Well, it's my privilege to have the chance to preach this morning, and I will continue
in the book of John like Jonathan just said.
We'll continue in chapter 1, and we'll finish chapter 1 today.
But I do want to mention this, that when we were reading, or when the passage from Genesis
was read, did you catch that last phrase?
That last phrase says, Jehovah's in this place.
You know, the Word of God declares this, where two or more are gathered in His name, there
He is in the midst.
And so it's this morning we come with this understanding that Jehovah's in this place, and it's my prayer
that the words of Jehovah, through His Word, would touch us deeply.
So this morning we turn to chapter 1, and we're going to read starting in verse 35, but before
I read, I just want to share a couple of things about this passage and about this chapter 1.
I don't know if you would have picked it up unless you've dug a little bit to see this,
but do you realize that the place where John is baptizing, this place on the east side of
the Jordan is roughly 20 miles from Jerusalem, and it's roughly 85 miles to Bethsaida.
Now why would I share that?
Why is this geography important?
Because what we see is we see these men, what will be introduced to these men, Andrew and
Philip and Peter, Nathaniel, will be introduced to these men this morning.
And it's interesting to note that they're from Bethsaida, which is on the northern side
of the Sea of Galilee, roughly 85 miles.
And in that day, it takes a long time to travel 85 miles, and it begs the question, why are
you down there?
Why are you spending time with John?
What is the occasion?
And what we can glean here is that they're by foot roughly five days journey down to this
area, and they're disciples of John the Baptist, meaning they consider him their rabbi.
They have sat at his feet to learn from him.
And it means evidently that they had spent some measure of time with him, so they had been
following him for quite some time.
They were seekers of truth.
You know what's interesting?
That these blue-collar guys, these rough guys, these fishermen, you know they didn't go to
Jerusalem to find the rabbis in Jerusalem, to find the greatest of the Pharisees or the
greatest of the Sadducees.
They didn't even go to the synagogue to seek truth.
You know where they went?
They went where God had stirred them, to this guy who's in the wilderness who's preaching
this message of repentance.
There's something in them that was stirred by the truth that was being proclaimed by this
guy who dressed differently.
He didn't have the religious garb that most would have.
He wasn't looking for the applause of men.
He didn't wear tassels on the bottom of his garment.
But he had come proclaiming a gospel of the coming Messiah.
And they were drawn to it.
They were seeking truth.
And I think that's important for us to understand as we look at these encounters.
This morning we're going to look at five encounters with Jesus.
From the text we read this morning we'll see four, but I'm going to back up a little bit
and we're going to talk about the encounter of John the Baptist with Christ as well.
That would be five encounters with Christ.
And it's my hope this morning that we consider if we've had an encounter with Jesus.
And if we have had an encounter with Jesus, what did he say to us?
What is it that stirred in our hearts when we had this encounter with Jesus?
And it's in my hope that as believers, for those of us who are in the kingdom, born again,
that we would not just have one encounter with Jesus, but it would be continual.
That we would fellowship with the Lord often.
So if you would turn to verse 35 in chapter 1,
as we read from the scriptures this morning, I would ask you to follow along.
It's my hope that you would bring your Bible and you would be so familiar with your Bible
that you would not want to leave it at home.
That it would be with you often.
And hopefully the pages would get quite fragile because you've turned there so many times.
And hopefully you've got highlights and notes and such in your Bible
because you treasure the time you spend there.
This is the very word of God we read, starting in verse 35, and it says this.
The next day, that is the day after the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.
The next day, again, John was standing with two of his disciples
and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said,
Behold, the Lamb of God.
The two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus.
Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them,
What are you seeking?
And they said to him, Rabbi, where are you staying?
He said to them, Come and you will see.
So they came and they saw where he was staying
and they stayed with him that day for it was about the tenth hour.
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 he said to him,
We have found the Messiah, which means Christ.
And 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 or rock.
The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee.
He found Philip and said to him, Follow me.
Now, Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
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, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Philip said to him, Come and see.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said,
Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit.
Nathanael said to him, How do you know me?
Jesus answered him,
Before Philip called you,
When you were under the fig tree, I saw you.
Nathanael answered him,
Rabbi, you are the son of God.
You are the king of Israel.
Jesus answered him,
Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?
You will see greater things than these.
And he said to him,
Truly, truly, I say to you,
You will see heaven opened
and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man.
Let's pray again.
