Voice of the Nazarene 3-3-24

I'm coming to you from North Central Ohio, we share with you the voice of the Nazarene, a week by week venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus, Ohio Church of the Nazarene, we joined our Pastor Reverend Ray LaSalle, and the voice of the Nazarene.

And we've been on a series about the disciples, those that were the closest to Christ, those that he began with and use to turn the world upside down. So now there's 2.5 billion people in the world that claim to be followers of Christ. And here in verse 35, again, the next day after John stood, that's John the Baptist. John stood with two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he sayeth, Behold, the Lamb of God.

What an introduction, what a privilege to introduce Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak and they follow Jesus had to be a bit hurtful. When to that he had found and chosen and poured himself into and they walk off but I think he understood. Then Jesus turned, and he saw these two following and he sayeth unto them, What are you seeking? What are you looking for? And they said unto him, Rabbi, which is being interpreted master, were dwellest thou, and he sayeth unto them come and see. They came and saw where he dwelled, and a bold with him that day for was about the 10th hour. One of the two which heard John speak and follow him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, wouldn't you hate to be called so and so's brother all the time. He first found that his own brother, Simon, and sayeth unto him, We have found the Messiah, being interpreted the Christ. And he being Andrew, brought him being Peter, to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou aren't Simon, the son of Jonah, thou shall be called Sisyphus. Which is by interpretation stone. The very first thing he did, he found and brought his own brother to Jesus. Talking about Andrew, overshadowed, but still important. We don't read much about Andrew, when you look into the word, there's only a few stories. And we use them to draw from but not a lot is said about Andrew. Andrew didn't write a book like James. Andrew never wrote a book like Matthew, he never wrote a book like like John, although historians say that he did write a book but it never became a part of the inspired canon. Kind of reminds me of Whitfield and Wesley, they were contemporaries, preaching at the same time, Whitfield was such a dynamic speaker and orator. He had power in his words and his voice carried seemed almost to be amplified till a few 1000 could actually hear Him clearly standing in the field. Something so powerful about him that when he walked into a factory, men would fall on their faces and begin to seek God. It was said that Wesley was jealous of Whitfield. So somebody went to Whitfield and they said, you know, Wesley's jealous of you? What do you think of him? Well, he said, When I get to heaven, I probably won't see him. He'll be a lot closer to Christ than I. While Wesley could not preach like Whitfield. Yet Wesley was one of these guys who wrote down everything he ever said.

Whitfield didn't write anything down. And so in a sense, although Whitfield was the greater speaker, Wesley wrote so much down that he outlived the teachings of Whitfield for the next generations with all of his writings. And Andrew is just, he's in the midst of it all. He didn't get a heavenly vision like the apostle Paul. He'd never had a testimony and all from Christian killer to the Damascus Road. He was never knocked down from his high horse by bright light and left him blinded for three days. He didn't have a heavenly vison quite like the apostle Paul.

Paul was always starting churches and writing letters and building foundations and formations and dealing personally with people on an ecclesiastical level. But Andrew wasn't that guy. He wasn't even Peter, his own brother who stepped forward and Penecost and 3000 were drawn into the kingdom. And of course, Peter didn't have a microphone and it wasn't like streaming the servers worldwUide. It was right here right now and 3000 drawn into the kingdom of God, Simon Peter, but Andrew was just simply overshadowed by his brother. Under estimated, underrated, under appreciated, and yet while overshadowed I believe from the Word of God, I can show you that Andrew was still very important. You ask why was Andrew important?

Because Andrew, wherever you found him in the Word of God, he was always bringing people to Jesus. Some write a lot, and some teach a lot but you don't find many converts. But you follow Andrew around and there's just all kinds of converts. He's bringing them to Jesus. And he said, I met a man he can meet your need, whatever it might be.

You need hope? You need healing?

What do you need? I know a man that can. And he brought people to Jesus. He brought the sick people to Jesus, he was bringing children to Jesus. He brought those dirty Gentiles to Jesus.

I'm talking about that subculture those Jews hated the Gentiles and said they were uncircumcised. And that's a weird story all in its own anyhow, and they don't have the law and they're odd they're nasty. But Andrew said, you know, I think they're worthy.

