One Really Matters Sermon 10-27-19


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ONE REALLY MATTERS   John 1:40-43 40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter[a]).43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”   When we talk about our faith in Jesus Christ, someone will inevitably remind us that what we believe is fine for us but not for them. All this leads us to ask, “What does it take to bring people to Jesus?” The answer is what it has always been: God’s truth shared in love and friendship, illustrated daily in the life of the one sharing the Gospel.   Peter’s brother, Andrew, is the least known of the four disciples in the inner circle. Andrew ordinarily is left very much in the background. We will learn, too, he was used by our Lord to touch one who touched thousands, Peter.   Take this church for example, there are many people who never get in the spotlight. There ministry is in the background often out of sight. But its people like that with a heart for the gospel who can reach the Peters of the world. Those who will go on to reach many people for the Lord.   How did Andrew go about sharing the gospel?   He Saw the Value Of Individual People   Andrew appreciated the value of a single soul. He was known for bringing individuals, not crowds, to Jesus. Almost every time we see him in the gospel accounts, he is bringing someone to Jesus.   He brought Peter to Jesus: ……..Just one He brought the boy with his lunch to Jesus: ……..Just one     Often times people will hear many sermons, perhaps hear many people worship in spirit and truth and yet still not respond to the gospel in that environment.   They come to Christ because of the influence of an individual.   Andrew brought one—Peter. Peter then brought thousands. All the fruit of Peter’s ministry is ultimately also the fruit of Andrew’s faithful individual witness.   “Few have ever heard of Edward Kimball. He was a Sunday School teacher who led D.L. Moody to Christ. Edward went to a Boston shoe store where the 18-year-old Moody was working, cornered him in the stockroom, and introduced him to Christ. Kimball was anything but bold. He was a timid, soft-spoken man. He went to that shoe store frightened, trembling and unaware of whether he had the courage to confront this young man with the gospel. Moody, on the other hand, was crude and obviously illiterate, and Kimball trembled in his boots as he recalled the incident. Moody had begun to attend his Sunday School class. Moody was totally untaught and ignorant about the Bible. Kimball said, ‘I decided to speak to Moody about Christ and about his soul. I started downtown to Holton’s shoe store. When I was nearly there, I began to wonder whether I ought to go just then during business hours. And I thought maybe my mission might embarrass the boy, that when I went away the other clerks might ask who I was, and when they learned might taunt Moody and ask if I was trying to make a good boy out of him. While I was pondering over it all, I passed the store without noticing it. Then, when I found I had gone by the door I determined to make a dash for it and have it over at once.’   Kimball found Moody in the stockroom and spoke to him with ‘limping words.’ Later, he said, ‘I never could remember what I said, ‘something about Christ and His love, that was all.’ He admitted it was a ‘weak appeal.’ But Moody,then and there, gave his heart to Christ.”   If you have every studied the Bible in-depth you probably have read some of Moody’s work.   I’m sure that there are many in this room who could relate to Edward Kimball. You know that people need the gospel, and you are even compelled to go, and in your head begins the battle of your inadequacy and what if’s.   Andrew saw the value in ONE and the value in individual people. You build that relationship with your one, all the while praying…. And just like Kimball you will question yourself, your wisdom, your articulation, your motives, but what you need to know is Christ is simply looking for obedience. With your obedience, Christ’s grace and mercy flows through the Spirit to give new life.   He Saw the Value Of Insignificant Gifts   I have often heard this statement, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. How about this one, one man’s junk is …… you got it, is another man’s treasure.   Many people that I meet and talk to in the church feel and think that they don’t matter and that their gifts are not important. Some even feel as if there story of how Christ came in is not worthy enough to share with others. I often find God finds great value in things that we seem to throw by the wayside.   In the feeding of the 5,000 story, Philip’s vision was overwhelmed by the size of the need. “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish —but what are they for so many?” (John 6:8-9, CSB)   I can see most of us now…. Bro. Matt all these people need to be fed and what are we going to do? Me…. Tell them to go home…… Tommy… Maybe we could give them some water or something…. Phil…. Tell them to go home….   Then comes Hallie…. Hey dad I have a few things left in my lunch box that we might can use……   Let’s stop right there. There isn’t a lunch box big enough to hold the food we would need to feed 5000 people. What we often forget is that God will do more with your offer than you can ever imagine.   The FIVE barley loaves and the TWO fish were all that Jesus needed.   What we sense as being insignificant, God sees the unending possibilities. No gift is insignificant in the hands of Jesus.   He looked up and saw the rich dropping their offerings into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow dropping in two tiny coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For all these people have put in gifts out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on” (Luke 21:1-4, CSB).   God’s ability to use a gift is in no way hindered or enhanced by the size of that gift. It is the sacrificial faithfulness of the giver, not the size of the gift, that is the true measure of the gift’s significance.   It’s not the greatness of the gift that counts, but rather the greatness of the God to whom it is given. The miracle of feeding the 5,000 illustrates the way God works. He takes the sacrificial and often seemingly insignificant gifts of people who give faithfully, and He multiplies them to accomplish monumental things.   When you think of your contribution as being insignificant, then your input could give momentum to something that becomes monumental.   He Saw the Value Of Inconspicuous Service   Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart (Ephesians 6:6, CSB).   One thing that we have going in this series is that we have hung a logo in the hall right outside the worship center. This is something where every time that you have a gospel conversation with someone you simply color in a square to represent that conversation. No one knows who, when, or what the conversation consisted of. Simply being obedient to the word by telling your story of how Jesus has made a difference in your life.   Andrew was not the front man, but the work that Andrew did for the Lord is still having an impact on us today. Often times you may feel as if your contributions to the Lord go unnoticed, but praise God that the One who matters sees all and it’s a Big deal to Him.   1 Corinthians 1:27-29 Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence.   One really does matter…. You matter….. Your Story matters…. Your Conversations matter… God will use you.   Just know the first step to being used by God is to surrender everything to Him and trust that he in return will give you more that you could have ever come up with on your own. The disciples gave up everything, but what they got was truly out of this world.