Come and See

Well, it's my privilege to have the chance to preach this morning, and I will continue

in the book of John like Jonathan just said.

We'll continue in chapter 1, and we'll finish chapter 1 today.

But I do want to mention this, that when we were reading, or when the passage from Genesis

was read, did you catch that last phrase?

That last phrase says, Jehovah's in this place.

You know, the Word of God declares this, where two or more are gathered in His name, there

He is in the midst.

And so it's this morning we come with this understanding that Jehovah's in this place, and it's my prayer

that the words of Jehovah, through His Word, would touch us deeply.

So this morning we turn to chapter 1, and we're going to read starting in verse 35, but before

I read, I just want to share a couple of things about this passage and about this chapter 1.

I don't know if you would have picked it up unless you've dug a little bit to see this,

but do you realize that the place where John is baptizing, this place on the east side of

the Jordan is roughly 20 miles from Jerusalem, and it's roughly 85 miles to Bethsaida.

Now why would I share that?

Why is this geography important?

Because what we see is we see these men, what will be introduced to these men, Andrew and

Philip and Peter, Nathaniel, will be introduced to these men this morning.

And it's interesting to note that they're from Bethsaida, which is on the northern side

of the Sea of Galilee, roughly 85 miles.

And in that day, it takes a long time to travel 85 miles, and it begs the question, why are

you down there?

Why are you spending time with John?

What is the occasion?

And what we can glean here is that they're by foot roughly five days journey down to this

area, and they're disciples of John the Baptist, meaning they consider him their rabbi.

They have sat at his feet to learn from him.

And it means evidently that they had spent some measure of time with him, so they had been

following him for quite some time.

They were seekers of truth.

You know what's interesting?

That these blue-collar guys, these rough guys, these fishermen, you know they didn't go to

Jerusalem to find the rabbis in Jerusalem, to find the greatest of the Pharisees or the

greatest of the Sadducees.

They didn't even go to the synagogue to seek truth.

You know where they went?

They went where God had stirred them, to this guy who's in the wilderness who's preaching

this message of repentance.

There's something in them that was stirred by the truth that was being proclaimed by this

guy who dressed differently.

He didn't have the religious garb that most would have.

He wasn't looking for the applause of men.

He didn't wear tassels on the bottom of his garment.

But he had come proclaiming a gospel of the coming Messiah.

And they were drawn to it.

They were seeking truth.

And I think that's important for us to understand as we look at these encounters.

This morning we're going to look at five encounters with Jesus.

From the text we read this morning we'll see four, but I'm going to back up a little bit

and we're going to talk about the encounter of John the Baptist with Christ as well.

That would be five encounters with Christ.

And it's my hope this morning that we consider if we've had an encounter with Jesus.

And if we have had an encounter with Jesus, what did he say to us?

What is it that stirred in our hearts when we had this encounter with Jesus?

And it's in my hope that as believers, for those of us who are in the kingdom, born again,

that we would not just have one encounter with Jesus, but it would be continual.

That we would fellowship with the Lord often.

So if you would turn to verse 35 in chapter 1,

as we read from the scriptures this morning, I would ask you to follow along.

It's my hope that you would bring your Bible and you would be so familiar with your Bible

that you would not want to leave it at home.

That it would be with you often.

And hopefully the pages would get quite fragile because you've turned there so many times.

And hopefully you've got highlights and notes and such in your Bible

because you treasure the time you spend there.

This is the very word of God we read, starting in verse 35, and it says this.

The next day, that is the day after the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.

The next day, again, John was standing with two of his disciples

and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said,

Behold, the Lamb of God.

The two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus.

Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them,

What are you seeking?

And they said to him, Rabbi, where are you staying?

He said to them, Come and you will see.

So they came and they saw where he was staying

and they stayed with him that day for it was about the tenth hour.

One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

He first found his own brother Simon and he said to him,

We have found the Messiah, which means Christ.

And he brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said,

You are Simon, the son of John.

You shall be called Cephas, which means Peter or rock.

The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee.

He found Philip and said to him, Follow me.

Now, Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him,

We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote,

Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

Nathanael said, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?

Philip said to him, Come and see.

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said,

Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit.

Nathanael said to him, How do you know me?

Jesus answered him,

Before Philip called you,

When you were under the fig tree, I saw you.

Nathanael answered him,

Rabbi, you are the son of God.

You are the king of Israel.

Jesus answered him,

Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?

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.