Father, this morning I ask that you would open our spiritual eyes,
that as we look at your word,
we would see your truth for what it is,
and you would open our understanding.
God, as we read, we would understand the truths here.
And God, I pray that you would touch our heart with your word.
Father, may your word plant itself deep within our heart.
This morning may your word move us to desire you,
and to seek you more,
and to follow you,
and to love you,
and to serve you.
And I pray in your name.
Amen.
I want you to see this about the encounter of John with Jesus.
It would help us to understand what John thinks about himself,
who John sees himself to be.
Very interesting in the word.
It says this,
John says this in verse 23,
I am the voice.
What voice, John?
I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
Make straight the way of the Lord,
as the prophet Isaiah said.
Do you hear what he's saying about himself?
He's saying this,
that the prophet Isaiah foretold of this guy
who was coming before the Messiah,
and this guy was going to be a voice in the wilderness,
and he was going to be proclaiming a message.
Before Jesus the Messiah came.
If we look at Mark chapter 1,
Mark starts his gospel talking about this voice.
And Mark says it like this.
Chapter 1, he says,
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God,
as it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
prepare the way of the Lord.
Make his paths straight.
John appeared baptizing in the wilderness
and proclaiming a baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins.
I want you to notice something here.
Mark shares with us something vital
that we need to understand about John.
He says this,
Behold, this God speaking,
Behold, he's speaking through his prophet Isaiah,
and he says,
Behold, I send.
I send.
God sent.
John the Baptist was sent by God,
and John knew it.
John realized that he had been sent by God.
And notice what he says about John.
He says,
My messenger.
Behold, I send my messenger.
The person that I have moved in his life,
the person that I have put my words in his mouth,
it's that person that I've sent
to be the forerunner of the Messiah.
It's John.
And he is a voice crying in the wilderness.
It's interesting.
He's crying in the wilderness,
not in the synagogue.
Not in the temple.
He's crying in the wilderness.
It's John who's not dressed like rabbis.
It's John who doesn't act like rabbis.
It's John who's not religious.
He's not part of the religious system.
It's this guy who's coming out of the wilderness,
likely a nomadic scenario
where he's been in the wilderness.
Do you all realize his parents were very old when he was born?
It was a miraculous birth.
Do you all remember Elizabeth?
She who was barren,
who was the laughing stock of their city,
their town,
who obviously had not been blessed by God
because she was barren.
You know that barren women were pushed to the sidelines of society?
And in her old age,
through much prayer,
you can be sure,
from her and her husband,
Zechariah,
she became pregnant.
In her old age.
Miraculous.
It can't happen.
Can it?
Nothing's impossible for God.
And what did she do?
Paraded around town?
No,
she stayed in her house.
And she said,
this is too good to be true.
And Mary,
the mother of the coming Messiah,
received this encounter from an angel,
Gabriel,
who said,
and by the way,
your relative Elizabeth is with child.
And in her excitement,
she leaves and she goes down to the city where her relative stays.
And as she's walking across the threshold of the door,
Elizabeth prophesies.
And you know what she prophesied?
You know what she said?
She said exactly what God put in her mouth.
And what did God put in her mouth?
Who am I?
That the mother of my Lord.
God.
I'm going to turn there so I don't mess it up.
And why is it granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For behold,
when the sound of your greeting came to my ears,
the baby,
John the Baptist,
leaped in my womb.
And it has a nice little phrase at the end.
You remember what it says?
Leaped in my womb for joy.
Do you know in the womb of Elizabeth was John the Baptist?
Who leaped when the Messiah arrived.
You know,
there's something strongly spiritual about that,
isn't there?
So I want you to hear from Luke 1
what John the Baptist's father prophesied about him.
So you understand that Elizabeth and Zechariah were very old in age.
Likely,
John was very young when they passed away.
And so he would have been raised by relatives,
possibly been raised by relatives.
There's no way to know this for sure.
But there's evidence that would lead us to think that perhaps he was raised in a nomadic setting in the wilderness.
That's what nomads did.
They wandered in the wilderness so their flocks could be fed.
No way to know for sure.
But it is interesting that he wasn't surrounded by the religious system.
He was free to be led by God.
And Zechariah shares something of importance with us that I want you to hear this morning.
So Zechariah,
you'll remember the story.
He goes into the holy place.
It was the greatest gift of life for a priest to be allowed to have the privilege to go and walk in.
