Wait, What? (Blessed Be The Bringer)

So we've been in a series for the last few weeks, and it's it's one of my favorite titles we've ever had for a series.

It's called Wait, What?

And that's because we're going through a really challenging section of a really challenging letter in the New Testament.

The letter is called Romans.

It was written by a man named Paul, uh, who was a Jewish man who had given his life to Jesus, and he's going around, he's starting churches all over the place, and he and he's always wanted to go to Rome, but he's never been there.

But there's there's a church in Rome, and it's a church that's made up of many Jewish people like him, but also many non-Jewish people who are coming to faith in Jesus left and right, and he writes to them, and probably because he doesn't know them personally, he doesn't really know what they know, what they don't know.

And so Romans, it's almost like Paul's assuming, I just, I'm gonna assume that we're just gonna start from the beginning.

And he really lays out comprehensively, like you would have to to someone who you're unsure of what they know and what they don't.

He lays out comprehensively what this whole Jesus thing is all about.

Romans might be the most comprehensive explanation we have of who Jesus is, what he came to do, what it means for us, how we live in response to it.

But because it's comprehensive, it's also complex, and there's some really challenging stuff in Romans, specifically chapters 9 through 11.

We we talked about how Romans chapter 8, which we were in a while back, is like it's like a tattoo chapter.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

It's got tons of scriptures that people get tattoos of on their bodies.

Like that is my favorite scripture.

No one gets tattoos of Romans 9 through 11.

Like almost no one.

And if they do, you should look at them a little funny.

Like, why?

Because there's a lot of really challenging ideas, a lot of things that you read, and they make you go, like, wait, wait, what?

But I'm so excited that we're going through this.

I've really enjoyed it.

I'm also excited that it's gonna be done by Christmas.

And then next year we can move on from the wait, what?

I'm excited about that.

And if you're excited about that, you can clap.

It won't offend me at all.

If you're like, I'm ready to be done with Rome.

No, so you're like, no, fine then.

We'll be in Romans 9 through 11 through March.

Let's do this.

Let's go deep.

I have actually really enjoyed this.

And I think what I enjoy the most about it is we just get to really pour into God's word.

I have these two words that I think of a lot when it comes to how we engage with God, especially when it when it deals with messages and learning, and it's the words observation and revelation.

You know, there's a lot that we can observe about God.

Because God shows himself to us.

That's why in Psalms it says, look up at the night sky, look at the stars, see his handiwork.

There's a lot you can observe about God, how big he is, how powerful he is, how detail-oriented he is just by looking at the world around you.

But there are certain things that you'll never be able to observe on your own.

You need God to reveal it to you.

You need him to show it to you.

It's true of any relationship we have in our lives.

In fact, I was having a conversation with one of my kids the other day.

I had observed some things, and I thought I understood where they were at, where their head was at, and so I talked to him, and I'm grateful because this child of mine got to respond and say, actually, Dad, here's what I'm thinking about, here's what's frustrating me.

And my observations were way off.

I needed them to reveal to me what only they could.

If church and our experience together just becomes people sharing their observations, there's value in that.

But it'll always be far short of what it would be like if we if we took the care and the time to look at what God's revelation has to say to us.

And scripture is God's revelation.

It's Him revealing to us things about Himself, things about us that we could never observe on our own.

And so when we open Scripture and dive into it and sink our teeth into it like we have, especially in series like this, I get excited because we grow.

So, with all that said, we're gonna open up Romans chapter 10.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

I'm gonna start with verses 9 through 13.

If you have a Bible, you can read it there.

We put it up on the screens, but also if you have our mobile app, every scripture that we're gonna reference this morning is right there in the mobile app, and you can always look at those later too.

So Romans 10, 9 through 13 says, if you openly declare that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For it is by believing in your heart that you're made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you're saved.

As the scriptures tell us, anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.

Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect.

They have the same Lord who gives generously to all who call in him, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

This is what we looked at last week.

And it's funny because uh for most of us, this is not something that we read and go, wait, what?

That isn't compute.

Some of the other things that we've looked at, some of the things that maybe kind of paint a picture that says, oh, God might, he might judge the world and judge things, and maybe it's not gonna go great for everybody, that stuff, that stuff tends to make us right now where we're at culturally go, wait, wait, what?

I don't like that.

But here's what's really interesting this is just how it kind of works with studying the history of our faith.

The ancient world that Paul's writing to 2,000 years ago, if you would have said to them, hey, look, at the end there's gonna be a judgment, and that judgment is going to be a really amazing day for so many, but it's it's something to take really seriously because depending on certain things, it may be bad.

