The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 3: Come and See

Episode Date: April 25, 2021

Who are you inviting to “come and see” Jesus for themselves? Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

Amen, amen. What a story. How many of you are simultaneously inspired and a bit intimidated? I mean, give me a break. Holy, I feel like I'm going to have to suck it in all the time here. We might have to work out today, Jeff, or maybe take a nap. One of those two. Wow.

For those of you listening to a podcast three months from now, we just saw a life chain story from a girl who is just Jack. Holy moly. Hey, grab your Bibles. We're going to be in John Chapter 1, and we're in this 28-week series, just studying the book of John and it's taken us three weeks, but after three weeks, we're going to get through the first chapter. Now, if you're doing the math here and think, good gracious, we're going to be in this thing for like 63 weeks. It's going to speed up a little as we go, but we got to take the time to walk through and lay the

foundation from John chapter 1 because it matters like crazy for us to understand all of the rest of it. So grab your Bibles, John Chapter 1, and as you're turning there, I just want to take one second just to say thank you to you. Because my favorite thing on the world to do is to be able to study and teach and preach God's word. And I want to thank you. I mean, the only difference between me and the crazy guy on the street corner yelling at people is an audience, and you're that audience. And so, you're my favorite people to teach the Bible to on the planet. And thank you for showing up each week with your Bible and leaning in and putting a smile on your face and just having such a hunger for the word of God. And God willing, I hope to be able to do this for the next 20 or 30 years. And so thank you,

thank you, thank you, that you let me do this. So here we go. We're going to dive right in, chapter 1, verse 35, says this. The next day, again, John, that's John the baptizer, in case you weren't here last week, John the baptizer, was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, behold, underline that word, behold the Lamb of God. Now, if you were here last week, you remember that John the baptizer is out in the Jordan, dunking people and preaching a very short sermon, and he would just say, repent, repent, and turn to the Lord. And he He would look at the religious people and call them like a basket of snakes and he'd really yell at them and call them like wretched, blackhearted sinners and all of that kind of stuff. And then during the middle of one of his sermons, he stops everything because there's his cousin, Jesus, and he says,

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the entire world. Well, apparently his disciples didn't pay much attention to him the first day because the next day he has to give the very same message. How many of you know that sometimes you've got to tell people the same things over and over. and over again. This is why I still have a job, by the way. Because if y'all just do what I said the first time, then we'd all be squared away. But he says, behold, the Lamb of God.

Now, again, what he's talking about, when he said those words, behold, the Lamb of God, that word, behold, matters like crazy. In fact, last Thursday after service, there's a young man that attends our church, and he came up to me to just talk about the sermon a little bit, and you know who he is.

is Tim Tebow. He comes to our church, and I thought what he was going to do is compliment me on my new boots that a gator had to die in order for me to receive. He did not want to talk about my boots, but what he did want to talk about is this word, behold, and he starts breaking down the etymology of the word in Greek, and he told me, he said, actually, it's the Greek word imblepo. Say imlepo. Now say it with like a Tebow kind of enthusiasm. Imblepo. Look, you're learning Greek. Congratulations. all right it's a compound word and in means like through and blepo means to see so when john the baptist says behold he means i don't want you to just look with your eyes i want you to see through the circumstances

because i can see something that you don't see yet it's like to it's like to perceive something with your mind what you see is a carpenter just walking up here to the jordan and i see the creator of the universe. What you see is just a guy from Nazareth, and what I see is the Savior of all mankind. Behold, this is what he says. So then the next day, he says it again. Behold the Lamb of God. And when he said Lamb of God, this is a little bit of review from last week, all of his Jewish audience there would have immediately at least thought of the Passover Lamb, the Lamb that was slain so that when the angel of death came through Egypt at that time. He would pass over anyone that had the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of their house. And John the baptizers is saying, behold, there he is.

And he's not just another Lamb of God that's come to cover over the sin of the Jewish people for one year, but he is the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sin of the entire world. And by the way, last weekend, 55 people beheld the Lamb of God and had their sins taken away. Amen? Which, by the way, in the last three weeks, 306 people at all of our campuses and online has surrendered their life to the Lordship of Christ. And 14 of those are our brothers at Baker Correctional. Amen?

Praise God. Praise God. Now, your little golf clap just lets me know. You got no idea. I know. At 1122, you're like, oh, cool. That happens about every other Tuesday, doesn't it? No!

Do you know at the average denominational church there's one salvation a year? Do you understand that? And God is breathing something. I mean, what are we doing these last three weeks? We're just talking about the Gospel of John and God is saving. And this is a revival kind of stuff, all right?

So, there you go. That's a little bit better. Start getting you all a double shot of espresso before you come here on Sunday morning. So he says, Behold, the Lamb of God. Verse 37, the two disciples heard him say this, They follow Jesus.

By the way, what we're going to see all through the New Testament when it talks about John the baptizer is that all he did with his life is point people to Jesus. That if you were to ask John the Baptist what he's all about, essentially he would say the point of my life is to point people to Jesus, which shows his humility because as his audience is growing, as his brand is growing, as his platform is getting bigger, all he's ever saying is, no, no, no, no, it's not about me, it's all about Jesus. you to know at the Church of 1122, it's all about Jesus. It ain't about me, it ain't about the music,

and it ain't about the sweet facilities, or the kids' face, or any of that stuff. All we want to do is point people to Jesus. So if you ever walk out of here and you're talking about anything other than Jesus, then we're not doing it right. Because what he wants to do is just point people to Jesus. And so two of the disciples, hear him say this,

they shall have to follow after Jesus. And then verse 38, Jesus turned and saw them following, and he said to them, what are you seeking? Now, I think he's asking like this deep soul-level kind of question. Two people following him, and he looks at him and says, hey, what are you really looking for? What are you seeking? Which I'm going to ask you the same question.

