← ArchiveSunday, January 11, 2015DateJanuary 11, 2015Speaker—TextJohn 1Passages in this sermonJohn 14:10John 1:354:22John 12:209:011 Peter 2:9–1220:30TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00and thank you brother greg thank you be praying for greg he's going to be slipping out here in a few minutes many of you know that his dear sweet grandmother went home to be with jesus and the angels in heaven rejoiced when she entered into the gate so be praying for brother greg0:26as he slips out in the service this afternoon the family gathering at 12 to 2 and then the service at 2 o'clock and i think randy's coming back to do that right oh randy's coming back that ought to be fun so you should go amen randy's a blessing brother i was thinking about our message today how to make your life count in this series called heart for one and we're going to look at the life of0:53andrew and and you you might some of you are like me you were born a baptist and i ran across a neat little article it said on each friday after work bubba had to be a boy from the south right the name bubba would fire up the outdoor grill and he would cook venison steak but1:18somebody over here give me an amen would you thank you very much but all of bubba's neighbors were catholic and since it was the lent time of year they were forbidden to eat meat on friday and so the delicious aroma of the grill venison steaks would cause such a problem for the catholic faithful that they finally talked to their priest about it and so when they spoke to their priest the1:48priest came to visit bubba and and suggested that he become a catholic after several classes and much bubba attended mass and as he uh it sprinkled the uh the priest sprinkled holy water all over him he said these words to him you were born a baptist you were raised a baptist but now you are a catholic2:10bubba's neighbors were greatly excited about this and were relieved until friday of the next week came along and there old bubba was in the backyard at the new grill grilling those venison steaks and the aroma was filling the neighborhood again the priest was called immediately and and the neighbors and and2:35they all rushed to bubba's backyard and and he was clutching they were clutching their rosary beads and preparing to scold him he stopped they all stopped in amazement because there was bubba standing at the grill and he was clutching a ball small bottle of water and he proclaimed it to be holy water and he carefully sprinkled it over the meat and he was chanting these words you was born a deer you was raised a3:02deer but now you is a catfish you might have been born a baptist but you had to do something to become a christ follower you might have been born a methodist but you had to do something to be a christ follower and when you3:25became a christ follower there was one command on each and every one of our lives is that we go go and share the story god said it to us at the mouth of transfiguration he said go therefore and make disciples he actually gives it to us in the little greek translation as3:55as you go it's a continual process until he calls us home but i love what we study in the life of andrew andrew's story can be found in only three spots and the most vivid of those stories are found in john chapter one if you brought your bible i challenge you to turn with me or maybe you've got your phone or your ipad booted up and look with me and john chapter one verse thirty five i'm reading the new english standard version and i want you to read with me as i4:24read god's word john chapter one verse thirty five 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 and jesus turned and saw them and said to them you are seeking what are you seeking4:52and they said to him rabbi which translates or which means teacher where are you staying he said to them come and you will see and they came and they saw where he was staying and they stayed with him that day for it was about the tenth hour verse forty one of the two who heard john speak and followed jesus was andrew5:21simon peter's brother he first found his own brother simon and said to him we have found the messiah which means christ this is very important verse forty two underline this he brought him to jesus and jesus looked at him and said you're simon the son of john5:50you shall be called cephas which means peter let's pray father god we ask you right now let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart lord be acceptable in your sight lord we love you we praise you we thank you for what you're about to do in this place lord do your work and do all of your work work in our lives today challenge us from your word today and we give you all the praise and all the glory and all the honor6:20in jesus name we pray and the church said amen the ancient story of the the apostle andrew kind of goes as follows uh it was told by the great historian euboeus and he says at the day of pentecost he traveled north up to a modern area of russia and he preached the gospel there uh ultimately he traveled through scotland what is known as scotland and then down to southern greece and in greece6:50the wife of the influential roman governor he led her to faith in christ which infuriated the roman governor in response the roman governor demanded that she recant her devotion to christ and she refused and so in turn the roman governor issued an order or a decree and he said i want andrew crucified so the governor's orders to ask when they obtained and gathered up andrew7:19not did they nail him to a cross they lashed him to a cross they instead of nailing him they hung him with ropes on the cross he hung there for two days and during that period of time unbelievable pain andrew constantly being hung there by these ropes was constantly encouraging the passerbyers to come to faith in christ he was encouraging those to come to jesus and until his final moments his final breath7:48he spoke the one last time he