(John 1:41)
�He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.�
A couple of weeks ago I was frantically searching for my car keys. Now, I don�t know why. I haven�t driven in several months. I�ve not been out of town and the bus that goes right by my front door also goes everywhere in town I need to go. It�s a lot cheaper, at these gas prices, and saves me a lot of trouble looking for parking spots.
Nonetheless, there I was on my hands and knees, under chairs and couches, looking for the key. Then, on Sunday I put on a suit I hadn�t worn in a few weeks. Well, my keys weren�t there either. They were, however, in the desk drawer where I keep spare change. On the top of the change.
I found them when I took change out of my jacket to toss into the draw. There they were, hiding in plain sight.
We�ve all done things like this. We look for things and miss them because they are in a too familiar position.
Today�s text verse says that Andrew was searching. �He findeth first his own brother Simon��
Andrew went out and searched for his brother. In the natural, aren�t we glad that he did. Andrew went out, found his brother, and convinced him to become a follower of Jesus. That brother, Simon, was later to be called �Peter.� Peter would become one of the pillars of the early church. It was Peter who first spread the Gospel to the Gentiles.
It was Simon Peter�s brother, Andrew, who led him to the Lord.
Many of those who populate the pews have fantasized that they would someday carry the Gospel across the sea. They would do great things for the Lord when they reached a foreign shore. Ain�t likely! We are not going to be any different in our proclamation of the Gospel message in a land where we are not known than we are among those we do know.
Still, we must acknowledge that it is hard to reach out to those whom we know the best. You know why this is? It�s because they are the one�s who know us the best. We can�t con them into believing that Jesus has made any difference in our lives unless He really has done so.
The state lottery was at $265,000,000.00 last week. Don�t you think that a whole lotta people were spending their one dollar bills on this thing? They were thinking how much their life would change if only they were able to win that prize. They made all kind of plans, and all kind of promises, to themselves about what they would do when they won. Most of them were going to be really good to all their friends. They were going to give money away to those in need.
It all reminds me about the country preacher who was talking with one of his churches members. �Preacher,� said Jeb, �If I win that lottery I�m going to give the church twenty million dollars to help out with the poor in this county. We�ll have some real good witness amongst �em.�
�Well, Jeb,� the preacher said, �Maybe you could just give a couple of pigs to the church. We could butcher them and give the meat to the needy in the county. That�d get them all thinking kindly about the church.�
�Now, Preacher,� Jeb shot back, �Don�t be talking like that. You know I got pigs.�
You see, Jeb was trying to find a way to help with the witness of the church. But, he wasn�t willing to actually do anything.
Andrew was willing to share with Simon.
We need to share the message that Jesus died in time so that we could live in eternity. We need to share that message with those who we know.
Too be brutally honest, we can�t share that message with someone we don�t know.
You have a mission field.
It�s yours alone.
You have a mission field.
It�s near your home.
You see your mission field
Each step you take.
Work in your mission field
�ere it�s too late.
I mentioned just above that I�ve been riding the bus. There is an example of a mission field. I can see a group of people in that situation that I�d never meet within the confines of the church.
The doctor has suggested that I begin to go out early to the mall and just walk around the place. A lot of people do this now. It is a popular form of exercise. I can see a group of people in that situation that I�d never meet within the confines of the church.
I�ve even considered going to the local park with a bag of popcorn. I could feed the birds and squirrels. (Oh! Am I that old!) I can see a group of people in that situation that I�d never meet within the confines of the church.
I know of a pastor who used to go to the train and bus stations. He might not have built up his church among those travelers. But, he did build up the Kingdom of God!
I�m sure you could add some suggestions about how to meet people. Maybe the local community center, where some people go to cool off on the hot summer days, would be a suggestion. Maybe the local coffee house where some people go to spend a half an hour just �nursing� a cup of coffee, would be a suggestion. Maybe, and I�m being a little forward here, a family reunion, might be a suggestion as a place to meet people.
I now, I hear the complaint - because I�ve made it too! �O. K. I can go there. Now what can I do. I can�t just �button-hole� someone and begin to witness.�
Let me give you a few easy suggestions.
First, when you get up in the morning, what do you do? You have a general routine, don�t you? Just add something to this routine. Try reading a chapter or two from the Scripture. I didn�t say you had to study. It wouldn�t be a bad idea; but, try just reading.
If you read the newspaper, first thing in the morning, your mind will go back to yesterday�s news all day. If you start off with the Scripture, your mind might just wander over to the timeless things of God. Besides, it doesn�t really hurt to be familiar with the Scripture in more places than just where the Sunday School quarterly takes you.
Now, just pray a little. This does not have to be an elaborate prayer. Remember, you are not preparing a college thesis on the language of conversation with deity. You�re just saying, �Hello,� to God and letting Him know that you�re thinking about Him.
It doesn�t hurt to have a few tracts, with your churches name stamped on the back (This is important. People need to know where to go to get further information about Jesus!) brought along with you. Just leave them on a bench. Trust me, someone will pick them up and read them.
Now, and this might be a little harder, start to read something. The Bible would be good. So, also would be a good Christian magazine. Remember, you�ve already read some Scripture and prayed. Someone will come by and ask, �What are you reading?�
At this point you�ve engaged in �personal work.� You do not have to be a theologian. All you have to know is that your �religion� has been good for you. The thought of it gives you peace. Just mention your church and say something like, �And, we�re open on Sunday if you�d like to drop by. There�s some good people there.�
You see? You�ve been friendly. You haven�t attacked the person. You haven�t coerced them to do anything. You haven�t �gone on out a limb.� You�ve just said that you have an interest in the things of God. You enjoy your church. You like it; they might be interested.