What is it that you're seeking? Because we live in a society right now that doesn't want you to ask this question. It just wants you to do this all the time, so you don't think about anything except where they're throwing it. in your face right here. It's a grenade in your pocket. You realize this. I mean, every restaurant I walk in right now, there's four people sitting around the table just looking like this. I'm like, you almost hate each other. What are you doing? Just stay at home and eat cheaper food. And it's just distraction, distraction, distraction, but Jesus cuts through to distraction and asks this question,

what are you seeking? What are you seeking? Look, all of us are on a similar quest. I mean, every human being is on a similar quest. We're looking for happiness or contentment or peace or security, success, satisfaction, purpose, pleasure, whatever it is, man. Ultimately, we're looking for something at the soul level where we can breathe in and breathe out and say it is well. Now the problem is that as 21st century Americans, this world for so many things at us that tells us it will give us that kind of security and satisfaction. The problem is it just can't offer that. Now, we spent all of Easter talking about it, really,

when the angels say to the women, why do you look for the living among the dead? It's the same question when he says, what are you seeking? And oftentimes, we look for that security, we look for that success, we look for that satisfaction in some stuff. And again, nobody would ever say it.

Like, I think new pants will satisfy my soul. But if I look at your checkbook, that's what it looks like. By the way, checkbook is like a thing. in the 1900s, just Google it. This is a thing. Or sometimes we think it's a relationship, you know, if I can just get her to say yes,

if I could just get this relationship right, if my teenage kids would like me, whatever it is, it's some kind of relationship that you think is going to give you satisfaction. A big one now is activism. If I can just get the world in order, then, then I'd be satisfied. And some people are like, forget the world.

If I just get my life in order, maybe lose 15 pounds, fit back into those pants, that I spent too much money on that we're going to fully and finally satisfy me. And a whole bunch of folks just go after this feeling through food and drugs, pornography, whatever it is. But ultimately, they're looking for this satisfaction. Or some of you are like, if I could just get the approval of her or the approval of him,

that's the means by which I am trying to be satisfied. Let me ask you this. What are you seeking? Because what you know is when you lay your head down on the pillow late at night and everything finally gets quiet, many of you begin to ask this question, is this it? And the answer is no, this ain't it. You were created for so much more than the temporary things of this world. Man, years ago, I've told you the story a hundred times, but years ago I went to the dog track purely for sermon research purposes only, okay? It was so funny. It was quite the experience. I took Pastor Stone with me. He's the most Baptist guy. He was like sweating the whole time. He's like, I feel like we should hand out tracks. What's what we already doing? Okay. And I just wanted to see it with my own eyes because, because, I mean,

you've at least, you were aware of the greyhound track, right? You are aware what the dogs do. They line the dogs up in the little kennel things and put the muzzle on them and they announce them. And then people that don't seem to have a lot of extra income, bet that. income, but that's a different sermon, okay? And then ultimately what the dogs do is, is this fake rabbit pops out, and they name the rabbit Rusty. And a guy comes over the PA system and goes, here's Rusty. And when they do, the greyhounds lose their mind. They're like, uh-oh, here he is again. I'm going to get him this time. Look like he got a little hitching his step, watch me, you know, and they're talking junk to each other. And then when that gate opens, man, I mean, they go, go, go, go,

and they come around the track and they think they're so close. And they're, and they're, Then he just disappears. And every time they're like, where do you go? Where do you go? Let him come back. Let him come back. And they spend their whole life doing that. And you watch them, you're like, what a dumb dog.

What a dumb dog. And then every Monday morning your alarm clock comes off. And you know what it says? Here's Rusty. And you're like, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Yeah. It's that the crazy thing about a Greyhound is sometimes Rusty breaks down. and when Rusty breaks down, the greyhounds will chew through their muzzle and they will demolish this little pillow that they have been chasing.

And then in that moment they go, uh-oh, we've been duke and those greyhounds won't even run anymore. Did you know that? And I don't know what's worse, man. I don't know what's worse to spend your entire life seeking after something that won't satisfy or finding that very thing only to realize that you've been tricked. What are you seeking? By the way, there's an entire book in the Bible that just answers this question. The wisest God ever lives other than Jesus. A guy named Solomon writes a book in the Bible called Ecclesiastes.

And King Solomon is the most successful, the wisest, the richest guy ever, ever, ever, ever. Like I know you have some portfolios. He owned countries, okay? So he's kind of a big deal. And he sets out on this happiness quest in Ecclesiastes 1-3. He says this, what does man gain by all the toil at which he toil. under the sun. In other words, if I try to squeeze the happy out of this life with everything I'm made of and I've got more opportunity, I've got more education, and I've got more money

than anybody ever, then what can I gain? What, will this world satisfy me? So he makes a bunch of money, he gets a bunch of women, he throws a bunch of parties, he gets a bunch of degrees. He basically catches every rabbit that this world puts in front of him, and then his conclusion vanity of vanities. It's all vanity. And then in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 11, he says this, He, God has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart. Ultimately, he says, if you live for the things of this world, all you'll have is the temporary things of this world, and they will never fully and finally satisfy. But the reason that you have this insatiable soul is because you're an image bearer of an eternal God,

and only the everlasting God will be able to satisfy your soul. And so Jesus, Jesus is asking that kind of question. What are you seeking? And look how dumb the disciples are. Okay? I hope you see this. I hope you realize it. I hope it makes you feel better about your own discipleship.