Let's pray again.

Father, this morning I ask that you would open our spiritual eyes,

that as we look at your word,

we would see your truth for what it is,

and you would open our understanding.

God, as we read, we would understand the truths here.

And God, I pray that you would touch our heart with your word.

Father, may your word plant itself deep within our heart.

This morning may your word move us to desire you,

and to seek you more,

and to follow you,

and to love you,

and to serve you.

And I pray in your name.

Amen.

I want you to see this about the encounter of John with Jesus.

It would help us to understand what John thinks about himself,

who John sees himself to be.

Very interesting in the word.

It says this,

John says this in verse 23,

I am the voice.

I am the voice.

What voice, John?

I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

Make straight the way of the Lord,

as the prophet Isaiah said.

Do you hear what he's saying about himself?

He's saying this,

that the prophet Isaiah foretold of this guy

who was coming before the Messiah,

and this guy was going to be a voice in the wilderness,

and he was going to be proclaiming a message.

Before Jesus the Messiah came.

If we look at Mark chapter 1,

Mark 1 · chapter mention

Mark starts his gospel talking about this voice.

And Mark says it like this.

Chapter 1, he says,

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

the Son of God,

as it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

Behold, I send my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way.

The voice of one crying in the wilderness,

prepare the way of the Lord.

Make his paths straight.

John appeared baptizing in the wilderness

and proclaiming a baptism of repentance

for the forgiveness of sins.

I want you to notice something here.

Mark shares with us something vital

that we need to understand about John.

He says this,

Behold, this God speaking,

Behold, he's speaking through his prophet Isaiah,

and he says,

Behold, I send.

I send.

God sent.

John the Baptist was sent by God,

and John knew it.

John realized that he had been sent by God.

And notice what he says about John.

He says,

My messenger.

Behold, I send my messenger.

The person that I have moved in his life,

the person that I have put my words in his mouth,

it's that person that I've sent

to be the forerunner of the Messiah.

It's John.

And he is a voice crying in the wilderness.

It's interesting.

He's crying in the wilderness,

not in the synagogue.

Not in the temple.

He's crying in the wilderness.

It's John who's not dressed like rabbis.

It's John who doesn't act like rabbis.

It's John who's not religious.

He's not part of the religious system.

It's this guy who's coming out of the wilderness,

likely a nomadic scenario

where he's been in the wilderness.

Do you all realize his parents were very old when he was born?

It was a miraculous birth.

Do you all remember Elizabeth?

She who was barren,

who was the laughing stock of their city,

their town,

who obviously had not been blessed by God

because she was barren.

You know that barren women were pushed to the sidelines of society?

And in her old age,

through much prayer,

you can be sure,

from her and her husband,

Zechariah,

she became pregnant.

In her old age.

Miraculous.

It can't happen.

Can it?

Nothing's impossible for God.

And what did she do?

Paraded around town?

No,

she stayed in her house.

And she said,

this is too good to be true.

And Mary,

the mother of the coming Messiah,

received this encounter from an angel,

Gabriel,

who said,

and by the way,

your relative Elizabeth is with child.

And in her excitement,

she leaves and she goes down to the city where her relative stays.

And as she's walking across the threshold of the door,

Elizabeth prophesies.

And you know what she prophesied?

You know what she said?

She said exactly what God put in her mouth.

And what did God put in her mouth?

Who am I?

That the mother of my Lord.

God.

I'm going to turn there so I don't mess it up.

And why is it granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For behold,

when the sound of your greeting came to my ears,

the baby,

John the Baptist,

leaped in my womb.

And it has a nice little phrase at the end.

You remember what it says?

Leaped in my womb for joy.

Do you know in the womb of Elizabeth was John the Baptist?

Who leaped when the Messiah arrived.

You know,

there's something strongly spiritual about that,

isn't there?

So I want you to hear from Luke 1

what John the Baptist's father prophesied about him.

So you understand that Elizabeth and Zechariah were very old in age.

Likely,

John was very young when they passed away.

And so he would have been raised by relatives,

possibly been raised by relatives.

There's no way to know this for sure.

But there's evidence that would lead us to think that perhaps he was raised in a nomadic setting in the wilderness.

That's what nomads did.

They wandered in the wilderness so their flocks could be fed.

No way to know for sure.

But it is interesting that he wasn't surrounded by the religious system.

He was free to be led by God.

And Zechariah shares something of importance with us that I want you to hear this morning.