said you must come to christ you see i believe that we can baptize a one phrase in that particular passage today i think we can understand that andrew had a unique ministry and i look at the message truth in your life there are many things that you and i can do that will make a difference in the lives of people yet there is one thing that you and i can do and that's the biggest to make8:18to make the biggest difference of all that is to bring people to jesus i want you to say something with me this morning i want to give you three principles but i want you to say something with me this morning god wants me to bring people to jesus repeat that with me god wants me to bring people to jesus you see god wants every one of us in this room to have that riveted into our souls to have that idea that god wants us to bring people to jesus8:47period if we do nothing else in church work god wants us to bring people to jesus as we look at the story of andrew we see the legacy that he left on john chapter 12 verse 20 philip had some greets come to him wanting them to bring them to jesus yet philip stumbled through the process so he went to andrew and sought his help and andrew helped them walk them through that process i want9:17i want to bring people to jesus today i believe if we rivet that into our souls walk away with that idea that god has called every one of us to bring people to jesus and let him do the saving power then we will be the church god wants us to be i believe the study of andrew leads us to helping us understand we can bring people to jesus if we won't compromise our9:46our calling you see john the baptist he was an unusual person was he not look with me to john chapter 1 verse 35 and the next day john stood with two of his disciples looking at jesus walk by and he said behold the lamb of god then two of the disciples heard him speak and they followed jesus let me give you an explanation the study of andrew the apostle andrew has a lot in common with all the other apostles first of all he has his peter was his10:16was his brother secondly peter james and john and andrew all grew up in the same village of bethesda thirdly about the same time they're about all the same age but there's one outstanding outstanding thing about andrew that makes him different than all the other apostles he had a deep sense of calling a deep sense of purpose in his life andrew was more sensitive to god and he had more sensitive of god's spirit than most of the other disciples he had a deep deep sense10:45deep sense of a purpose in his life and they set that purpose that even more that peter had and peter we know he is the one we all wave that oh my goodness upon this rock i'll build my church you see andrew had this deep deep sense of calling on his life and therefore not only did he have that he sought out the information so he sought out an eccentric baptist preacher named john now this is an interesting breed of animal this john the baptist dude yes his11:15yes his ministry was out in the barren wilderness and he didn't make it soft on anybody so andrew sought after and was following john the baptist and have you ever considered what it would be like to be in john the baptist following can you imagine it wasn't comfortable like this it wasn't a comfortable surroundings he did most of his work most of his work was out in the wilderness the hot barren judean wilderness he was a miserable place to go but john11:45but john the baptist didn't care he had one purpose and that was to proclaim the name of the lord andrew's purpose was to find the information so he could bring people to jesus and so john the baptist was the one he chose to follow first and john the baptist had this strange diet of hopping creature called wild wild locusts and to have his dessert he didn't have johnny ray's lemon pie no what did he have he swatted away the bees and dug out the wild12:14wild honey that was the kind of interesting person and john the baptist was kind of a weird duck and fact of the matter is why in the world would you want to follow somebody like that when i look at the word andrew it actually means manly he is a manly man to be quite honest with you to follow this guy named john the baptist you see john the baptist didn't stand in a pulpit in a nice comfortable surroundings like this he stood up against all odds against all the situations he said12:44he said he was a rough tough kind of guy a man of god he didn't soften his prophetic message whatsoever he called the pharisees hyper hypocritical brood of vipers he called government officials he called them out as adulterers being his follower would automatically labeled you some kind of radical not some kind of book called radical i'm talking about a serious radical and so this is who john andrew was following that this deep sense13:13deep sense in his heart he knew the truth when he heard it he was willing to sacrifice to find it therefore when he followed john while all the while he held down watch this a secular job you see andrew wasn't a full-time vocational minister andrew was a fisherman he held down a secular job while he was not compromising his call he didn't compromise his call13:43his call nor did he compartmentalize his life now that's the thing that we like to do is church work don't we this is where we hear oh we're having a good time and thank you brother greg for leading us musical worship we had a great sunday school and we had all our little snacks and all that stuff and i thank god for all of that we love this environment that we're in here and this is a warm environment yet we'll go tomorrow to our regular jobs and then we switch off many of us in this room we will switch off14:13switch off we will compartmentalize this is my christ following moment and tomorrow is my work moment you see andrew did not compartmentalize nor did he compromise his calling john the baptist made this statement behold the lamb of god in verse 37 and he finds his