It does mine. He says to them, what are you seeking? I think he's asking this deep kind of soul question. And they say to him, rabbi, which means teacher, Where are you staying? Zoot went right over their head. You see, often, what's going to happen all throughout the Gospel of John is that Jesus is going to be talking at two levels, and everybody that he's talking to continuously misses

it. I think he's asking, like, deep down in your heart, what are you looking for? And there, no, we were looking to go to your apartment. Like, no, dummy. In John Chapter 3, he's going to talk to Nicodemus, who's like a professional religious person. He's a Pharisee. And he's going to say to Nicodemus, you've got to be born and get to. And Nicodemus is like, born again.

How can I fit back in my mother's womb? And Jesus is like, good, no, son, stop. Don't ever say that again. What are you talking about? I am talking on a spiritual level. In the next chapter, he's going to meet with this woman at a well and say, I offer you living water. And she's like, water, your bucket won't even make it to the bottom of the well. And she's like, oh, you dummy.

Or he talks to the crowds in John chapter 6, and he's going to say, I am the bread of life. And they're like, bread. I'm kind of hungry. Can I get bread? He is so patient with us. he is so patient with us. And so they say to him when he says,

what are you seeking? They're like a rabbi. So they're at least looking for a teacher. And they don't even answer the question and they don't know how to answer the question. It seems to me they can't quite put their finger on it. We don't know what we're seeking, but we have this thing inside of us

and we just kind of want to be around you a little bit. And honestly, there's some of you here and that's right where you are. This is like your second or third time to church in a row ever in your life. And again, somebody brought you or bribed you or maybe somebody tricked you on week one. You know, like, hey, you want to go on a date? And you're like, okay, yeah. And she threw you a hot pocket and here you are.

Okay, no problem. And yet, even though you don't necessarily agree with what I say, there's still this thing just kind of drawing you back to him. And I think this is kind of what's happening here with these guys. And so, again, they respond. I think they missed the whole point. and they say, where are you staying? And then look at how Jesus responds in verse 39.

And he said to them, come, and you will see. What a beautiful invitation. What a beautiful invitation. How gracious is our God that he meets us right where we are with no preconditions. He doesn't say, well, I tell you what, why don't you go study a little bit, and when you've got a better answer, then come and see me, and then maybe I will give you what you're looking for. That's not what he does.

come and see. And that word and there, I think it matters a lot. Because you remember earlier in chapter one, the Bible tells us that he is light and he is the light of the world. So I think what he's saying is, if you will come to me, if you will walk with me, as you come along with me, you will walk into the light and you will be able to see me for who I am. And the opposite of this is true too. If you reject me and if you walk away from me, you will walk into the darkness and you will be blinded forever. Just come and see. And again, no preconditions. He just says, I'm going to meet you right where you are. And I just want to invite you to take that next step of obedience. By the way, that's a pretty good definition of what it means to be a disciple. In fact, the earliest

Jesus people were called followers of Jesus. And by definitions, what do followers do? They But pretty good. You said it with almost no confidence, though, okay? It's not a trick question. Yeah, man, you just follow. And to follow just means to take one step at a time, one step at a time, and you can't start there, you have to start where you are right here. And so what it means to be a disciple is that you just take the next step of obedience that Jesus calls you to take. So I would ask you, what is your next step of discipleship? And I want to help you. And I want to help you. you with this. I do. I want to help you with this. If you have not downloaded the app yet, okay, I'm going to forgive you this one last time, then it's over, all right? Download the app,

download the 1122 app, and if you go to that app, there's a page, there's a little button there, I don't know what you call it, there's a thing you push, and it's, it has on it our discipleship journey. And basically what the discipleship journey is, if you'll take 15 minutes to let me describe to you what it means to be a follower of Jesus here at 1122, and we'll ask you a few diagnostic questions, what it will help you understand is what you think your next step of discipleship is. And I want to challenge you to do that. For some of you, especially if you're one of those 306 that just surrendered your life to Christ in the last three weeks, your next step of discipleship may be baptism. For some of you, your next step of discipleship

is to surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Because though Jesus meets people right where they are and says, come and see, at some point he will take you to a place where He says, now I want you to come and die. Die to yourself and be resurrected in me. For some of you, your next step is to join a disciple group. For some of you is to go on your first mission trip. For some of you is to serve. For some of you is to come back to church because you got real lazy and you love, you know,

watching me preach in your pajamas. And that's fine, but get over it. Come on back. And for some of you, for some of you, is to come back again next week. Whatever it is, Jesus just wants you to take your next step. that he is calling you to take. Now, I know what some of you're going to do, some of you're going to go on the app,

you're going to go through the discipleship journey, and you're like, well, pastor, I'm taking all these steps. All right, well, God bless you in your ministry. You're so proud of yourself, and Jesus isn't. But that's fine, okay. But since you were so mature in your faith, I don't know how we've made it this long without you. What you need to do, your next step

is to help somebody else take a step, that one of the best ways to deepen your relationship with the Lord is help somebody else discover theirs. So if you ever stop taking steps, you are, by definition, no longer following. So what is your next step of discipleship? And Jesus says, come and you will see. And so they came.