So Zechariah,

you'll remember the story.

He goes into the holy place.

It was the greatest gift of life for a priest to be allowed to have the privilege to go and walk in.

And he took incense to put on the altar,

which represents the prayers of the saints.

And he goes in and he puts incense on the altar.

And what happens?

He has an encounter,

doesn't he?

And in that encounter,

he is mute.

He can't speak.

As he walks out,

he was greeted by an angel in that setting.

He walks out.

He can't talk anymore.

And he doesn't talk again until when?

Until his son,

John the Baptist,

is dedicated on the eighth day.

So can you picture this?

The first words out of his mouth are not even his words.

He prophesies as the Holy Spirit moves upon him.

And he speaks these words.

He talks about Christ and the Messiah.

And then in verse 76 of chapter 1 of Luke,

it says this,

And you, child,

I can just picture him holding this child in his hands.

John the Baptist,

his eight-day-old son in his old age.

Can you imagine

waiting all those years for a child

and his child to be born?

And he's holding his child here.

And his mouth has been mute.

And when he opens it up,

God's word spills out of his mouth.

And he says,

And you, child,

you will be called prophet,

the prophet of the Most High.

There's a lot in that phrase.

The prophet of the Most High.

For you will go before the Lord to prepare his way

to give knowledge of salvation to his people

in the forgiveness of their sins.

Wow.

Now, John's eight days old,

and I doubt he remembers hearing that.

But don't you know

that Elizabeth and Zechariah

sensed this powerful movement of God,

this miraculous thing that God is doing

in the life of John the Baptist?

And we go back,

and I want you to see this

about John the Baptist.

And we're getting to the encounter.

We're not to the encounter yet,

because I want you to realize

these things.

Is that John is a prophet.

And you remember what Christ said

about John the Baptist?

Listen to what he said.

What did you go in the wilderness to see?

You know what the people were doing?

They heard about this guy

who was so different,

radically different

than any other religious message

they'd ever heard.

And word began to spread in that culture,

and people began to go to him

from all kind of places

to where he was baptizing.

And they were hearing the message

of John the Baptist,

and Christ asked this question

to his disciples.

He says this,

What did you go out

to the wilderness to see?

A prophet?

Yes, I tell you.

And more than a prophet.

You hear what he says there?

Christ said,

yes, he was a prophet.

He was the spokesperson for God.

You know what a prophet is?

Prophet is one that God chooses

to speak through to the people.

God moves in their heart

to put his message in their heart.

They open their mouths,

and the word of God

spills out of their mouth.

The Holy Spirit

is the one that speaks

to these men.

He is more than a prophet.

This is he, him,

the one

that is written about.

Behold, I send my messenger

before your face,

who will prepare your way

before you.

Truly, I say to you,

and we've heard this before

in the book of John,

as Jonathan was preaching,

I say to you,

among those born of women,

there has arisen

no one greater

than John the Baptist.

And remember what it is

to be great in the kingdom of God?

Go lower.

Go lower.

Do you think John saw himself

as someone who was low?

Listen to what it says.

Listen to it.

He said he knows about himself,

these things,

that he is that voice,

that he is the person

that was prophesied about

in the Old Testament.

He is the one.

And it's validated

by the Holy Spirit

through Zechariah,

his father.

He is the voice

from the wilderness.

And if you look down

to verse 33,

chapter 1,

it says,

I myself did not know him.

That is,

in the natural,

I've never seen Jesus before.

I didn't know who he was.

I could not have

visibly recognized him.

Though he saw him,

in a sense,

saw him,

experienced him

in the womb of Elizabeth

when Jesus walked

across the threshold,

he had never seen him

with his eyes.

He said,

I myself did not know him,

but he who sent me

said to me.

Y'all realize

the importance of that phrase?

He who sent me,

who sent him?

John,

you remember in Mark?

It said this,

Behold,

I send my messenger.

You know what it is?

It's God's messenger

with God's message.

John is the messenger

sent by God.

He says,

I'm the voice,

and he who sent me

said to me,

you know what?

God spoke

to John the Baptist.

God validated

to John the Baptist

who was the Christ.

Christ.

And what was the response

of John the Baptist

when he saw Jesus?

Behold,

the Lamb of God.

Let me just ask this

of you and I.

Is that true for us?

Have you seen Jesus?

Have you experienced Jesus?

When you walk away

from your experience

with Christ,

do you find yourself

saying,

Behold,

the Lamb of God.

