Introduction:
Andrew / Simon Peter
Philip / Nathanael
Genesis 32 | Genesis 28 - A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God."
How do I make Jesus known?
- I make Jesus known through Exaltation . (John 1:39,43)
- I make Jesus known through Proclamation . (John 1:41,45)
- I make Jesus known through Invitation . (John 1:42, 46)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:06
The Gospel of John is written to take us from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus.
00:07-00:23
In the first 18 verses of chapter 1, we saw the prologue, "Jesus has made Himself known." And in verses 19-34, we saw the preaching of John the Baptist, who told us that we need to prepare ourselves to know Him.
00:25-00:39
Today, the title of the message is "Knowing Jesus, Making Him Known." Many years ago, when I was in Bible college, in a psychology class, I got to know the professor pretty well.
00:40-00:50
He was taking attendance, and he was calling out people's names, and they were saying, "Here..." But when he got to my name, he just kind of glanced up and saw me, and just kept moving on.
00:50-01:11
Well, the guy that was sitting beside me didn't know that the professor knew me, and didn't see that he looked up and saw me, all the guy beside me saw was the professor called my name, and nobody said "here." So this guy assumed that Jeff Miller wasn't in the classroom.
01:12-01:19
So when the professor called my name, this guy leaned over to me, and he had no idea who I was.
01:19-01:49
And he said, "Jeff Miller?" He goes, "Who is that? I heard somebody talking about him. Who is Jeff Miller?" And this guy was totally serious. And I thought, "Oh, this is going to be fun." So I said, "Oh, you don't know who Jeff Miller is?" "No, no, no. Who is that?" I said, "I'm going to tell you something about Jeff Miller. The man is the biggest jerk I've ever met in my life." And the guy was like, "Really?" And I said, "To be honest with you, I can't even stand looking at his face.
01:49-01:51
He just makes me sick.
01:52-01:58
And this guy's eyes got huge." "Really?" And I said, "Well, you know what? I'm sorry.
02:00-02:35
I shouldn't be speaking ill of someone sitting in a Bible college class." And right now you're thinking, "No, actually, Pastor Jeff, you shouldn't be lying to people sitting in a Bible college class." And you're like, "Well, did you ever tell him?" "Nah. No, I didn't." Now, in my defense, I was going to tell him, but he left the school shortly thereafter, and I never got the opportunity, but to this day I have to wonder if he left the school because of this conversation.
02:35-02:41
I have to wonder if he thought to himself, "I don't want to go to a Bible college where they talk about other students that way.
02:42-02:51
Well, speaking of introductions, in this passage we're looking at today, the first disciples get to know Jesus Christ.
02:52-03:05
But here's the thing, unlike this guy that sat beside me in Bible College, Jesus Christ already perfectly knew these people who were just coming to know Him.
03:05-03:12
So this passage has two sections, Andrew and Peter are in the first section, that's verses 35-42.
03:13-03:18
And the second section revolves around Philip and Nathaniel, that's verses 43-51.
03:18-03:24
Alright? So let's look at the first section. This is Andrew and Simon Peter, if you're taking notes.
03:24-03:31
Look at verse 35. It says, "The next day again, John" - that's John the Baptist - "was standing with two of his disciples.
03:32-03:43
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.
03:44-03:45
Stop right there. Which two disciples?
03:46-03:48
Well, one of them is Andrew, we find out in verse 40.
03:49-03:53
The other one is probably John the Apostle who wrote this gospel.
03:54-03:55
Why do I think it's him?
03:56-04:04
Well, you're going to see in this exchange, there's a lot of detail and information given it had to have been somebody that was right there and saw it.
04:04-04:06
So I think John the Apostle was the other one here.
04:08-04:25
Verse 38, "Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, 'What are you seeking?' And they said to him, 'Rabbi,'" which means teacher, "'where are you staying?'" Now these are the first words of Jesus in John.
04:26-04:28
You might want to underline this in your Bible.