They took that step, that first step. And so they came and they saw where he was staying and they stayed with him that day for it was about the 10th hour. That means it's 4 p.m. And one of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. So almost immediately Andrew, who we know now as St. Andrew, like if you love golf and the old course, it's named after this guy, okay, that he is immediately convinced that Jesus is the

Lamb of God. And then look what he does immediately. Verse 41, he, Andrew, he first found his own brother Simon. And he said to him, we have found the Messiah, which means the Christ. I don't know if you know this, but do you know, statistically speaking, the most evangelistic believers are always the newest people in their faith? Did you know that if you've been following Jesus for less than two years, then you are like twice as likely to share your faith with people than people that have been following Jesus for a long time? I don't know what happens to us after a while. I think one of the things that happens is we have a misunderstanding of what discipleship is. When Jesus says in the Great Commission, therefore go and make disciples, does anybody think

that Jesus meant go find some people that already believe in me and teach them more things about me? No. He meant first and foremost go find some people that don't know me yet and invite them to come and see me so that they can meet. And oftentimes what can happen in church, man, is you can get so into your own walk with Christ and your own discipleship. especially big churches all the time,

is that you just kind of start huddling up with your little Christian group, you know, and you're in your Bible study, and you're doing like six, you know, you've got a Bethmore study, and you're doing our study, and you're doing all the studies, and everybody just gets all huddled up, and I mean, you're learning so much about the Lord. I mean, you're not acting like it,

but you're learning so much like him, and you take notes, and you know, oh, man, that's so good. And anybody tries to get in, you're like, no, this is our group. And you got this little like, us for it no more, and all the world can see as you behind, because that's what we act like to the world sometimes.

That's not the way it happens in the New Testament. Every single time the disciples all huddled up to see what they could get out of it, they got in trouble with Jesus. Every single time they were outward facing, like Jesus came on a mission trip to seek and save us, then he gave him high fives and praises. You see, what Andrew knows this, this is the moment you get rescued. Man, we'll give you a second to kind of dry off and rest, but I mean literally like a second. and then we hand you an oar and you are now a part of the rescue team.

Immediately he goes and he finds his brother, Simon. Verse 42, and he brought him to Jesus. That's it. He brought him to Jesus. Now, I want you to see Andrew's strategy or tactic here. He goes and he gets his brother and he, and basically he must do this Bible study with him. He's direct and he's biblical. He goes, Simon, I found him. I found Jesus.

found the one that we've been looking for. He is the Messiah. He is the Christ. Christ is not Jesus' last name. It's his title, the anointed one. He is the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the entire world. Now, by the way, if you ever bring somebody to church here, just know, I kind of go with the Andrew strategy. Like, we're not going to soft sell it. We're not just going to come and be like, hey, let me give you four ways to be a better you and then try to slip a little Jesus in the back. That's not what we do here. I just do the, we found Jesus. Here he is. I met him. He's transformed my life. Let me tell you what the Bible says about him and he can change your life too. Come on, you want some? That's how we do it here, all right? So just know that. Note that.

That's what he does, all right? And then, look what happened. Jesus looked at Simon and said, you were Simon, the son of John, you shall be called Cephas, which means Peter. I mean, think about that for a second. Think about the audacity of Jesus. That Simon walks in for the very first time, and Jesus is like, what's your name? My name's Cephas, okay? Now we're going to call you Peter. Can you imagine?

Imagine a guy showing up to you to disciple group. What's your name? Ted, all right, Leroy. Hey, wait, wait, hold on, wait. What? No, hold on. My daddy told me my name. Well, okay, whatever.

This is your new name. Now what, and there's no explanation. Now, if you'll use the Bible to interpret itself, which is the best way to do Bible study, we find out in Matthew chapter 16 that Jesus takes the disciples up to Cessaria Philippi, which was like Sin City, and he asked this very important question, who do people say that I am? And they got all kind of answers. And then he looks at them and he says, but who do you say that I am? By the way, it's one of the most important questions you'll ever answer in your entire life.

But who do you say that I am? And Peter, he's going to talk first, he's going to talk first, he's going to talk most, right? But if you say enough words, eventually you say some right words. Like my daddy used to always say, man, even a blind pig finds an acorn every once in a while. You understand? And so he just burts out of his mouth, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And then Jesus says to Peter, this did not come from you. This came from my father in heaven, which is a big deal. We don't need just new information. We need divine revelation. And he says, and I'm going to change your name to Peter, to Petra, to the Rock, or Rocky. And a

Upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And we know that when he says that he's going to build his church on the rock, he's talking about building his church on the public proclamation that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. That the church is going to be built on the gospel. In other words, in other words, he's saying right here, hey Simon, the world identifies you by this name, but you have no idea what I have in store for you. I'm going to call you by what I'm going to do through you, not by what this world has done to you. Now let me tell you why this is a big deal. It's because this world has a name for you too, does it not?

I sit out an email on Thursday afternoon to our staff. And I told him, I said, hey, listen, you know, when Jesus meets Peter, his name was Simon, and then Jesus changes his name, what are some of the names this world has had for you? And so these are not names that I've made up. These are names that came from our staff, your staff. And it was a little shocking.

Here's some of the names that our staff has been called that continues to affect them sometime. Loser, failure, depressed, sick, baby killer, unimportant, common, disappointment, incompetent, unwonted, burden, unworthy, not good enough, mistake, stupid, poser, fake, worthless, broken, she was infertile, slut, a drunk, nerd, fat, helpless, crazy, unaware, desperate, alcoholic, failure, incapable, not worth it, freak, disappointment, annoying, dumb, brat, addict, not enough, too much,

divorce, a piece of, and worthless. You ever been called a name? Let me just tell you, you were not a piece of crap. You were not worthless. You were not unworthy. You see, when the world tries to label you with that, because it doesn't want to deal with you, it just wants to slap a label on you,

so it doesn't have to deal with you. And when those lies are being told to you, then this world is speaking its native language because the father of lies is this enemy, and he wants to lie to you, and that's just not who you are. Jesus has another name for you. You're not worthless, you're not unwanted,

you're not an accident, you're not, you're not those things. Because you know what? You know who you are in Christ? The Bible says if you were in Christ, you were more than a conqueror. You were a son or a daughter of the Most High King, that you're an overcomer, that you're righteous, that you're forgiven, that you're a warrior, you're a ruler and reigner, and a co-air with Jesus Christ forever and ever and ever, amen. And a big part of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus is just to become the you that