There He is.

Do you find yourself

pointing at Jesus?

Do you find yourself

sharing it with people

you come in contact with?

There He is.

You need Jesus.

We all need Jesus.

Do you think

with John understanding

who He was,

and with John

receiving these words

from God the Father,

you would think

that he would be tempted

to think of himself

more highly

than he ought to think.

Correct?

I mean,

he's in a role

that he knows

God has placed him in.

But I want you to hear,

oh man,

I want you to hear

the heart of John.

He encounters Christ

as the forerunner,

the one that was called

by God as a messenger.

And here's the interaction.

We see it a little differently

through the eyes of Matthew.

If we look in Matthew chapter 3,

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

listen to the encounter

when Jesus comes to John

to be baptized.

Here it is.

Then Jesus came from Galilee

to the Jordan

to John

to be baptized by Him.

John would have prevented it.

Does that not strike you?

John's like,

no.

I'm baptizing all these people.

They need to repent.

They need to be baptized.

You don't need to be baptized.

Who am I

that you would even come to me?

You remember what he said

about the sandals of Jesus?

I'm not worthy

to be the lowest servant

in the house of my God

to even untie

the latchet of the sandal

of Jesus.

I'm not worthy

to be the lowest servant

in the house of my God.

Does that echo with you?

How do we view ourselves?

Are we going lower?

Are we recognizing

realizing more and more

and more

that apart from Jesus

we're nothing?

We don't deserve

to be in the house

of our God, do we?

You know it's a gift

for you and I

that He gave us?

That we would be allowed

to be in the house

of our God?

That we would be allowed

to be a servant

in the house of our God?

Listen to what happened.

He said,

John would have prevented

him saying,

I need to be baptized

by you

and you come to me?

But Jesus answered,

let it be so

for now

for thus it is fitting

to fulfill

all righteousness.

Let me just make

this point.

Do you think

that in that encounter

John would have been

in awe?

I think right here

it reveals

that he's like

it probably

can't get words out

to start with

because

the Holy Spirit

or the Father

is indicated

there He is,

there He is,

there He is,

there He is,

He's coming,

He's coming to you

right now.

That's Him.

That's the Lamb of God

and He's hearing all this

and He knows it

and He's like,

I'm not worthy

that you would come

that close to me.

Who am I

that you would even

approach me?

And in awe

He says,

I understand

who you are.

I need to be baptized.

I'm nothing.

I'm nobody.

So here's what I see.

I see an awe

in the heart

of John the Baptist.

This greatest

of all

who have ever

been born by a woman.

He is deeply

humble.

And He's obedient,

isn't He?

Though He knew

that He should not

baptize the Messiah,

the Messiah said,

I want you to baptize me.

This is just the way

it needs to be.

Yes, Lord.

You know,

when we encounter Christ,

is that the response

that we have?

Do we see ourselves

for who we really are

that we're nobody

apart from Him?

Do we shout,

behold the Lamb of God?

Is that something

that often comes

from our lips?

Do people look at us

and see,

there's that guy,

that radical dude,

man.

I wish he'd shut up

sometimes.

I'm tired of hearing

him talk about Jesus

all the time.

Does that characterize

the way we walk

and the way we live

and the way we interact

with people?

I hope it does.

We move on here.

So you can picture

these two disciples

of John

who've been following Him

and who've been

learning from Him,

who've been seeking

truth,

who've been seeking

the Messiah,

the Lord,

the truth,

the Father,

and they're following

John because they know

something is

from God.

Something about John

is from God.

Something about John

can't be explained.

There's something

supernatural going on here

and they're following Him

and you know what He says?

Jesus walks by them

and as He's walking by,

He says to them,

Behold,

there He is,

the Lamb of God.

He says it again.

He can't contain Himself.

You know He had lived

for this very day?

Do y'all realize

that John had lived

all these years

for that very day?

Do you realize

that was the purpose

for which He was sent?

That when Christ came

and was baptized,

do you realize

that the purpose

for John was fulfilled?

And He makes a statement,

He must increase,

I must decrease.

My role is finished.

His role is beginning

as the Messiah.

And He turns,

He says,

there they are.

And so what did

the disciples do?

They had come

and they had learned,

they knew something

was supernatural about John.

Would you depart from that?

Would you leave?

Wouldn't you want

to be around John?

This guy that absolutely

is obvious that God

is doing something

incredible in his life.