And he took incense to put on the altar,
which represents the prayers of the saints.
And he goes in and he puts incense on the altar.
And what happens?
He has an encounter,
doesn't he?
And in that encounter,
he is mute.
He can't speak.
As he walks out,
he was greeted by an angel in that setting.
He walks out.
He can't talk anymore.
And he doesn't talk again until when?
Until his son,
John the Baptist,
is dedicated on the eighth day.
So can you picture this?
The first words out of his mouth are not even his words.
He prophesies as the Holy Spirit moves upon him.
And he speaks these words.
He talks about Christ and the Messiah.
And then in verse 76 of chapter 1 of Luke,
it says this,
And you, child,
I can just picture him holding this child in his hands.
John the Baptist,
his eight-day-old son in his old age.
Can you imagine
waiting all those years for a child
and his child to be born?
And he's holding his child here.
And his mouth has been mute.
And when he opens it up,
God's word spills out of his mouth.
And he says,
And you, child,
you will be called prophet,
the prophet of the Most High.
There's a lot in that phrase.
The prophet of the Most High.
For you will go before the Lord to prepare his way
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins.
Wow.
Now, John's eight days old,
and I doubt he remembers hearing that.
But don't you know
that Elizabeth and Zechariah
sensed this powerful movement of God,
this miraculous thing that God is doing
in the life of John the Baptist?
And we go back,
and I want you to see this
about John the Baptist.
And we're getting to the encounter.
We're not to the encounter yet,
because I want you to realize
these things.
Is that John is a prophet.
And you remember what Christ said
about John the Baptist?
Listen to what he said.
What did you go in the wilderness to see?
You know what the people were doing?
They heard about this guy
who was so different,
radically different
than any other religious message
they'd ever heard.
And word began to spread in that culture,
and people began to go to him
from all kind of places
to where he was baptizing.
And they were hearing the message
of John the Baptist,
and Christ asked this question
to his disciples.
He says this,
What did you go out
to the wilderness to see?
A prophet?
Yes, I tell you.
And more than a prophet.
You hear what he says there?
Christ said,
yes, he was a prophet.
He was the spokesperson for God.
You know what a prophet is?
Prophet is one that God chooses
to speak through to the people.
God moves in their heart
to put his message in their heart.
They open their mouths,
and the word of God
spills out of their mouth.
The Holy Spirit
is the one that speaks
to these men.
He is more than a prophet.
This is he, him,
the one
that is written about.
Behold, I send my messenger
before your face,
who will prepare your way
before you.
Truly, I say to you,
and we've heard this before
in the book of John,
as Jonathan was preaching,
I say to you,
among those born of women,
there has arisen
no one greater
than John the Baptist.
And remember what it is
to be great in the kingdom of God?
Go lower.
Do you think John saw himself
as someone who was low?
Listen to what it says.
Listen to it.
He said he knows about himself,
these things,
that he is that voice,
that he is the person
that was prophesied about
in the Old Testament.
He is the one.
And it's validated
by the Holy Spirit
through Zechariah,
his father.
He is the voice
from the wilderness.
And if you look down
to verse 33,
chapter 1,
it says,
I myself did not know him.
That is,
in the natural,
I've never seen Jesus before.
I didn't know who he was.
I could not have
visibly recognized him.
Though he saw him,
in a sense,
saw him,
experienced him
in the womb of Elizabeth
when Jesus walked
across the threshold,
he had never seen him
with his eyes.
He said,
I myself did not know him,
but he who sent me
said to me.
Y'all realize
the importance of that phrase?
He who sent me,
who sent him?
John,
you remember in Mark?
It said this,
Behold,
I send my messenger.
You know what it is?
It's God's messenger
with God's message.
John is the messenger
sent by God.
He says,
I'm the voice,
and he who sent me
said to me,
you know what?
God spoke
to John the Baptist.
God validated
to John the Baptist
who was the Christ.
Christ.
And what was the response
of John the Baptist
when he saw Jesus?
Behold,
the Lamb of God.
Let me just ask this
of you and I.
Is that true for us?
Have you seen Jesus?
Have you experienced Jesus?
When you walk away
from your experience
with Christ,
do you find yourself
saying,
Behold,
the Lamb of God.
There He is.
Do you find yourself
pointing at Jesus?
Do you find yourself
sharing it with people
you come in contact with?