Christ says you are. For anybody in Christ, Jesus has a new name for you. I'm not making this up. Revelation. Chapter 2, verse 17, says this, he who has an ear, let him hear. What the Spirit says to the churches, to the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. Literally when you get to heaven, you get a new name that your father in heaven has given you, and because he has overcome, you can overcome. Amen? And so he changes his name. Verse 43. The

next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. I hope you'll come to Galilee with me one day. It's a beautiful place. Okay, it is. It's a beautiful place. It kind of looks like Napa. If you ever been to the Napa Valley. First time I ever went to Napa, I texted. So, Daddy, I'm going to Napa. He said, Daddy, I'm going to Napa. Okay, so, different Napa, Daddy. That's all right. He's going to be at the next service. I don't know if I'm going to say that any much. But anyway, verse 43. So the next day, Jesus decided to go to. Galilee. And he found Philip and he said to Philip, follow me. Such a simple but profound invitation. Philip, you're going to start right where you are because you can't start from

where you're not. But just from right where you are, why don't you just take one step at a time and why don't you follow me. Now, I have heard some incredible sermons about how Jesus would walk up to fishermen on the seashore and say, drop your nets and follow me, and they would do it, and they talk about men of such faith. But let me, people that preach those sermons, they don't have a good understanding of first century Hebrew education. You see, it was a high, holy honor to follow a rabbi. And in fact, what would happen in the first century is usually you would apply to follow a rabbi and then see if you would get in or not. So for Jesus to go and pick his people, it was pretty revolutionary. and I want you to see the kind of people that he chose to be followers of his.

You see, every little kid, they would go to Hebrew school when they were like kindergarten first grade, okay? And the first thing that they would do when they would show up is they would be given a tablet, but not like a, not like a, you couldn't like play angry birds on it. It was like a chalkboard, okay? And they would probably write the Shama on it, Shama Israel, the Lord of God, the Lord is one. And they would take that tablet with the Word of God on it, and they would cover it in honey. And they would hand it out to all the little kids. And the kids had heard of honey.

I mean, they'd been brought into the land of milk and honey, but honey was expensive. So unless you had some extra fold money, you probably never had honey, but you'd hurt a honey. And they covered the Word of God with honey. And at some point, the rabbi would say to the kids, to the first graders, okay, go ahead and eat your fill. And the kids would start just licking the honey off of the tablet.

And can you imagine? I mean, honey's getting everywhere, right? I mean, it's on their elbows, and they're licking each other in the head. and I mean, they're just eating the honey, and they are thinking, this is the greatest day of my life, I love school. And then at some point the rabbi would say something to the effect of, and just like that honey is sweet to your tongue,

may the word of God be sweet to your soul. And then they would memorize the Torah. All five books, first five books of the Old Testament. They would memorize it. And then, and then when you got to like maybe fifth grade or something like that, then if you were the best of the best, if you were like gifted.

Remember the gifted kids? Remember that? Anybody remember that? You remember the gifted kids when the teacher would walk into your class and be like, all the gifted kids, come with us. And the rest of us would be like, hey, where they're going? Oh, they're going to do important things like math and science.

What about us? Y'all going to color, okay? I love color. Remember that? Okay, so the best, the gifted kids would go on like to the next level and then they would memorize the entire Bible. from Genesis to Malachi, every word. And then, and then, when you graduated from, when you got to that level,

if you were just like a regular student, they would come to you and they would say, hey, listen, it's obvious you love the Lord and you love God's Word, but you probably don't have what it takes to be a Talmudine, a follower of a rabbi. So why don't you go back and learn your father's trade? By the way, remember a bunch of the disciples are doing what? Working for their dads? because they didn't have what it takes. They couldn't quite make it.

But if you were like Ivy League, you know, like Princeton, Harvard, Georgia, I mean, if you're like, you know, then they would invite you to become what's called a Talmudine, which means that you would apply to a rabbi and you would be their follower. But if you followed a rabbi, you didn't just learn what they taught.

You also did what they did. and the idea is that you would become who they are. And so, Jesus walks up to Philip, who is not standing at graduation of the latest Hebrew school, that he's just in Galilee working. This means he's the leftover. He's the looked over. He's the one that nobody else wanted,

and that's who Jesus chose, which is good news for most of us, right? Now, how many of you, do we have any, anybody struggling in school? If you struggled in school a little bit, let's put them up high. Let's testify. Praise God, man. See, look, man. That means you are Jesus's top pick to change the world. Now, how about valedictorians? We got any valedictorians in the house? Anybody? Anybody? I mean, you better test. You, okay, look here. Hey, look. Her husband tried to stop her. He's like, stop. No, look. Hey, listen. All right. Congratulations.

We're all so proud of you. We really are. But I do have good news for you, okay? God could even fuse you. All right? But he picks the rest of us first, all right, because we're dumb. All right, here we go. Now, Philip was from Beseda, the city of Andrew and Peter, so they probably all knew each other. And Philip found Nathaniel.