response the bible says the two disciples heard him speak and they followed him it reminds me of an imb missionary named the dearmans they were serving in south africa sunny and dean14:43dean dearman they were serving in south africa and they were driving their automobile it's actually a van and they were driving this van they were pulled over by the police and the policeman came up and he had tears in his eyes he said please pray for me just pray that god will forgive me they were stunned now i'll be honest with15:13honest with you i'm going to confess something i've been pulled over by the police i don't know why they bugged me these moody police i don't know what's their deal maybe they just want me to pray for them no they want me to slow down a little bit amen and i just forget that that speed limit sign i just forget it it's not that i willfully want to sin in that area i just forget but they pulled over this missionary couple he pulled them over he said15:42he said please pray for me and they were stunned and they said absolutely and they prayed and they told him about jesus love and grace and mercy and forgiveness and the police officer prayed and received jesus christ as his personal savior and lord and he went away with this big smile on his face and they were still sitting there stunned what happened why how did they how did he know to pull us over and they remembered on16:12remembered on the back of their van there was a big huge bumper sticker that had for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have life everlasting that is not compromising their calling god's consistent call on our life is to know jesus first and to make him known the bible tells us in john chapter one verse thirty five we have met that's what andrew says he said we16:42have found the messiah we found christ and what did he do the first person he went to was simon peter he said we found the messiah you see andrew did not compromise his calling secondly i can bring people to jesus if i won't minimize my conviction pick it up in verse 38 then jesus turned seeing them follow17:11them follow and said to him what do you see they said to him rabbi which is translated teacher where are you staying he said to them come and see and they came and saw where he was staying and remained with him that day and it was about the tenth hour john the baptist said to these two disciples and one happened to be andrew behold the lamb of god the bible says andrew and other disciples got up and began to follow jesus in verse 38 this says being followed17:41being followed means they turned away from what they were doing there they knew where they wanted to know where he was going because they wanted to be with him and jesus said come and see you see we can bring people to jesus if we don't minimize our calling you see folks changed lives changes lives a changed life will lead others to have a changed life changed18:10changed lives lives changes lives i can bring people to jesus if i won't compromise my calling i can bring people to jesus if i don't minimize if i don't minimize my convictions i can bring people to jesus if i can make a total full-on commitment to holy living that means in the workplace that means at the athletic facility18:40facility that means at the schoolhouse that means at the church house i can bring people to jesus when i'm surrendered to the lordship of jesus christ through holy living christians actually changed the world it wasn't a huge evangelistic crusade as we would think it was just lives that were changed changing other lives let me illustrate that the roman empire was a pagan place where christian values were little known or honored the morality19:09the morality was awful and it was at a historical low life expectancy was about half of what it would be here in america divorce was prominent abortion was frequent and often a child was born they would determine the gender of that child at birth and they would keep the male babies and they would either take the little female babies down to the seashore and toss them into the sea or take them out into the forest and let them dive exposure this ultimately caused a19:39caused a huge disequilibrium in between the number of males and female babies males and females and the roman empire which caused all sorts of problems yet on the other hand the roman empire had an unusual had an unusual tolerance towards religious beliefs july 19 about ad 64 when rome was burning nero blamed the christians for the burning quickly the rumors spread around the20:09around the region that christians were cannibals because they were celebrating the lord's supper that spoke of bread being a symbol of flesh and wine which being a symbol of blood before long christians were thrown into the lion's den dipped into pitch or placed on poles and burned in nero's garden yet three years later peter wrote this in first peter chapter 2 verses 9 through 12 live such good lives among pagans that they accuse you doing wrong20:39doing wrong that they accuse you of doing wrong they may see your good deeds and glorify god in the day he visits christians and husbands and wives began to live faithfully to each other avoid devoid of divorce women were treated with respect and abortions didn't happen as often and they kept in love their little babies no matter what the gender was they would look for other babies on the seashore in the forest21:08and they would take them in and raise them when disease and plague swept through the certain cities the roman empire the standard of health approached it leveled the town and leaving the disabled and the elderly behind but christians would stay behind and they would take care of the elderly they would bring in the shutty and the sick and the diseased they would take care of them and help them and lead them to faith in christ and lead them to a conversion experience after a period of time21:38of time after those girl babies were set aside christians