Like, those people would have heard that and been like, yeah, sure, great.

Where we hear that, and in our culture, we're like, well, that doesn't seem fair.

That doesn't seem fair at all.

I feel like that's too harsh, right?

We would we would say, wait, what's that?

But it's like reversed when it comes to scriptures like this.

We read that God loves everyone, and that everyone has been given this opportunity to know Jesus, and just anyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved.

But that culture would have been like, wait, what?

That's not fair.

Because the Jewish people would have been like, we've been following God for years, for centuries, for thousands of years.

They just showed up.

They just got here.

They shouldn't be included in the same blessings and opportunities that we have.

That would have seemed unfair.

And so the original audience reading this, Paul's saying that everyone who calls on the name of Jesus is saved.

Doesn't matter if they're a Jew or a Gentile, a lot of of Paul's audience would have been like, whoa, hold on.

I don't like that.

That doesn't seem fair because I've been here the whole time.

Have you ever had an experience like that where you're like, I've been here the whole time?

Like, I'll give you an example.

This is how much injustice bothers us.

If you've been to a restaurant and a couple comes in behind you and are somehow seated in front of you, you're a little miffed, right?

You're like, hey.

And that's like literally the smallest inconvenience you could deal with.

They got to a table two minutes before we did.

But there's part of you that, and some of you actually are married to someone where you have to tell them, like, don't go, don't go talk to the hostess and say, hey, we were here first.

Right?

Well, just imagine that, but but multiply it by thousands of years and make it something more serious, like following and obeying the God of the universe.

And then a group of people who have literally worshipped false gods for their entire history show up and they're like, We're the party too.

And some of those people are like, I know.

Not fair.

Wait in line.

They would have said, wait what to that.

Also, the simplicity of what Paul is communicating here, that would have been this major wait what thing.

Because he says, all you gotta do is put your faith in Jesus, that you believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, you declare with your mouth that God raised him from the dead, and you're saved.

I mean, that would have been like a wait what to everybody, because whether you were Jewish or you followed any of the religions of the world at that time, it was so complicated.

It was so unnecessarily complicated, and the idea of God was pretty much the same.

That God is a distant, demanding ruler, and he's very difficult to please.

It is very easy to make him mad.

Pretty much all faiths that have ever existed in the history of the world have had that view of God.

And they've had the understanding that something about us is a little off.

That we as people are not quite right, not that we're not capable of good, not that there isn't good in us, but that in and of ourselves we're a little off sometimes, to put it mildly, and that's why the world goes off track so often in so many different ways.

And so pretty much every faith, religion, whatever word you want to use, has sought to correct that, and the way that that's typically corrected is a laundry list of rules and obligations, of laws, and you gotta follow it, you gotta toe the line.

And if you get off track, then that distant, demanding ruler is very upset with you, and he's hard to please.

So you better follow the rules.

Here's a big book to read get good.

Like, that's religion.

And so take Jesus and this idea that, like, no, no, no, he got good for us, right?

He's he did it, nailed it, hit the bullseye.

And now he's he's giving us his reward.

And all we have to do is put our faith in him.

Like, that's just too easy.

It's too easy.

And that would have been this way, that would have fried the brains of the people who who first heard this because they spent their lives following a laundry list of rules, and if you boil it down to something as simple as wait, you mean faith, belief?

Like, that's that's too simple.

And we talked last week about how we cannot complicate what God has has made simple.

We've got to be really careful not to do that.

It's so simple, it's so good.

So, what do we do in response?

That's what we're talking about today.

And there's a few basic things that we're asked to do in response to the gift that we've been given.

I'll give you three.

Number one, receive it.

That's the whole point of a gift, right?

I mean, it's so cool because uh I don't know if you guys know this or not, but Christmas is really close.

Okay?

And uh man, my kids are excited, and this is the first year that my youngest Eli really understands Christmas.

Like he last year, you know, he got excited, but but this year he has been asking about Christmas so much.

I think I shared this on stage.

If not, I've told a bunch of people this, but uh, you know, I get woken up a lot at night, and my patience is tested and tried.

And sometimes I feel like it's unfair.

Like, God, how how good of a person am I expected to be at 2 in the morning when I'm woken up, you know, unexpectedly?

And sometimes as a kid who's sick, sometimes it's a kid who's who's had an accident of some kind, whatever.

But a couple of weeks ago, it was mid-November, and I wake up, 2:30 in the morning, and someone is tapping my knee, which is odd.

It's a weird way to wake up, just like your knee.