There He is.
You need Jesus.
We all need Jesus.
Do you think
with John understanding
who He was,
and with John
receiving these words
from God the Father,
you would think
that he would be tempted
to think of himself
more highly
than he ought to think.
Correct?
I mean,
he's in a role
that he knows
God has placed him in.
But I want you to hear,
oh man,
I want you to hear
the heart of John.
He encounters Christ
as the forerunner,
the one that was called
by God as a messenger.
And here's the interaction.
We see it a little differently
through the eyes of Matthew.
If we look in Matthew chapter 3,
listen to the encounter
when Jesus comes to John
to be baptized.
Here it is.
Then Jesus came from Galilee
to the Jordan
to John
to be baptized by Him.
John would have prevented it.
Does that not strike you?
John's like,
no.
I'm baptizing all these people.
They need to repent.
They need to be baptized.
You don't need to be baptized.
Who am I
that you would even come to me?
You remember what he said
about the sandals of Jesus?
I'm not worthy
to be the lowest servant
in the house of my God
to even untie
the latchet of the sandal
of Jesus.
I'm not worthy
to be the lowest servant
in the house of my God.
Does that echo with you?
How do we view ourselves?
Are we going lower?
Are we recognizing
realizing more and more
and more
that apart from Jesus
we're nothing?
We don't deserve
to be in the house
of our God, do we?
You know it's a gift
for you and I
that He gave us?
That we would be allowed
to be in the house
of our God?
That we would be allowed
to be a servant
in the house of our God?
Listen to what happened.
He said,
John would have prevented
him saying,
I need to be baptized
by you
and you come to me?
But Jesus answered,
let it be so
for now
for thus it is fitting
to fulfill
all righteousness.
Let me just make
this point.
Do you think
that in that encounter
John would have been
in awe?
I think right here
it reveals
that he's like
it probably
can't get words out
to start with
because
the Holy Spirit
or the Father
is indicated
there He is,
He's coming,
He's coming to you
right now.
That's Him.
That's the Lamb of God
and He's hearing all this
and He knows it
and He's like,
I'm not worthy
that you would come
that close to me.
Who am I
that you would even
approach me?
And in awe
He says,
I understand
who you are.
I need to be baptized.
I'm nothing.
I'm nobody.
So here's what I see.
I see an awe
in the heart
of John the Baptist.
This greatest
of all
who have ever
been born by a woman.
He is deeply
humble.
And He's obedient,
isn't He?
Though He knew
that He should not
baptize the Messiah,
the Messiah said,
I want you to baptize me.
This is just the way
it needs to be.
Yes, Lord.
You know,
when we encounter Christ,
is that the response
that we have?
Do we see ourselves
for who we really are
that we're nobody
apart from Him?
Do we shout,
behold the Lamb of God?
Is that something
that often comes
from our lips?
Do people look at us
and see,
there's that guy,
that radical dude,
man.
I wish he'd shut up
sometimes.
I'm tired of hearing
him talk about Jesus
all the time.
Does that characterize
the way we walk
and the way we live
and the way we interact
with people?
I hope it does.
We move on here.
So you can picture
these two disciples
of John
who've been following Him
and who've been
learning from Him,
who've been seeking
truth,
who've been seeking
the Messiah,
the Lord,
the truth,
the Father,
and they're following
John because they know
something is
from God.
Something about John
is from God.
Something about John
can't be explained.
There's something
supernatural going on here
and they're following Him
and you know what He says?
Jesus walks by them
and as He's walking by,
He says to them,
Behold,
there He is,
the Lamb of God.
He says it again.
He can't contain Himself.
You know He had lived
for this very day?
Do y'all realize
that John had lived
all these years
for that very day?
Do you realize
that was the purpose
for which He was sent?
That when Christ came
and was baptized,
do you realize
that the purpose
for John was fulfilled?
And He makes a statement,
He must increase,
I must decrease.
My role is finished.
His role is beginning
as the Messiah.
And He turns,
He says,
there they are.
And so what did
the disciples do?
They had come
and they had learned,
they knew something
was supernatural about John.
Would you depart from that?
Would you leave?
Wouldn't you want
to be around John?
This guy that absolutely
is obvious that God
is doing something
incredible in his life.
What did they do?
They left.
Listen to what it says.
And He looked at Jesus,
John the Baptist did,
as He walked by and said,
Behold the Lamb of God.