And he said to him, we have found him of whom Moses and the law, and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. What does he do? Immediately after being rescued, he becomes a part of the law. rescue team. Immediately after being rescued, he goes and invites one of his co-workers. And notice what he does. He's going to use that direct approach again. He says, hey, listen, you know, the one that we have been looking for, the serpent crusher is here, the one that Moses talked about, the one that the law talks about, the one that the prophets have prophesied about, we have found him. You see, because

the whole point of the Bible, ain't you? I mean, God is for you. It's just not about you. And this whole book is about Jesus. He's on every single page. And I don't know what kind of Bible study they did, but maybe he said, hey, you remember Noah who built an ark of salvation to save us from God's judgment? That wasn't about two by two getting on the boat. It was all about Jesus.

And you remember Abraham, a dad willing to sacrifice his son, but there was a substitute that was pointing to Jesus. And you remember Joseph, like the Technicolor Dreamcoat one, a man with a vision abused by his brothers brought out of the pit for their salvation. that what the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good. That was ultimately about Jesus. And remember Moses, a leader that liberates his people from slavery?

That was about Jesus. And remember Joshua, who took the people of God into the promised land? That was actually about Jesus. And Boaz, the kinsman Redeemer, and David, a shepherd that became a king, and the lambs, and the tabernacle, and the temple, and the prophecies, and the nation, it all points to Jesus. And then I think Philip is, like, pumped. Philip is like, we got that, that's it.

I don't know if you've ever shared your faith before, and you're like, boo-ya, I just crushed that. There's some times up here, I preach some sermons, and I'm like, all right, get ready, revival's about to break out, okay? I mean, just mic drop, take it off my face, lay it down, and be like, do you, Lord, because they all about to come. And then after you lay it out so clearly, you ever have people who be like, I don't know, man, I don't know.

And here's his hang-up. after he just went through Moses, the law, and the prophets, all pointing to Jesus. And Nathaniel said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? He gets hung up on one detail. He misses the whole point for one detail. And maybe Nathaniel knew that the Messiah had to be in the line of David and come out of Bethlehem. He just didn't have the, he didn't see the Christmas faget yet, he didn't have the info. Or maybe he's prejudiced.

Maybe he's like, Nazareth. anything good come out of Nazareth? I mean, it would be like, if you track down some of my classmates from Dylan, he'd be like, you know, Pastor Jobie leads a big old church down, and he'd be like, what? Can anything good come out of Dylan? Palaca people, you know what I'm talking about, all right? Praise God. Hey, I'll tell you, I want to put a campus in Palacca.

Let's pray about that for a second. Okay, so he gets hung up on this detail, and look what Philip does. Philip doesn't fight with him. Philip doesn't debate him. Philip just simply says, come and see. Yeah, the Nazareth thing, man, I don't know. I don't know. You got me.

I don't know. There are many things about God and what he does and why this happens and why that happens and I'm not quite sure. I'm happy to go find out. I'm sure there's an answer of why he can be from Nazareth and be the son of God. Okay, I'm sure there's an answer. I just don't know it yet, but instead of fighting with you about it, he gives this invitation, come and see.

By the way, sound familiar. because Philip's been a disciple for what, a day, 24 hours. And now he's doing the very same thing that he has seen his rabbi do. And he says, why don't you just come and bump into Jesus? You can ask them the Nazra thing too. And just find out for yourself. By the way, I hope you're doing this. I hope you're doing this.

I hope you're sharing your faith. I hope that you, if you know Jesus, if you have been, if you have been just lavish by the grace of God, I sure do hope and pray. You are not a cul-de-sac of the grace of God, but you are a conduit of the grace of God. So let me ask you, when's the last time you did this? When's the last time you shared your faith? In the moment, especially in these times, people are like, I don't know about that, man. That's weird.

Okay, that's weird. I don't want to be weird. Listen, man, being a Christian doesn't make you weird. Unless you're already weird. Some of you are weird. You don't know it. That's fine. You're some of the happiest people I've ever met.

Okay? Just do you. All right, be weird. Anybody ever have somebody share their faith with you, and it was like super awkward? Anybody ever have that experience? Apparently, I look so lost because everybody, everywhere I go wants to tell me about Jesus. If you were to die tonight, I was like, I don't think you should say that to people you've never met before, okay, but that's fun.

Or you're going to a Jags game, you do that, you're on your way to the Jags game, and the guy with the Bullhorn is like, you're going to hell. They're like, I'm just going to the Jags game. It kind of feels like it based on the last season, but I feel, I'm not, I'm the same team. Okay. And then you look at that and you're thinking, well, if that's what it means to share your faith, I don't think I can do that. Okay.

The only reason you should do the bullhorn thing is if the Lord tells you that that's the way you should do it. And if he does tell you that, just run it by me and the elders first and let us just check, okay? But around here, what I would like to encourage you to do is to share your faith. It's to share your faith. It's to not be a cul-de-sac of the gospel, but to be a conduit of it. The moment you get rescued that you and I are part of the rest of it. team. So it starts this way as you identify, the language we use around here is this. You identify your one more. And where I got that language, Acts 1124, was read about the guy that led me to Christ.

Coach Bulley at this little rinky dink, Southern Baptist camp back in the day. He's the one that told me about Jesus. And when he went to be with the Lord, they read this verse over him. And he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And a great number of people were brought to the Lord. And I think in God's economy, a great number is not the tens of thousands of people that will worship with us this weekend. A great number is just, that's it, man, it's just one more. Because Jesus is the kind of shepherd that will leave the 99 to go after the one. So who is that one person that God has placed in your life? You should pray about that.

You should identify who that person is, and then you should begin to pray for that person. In your journal on page 17, I would like for you to write down the name of your one more. And I want you to put it somewhere where you're going to see it on a daily basis so that you can be reminded, God, would you give me an opportunity to just say, come and see to my one more? And I would put it like in your bathroom. Don't put it in your cubicle. I'm praying for Ted. And then he walks by and by, hey, man, cool.