had the lock on the corner of the market so to speak and they became young women and they wanted to marry husbands that would love them and the whole course of history started changing because christians that had lives changed were changing lives they didn't minimize their conviction they stood firm on that amazing we wanted to see how to learn22:08and grow when slaves repopulated the cities christians often helped them to find a place to stay and find jobs and teach them a language and about commerce in short living holy lives the power was astonishing the result beginning in the fourth century the fifth century the roman empire changed to become a majority of christ followers and a christian empire while many historians many historians22:37many historians they credit constantine for this effort rodney stark a professor at the university of washington wrote at the princeton university press gives it evidence in his book the rise of christianity detailing proof that it actually was the holy lives of christians that set the stage and changed the course of history i can bring people to jesus if i don't23:06compromise my call i can bring people to jesus if i won't minimize my conviction many people have asked me on occasion i've been in ministry over 30 years now they've asked me time and time and time and time again fact of the matter is i will have that question asked of me this week by people in central america they asked me this question when is america gonna come back to jesus what will23:35what will it take to bring america to god i've been thinking and pondering over that question for many many years and i remembered hearing dr rick warren preach at a conference at my church and dr warren had that same question ask him many brad's had that anybody in vocational ministry we have that question asked when are we gonna see america come to faith in christ and i think24:03it's gonna have to happen with transformed lives changed lives are gonna have to live accordingly not minimize our conviction if we're gonna stand up and say jesus is my lord on sunday we've got to stand up on wednesday and say jesus is my lord if america is gonna come to faith in christ we have got to have people who will say i will not minimize my24:32my conviction not minimize rick warren said it this the reason why people don't come to jesus as their lord and savior in america is that they've never met a christian or they've met a christian i want you to let that sink in because that really haunted me when he said that folks we are looked upon right25:02right now as a non-christian nation you say wait a minute no we got more christians no we got more people who had the brand but they don't live it we got churches that are standing vacant today yet we want to run off and go plant another one we need to revitalize the congregations in our own tribe called baptist work amen we must say i will bring people to jesus because i will not25:31will not minimize my convictions thirdly i will bring people to jesus because i won't emphasize my inabilities pick it up in verse 40 one of the two heard john speak and followed him and andrew simon peter's brother he was first found with his own brother simon he said we have found the messiah which is translated to christ and he26:01and he brought him to jesus now when jesus looked at him he said to simon son of jonah you shall be called cephas which translated means peter or a stone you see i will bring people to jesus when i won't compromise my calling i will bring people to jesus when i won't minimize my conviction i will bring people to jesus when i won't26:31won't emphasize my inabilities when we study the life of andrew looking for jesus and he found him one of the first converts that peter andrew led was his own brother peter now despite andrew as an apostle despite all these others he kind of took a back seat from that point forward when you look at a study of the life of andrew the apostle andrew he's not one of those guys that this comes out there and he's got27:01got all these books named after him all this kind of stuff further when we understand who he is he loved jesus so much that he could not stand it if anybody didn't know him he wanted everyone to know him the first person he wanted to know was simon when the disciples went to the mount transfiguration peter james and john were chosen andrew was left behind when jesus asked for special people to pray for him he asked27:31asked peter james and john he always had these three seem to be bucking for greater position yet andrew stood right back we know that peter had that jaw muscle always wanting to be first andrew seemed to be taking a secondary position we have first second third john to study but not no first second and third andrew we have first and second peter but no first and second Andrew we have the gospel according to john but we don't have a gospel according28:01according to andrew do we but andrew led peter to christ and peter get this led 3000 soon at the day of pentecost do you think andrew's life is worthy andrew had one job bring people to jesus because he didn't compromise his calling because he did not minimize his conviction28:30conviction because he did not he did not minimize his conviction he did not emphasize his inabilities i want you to look with me something on the screen i had eric pull this picture up many of you may have seen this i know brad may have used it in a sermon or two i was thinking about this yesterday and i looked on my phone and i28:59and i looked it up and i sent eric a note and he immediately said yes i got it no problem that's a disturbing photo that photo was taken in sudan a nation that is in horrible conditions that is a starving sudanese child and obviously a buzzer looking at that child now that's a29:27shocking photo for some of you is it not it's shocking to me i have that photo in my laptop occasionally i'll just pull it up and make sure that i have it but i didn't have