What did they do?

They left.

Listen to what it says.

And He looked at Jesus,

John the Baptist did,

as He walked by and said,

Behold the Lamb of God.

The two disciples

heard Him say this

and they did what?

They followed Jesus.

Let me ask you this question.

For all of us,

you know,

we live in the South.

There's steeples

all over town.

You know,

especially go look

over the bridge

or Avonel,

you look down.

Steeples,

steeples,

steeples,

all over the place.

Churches on most corners.

You've heard about Jesus,

haven't you?

What is the effect

in your heart

when you've heard

about Jesus,

when Jesus has been

presented to you,

when you see Jesus

in the pages of the Word,

have you followed Him?

Church,

have you followed Him?

Have you sought Him

with all your heart?

Are you seeking after Jesus

to know Him?

Not just to know about Him,

not just to know doctrine.

Do you want to know Him

personally,

deeply,

intimately?

He invites us all there.

notice what it says.

They followed Jesus

and what did Jesus do?

He had just walked by them,

hadn't He?

And they start following Him.

What does He do?

Do you realize that

anybody who seeks Jesus,

Jesus always turns?

For anybody that is seeking,

truly seeking,

you know what He does?

He turns.

But it's an interesting question

He throws their way.

Do you know what the question is?

In the text it says this,

what are you seeking?

Why are you following me?

What are you doing?

What is He asking?

He's asking for their motive.

Why do you want to spend time with me?

What is your motive?

You know,

we can glimpse ahead

to chapter 6.

And it says this,

when He had fed

many in the wilderness

and He left

and He went to another place,

a large crowd followed Jesus.

You remember chapter 6.

And Jesus answered them.

He said,

why did you,

why have you come across

to the other side of the sea?

And He answered them and said,

Jesus,

He said,

truly, truly,

I say to you,

you are seeking me

not because you saw signs

and saw something supernatural,

but because you ate

and you're in,

excuse me,

you ate your fill

of the loaves.

Their belly was full.

They received food.

They're chasing Him

because He's a provider.

He can provide for 5,000

with a small handful of loaves

and some fish.

There's something supernatural

about this guy.

I love the fact

that I can eat and be full.

And they're chasing Him for why?

For what they can get.

You know what begs the question

for you and me?

Why are we following Jesus?

Are we following Jesus

for what we can get?

Are we following Him

for who He is?

Jesus said to these,

Do not work for food

that perishes,

but for the food

that endures to eternal life.

Don't live for the temporal.

Live for the spiritual.

Live for my kingdom.

Live for me.

And so they said to Him,

Rabbi, where are you staying?

In other words,

wherever you're going,

I'm going.

Wherever you're staying,

I'm staying.

We want to be at Your feet.

We want to be taught by You.

We want to learn.

We want to be in Your presence.

We're hungry for You.

We believe that You really are

the Messiah.

We've been looking for all these years

and now we know it for sure

that You're the One.

We want to be with You.

What did He say?

Nah.

Nah.

I don't think you're ready.

That isn't what He said, is He?

He says, come.

You know, for all who seek Him,

you know what Jesus says?

Come.

Come.

And when He says come,

what is He going to show you?

He's going to show you Himself.

He's going to reveal to you

something so powerful.

Himself.

The author of life.

So they came and they saw

where He was staying

and they stayed with Him for a day

and it was about the tenth hour.

One of the two who heard Him speak

followed Jesus and followed Jesus

was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

And what did Andrew do

when he spent time with Jesus?

What was the effect on Andrew?

Do you notice?

He left and went and found Simon

and said, man, come on.

Come on.

You got to come, man.

You don't want to miss out on this.

He's right over there.

Come on.

Let's go.

Let's go.

And he takes his brother, Simon,

and he does what?

He takes him to Jesus.

Do you know if we chased Andrew

through the Gospels,

you know what he does?

He takes people to Jesus.

That's who he is.

He's like, I don't have all the answers,

but I know who does.

Come on.

I'm going to take you.

I'll show him.

Church, do we do the same thing?

We don't have all the answers.

Do you find yourself

taking people to Jesus?

Do you find yourself

that the problems

and the lives of people

that you come in contact with

are spiritual?

And if they're spiritual,

there's one who has an answer

for those spiritual things.

His name is Jesus.

And then,

we love this third encounter,

this encounter of Simon Peter,

of Peter,

we're going to call him Simon

because when they say here

in the text,

Simon Peter,

they're looking backwards

as they're writing this thing.