And I'm gonna bring them to Jesus. I don't know how to fix them. I don't know how to open up the gospel to them. But I'll just get them to Jesus. He fixes everybody. Andrew was overshadowed, but still important. Andrew brought his brother. And when you look at the life of Andrew, I think that you can learn some things out of his life that would apply to our lives. I believe, First of all, when you look at those men that Jesus chose, don't underestimate Andrew. Very first thing I learned, looking at the life of Andrew is the value of individual people. Look in verse 40, we find that Andrew was the very first named disciple. Now theres two that left John. But for some reason, we don't know the name of this other guy. But we do know Andrews, the first named disciple that Jesus ever called. He's the first disciple that was chosen. And he's the first to call Jesus Messiah who announced that Jesus was the Messiah. And by all accounts, and by all the theologians, they give credit to Andrew, to being the first call to being the first that was chosen. And what does he do the first thing he does, as a disciple, he goes after his brother, and I would have thought he'd got Jesus to one side and said, Let's talk about organization here. Let's talk about me being VP. And before this thing goes global, this ministry and gets big, maybe you want to lean on me for some organizational skills, you might pick out a few others, you know, maybe 11 more, but I'll kind of be in charge and I'll assign them but he didn't do that. He didn't even think about that. All he thought about I've got a brother named Peter and he's in a mess. He's a messy guy. And he needs fixed. And he goes after his brother. And they had been looking for a Messiah for a long time those Jews had been praying for and seeking for and asking and begging God to give them a Messiah. And Andrew goes to his brother and said, Guess what? I met the Messiah. I met him. Even John said that he's the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Come and see. And so Peter did. And it was Peter then stepped out and stepped forward and 1000s of lives were changed. And I've wondered if there had not been a an Andrew, maybe there'd never been a Simon Peter that had the impact. Made this thing work.

What if there had not been an Andrew that saw individual people and the value of individual people? I don't know what I can do, but I can bring people to Jesus that's Andrew.

I know I can bring my family I know I can bring my friends, my fisher buddies, my business I'll just bring everybody to Jesus, he can do wonders for them. And I think there in John chapter 12, where it's recorded, Andrew is bringing in the Gentiles. You know, those smelly people. He's bringing them to Jesus. And I can imagine those self righteous Jews with their nose so turned up if it rained that day they'd drowned. You know folk kinda like don't like the church being called a hospital for the hurting. They just kind of swaggering around saying, I got it going us for no more. Our little religious club. That was some of the other boys, but a John 12. He's bringing all these wretched people, all these Gentiles and he believed in them that he's bringing them to Jesus. And there was a guy among them named Luke. He was a physician. He had his earned doctorate. And he dealt with people and their physical needs, and he was among these Gentiles.

John 12 · chapter mention

You know, like Matthew, Mark, Luke, the same guy, Luke. Well, those Gentiles, he's the only gentile that ever wrote a book in the Bible. Not only did he write a book, he wrote two books. He wrote the book of Acts. And I wonder what would have happened if there had not been an Andrew that saw the value of individual people. He'd ever had hundreds come forward and 1000s like Peter, his brother that stole all the thunder. But he went one by one by one by one by one, and he kept bringing people to Jesus.

He valued individual people who believe that one life can actually make a difference. You see, one song can spark a moment. One flower can wake a dream. One tree can start a forest. One bird can herald spring. One smile can begin a friendship. One hand clap flips a soul, one star can guide a ship at sea. One word can frame the goal. One vote can change a nation. One sun beam lights the room, one candle wipes out darkness, one, laugh will conquer gloom. One step starts the journey. One word can start a prayer, one hope will raise our spirits. One touch can show you care. One voice can speak with wisdom. One heart can know what's true one life can make the difference. You see, it's up to you the value of individual people, you matter to God. You may be sitting here today and you're saying nobody notices that I'm here. And I don't really kind of fit in much and I don't have much to offer. And nobody sees me and I'm kind of overshadowed. And I'm kind of overlooked. And there's a way that God wants me. Can I just tell you I showed up to let you know that God deals with broken things, broken lives, broken dreams, broken people, people who are all messed up and mixed up. And he can literally change them and make everything new. He starts by renewing our hearts and our minds. And he begins by transforming and changing our lives. He can take that stuff that's ugly and make it beautiful. And turn it into something that's wonderful. You know why? God values individual people. There may be those that can touch the 1000s. But God knows we need some Andrew's that sees value and just individual people like you. That will stop and tell you would you come to church with me? Would you come and sit with me? I'd like to introduce you to our pastor and some of our worship team. Would you come? The value of individual but from Andrew we learned the value of invisible service. Andrew was a part of the 12 he was in on the chosen.

That's quite a group to run with would you not say? Now the Bible's brief. And in everything Jesus said or did was recorded, there wouldn't be books that could contain it. Can you imagine what wasn't written down? Did they run out of ink?