The two disciples
heard Him say this
and they did what?
They followed Jesus.
Let me ask you this question.
For all of us,
you know,
we live in the South.
There's steeples
all over town.
You know,
especially go look
over the bridge
or Avonel,
you look down.
Steeples,
steeples,
all over the place.
Churches on most corners.
You've heard about Jesus,
haven't you?
What is the effect
in your heart
when you've heard
about Jesus,
when Jesus has been
presented to you,
when you see Jesus
in the pages of the Word,
have you followed Him?
Church,
have you followed Him?
Have you sought Him
with all your heart?
Are you seeking after Jesus
to know Him?
Not just to know about Him,
not just to know doctrine.
Do you want to know Him
personally,
deeply,
intimately?
He invites us all there.
notice what it says.
They followed Jesus
and what did Jesus do?
He had just walked by them,
hadn't He?
And they start following Him.
What does He do?
Do you realize that
anybody who seeks Jesus,
Jesus always turns?
For anybody that is seeking,
truly seeking,
you know what He does?
He turns.
But it's an interesting question
He throws their way.
Do you know what the question is?
In the text it says this,
what are you seeking?
Why are you following me?
What are you doing?
What is He asking?
He's asking for their motive.
Why do you want to spend time with me?
What is your motive?
You know,
we can glimpse ahead
to chapter 6.
And it says this,
when He had fed
many in the wilderness
and He left
and He went to another place,
a large crowd followed Jesus.
You remember chapter 6.
And Jesus answered them.
He said,
why did you,
why have you come across
to the other side of the sea?
And He answered them and said,
Jesus,
He said,
truly, truly,
I say to you,
you are seeking me
not because you saw signs
and saw something supernatural,
but because you ate
and you're in,
excuse me,
you ate your fill
of the loaves.
Their belly was full.
They received food.
They're chasing Him
because He's a provider.
He can provide for 5,000
with a small handful of loaves
and some fish.
There's something supernatural
about this guy.
I love the fact
that I can eat and be full.
And they're chasing Him for why?
For what they can get.
You know what begs the question
for you and me?
Why are we following Jesus?
Are we following Jesus
for what we can get?
Are we following Him
for who He is?
Jesus said to these,
Do not work for food
that perishes,
but for the food
that endures to eternal life.
Don't live for the temporal.
Live for the spiritual.
Live for my kingdom.
Live for me.
And so they said to Him,
Rabbi, where are you staying?
In other words,
wherever you're going,
I'm going.
Wherever you're staying,
I'm staying.
We want to be at Your feet.
We want to be taught by You.
We want to learn.
We want to be in Your presence.
We're hungry for You.
We believe that You really are
the Messiah.
We've been looking for all these years
and now we know it for sure
that You're the One.
We want to be with You.
What did He say?
Nah.
I don't think you're ready.
That isn't what He said, is He?
He says, come.
You know, for all who seek Him,
you know what Jesus says?
Come.
And when He says come,
what is He going to show you?
He's going to show you Himself.
He's going to reveal to you
something so powerful.
Himself.
The author of life.
So they came and they saw
where He was staying
and they stayed with Him for a day
and it was about the tenth hour.
One of the two who heard Him speak
followed Jesus and followed Jesus
was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
And what did Andrew do
when he spent time with Jesus?
What was the effect on Andrew?
Do you notice?
He left and went and found Simon
and said, man, come on.
Come on.
You got to come, man.
You don't want to miss out on this.
He's right over there.
Come on.
Let's go.
And he takes his brother, Simon,
and he does what?
He takes him to Jesus.
Do you know if we chased Andrew
through the Gospels,
you know what he does?
He takes people to Jesus.
That's who he is.
He's like, I don't have all the answers,
but I know who does.
Come on.
I'm going to take you.
I'll show him.
Church, do we do the same thing?
We don't have all the answers.
Do you find yourself
taking people to Jesus?
Do you find yourself
that the problems
and the lives of people
that you come in contact with
are spiritual?
And if they're spiritual,
there's one who has an answer
for those spiritual things.
His name is Jesus.
And then,
we love this third encounter,
this encounter of Simon Peter,
of Peter,
we're going to call him Simon
because when they say here
in the text,
Simon Peter,
they're looking backwards
as they're writing this thing.
But you know who he was?
He was Simon.
His name was not Peter
until after the encounter.