my laptop with me so i had to send him a note and he looked at it and i was reminded of that photo and some of the things that took place with that photo that photo won kevin carter the pulitzer prize may 23rd 1994 for photo journalism29:56photo journalism and i started thinking about that photo and it shocked me what will i do you see that photo is named wanting a meal that's what it's named wanting a meal i started thinking about the photo the photo reminds me of the buzzer being the devil he's wanting a meal and he30:24and he wants one more life he can get and there is a starving child physically starving but we have a starving spiritual world a world that is going to step over into glory or step over into eternity separated from the love of god if we don't tell them it's our fault30:54fault it's on us and we can say we got to be politically correct and send someone straight to hell i would rather be christian correct than politically correct you say well dan i might lose my job so be it you don't think god knows that you don't think god will protect you from that the grace and the mercy of god put a hedge31:24of protection around and right now i look at that picture and it breaks my heart what what what can i do what can this lonely little baptist preacher do it haunted kevin carter it haunted him to the point of even though he won the pulitzer prize which is the the biggest prize for photojournalism it broke his heart what could he31:54could he have done fact of the matter is it he realizing his mistake it grieved his heart so that kevin carter went back to his house and he wrote this note i'm sorry i'm really sorry and on the other side of the note he put these words the pain of life overrides the joy to the point that joy32:23that joy does not exist he got his cameras and set it in the car seat next to him he pulled his car into the garage dropped the garage door left the car running and committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning because he didn't do enough for that child other than take his picture folks we32:51folks we have people in our street we have people that live on our block in our community we have people that live maybe in our house and yet we've not told them of the saving grace of Jesus only one Andrew Simon we found33:21we found the Messiah let me bring you to Jesus we have an opportunity every day I can bring people to Jesus if I won't compromise my calling if I won't minimize my conviction if I won't emphasize my inabilities I can33:50I can bring someone to Jesus over six billion people on this planet nearly seven one country called India has over a billion people in it this country has 350 million people and we're rapidly becoming a place where missionaries are being sent to from other nations and we34:19and we have all the abilities and all the tools to see revival take place to see the kingdom of God increase but we've got to make a decision I can bring people to Jesus if I won't compromise my calling if I won't minimize my conviction or emphasize my inabilities all Christ is asking34:49is asking us to do is to bring someone to him let's pray with every head bowed and every eye closed I believe beyond a shadow of doubt many of you in this room you are totally committed to bringing people to Jesus you are committed to the cause35:18cause of Christ I've heard your stories I've heard your testimonies I've heard your heart you are committed to it students and adults alike we've heard it maybe you're here today and you say Dan my heart has been stirred today the word of God has riveted my soul today and I want35:48want to be an Andrew I want to be that Andrew as the instrumentalists are playing softly our song of invitation if you're here today and you say Dan I I'm that person I want to be an Andrew just slip your hand up right where you are and say pastor I want to be that Andrew yes sir just slip it up right back down yes maybe maybe you are an Andrew already and you want to be bolder than you've ever been36:18been just slip your hand up and say Dan pastor I want to be yes God bless you yes yes yes God you see the heart and you see the hands of these in this room and many maybe just couldn't raise their hand right now that's okay God you see their heart God you know what you're going to do in this room right now you know what's about to happen in this room and God we just we36:48we just praise you for it God I confess this week as I finish the final touches of this sermon Lord you just convicted my heart that this old Baptist preacher until you call me home Lord I just want to be that Andrew I want to bring people to you Lord I just want to bring people to you each one in I want Lord open those doors and give me courage to37:18to stand up and proclaim your name God thank you for your word thank you for shocking us with your word today and God I pray for this great congregation of people in this room I believe I believe Lord Jesus something great is about to happen in this place and we give you all the glory those37:46those that raised their hand Lord I pray you give them courage to stand up and step out and come to this altar and maybe pray with a friend or maybe they have another name to put on one of these sheets or maybe they have a new sheet with some names on it God give them courage maybe there's some in this room Lord that need to make a decision public for you today maybe some in38:19there may be some here today Lord that need to unite with this faith family and say this is where I want to plant right now and we rejoice in those that have already joined this year God just do your work in this place in Christ's name we pray amen we stand and sing Matt's leading us you come right now if the altar is open you may come kneel and pray maybe come to speak to me whatever it might be you come whatever decision God's put38:49put on your heart you come right now as he youMore sermons on John 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