What happened to those guys? Did the sun go down too quick and the fire light wasn't bright enough? Why in the world didn't you write something down a little bit more, there's things I want to know, I think they could have helped us. I think they're needed write down something, don't just sit there with your face hanging out. I wonder about all the times they're talking around the campfire and just chewing the fat and swapping stories. And somebody says to Jesus, tell us something you did. He said, I made everything. He always got an up on all of them. But Andrew was a part of the chosen, but can I tell you something, he was never a part of the inner circle. And he always got left out of the inner circle. And when Jesus got up and stood and started to walk off to do some cool thing, he would reach over and tap Peter, James and John on their shoulder and say, Come with me. And that had to be hurtful. You know, all the rest of us like to be included once in a while. And Andrew would turn around and say, Hey, guys, I'm not doing anything you want me to come along. And he wasn't invited? Not a part of the inner circle. I would have thought he had said to his brother, Hey, Pete I'm the one that brought you in I introduced you aren't you gonna let me tag along, but he didn't. He wasn't included.

and the favoritism is very obvious. But it wasn't Andrew, he didn't get to go. And when they wrote about sitting around the campfire, most of the time in their writings they never even mentioned the name of Andrew, his own buddies, the men that he ran with. Wouldn't you hate to be the guy that doesn't have a name that never mentioned your name, you're just a sibling, you're just a sister.

In the book of Acts, Luke, who was likely lead to the Lord through Andrew, there should have been some kind of a connection. There should have been some kind of a loyalty there. Then as Luke was writing the book of Acts about the church's foundation and formation, he literally only one time mentioned Andrew, and that was just because of a roll call he had to mentioned him he's there. You'd have thought that Andrew earned a little bit of something inviting all those Gentiles like Luke into the kingdom. Never mentioned him more than just once because he was kind of obligated. And he mentioned him. He didn't talk about any of the profound things that Andrew said or even the amazing things that he did. If I'd been Andrew I'd have got a copy of that rough draft and I'd looked it over and I'd said, Hey, Luke, buddy, you left some stuff out of here. You miss some things you didn't mention me.

You didn't put my name in. I just started washing dishes done it right in front of Luke and waved at him occasionally. But it doesn't seem to help much does it? He's overshadowed he's overlooked, almost invisibly he's serving in the background, just bringing people to Jesus.

You may be here today and you think that nobody sees what you do. Nobody sees any value in you. They don't seem to notice your giftedness. And when they're passing out jobs, nobody tapped you on the shoulders and said we can really use you over here. I'm just invisible. What I do is always overlooked, never noticed. I came today to tell you that God sees you. And God values what you're doing and he's taking what you're doing he's multiplying it and it's what God does for for people who are overshadowed. He says you're still important as reading in First Corinthians chapter three, verse 12, where Paul is talking about all of our service and our works and he said there are some works that are wood, hay and stubble that are going to get judged. There are other works that are gold and silver and precious gems and stones and then one day, we'll stand before God and give an account of the deeds done in the body while here on earth.

And the stuff that we thought was important, the heat of the furnace will burn up that wood, hay and stubble, only the gold and silver, and precious stones will remain of our service.

Somebody said that, on the surface that you see, as they look at your life as the wood, the hay or the stubble. You see our service to the Lord that everybody can see and if they don't see, you know what we do we get a selfie and post it on Facebook. And if I don't look good enough to hold it again, take this little phone here, and I'm gonna get over here with Peter, James and John, get me in the picture in their heads leaning over towards these others. We want to be noticed, we put it on Facebook if we have to and then we check to see if it's got any thumbs up. And those emojis you know, is there any hearts floating around. And if they don't, we kind of get mad about it and we do defriend some people who just don't recognize all of our gifts, and our works and our service. God said, you know, some of that stuff is gonna get burned up because the reward you're seeking, you already got it when they patted you on the back. See the things that are important are way down beneath the surface. I'm talking about you have to dig down to get to the gold and down to the silver and down to the precious gems. You got to go look for them. God sees what we're doing. Nobody else knows. But God said I'm going to reward you one day I'm going to say well done thou good and faithful servant, the invisible service. Last Sunday, you won't believe last Sunday was my turn in the nursery. My heart wasn't in it. My feelings were hurt a child from his mother did not want to part. And that baby cried a lot with a broken heart. I prayed that soon the hour would end and oh God, let it end and then I could relax. No more children to attend. You're running back to sign up right now, aren't you?

And soon the hour was over. It felt good to be free. I said once a month, good lord, it's too much for me. That very next Sunday, as I sat in my pew it was a good sermon. But the visitors were few. But down came a woman and her soul was saved and she was the mother of that crying babe. Then it dawned on me that I'd been a part of one being saved, giving God her heart. And from that day on, I would never dread working in the nursery while souls were being fed. God values invisible service. God sees. I learned from Andrew the value of insignificant gifts. In John chapter six, we read about that massive miracle. It was a big deal. All four gospel writers wrote about that feeding of the 5000 plus many more 1000.It's the only miracle all four gospel writers record. Big deal that means you need to tune in. Only John. Do you know that Matthew when he wrote he never told who it was that brought that lad to Jesus. Mark he lists the fact that it was Andrew that brought the kid to Christ. And Luke, he was so busy with other things he never mentioned the boy that was brought by Andrew. Only John.