But you know who he was?

He was Simon.

His name was not Peter

until after the encounter.

Do you all know that?

Listen to what it says.

And by the way,

you know what I was struck by

when I was studying this?

You know who Simon Peter is?

As we read through the scriptures,

read through the book of Acts,

you know what it is?

He's this loud,

impetuous,

he puts his foot in his mouth,

he talks before he,

I mean,

he just,

he says things

that before he thinks about things.

He's just this

fire type of a guy,

fiery type of a guy.

And here's the encounter with Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said,

you are Simon.

You shall be Peter.

Think about that.

You are,

but you shall be.

You know,

before we were in the kingdom,

we were somebody,

but since we've come into the kingdom,

we're somebody else.

Do you all realize that?

Do you realize

that a true encounter with Christ

leads to being born again?

It leads to salvation.

It leads to a change.

It leads to newness of life.

You know,

Romans 6 says that.

We've been united with Christ,

so now walk in newness of life.

You've been born again.

You're no longer bound by sin,

but you're new creatures.

I've put my desires in your heart.

I've changed your heart of stone

and made it a heart of flesh.

And Peter was dumbstruck,

I'm just guessing.

There's no words

that seem to go from Peter.

He's like,

huh?

What do you mean

I'm going to be another guy?

Radically different guy.

Do you think that's true

in the life of Peter?

Do you see a different guy

after Pentecost?

You know,

Peter's the same one

that was scared

of the servant girl

at the gate

when he was going

to warm his hands

after Jesus had been arrested.

And you know,

that same guy

is the guy after Pentecost

that stood up

to the Pharisees

and said,

that's Jesus, man.

You need to be saved.

I mean,

he's saying,

in his first sermon,

he talks about,

you think these guys

are drunk

because they've had this,

the Holy Spirit

come upon them

in this Pentecostal thing.

You think they're drunk.

They're not drunk.

This is what was talked about

in the prophets.

This is the movement of God

that Joel spoke about.

I mean,

he's bold as a lion.

You go from this timid guy

that's scared

of getting hurt

to this bold guy

who's willing to die.

Is that true for you?

Do you find that now

that you're a Christian,

do you find that there's

a willingness in your life

and your heart

to be willing even

to die for the kingdom?

Amen.

You know,

that's the high call of God.

This soft,

mushy Christianity

that's being served up

on platters

is not what the Scriptures

talk about.

You know what the Scripture

talks about?

They talk about,

the Scripture talks about

a radical

giving my life away

to become a bondservant

of Christ

to set my eyes

and fix them on Jesus

to seek first

the kingdom of God

and His righteousness.

That that's the way I live.

I don't live

for the world anymore.

I don't live

for temporal things.

I live for Him now.

And let me just say this,

for those of us

who genuinely desire

to seek and live for Him,

you know what's going

to happen in your heart.

Even though our personalities

might not be like Peter's,

there's going to be

a boldness that comes

through the indwelling

Holy Spirit.

the fourth encounter.

The next day,

Jesus decided to go to Galilee.

He found Philip

and said to him,

Philip, follow me.

And you know what

some would think,

wait a minute,

Jesus, I've got things

at home I've got to do.

I left the garden unattended.

It's got some weeds in it.

I've got fishing plans

for my buddy.

I've got things

on the calendar, Jesus.

He says, follow me.

What did Philip say?

He said,

everything else

doesn't have any meaning

compared to the invitation.

Follow me.

And what does he do?

Very similar.

He found Nathaniel

and he said,

he said something different.

I want you to hear this.

And we're going to end

with Nathaniel's encounter.

But I want you to see

what Philip said

to Nathaniel.

Philip found Nathaniel.

So there he is again.

What is the effect

of experiencing

the presence of Jesus?

What is the impact

of the encounter

with Jesus?

On Philip,

you know what he did?

He went and told people.

He found him.

And he said,

come and see.

Come on,

let's go see.

I want you to see,

Jesus,

I want you to see

that he really is the Messiah.

And so he goes

and he says,

we found him.

Who?

The one that Moses

and the prophets

talk about.

Why would he bring that up?

Let me just say

that it gives insight

in the scripture here

that these two men

were seekers

of truth in the word.

They knew the law

and they knew the prophets.

They had been seeking hard.

They knew the prophecies

about the coming Messiah.

That's why it's interesting

to see the response

of Nathanael.

Listen.