You're praying for me? Yep, praying you don't go to hell. Because currently, that's where you're going. You can come to church meeting? Nah, man, that's not what we're talking about, okay? And you want to see God answer a prayer? Pray for an opportunity to share your faith. Watch what he does.

And then when I say share your faith, there's a wide range of what that means. Sometimes it's just share an invitation to come to church with you. Don't give a non-vite. A non-vite is you should come to my church sometime. Look at your calendar. There is no sometime on your calendar. An invite is, I'll meet you at 8 at Panera, and then I'll buy you a little biscuit or something, and then you come and sit with me at church.

That's an invitation. Or it may just be share a link, or it may just be share something from the weekend experience. Let me just give you a little, I'm not a big tips and tricks guy, but let me just give you this for free. Okay, tomorrow at work, you can look at somebody and say, what'd you do this weekend? And they're going to say all kind of stuff. Went to the UFC fight and went to back, whatever they said, and you'd be like, wow, that's awesome. And then, listen, we live in the South. What do they have to ask you? And what did you do this weekend? And I'm not saying, you got to preach my sermon. Well, my pastor said, I better talk to you because you're on your way to

hell. That's not what I'm talking about, okay? I'm yelling at you right now, but you signed up for this. You walked in the door. You knew what you were getting. This is your fault, not mine. But at work, all you do is just say, you know what's crazy? Man, we're studying the gospel of John. And next week, we're going to talk about the time where Jesus went to a party and made water to wine. That's crazy. Why don't you come and check it out? It's that simple. Maybe you share something from the weekend. Maybe you share prayer request. And what I mean is this, is the moment you began to, in a very natural and normal and relational way, just share. share your faith, you are going to be categorized at work or in your neighborhood or wherever

as like the Jesus person, the church person, the prayer person. And sometimes, even if they don't want to have anything to do with what you're talking about right now, no problem. Guess what will happen. At some point, people will experience this thing called life. And when they need something, and when they need help, and when they need help from above, guess who the person that they will come to and lean into? I don't care how atheist somebody thinks they are or how antagonistic about organized religion, which is always a weird thing. What do you want, disorganize? I don't understand what that means.

They will always come to the prayer person for help. So maybe you do that. Maybe you share your story. We're going to spend a whole week on this when we get to John chapter 9. Maybe you share the gospel, the whole creation, fall, redemption, consummation. And maybe this is a really big one.

Maybe you just share another cup of coffee. Again, because these people, that we love are people, they're not projects, they're not. And so when's the last time you shared your faith and just say, hey, why don't you come and see and check it out for yourself, verse 47, and Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him. He showed up. Even though it doesn't seem like he got his questions answered about Nazareth and all that, somehow he just showed up. And Jesus said of him, here's our word again, behold, in Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. Now, think about this.

Okay. In Greek, this behold is different than the other behold, but it still has the same connotation here. Remember, behold, is to see through. It's to like see with a purpose. It's almost like to see the potential. And what Jesus does, when Jesus sees Nathaniel, he says, I see in you something beyond what this world sees in you,

an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. Hold on. Is that even true? Five seconds ago, He's sitting under a fig tree badmouthed in Nazareth. What would you do if you knew somebody was badmouthed in your town, and you had infinite power? I'd walk up and just shrivel up his lips. Oh, I'd try to say Nazanah down.

Like he couldn't talk. That's not what he does. He sees past where he is right now, and he sees through to what Jesus is going to do in his life. It's the same thing he did for Peter. He could see who Peter would be with Christ, not where he is right now. And Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit, and Nathaniel said to him, how do you know me? And look at this, Jesus answered him, before Philip called you, and when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. I saw through you, Nathaniel. I know you're throwing up some red flags with these questions, but I see through that and I see you, Nathaniel.

And Nathaniel answered him, Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. And Jesus answered him, because I said to you, because I said to you, I said to you, I saw. saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? Now listen, church, he sees you. He sees you. And he doesn't just see your mistakes and your struggles, and he doesn't see the labels that the world tries to give to you. He sees the you that he had in mind

when he created the idea that is now you. He sees you. And he speaks over you a word that is truer even than your own current experience. experience and circumstance because he's the king of all circumstances. And he goes on to say, Nathaniel, you will see greater things than these. It's like, bro, you're going to change the world and you have no idea. And he said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man.

Now, I think what he's referencing there is Genesis chapter 28. In Genesis chapter 28, Jacob is on the run for his life. He's running away from God. He's running away from his dad and his brother. He stole his dad's blessing. He stole his brother's birthright. And so he is on the run. He's afraid.

And what he does, in Genesis 28, Jacob puts a rock down and he lays his head on the rock because it was Jewish custom that if you left the territory of your God and you went into a new territory and you slept with your head on a rock somehow in that uncomfortable position, then the God of that territory would reveal himself. And while Jacob is asleep with his head on the rock, God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob reveals himself, and this is where we get Jacob's ladder. Some of you know at a stairway to heaven is kind of that, but not exactly.

And there's a portal, there's an opening in heaven, and there's a ladder that goes from heaven to here, and Jacob sees angels ascending and descending, and maybe this is total conjecture on my part, okay, so I'm just guessing on this part. But what if, what if the thing that Nathaniel is studying under the fig tree, what if he's checking out Genesis chapter 28? and then Jesus, when he sees him, he goes, bro, I see you, and I saw you under the fig tree.