Do you all know that?
Listen to what it says.
And by the way,
you know what I was struck by
when I was studying this?
You know who Simon Peter is?
As we read through the scriptures,
read through the book of Acts,
you know what it is?
He's this loud,
impetuous,
he puts his foot in his mouth,
he talks before he,
I mean,
he just,
he says things
that before he thinks about things.
He's just this
fire type of a guy,
fiery type of a guy.
And here's the encounter with Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said,
you are Simon.
You shall be Peter.
Think about that.
You are,
but you shall be.
You know,
before we were in the kingdom,
we were somebody,
but since we've come into the kingdom,
we're somebody else.
Do you all realize that?
Do you realize
that a true encounter with Christ
leads to being born again?
It leads to salvation.
It leads to a change.
It leads to newness of life.
You know,
Romans 6 says that.
We've been united with Christ,
so now walk in newness of life.
You've been born again.
You're no longer bound by sin,
but you're new creatures.
I've put my desires in your heart.
I've changed your heart of stone
and made it a heart of flesh.
And Peter was dumbstruck,
I'm just guessing.
There's no words
that seem to go from Peter.
He's like,
huh?
What do you mean
I'm going to be another guy?
Radically different guy.
Do you think that's true
in the life of Peter?
Do you see a different guy
after Pentecost?
You know,
Peter's the same one
that was scared
of the servant girl
at the gate
when he was going
to warm his hands
after Jesus had been arrested.
And you know,
that same guy
is the guy after Pentecost
that stood up
to the Pharisees
and said,
that's Jesus, man.
You need to be saved.
I mean,
he's saying,
in his first sermon,
he talks about,
you think these guys
are drunk
because they've had this,
the Holy Spirit
come upon them
in this Pentecostal thing.
You think they're drunk.
They're not drunk.
This is what was talked about
in the prophets.
This is the movement of God
that Joel spoke about.
I mean,
he's bold as a lion.
You go from this timid guy
that's scared
of getting hurt
to this bold guy
who's willing to die.
Is that true for you?
Do you find that now
that you're a Christian,
do you find that there's
a willingness in your life
and your heart
to be willing even
to die for the kingdom?
Amen.
You know,
that's the high call of God.
This soft,
mushy Christianity
that's being served up
on platters
is not what the Scriptures
talk about.
You know what the Scripture
talks about?
They talk about,
the Scripture talks about
a radical
giving my life away
to become a bondservant
of Christ
to set my eyes
and fix them on Jesus
to seek first
the kingdom of God
and His righteousness.
That that's the way I live.
I don't live
for the world anymore.
I don't live
for temporal things.
I live for Him now.
And let me just say this,
for those of us
who genuinely desire
to seek and live for Him,
you know what's going
to happen in your heart.
Even though our personalities
might not be like Peter's,
there's going to be
a boldness that comes
through the indwelling
Holy Spirit.
the fourth encounter.
The next day,
Jesus decided to go to Galilee.
He found Philip
and said to him,
Philip, follow me.
And you know what
some would think,
wait a minute,
Jesus, I've got things
at home I've got to do.
I left the garden unattended.
It's got some weeds in it.
I've got fishing plans
for my buddy.
I've got things
on the calendar, Jesus.
He says, follow me.
What did Philip say?
He said,
everything else
doesn't have any meaning
compared to the invitation.
Follow me.
And what does he do?
Very similar.
He found Nathaniel
and he said,
he said something different.
I want you to hear this.
And we're going to end
with Nathaniel's encounter.
But I want you to see
what Philip said
to Nathaniel.
Philip found Nathaniel.
So there he is again.
What is the effect
of experiencing
the presence of Jesus?
What is the impact
of the encounter
with Jesus?
On Philip,
you know what he did?
He went and told people.
He found him.
And he said,
come and see.
Come on,
let's go see.
I want you to see,
Jesus,
I want you to see
that he really is the Messiah.
And so he goes
and he says,
we found him.
Who?
The one that Moses
and the prophets
talk about.
Why would he bring that up?
Let me just say
that it gives insight
in the scripture here
that these two men
were seekers
of truth in the word.
They knew the law
and they knew the prophets.
They had been seeking hard.
They knew the prophecies
about the coming Messiah.
That's why it's interesting
to see the response
of Nathanael.
Listen.
We found him
of whom Moses
and the law
and also the prophets
wrote Jesus of Nazareth,
the son of Joseph.