04:28-04:45
The first thing recorded from the mouth of our Lord in the Gospel of John is this question, "What are you seeking?" That's a profound question. Notice Jesus didn't say, "Who are you seeking?" That would have been an easy question to answer, right?
04:45-04:47
"Who are you seeking?" And they just pointed to Jesus.
04:48-04:52
"I'm looking for you." But that's not what Jesus asked.
04:53-04:58
He asked, "What are you seeking?" In other words, what are you after?
04:59-05:00
What's your motive?
05:01-05:02
What a great question.
05:03-05:08
Imagine if Jesus Christ showed up at our church, here physically, personally today.
05:09-05:13
He walked right up to you, and I introduce you, and he already knows you.
05:14-05:23
But he asked you, "Mike, what are you seeking?" Or he comes over to you and he says, "Ryan, what is it that you're after in church this morning?
05:23-05:39
Why did you come to church? What is it that you are here for?" Well, these disciples in the text, they had been following John the Baptist, so on some level they had some grasp at this point of the implications that Jesus is the Messiah.
05:39-05:53
Hence their response. They said, "Rabbi," which means "teacher." It was also a sign of great respect. But they ask, "Where are you staying?" They weren't just looking for an introduction, they were wanting to know Him.
05:54-06:12
In other words, they were like, "Where are you staying because we are going with you?" Verse 39, "He said to them, 'Come and you will see.' So they came and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
06:13-06:18
One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
06:18-06:28
He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah!" which means Christ. Stop right there for a second.
06:28-07:47
Here Andrew's introduced and notice he's called Simon Peter's brother. I bet he heard that all his life. "Oh yeah, Peter, your brother Peter, he was the one that spoke at Pentecost, right? And 3,000 people got saved. Oh, you're Peter's brother oh yeah yeah Peter who who spoke at the Jerusalem Council and made your turning point for the church and Acts 15 kind of stuff oh you're his brother Oh Peter who wrote first and second Peter oh you're Peter's brother I bet you Andrew heard that a lot but you have to notice that Andrew was called to be a that came up. If in all the discussion about Pentecost and the Jerusalem Council and writing books of the Bible and all of those things, if Andrew says, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, Simon, you know what? That might all be true, but Jesus called me first." Well, he went and found Simon, his brother. As soon as he met Jesus, notice he says, "We have found the Messiah," which means Christ, and I've shared with you before, Christ is not Jesus' last name. Okay? Christ is a title. Messiah is a title.
07:47-08:37
Messiah is the Hebrew word and Christ is the Greek word. It literally means the anointed one. It's God's way of saying, "This is the one that I've been talking about throughout all of the scriptures." That's what the Christ means, the Messiah, the anointed one of God. Notice he, Andrew tells Simon that they found this Messiah, but look at verse 42, it says he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas," which means Peter. Notice Andrew brought Simon to Jesus, but Jesus again already knew who Simon was, but also note this, Jesus also knew what Simon would become.
08:38-09:33
Again, a couple translations of words here. Cephas is the Aramaic word, Peter is the Greek word, and both words mean rock. And Jesus says, "Oh, you're Simon now, but eventually you're going to be the rock." What's that all about? Well, Matthew chapter 16 this is a whole nother sermon just gonna give you the background here quickly in Matthew 16 Peter made the great confession when Jesus said who do people say that I am Peter said I believe that you're the Christ you're the Son of the Living God and in response to Peter's confession Jesus replied on this rock I will build my church again there's a whole lot to talk about here but here's the short version the church is built on the foundation of people who, like Peter, confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
09:34-09:42
Something that we see in this passage very clearly is that Jesus takes you as you are, and He changes you into what He wants you to be.
09:43-09:44
Isn't that great news?
09:45-09:48
Isn't that great news that Jesus doesn't say, "Get your act together.
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Someday if you're great enough, if you're good enough, if you're worthy enough, you can be a follower of mine." Jesus takes you exactly as you are, and He knows exactly what He's going to make you to be.