And think about this for a second, when the God of the universe decided to make that fig tree and put that fig tree in Galilee, he knew that one day Nathaniel would sit under it and have questions about his existence. And God said, Jesus says, I see you, I see you. And there will be a portal that opens from heaven. But instead of you trying to climb your way up on the ladder, I am going to de-es. sin and come down and take you to be with me where I am. He says, I see you. And Nathaniel's response is you are the son of God, the king of Israel. And here's what's crazy, man. Here's what's crazy.

Is that Phillips one more was Nathaniel and Andrews one more was Peter. And they had no idea what God had in store for them. Do you realize this? You have no idea how God might use you to invite one more person to Christ because you don't know what's going to happen in your life or in their life. So the point is this,

who are you inviting to come and see? Who are you inviting to come and see Jesus for themselves? Who is your one more? I don't know if you've ever heard this name before, Edward Kimball. I'm guessing few of you have because he was a Sunday school teacher. in 1858 in England.

And he had a Sunday school class of a bunch of young boys, and one of them was real, wouldn't pay attention and stuff. And Edward Kimball decided he wanted to share the gospel with every boy in his class, but one kid would not pay attention.

And so he decided during the week to go see this young man at his place of work, and this guy worked at a shoe store. And Edward Kimball walks into the shoe store, and he almost left, he came back, and left and came back. And he meets the kid in the stock room,

and he shares the gospel with him, and that kid in his Sunday school class surrendered his life to the Lordship of Christ. And that kid grows up to be a man named Dwight L. Moody, D.L. Moody. He became a worldwide evangelist. Shared the gospel all over the world. And in one of D.L. Moody's evangelistic meetings, there was a man named Wilbur Chapman when he was a teenager sitting in the crowd, and he surrendered his life to Christ. And then that guy grew up to being an evangelist. And in one of his meetings, there was a man who had been a pro baseball player.

But again, he answered that question, what am I seeking? And he kind of got over baseball. He retired from baseball, and he goes into the ministry. That man was named Billy Sunday, and Billy Sunday ends up taking over Wilbur Chapman's ministry, and Billy Sunday begins to share the gospel all over the place. And in one of his meetings, there was a little boy, young man named Mordecai Ham. Mortycai Ham surrenders his life to Christ. Now, when your name's Mordecai, you probably need to be a preacher or make your own butter.

I mean, you know, your options are limited. But Mordecai Ham puts his faith in Christ, becomes an evangelist, and travels all over the United States, sharing the gospel, and in 1932, Mordecai Ham had a tent revival in Charlotte, North Carolina. And I think as a 13-year-old boy, a young man surrenders his life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and that boy's name was Billy Graham.

And Billy Graham has shared the gospel with 2.2 billion people. Now, do you think Edward Kimball, the Sunday school teacher in the 1850s, had any idea the significant role that he would play in the kingdom of God? And one of the things I can't help but think of, the Bible says that now we see through a glass dimly, but then we will see clearly or completely? What if? I don't know how it works in heaven, so again, a little conjecture here. But what if? What if God opens Edward Kimball's eyes to see how God used him for God. God's glory to bring all these people to heaven. Can you imagine when Mordecai first, I mean,

when Dwight O. Moody first walks in the door? And he's like, you're here, you're here, cool. And then behind him is hundreds of people, and then behind him is thousands, and behind him is millions, and behind him is billions. And Mr. Kimball is like, what are all these people doing here? And Dwight O Moody would say, it was because you told me. And I told them, and they told them. The other thing I can't help to think of is this. one day when I get to heaven I think I'm going to get to see Coach Lee now look we're not going to spend any time in heaven

making much of ourselves we don't have time for that nonsense we're going to be glorifying the Lord but I believe maybe one of the ways that we are able to glorify him is that he gives us eyes to see how he used us and worked through us for his glory and maybe I'll walk in and I'll see Coach Lee and he'll say good gracious Jobie Martin and then

I can imagine. He said, what are all these people doing here? I can say, coach, you told me, and I told them, and they told them. Since we opened the church doors of 1122, 9,000, over 9,800 people have professed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Amen? And we celebrate everyone. We celebrate everyone. But that's not the number. The number is this. Just one more. Just one more. So who is that one more that God has placed in your life that you would pray for an opportunity to just share your faith, however he gives you that opportunity, because you have no idea what hangs in the balance. Would you please stand and let me pray for you.

Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you more than anything. And God, we thank you that ultimately we're your one more, that you so love the world that you set your son, Jesus, on a rescue mission. that he stepped off the throne of heaven. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and lived a perfect life and died of sinners' death, was resurrected on the third day. And before he ascended to the right hand of God,

the Father, he told us, go and make disciples. God, I pray this week, Spirit of God, you would give us the opportunity, the ability, the words, to just share our faith. To just say, hey, why don't you come see? Check them out for yourself. And God, we thank you, we thank you, we thank you. That not only did you save us unto yourself,

but the God you use us as a part of your salvific work to share the good news of the gospel to the very ends of the earth. God, we thank you for men like Edward Kimball and Coach Bulley. And Lord, I thank you in advance for the people in this room that you will use this week to share the good news. With people right here in Jacksonville and all over the world,

we prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. The church, we respond to the gospel. We're going to sing. We're going to sing. There's a line in this song that says, and if the wind goes where he tells it, so will I. That's the kind of church I want us to be.

And we're going to bring our ties in our offerings, our first and our best. Did you know that when we bring back to God a portion of what he has blessed us with, you know that in and of itself is a part of what it means to do evangelism because this church leverages all of that so that we can tell more and more

and more people about Jesus all over the world. And we're going to pray. And what I want to invite you to do is I want you to come and kneel at these kneelers are on this carpet, and I want you to pray for your one more like their life depends on it. You know why? Because it does. So let's sing, let's bring, let's pray, let's respond.