Nathanael said,
can any good thing
come out of Nazareth?
I want us to see
why he makes that comment.
You know why?
Because he knew
the scriptures.
And what do the scriptures
say about where
the Messiah is coming from?
They don't ever mention Nazareth.
Nazareth is in that
part of Israel
that's not even pure.
You know when the temple
was built
and David was receiving
all the wood
and the cypress
and all the trees
from Hiram
and he was cutting
all this wood
and then afterwards
he gifted 20 cities
to Hiram
and it was in the region
where Nazareth is.
This region that was
kind of black eye
because of this.
And that's where
Jesus came from
this place called Nazareth.
But he's saying
wait a minute
there's no way
Nazareth
nothing good ever
comes out of Nazareth.
It's not pure.
And on top of that
the scriptures say
it's Bethlehem.
Why do you think
the Messiah is coming
from Nazareth?
You've got to be wrong.
And he says
well come and see.
You come and experience
and see for yourself.
He said well
I trust you.
I believe you.
You're a deep friend of mine
and I'm going to trust
that you have the perspective.
I'll go.
And what happens
when he gets there?
It's the encounter
of Nathaniel
with Jesus.
And listen to the encounter.
He says
how do you know me?
Did somebody tell you
about me?
I mean how do you know?
How do you know
that I'm not deceitful?
How do you know
I live like that?
Well you know
a caveat here
you know how
I know he knows?
He's omniscient.
Jesus knows our thoughts.
Jesus knows our desires.
Jesus knows all about him.
That's why Jesus
could say to Peter
you're going to be
somebody totally different.
You're going to be
using the kingdom
like you have no idea
that I've got a plan for you.
And he says
Nathaniel
when you were under
the fig tree
I saw you.
Now understand
it's hard to understand
what's going on here
but here's what I believe.
I believe that
Philip was in the habit
of getting alone with God.
And I hope all of us are.
And he had this hiding place.
Have you all ever seen a fig
when it's
figs are heavy on the limbs?
And when it hangs down?
Some of these fig trees
get humongous.
They're big.
And you know
there's a whole canopy of limbs.
You could go up under it
and it's like a whole
a nice little area
that the limbs
have sagged down
and they're kind of
protected this quiet place.
It's my belief
that likely he had gone there
for his quiet place
and nobody else knew about it.
He had found this spot
to get along with God
and even that morning
he was talking to God
and maybe even that morning
God had pricked his heart
with something powerful.
And so he says
I saw you
when you were under
the fig tree
and immediately
Nathaniel's mind
was like
uh-uh
nobody knows I was there.
Not a soul in the world
knows that's the greatest
hiding place
you've ever seen.
How do you know
I was there?
And he goes
you are God.
There's nobody
that could possibly know
that.
There's nobody
that could possibly know
what God spoke
to my heart this morning
but it's as if
Christ knew
every thought
that he had.
And he said
you're the son of God
you're the king of Israel.
Church
why do I spend
all this time
talking about
these encounters
with Jesus
is because
the message
is for you and me.
How has it affected
your life?
I realize
there might be
some here
that would say
I'm not a Christian.
I'm still investigating.
I'm still listening.
I'm still trying
to understand
what this is all about.
I'm drawn.
There's something
dragging me back
to church
dragging me back
to this whole idea
of Christ
and what it's all about.
I don't know
what it is
but I sense
something going on.
Let me just say
to you
if you're
in that
place
come and see.
Christ would say
why are you
following me?
Come on.
Come and see.
I will show you
who I am.
I will show you
who you are.
I will show you
what you need.
And for us church
for those of y'all
who are born again
those of y'all
who are genuinely
believers
you know what he says?
He says follow me.
And let me just
encourage all of us
when he says
follow me
he doesn't mean
just come to church
on Sunday.
You know what he means?
It's to give your life
away in service
to the king
that you would be
willing to be
the lowest servant
in the house
of your God.
Let's pray.
Father
I pray that your word
would move us
this morning
to turn
and follow you
all the days
of our life
to never veer
to the left
or to the right
but by your strength
and your power
and your supernatural
ability to move us
in our heart
Father
give us a courage
give us a desire
to want you
more than anything else.
And Father
I pray that you
sustain us
and you would lead us
and you would
draw us into
an intimate relationship
with you
in this I pray
in your name.
Amen.