10:02-10:05
Moving on, that's the first exchange. Now let's look at the second.
10:05-10:08
This is with Philip and Nathaniel. Pick up in verse 43.
10:09-10:12
It says, "The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee.
10:12-10:22
He found Philip and said to him, 'Follow me.' Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter." Now there's not much detail given here.
10:22-10:43
reading this passage you can have a whole lot of questions but there's one very key important detail that is given. Note this, in verse 43 it says that Jesus found Philip. You see that in the text? It's not vice versa. It wasn't that Philip was looking for Jesus. It says very clearly that Jesus found Philip. Why?
10:44-10:51
Well I think it tells us right here in the text. Look at the first sentence in verse It says the next day, Jesus decided to go.
10:52-11:01
So putting it all together as the Bible presents itself, apparently it says that Jesus wanted to go to Galilee in order to find Philip.
11:02-11:03
That just speaks to his sovereignty.
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Jesus had a plan here.
11:05-11:07
Look at verse 45 and 46.
11:08-11:33
"Philip found Nathanael and 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." Nathaniel said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." Nathaniel is also known as Bartholomew in the other Gospels.
11:34-11:50
And Philip says, "Nathaniel, we found him! The one that Moses and the prophets promised would come!" talking about Genesis 3.15, Deuteronomy 18.15, Isaiah 53, Daniel 7, all through the Psalms, God promised that His Messiah was going to come.
11:51-12:05
Philip says, "Nathaniel, this is the one that God was talking about." Now you have to understand, this was a pretty dramatic lead-in, because what followed probably sounded lame in the moment to Nathaniel.
12:05-12:10
He's like, "We found the one that the Scriptures talk about!
12:10-12:24
Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Joseph! Now when we hear that, we have lofty, exalted thoughts." Rightly so, because we're a little more familiar with this concept that Jesus Christ, the Son of Joseph, is the Messiah.
12:25-12:30
But you have to try to hear this the way that Nathaniel would have heard it, because he didn't have all this information yet.
12:30-12:37
When Nathaniel heard this, it was an awfully big build-up and probably a very lame-sounding payoff.
12:38-12:39
What do I mean by that?
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Well, Philip says, "It's Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Joseph was a nobody.
12:46-12:49
And I mean that purely in human, earthly terms.
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What I mean is Joseph wasn't famous.
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And the other thing is Nazareth was a hated town.
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It just had a bad reputation and people in general Hated the town of Nazareth. So to try to put it in a modern context It would be like if I came to you and I said hey You're not gonna believe this but I found this man who is going to change the world This man is going to forever transform your life And this man is forever going to transform the lives of every single person he ever encounters and you're like who is it?
13:23-13:37
And I say, "It's Hank Cunningham from Cleveland!" And you would rightly ask, "Can anything good come from Cleveland?" You kind of get this exchange here between Philip and Nathaniel.
13:38-13:57
But Philip's like, "Hey, come and see. We'll talk about that more in a second." Look at verse 47, "Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said of him, 'Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.'" This is actually a very clever play on words, Jesus' statement to Nathanael.
13:58-14:03
You see, back in Genesis 32, Jacob was renamed Israel.
14:04-14:08
And Israel eventually became the name of the Jewish nation, right?
14:09-14:24
But the name Jacob, the former name, literally means "deceiver." So Jesus was saying, "An Israelite without deceit." In other words, Jesus was saying to Nathaniel, "You are all Israel and no Jacob.
14:25-14:35
There's nothing phony about you. There's nothing fake about you." In verse 48, "Nathaniel said to him, 'How do you know me?'" That would have been my question too.
14:36-14:50
"Jesus answered him, 'Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.'" Jesus said, "I saw you when you were under the fig tree." Like, what's the significance of the fig tree? What does that mean?
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I don't know. I did a lot of reading last week, read from a lot of scholars and commentators and famous preachers.