And the only reason we know who brought the boy to Jesus was because John kind of accidentally wrote it there in John chapter six verse eight, Andrew said, Jesus, we're all hungry. We're hungry. People are hungry. And there's a boy out there who's got some food and I've got me and you covered.

We're going to eat. Fact of the matter, I told that boy we'd put a hurt on him if he didn't share it. You know what? He brought him to Jesus because he knew that every time he brought somebody to Jesus they'd be made whole or he would multiply what they had. He knew that the blind would see and the death would hear. Lepers covered in lepersey would be made clean. He knew that he had a brother all messed up, if he could get him to Jesus, Jesus would fix old Simon Peter. He'd seen the miracles. I don't know what it'll do, but I'm gonna take him to Jesus. And the whole world looked on at that little boy.

And it said, how insignificant it's so little, it's so small.

few loaves and couple of fish, not even enough for fish and chips. And we've got 1000s to feed. But you know what, when you transfer what little you have over to Jesus, he lives in the impossible. And without Andrew, I wonder how many 1000s would not have been saved.

Without Andrew, how many people would have went away hungry, that were fed. The other disciples, they encouraged Jesus, just send them away, send them away. But not Andrew. He didn't bring very much but he brought a little boy that had a lunch. You need to understand something today. Whatever gift you have, whatever service that you bring, whatever offering that you have, whatever sacrifice you made, just bring it to God. No matter how insignificant it might be. If you're a kid, you don't have as much money as some adult does next to you. Drop your quarter in anyway when you're walking out of the door. Because Jesus saw a little widow woman that put in her might had a whole world looked on and made fun of it. That's not much. But it was all she had. And Jesus took notice. God lives I say again in the impossible. God lives in the overlooked unappreciated world.

And God wants us to live there to, so we have to lean on him.

Because he's all we've got. He's all that we need. And when we live with a pat's on the back, God said, All right, you got your reward, wood, hay and stubble. Andrews overlooked unappreciated, overshadowed his brother stole all his thunder.

Peter step forward, Andrew, step back. But Andrew was important people asked me when I did the series on the disciples a few years ago, whatever happened to him? What happened to Andrew?

What's the rest of the story? Is there an ending? Well, Andrew, if you remember, Jesus said, I want you to go in all the world, preach, teach, go and he sends him away. And being sent, Andrew does what he'd always did. He brings people to the knowledge of Jesus. He just keeps bringing people one by one by one by one by one by one.

Count on him to fill the pew.

Count on him to bring somebody through the door, it's Andrew.

After the ascension, Andrew did what he'd always done he keep telling people about Jesus, planting that seed in their heart. And watching God do all of the rest. Just bring them to Jesus let Jesus finish it. And one day ad 60 they believe he had gone so far that he's now over in Greece. And he met a very important lady and he brought her to Jesus. She was the wife of the governor. He won her to Christ. He just told her about Jesus. It upset the old Roman governor, the husband. He immediately wanted Andrew dead.

He said, Let's crucify him.

That's what they did to his master. And he's found and he's brought in, he's going to be executed. What did he do? Did he beg for his life to be spared?

No. He said, I'm not worthy to be crucified as my Christ. If you don't mind do it on another kind of a cross. And they crucified him on an X shaped cross. History tells us that Andrew was not nailed to that cross. He was tied to the cross.

It took many days for him to die. He didn't die in four or five or six hours. It was days on end, but that played into Andrews ministry. People would go by and his story he would speak out to them turn to Jesus.

Turn to Jesus for salvation and people kept getting saved even after he was hung there on a cross for days. See, we have a lot to learn from Andrew and about Andrew a lot of us think we're just a nobody and how could God use me but God values individual people, God values invisible service. Maybe you didn't get a card in the mail and you're a bit upset about it, you didn't get recognized for something just let it go. God sees individual service, don't post it on Facebook. And God values insignificant gifts. Whatever little bit you've got, just bring it to Jesus. That's me.

That's a story of my life.

Insignificant. I'm not as tall as the other guys. I didn't go to the schools as some of the other guys went to. I didn't have the background I come from a broken home. I could tell you a lot more but it's really not my right to tell all about my past. I'm only here today because I brought what little I have insignificant though it might be. Bow your heads for a moment. Stand with me quietly.

Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene visitors every Sunday at 9am with BNC's Pastor Ray LaSalle. For more information regarding BNC, visit Bucyrus nazarene.org.