In this way, without doing anything special, you have begun a path which might bring salvation to someone.
That is all Andrew did. He said, �Simon, come over here and meet this Jesus.�
From there on the work is that of the Spirit. You�ve already prayed for this in the morning with your coffee.
Now we look at Andrew and see that he was saying something. ��and saith unto him��
Our Supreme Court, in all its collective wisdom, has decided that the act of burning our flag is protected as �free speech.� I�ll admit that I have a little problem here. My native tongue is English so I have trouble understanding how a physical act can be construed as speech.
I understand the concept of �signing� for the hearing impaired. My son is bringing up his children to understand some of these signs. He says it is so he can discipline them in public without causing a scene. I think it is so he can make fun of �Grandpa� without Grandpa finding out!
Anyway. I understand this as speech - because it is speech. But a physical act of destruction seems to be more of vandalism than speech.
Oh, well. That�s why our tax code is incomprehensible. It was written by people who actually use this type of reasoning.
To me, speech is verbalization. This is how Andrew spread the message of Jesus to Simon, his brother.
We can live a good life. And, we should. We can live a moral life. And, we should. We can live a life at peace with all men. And, we should. But, alone, this can give no indication as to our motivation to live with serenity and peace.
We can engage in acts of altruism. And, we should. But, no one will understand that our acts of charity are driven by a desire to please our Lord if no one ever hears us speak of Him.
One night when I was working the third shift at a convenience store, a man came in and struck up a conversation. He said that he was originally from Mexico. Then he said, �I�ve lived here for most of my life. But, Mexico is my home. That is where my heart is. I like your country; but, it just doesn�t seem like home.�
Had he not mentioned his ancestry, I�d have never given it a thought. He seemed just another young man coming in to buy some chips and a soda. But, he was proud of his native land.
Shouldn�t we be proud of our Lord? Shouldn�t we speak of Him? We don�t need to preach. But, we do need to inform others of our conviction to follow Jesus. In a world of competing lifestyles and causes why do we feel that we can never speak of the Love of God?
I spoke of the state lottery, earlier. I was at a breakfast one time when a man was reading his newspaper. He looked up, and said to his wife, �Dear, would you look at this. We won two and a half million dollars in last night�s lottery.�
He didn�t care who heard him say this. He had something good.
We have something better in Christ, Jesus!
What surprised me about the man was the low-key way in which he told his wife. Most people would have been jumping up and down, hopping from table to table. He just, matter-of-factly mentioned it to her.
Have you ever been around a man who is a new father for the first time? Was he blas� about this? Probably not. He was probably quite animated as he spoke about this new little �bundle of joy� that was coming to spend time in his life.
I can imagine Andrew as acting in this mode. I think that he was really excited that he had found the Messiah. I believe that he used a real vitality to spread this message.
I have a picture of me with our wedding license on the day Linda and I were married. I am shaking it in the photographers face, letting him see what I have. I look as though I might be a little excited. Folks, I was!
That was a very important and special day. I knew it!
It was a very important and special day when we received the gift of eternal life from Jesus. We need to be so appreciative and excited about that fact that we will want to find ways to announce the fact.
Part of the vitality of Andrew lie in the fact that he understood the veracity of the message. He knew it was true. Guess what? It�s still true!
Jesus stands ready to offer salvation to all who would accept Him and His death on Calvary as the solution for their sin problem.
We know this is true because this is the message that God has given us in the Scripture which He inspired and preserved. He has taken the effort to give us a certain message of a certain salvation.
That is important.
Notice that Andrew appealed to Scripture when he approached his brother. ��We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.�
First, Andrew related Scripture as the reason why he was excited at the prospect of meeting Jesus.
If I work at it, and find them in someone else�s writing, I can put forth a pretty good argument. Guess what? Satan can always find a better argument than can I. We must rely upon the message of Scripture when we confront others with the Gospel.
That isn�t a bad thing. The Scripture is all we have in this life that we can, completely and unhesitatingly, trust. It is the Scripture which gives us insight into the realms of the Spirit. We can have no understanding of the things of God without the message of the Scripture.
That is why God gave this Word for mankind.
That is why God has preserved this Word for us in this day.
But, we also need to trust in the Word of the Spirit. It is not our argument, or our mastery of debate, or even our knowledge of Scripture that is important in spreading the Word of God. The important element is that the Spirit of God be involved. That is why it is so important that we pray, by name, for those of which we have a burden.
I have never milked a cow. I understand that many of the old time farmers who did so would use a three legged stool. This would hold them up, and give them a maneuverability as they went about their task.
We have a three legged tool to spread the word of Salvation. The first leg is that of the Scripture. With this we learn the things which God would have us to know about Him and the spiritual realms. We also gain much insight about the nature of humanity as we read His Word.
The second leg is that of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of God which gives our witness power. Without this power we are simply useless in a spiritual battle. Last week I bought my grandchildren two of those blow up balls with rubber bands attached. The rubber band is held and the ball is then punched. The kids really enjoy this game.
But, one of the rubber bands broke. Without that rubber band this ball was simply a bag of air. That is where we are without the energizing power of the Holy Spirit. Everything may appear the same. But, without that attachment to the Spirit, we tend to just fly away and never are able to, really, do the job at hand.
We might try. But, without the Spirit we are faulty tools outside the place of service.
Still, we do have a place of service. We are the third leg of the stool. God has given to us the responsibility to spread the message of Salvation to the world at large. It is our work as physical beings as we speak of Heavenly matters.
Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior. I can attest that this is the best decision you will ever make - in time or eternity!
Accept Jesus as your own Savior.
Do it today!