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Some people say, "Well, you know, Nathaniel was under the fig tree praying for the Messiah to come.
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He was under the fig tree meditating on Scripture.
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He was under the fig tree, you know, this, that, or the other." And we don't know, but whatever was happening under the fig tree, Philip knew what that was.
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You see, and all of a sudden the lights went on.
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Philip instantly made that connection.
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When Jesus mentioned the fig tree, like, "Oh, he knows. He knows something." And we know he's convinced.
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Look at verse 49, "Nathanael answered him, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God.
15:32-15:35
You are the King of Israel.'" Well, I'm convinced.
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Verse 50, Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?
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You will see greater things than these." And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." Jesus said, "If you're convinced because I knew what was happening with you and the fig tree, you're going to see even greater things.
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You're gonna see heaven open, you're gonna see angels, they're gonna be ascending and descending, and like, what's that all about?
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Well, that's another call back to Jacob.
16:15-16:22
Back in Genesis 28, Jacob saw a vision and a dream of a ladder or a staircase, and there were angels going up and down.
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And God said to Jacob, "I am with you, and I will keep you.
16:30-16:38
"I will fulfill my promises to you." And Jacob awoke from that dream, and he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place." And I did not know it.
16:39-16:45
I think Jesus was doing a callback to that story by the statement that he made in verse 51.
16:46-16:50
In essence, I believe Jesus was saying, "Nathanael, you're going to see my ministry.
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"You're going to watch what happens.
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"You're going to hear what I say." And then, in three years, when the dust settles, and the crowds disperse, and I've been taken off the cross, and I've raised from the dead, and the tomb is empty, and I appear before you, resurrected, Nathaniel, like Jacob, you're going to say, "Surely the Lord is in this place." And I did not know it.
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So, in this account, we see the first disciples coming to know Jesus to discover that He already knew them.
17:33-17:51
You know, as kids we sang, "Jesus loves me, this I know," but we can also rightly sing, "Jesus knows me, this I love." Because there's something else very obvious in this passage, aside from the knowledge that Jesus had of these people.
17:52-18:02
Something you have to note in this passage, everyone in this chapter comes to know Jesus Christ because of someone else.
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John the Baptist tells Andrew, who tells Peter, and Jesus himself calls Phil, who tells Nathaniel.
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And you have to see the first thing that these disciples did as all disciples of Jesus are called to do is to make him known.
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So as we wrap up, the question we're going to answer is this, how do I make Jesus known?
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I want you to jot these three things down.
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How do I make Jesus known?
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Number one, I make Jesus known through exaltation.
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I make Jesus known through exaltation.
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What do you mean by that?
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Well, Andrew spent time with Jesus, and that's what motivated him to go get his brother.
18:43-18:48
Philip spent time with Jesus, and that's what motivated him to go find Nathaniel.
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And in both of these cases, you see nothing mechanical or forced or canned.
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It was purely a reaction to a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.
18:59-19:05
The degree that you are following Jesus Christ is the degree that you are witnessing for Jesus Christ.
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There are so many classes and seminars and books on evangelism.
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Remember evangelism explosion?
19:15-19:17
How many people remember evangelism explosion?
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You have your little survey, and I'm taking a survey about religion, and I'd just like to ask you a few questions, and that's sort of how we approach the subject and get people the gospel, and you remember that?
19:31-20:08
I personally have taught many classes and led seminars, and here's the thing with all of these evangelism teaching tools, they really only benefit the people who want to witness. If you go into that, witnessing isn't really your thing. Witnessing probably isn't going to be your thing when you leave. But, by far, the best way to be the best witness for Jesus Christ is to be walking with Christ yourself. That makes you the best evangelist.