We found him

of whom Moses

and the law

and also the prophets

wrote Jesus of Nazareth,

the son of Joseph.

Nathanael said,

can any good thing

come out of Nazareth?

I want us to see

why he makes that comment.

You know why?

Because he knew

the scriptures.

And what do the scriptures

say about where

the Messiah is coming from?

They don't ever mention Nazareth.

Nazareth is in that

part of Israel

that's not even pure.

You know when the temple

was built

and David was receiving

all the wood

and the cypress

and all the trees

from Hiram

and he was cutting

all this wood

and then afterwards

he gifted 20 cities

to Hiram

and it was in the region

where Nazareth is.

This region that was

kind of black eye

because of this.

And that's where

Jesus came from

this place called Nazareth.

But he's saying

wait a minute

there's no way

Nazareth

nothing good ever

comes out of Nazareth.

It's not pure.

And on top of that

the scriptures say

it's Bethlehem.

Why do you think

the Messiah is coming

from Nazareth?

You've got to be wrong.

And he says

well come and see.

You come and experience

and see for yourself.

He said well

I trust you.

I believe you.

You're a deep friend of mine

and I'm going to trust

that you have the perspective.

I'll go.

And what happens

when he gets there?

It's the encounter

of Nathaniel

with Jesus.

And listen to the encounter.

He says

how do you know me?

Did somebody tell you

about me?

I mean how do you know?

How do you know

that I'm not deceitful?

How do you know

I live like that?

Well you know

a caveat here

you know how

I know he knows?

He's omniscient.

Jesus knows our thoughts.

Jesus knows our desires.

Jesus knows all about him.

That's why Jesus

could say to Peter

you're going to be

somebody totally different.

You're going to be

using the kingdom

like you have no idea

that I've got a plan for you.

And he says

Nathaniel

when you were under

the fig tree

I saw you.

Now understand

it's hard to understand

what's going on here

but here's what I believe.

I believe that

Philip was in the habit

of getting alone with God.

And I hope all of us are.

And he had this hiding place.

Have you all ever seen a fig

when it's

figs are heavy on the limbs?

And when it hangs down?

Some of these fig trees

get humongous.

They're big.

And you know

there's a whole canopy of limbs.

You could go up under it

and it's like a whole

a nice little area

that the limbs

have sagged down

and they're kind of

protected this quiet place.

It's my belief

that likely he had gone there

for his quiet place

and nobody else knew about it.

He had found this spot

to get along with God

and even that morning

he was talking to God

and maybe even that morning

God had pricked his heart

with something powerful.

And so he says

I saw you

when you were under

the fig tree

and immediately

Nathaniel's mind

was like

uh-uh

nobody knows I was there.

Not a soul in the world

knows that's the greatest

hiding place

you've ever seen.

How do you know

I was there?

And he goes

you are God.

There's nobody

that could possibly know

that.

There's nobody

that could possibly know

what God spoke

to my heart this morning

but it's as if

Christ knew

every thought

that he had.

And he said

you're the son of God

you're the king of Israel.

Church

why do I spend

all this time

talking about

these encounters

with Jesus

is because

the message

is for you and me.

How has it affected

your life?

I realize

there might be

some here

that would say

I'm not a Christian.

I'm still investigating.

I'm still listening.

I'm still trying

to understand

what this is all about.

I'm drawn.

There's something

dragging me back

to church

dragging me back

to this whole idea

of Christ

and what it's all about.

I don't know

what it is

but I sense

something going on.

Let me just say

to you

if you're

in that

place

come and see.

Christ would say

why are you

following me?

Come on.

Come and see.

I will show you

who I am.

I will show you

who you are.

I will show you

what you need.

And for us church

for those of y'all

who are born again

those of y'all

who are genuinely

believers

you know what he says?

He says follow me.

And let me just

encourage all of us

when he says

follow me

he doesn't mean

just come to church

on Sunday.

You know what he means?

It's to give your life

away in service

to the king

that you would be

willing to be

the lowest servant

in the house

of your God.

Let's pray.

Father

I pray that your word

would move us

this morning

to turn

and follow you

all the days

of our life

to never veer

to the left

or to the right

but by your strength

and your power

and your supernatural

ability to move us

in our heart

Father

give us a courage

give us a desire

to want you

more than anything else.

And Father

I pray that you

sustain us

and you would lead us

and you would

draw us into

an intimate relationship

with you

in this I pray

in your name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.