[31:07] You know, I have, I had an uncle that passed away this week and our sister Cammie did and I've just been, there's been a season where there's been much of that. You know, one of the greatest comforts that family members have that you know the gospel is that you want other people to know it.
[31:24] That was the testimony they heard. They wanted other people to know the gospel. Andrew that day in his time with Jesus came to believe that Jesus was the son of God.
[31:35] And how do we know in the story that Andrew came to a saving faith that Jesus was the son of God? Is that he wanted to go and share that message with other people. Andrew's a funny study if you do it in the Bible many times when he shows up it's like, Andrew who?
[31:50] I'm Simon's brother. You know, he got used to that. Kind of like Darcy and Callie where I'm always saying the wrong name or I'm always saying the wrong name. Alright? Poor Andrew here. I'm Simon's brother. Alright? Not a prominent place. I'm in the story the feeding of the 5,000.
[32:03] He watched his brother that he had brought to the Lord get preached to. 3,000 came to Christ. But what do we see about Andrew is that he always was bringing people to Jesus.
[32:16] To meet Jesus. He's always saying come farther. Just come and see. Yeah, you know Jesus as a teacher but he is the Messiah and that Messiah is the Son of God.
[32:28] Believer, you and I, why do we spend so much of our lives seeking when we have already found what we are looking for? We have found him. That's what he said. We have found him.
[32:40] His brother apparently knew exactly what he was talking about. They had found him. You know, you can tell that to people this week. You can go to them and they say we have found him. What? The whom that you're looking for?
[32:51] The thing that you're looking for was not a thing at all but it was a person and I have found him and his name is Jesus and he's more than a teacher. He's more than a religious figure but he is the Son of God.
[33:08] And so I pray for you today and ask that you would pray for me that we would have that opportunity to be in the middle. That 14 year old had no idea. He was about to be part of just a wonderful story when he opened up the scriptures and showed Joe that day the word of God.
[33:23] But Jesus is seeking and saving that which is lost. He is pursuing. As he pursued you the conviction of the Holy Spirit he is doing that same work among us today and ask God to allow us to be part of that.
[33:37] You have found what you have been looking for and you should go and share that with other people. Brothers and sisters would you pray with me for a moment? Heavenly Father I thank you for the simplicity of this story Lord or I might have missed it that people that have found you should go and share what we have found with other people.
[33:57] Father I thank you that we are not the ones that are responsible for salvation but you Lord are the one who came to seek and to save that which is lost and you have found us and may you use us Lord to help find other people.
[34:12] With heads bowed and eyes closed and believers speak to the Lord respond respond to God's word respond to this story that he would have for you today.
[34:23] I'd like for you to consider as Charlotte begins the play I'd like for you to consider this it said that Andrew went and found his brother who is it that you are to be finding?
[34:37] Who is it that you would immediately decide this card that is in my hand it's for that person this understanding of the gospel that I've had for many years it still hasn't made its way to my brother or to my sister or to my mom or to my dad or to my friend is there somebody in your life that Jesus could meet through you that you could set up an appointment and open up the word of God and I would like to pray with you about that if you're in here today and you'd say with this card and that I have and with this understanding of the gospel I know today whom it is that I should seek and find and share the gospel with if that's you today would you raise your hand so I could pray for you those that are specifically knowing who that is well I'll pray for the rest of you in here today who would say I don't know who it is in my life but I'm going to be mindful of it I want to be looking for it this week as I go about I want to be mindful when the Holy Spirit prompts in my heart and says this friend this person in your life for many years has never had a gospel conversation with you and today you need to invite them to do that how many of you would say that's where I'm at
[35:49] I don't have a person but this week I will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and if you would put that person in my path I would be obedient would you raise your hand as a sweet testimony to the Lord in joining me and then before I close in prayer of the day Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost and one of the ways in which that happens is that through circumstances and through friends and people that you meet you come to a place like this and you hear us open up the Bible and you hear people sing songs about Jesus and you hear that you are a sinner that had broken God's law and that you're in need of forgiveness and that it's extended to you and so I want to encourage you here today let the day be the day that you move from your superficial understanding of who Jesus is to saying that he is the son of God who died in my place and I want to encourage you to pray and to recognize he is the son of God and ask for forgiveness of sins and allow us the opportunity to rejoice with you allow us the opportunity to provide resources for you and a friendship so you can grow in the Lord stop by the next steps table share that information with us and invite you to go further in your understanding of who he is heavenly father
[37:04] I thank you for an opportunity to gather the day with my brothers and sisters in Christ and I thank you for the people that brought us the gospel and I thank you Lord that they were not the ones that saved us and I thank you that they're not the ones who ultimately pursued us but the Holy Spirit working in and through them pursued us and brought the gospel and we were able to respond I thank you father we want to be part of that work father the day I say with those that raised their hands and those who believed in their heart that we want to be used in this way make us a group Lord that would be sensitive to your leading guiding may you be able to use us to pursue the hearts of people our friends and families we thank you that you found us Lord we thank you that the gospel came to us and we want to spend our days worshiping you and rejoicing for all that you have done in Jesus name I pray amen