20:08-21:08
I saw a video years ago, I think it was a Ray Comfort sharing the gospel on the street kind of thing, but they called this guy over and said, "Hey, would you be willing to give this gospel track to a stranger?" And the guy's like, "No, I don't really feel comfortable, you know, giving gospel tracks to strangers. I don't really feel comfortable doing that." And they said, "Well, what if I gave you $20? Would you do it for $20?" And they held the cash up. He goes, "Yeah, I'll do it for $20." So he grabs the track and runs over to the first girl he sees walking by. He goes, "Hey, I have this little book. I'd like you to check it out, read it, and just a little something for you and hey here you go have a nice day and he comes back and collects his $20. Well the host of this little street level experiment said to the man, they said you know Jesus said you love God or you love money. How does it make you feel knowing that you wouldn't do it because you wouldn't share the gospel because Jesus told you to but you were willing to do it for money?
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wah-wah, right? That might make you feel like a jerk, but will that really motivate you to reach out to someone with the gospel? I'll tell you what's going to make someone want to reach out to others with the gospel. You let that guy be crushed by the weight of his sin and let him experience a harsh reality of life, a place of desperation where he cries out to God and experiences grace and love and the transforming power of Jesus and the beautiful presence of the Holy Spirit and the peace and assurance he gives of forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. That guy is going to go tell people about Jesus, because he He doesn't need any other motivation other than just knowing Jesus.
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Because when you know Jesus, that's more than enough motivation to be a witness for Christ.
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The degree that you are following Christ is the degree that you are witnessing for Christ.
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So number one, I make Jesus known through exaltation.
22:21-22:23
Number two, I make Jesus known through proclamation.
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proclamation. Sometimes as Christians we throw around lame phrases that have no biblical basis but they like sound nice to us, you know what I'm talking about?
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You know what I mean? Here's one. I've heard people say this so many times.
22:41-23:22
"Share the gospel, use words if necessary." You ever heard somebody say that? "Share the gospel and use words if necessary." What? Where is that written? I got one for you! "Share the gospel and use words!" I mean, what is this, lifestyle charades that we're trying to get people to guess? Like, "All right, I'm gonna do the motions, and you're gonna guess, okay, all right, all right, I'm gonna try to guess, I'm gonna try to guess, okay, okay, I'm gonna try to guess, okay care about me and I can't figure out what it is you're trying...
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I'm sorry, I give up. What was the answer?" And you're like, "Jesus Christ loves you and died for your sins, that was the answer!" Lifestyle Shreds doesn't do it.
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Listen, yes, yes, love people, yes, let your light shine before others, yes, yes, absolutely, but faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ, Romans 10:17. "If If someone is going to come to faith, it has to be by hearing.
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And Andrew and Philip, both in this passage, simply shared what they knew about Jesus.
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One of the hang-ups people have about witnessing, people say, "Well, what if they ask me a question I don't know?" Well, Andrew and Philip taught us that we don't need to have all the answers.
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Think about it.
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one sense, Andrew and Philip knew very little about Jesus Christ, because this was only the beginning of Jesus' ministry. How many miracles have Andrew and Philip seen at this point? The answer is none. No miracles. They didn't see the cross, they didn't see the empty tomb, yet. They didn't see any of that. They didn't see the resurrected Christ, yet. They knew very little, but they knew enough. And was compelling and worth sharing.
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So share what you know.
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If you know Jesus, you know enough to share with someone else.
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And you'll find that when you get the opportunity to talk about Jesus, you know more than you think you do.
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So make Jesus known through exaltation, your personal walk, it has to start there.
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Make Jesus known through proclamation.
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Finally, I make Jesus known through invitation.
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Very clearly seen in the text.
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Invitation.
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Another obstacle we face in witnessing that discourages some people from witnessing is dealing with skeptics.
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And I love how Philip handled the skepticism.
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I love that.
25:28-25:40
Remember, Nathaniel said, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Nathaniel was already sold on the fact that Jesus couldn't be the Messiah because there's no way anything good came from Nazareth.
25:40-25:41
So he was a skeptic.
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But notice that Philip didn't launch into some sermon or some apologetics course.
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Do you see that verse 46?
25:49-25:55
Philip just simply said this, "Come and see, come and see." What if that's how we handled skepticism?
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If people were like, "Oh, Christians are all hypocrites." And we're like, "Hey, hey, come and see." Like, "Oh, all the churches do is ask for money.
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Come and see." I don't think Christianity really works.
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Come and see.
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And I thought as I was preparing this, if only there was a place where people could be invited, where they could see transformed lives, where they would be loved, where they could experience God's presence and God's people, where they could come to know Jesus Christ personally.
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If only there was a place you could invite someone where they would see and experience all of that.
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Oh, if only there was a place.
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there is a place, and you're sitting in it.
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That's why, church, I have no problem inviting people to Harvest Bible Chapel, because I know what is in store for them when they come.
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They're going to be welcomed and loved by the best people on earth.
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They're going to come to know Jesus Christ, your passionate worship, and the proclamation of the Word of God.
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I know what happens here, so I want them to come.
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Inviting people to church is the easiest thing.
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Take one of these little yellow cards that we provide on the back table.
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It says, "I'm inviting you," on one side, and the other side has information about our church.
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And you just say to someone, "Hey, if you don't have a church home, "I would love for you to be my guest "at Harvest Bible Chapel," and give them the card.
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What is the absolute worst thing that could happen?
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The person says, "I don't want to come to your stupid church." That's okay.
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If somebody says something like that or reacts in that way, all you need to do is smile and say, "It's a standing invitation.
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If you decide to change your mind sometime, I'd love to have you come." That's it.
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Philip says to Nathaniel, "Come and see." Andrew, same with Simon Peter, "Come and see." He brought Simon to Jesus.
27:59-28:02
He just grabbed him and he was like, "You have to meet him!
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Come and see. Come and see." And Andrew is a great inspiration to all of us in witnessing.
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I mean, think about Andrew for a second.
28:12-28:19
You remember how God used Peter to save 3,000 of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2?
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Well, Peter wouldn't have been there and he wouldn't have given that sermon If his brother Andrew didn't introduce him to Jesus first.
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So hey, maybe you aren't the next Simon Peter.
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But maybe you are the next Andrew.
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Maybe God is going to use you to reach the next Simon Peter.
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Like where would that happen?
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Well, maybe it's one of your children you're discipling in your home.
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Maybe it's one of the children you're discipling in Harvest Kids.
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Maybe it's in your small group.
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Maybe it's in your workplace.
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Maybe it's in your neighborhood.
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Who knows how God is going to make an impact for eternity, not only through you, but maybe someone He reaches through you.
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Your job is simply to make Him known, to exalt Jesus Christ, proclaim His name, and invite people to come and experience His power with His people.
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Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, we come before you today.
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We thank you for the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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And Father, it is my prayer simply today for this church, and for those who are going to be listening to this online later.
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It's my prayer, Father, that you would so consume us with your love and mercy and the power of the gospel and the relationship that you've provided through Jesus Christ.
29:50-30:10
I pray, Father, that you would so consume us with that, that reaching out with the gospel, whether it's sharing the good news or inviting people to church or whatever, I just pray, Father, that is such a natural thing for us, because it's an outpouring of what you're already pouring into us.
30:11-30:18
Father, bring us to a place of just genuine enthusiasm for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
30:19-30:25
Father, we thank you that you've chosen to use people to carry out the work of the Great Commission.
30:25-30:31
And Father, find us faithful in being ambassadors for Christ, as your word has called us.
30:31-30:33
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read John 1:35-51
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What’s your biggest challenge in sharing the Gospel? In inviting people to church?
Why did Jesus ask “What are you seeking?” (John 1:38)? What’s the significance? How would YOU answer if He showed up personally at HBC and directly asked YOU?
BREAKOUT
Name someone you want to invite to church:
Pray for that person.
Ask God to give you opportunity to invite him / her THIS WEEK.