And I open my eyes, and there's Eli, three and a half years old, and I said, Eli, what is it?

And he just went, When is Christmas?

But he has this like crazy lisp right now, it's so awesome.

So it's it's Griffith.

And and the best is we were watching the Grinch the other day.

We watched the Grinch, and he it was like the the sentence could not have been more perfect for the way his lisp is, I'll never forget it.

But he'd never seen the Grinch.

And when the Grinch steals all the presents, he just said, Oh, he's feeling their Christmas Breathmuth.

And I was like, Oh, I I'm glad you said that.

That was awesome, right?

So this kid wakes me up at two in the morning and he just goes, When is the Christmouth?

He gets it.

This is the year that he finally gets it.

And he's not gonna wonder what to do when we hand him a gift.

Like he's three and a half, he's he's lived enough life at three and a half years old to have mastered what you do when someone hands you a gift.

You open it, you take it, it's yours.

We get less good at that the older we get because God has given us this amazing gift.

It's similar to what Herb said during Lord's Supper.

He's forgiven us, He's given us His grace, His love, His mercy.

We get really good at pushing it away.

We get really good at saying, oh no, you shouldn't have.

And you know what?

Maybe He shouldn't have, but He did.

He loves us.

So when He gives us a gift, this grace, this forgiveness, this love, this relationship, what do we do?

We receive it.

Number two, we we we love in response to it.

Jesus says this in John chapter 15, verse 2.

John 15:2

This is my commandment.

Love each other in the same way I have loved you.

John 15, 17, this is my command.

Love each other.

Because of this love that we've been shown, we are commanded by Jesus to love in response.

We're supposed to love everyone, but we're actually supposed to have a special love for each other.

For those of us who belong to this faith, this movement of Jesus.

In fact, Jesus actually said that it is by our love for one another that the world would recognize that he was sent from God.

We're supposed to love each other so passionately, so completely, that the world looks at us and goes, that's not normal.

That's that I don't see any version of that in the world apart from those who follow Jesus.

And so we receive, we love, and then the final thing we do is we we share.

We share what God has done for us.

We share our faith.

Matthew chapter 28, verses 19 through 20.

Matthew 28:19–20

This is the final thing Jesus says before he ascends to heaven, after he's been risen from the dead.

He says, Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I've given you.

And we might read that and go, oh, what is that?

Commands?

Well, what's his big command?

Love each other.

In fact, he summed up all the commandments by saying, Love God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your body, your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

So this this commands are pretty easy.

They're hard, actually.

It's very hard.

It's hard to love people.

But it's a simple list.

So we can be grateful for that.

He says, Teach them to obey all the commands I've given you and be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

So Jesus tells us to go, to make disciples, to share.

Let's go back into Romans chapter 10.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

We'll pick up where we left off at the beginning.

Verse 13 said, For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Everyone.

Doesn't matter your ethnicity, doesn't matter where you've come from, doesn't matter what you've done, doesn't matter your list of mistakes, we all have them.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

But then he goes on to say, but how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him?

And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?

And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?

That is why the scriptures say how beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news.

We are called by Jesus in response to what he's done for us.

To be people who share our faith.

Our eyes are meant to be open, to look for those who maybe don't have this relationship with God.

And if we meet anyone, and maybe this is you, by the way, maybe you're here today because someone invited you, maybe you've just you're checking this out, maybe you're watching from home for the first time, uh, and you're not someone who's put your faith in Jesus yet.

If that's the case, know that those of us who have, our desire is for you to experience what we've experienced.

There is no love like this.

There is no freedom like this.

There is no joy like the joy of knowing that you are loved by the God who created you.

And he knows you and he sees you, and you personally can have this relationship with him, and you're completely and totally unencumbered by your mistakes, your issues, your baggage between God and you, it's all good.

We just want you to experience that because there's nothing like it.

But the only way for that to happen for you and for everyone else in the world who's yet to have this experience is if those of us who have care enough to share.

And so I want to look at a word this morning that's gonna sum up what we're meant to do.

And it's the word bring.

The word bring.

I spent a lot of time the last year thinking about the disciples, the people who who Jesus called to be his kind of first followers.

And some of you have probably seen the show The Chosen.

It's been kind of a big deal.

Like any any chosen fans in the room?

It's one of those things.

Um, some of you have not, check it out.

I think it's really good.

I haven't seen all of it yet.

I'm like pretty far through it.

I got a couple episodes left.

Um really impressed by the most part.

You can tell the people who make it really love Jesus.

You can really tell that.

And uh, but it's also a show that hasn't finished yet.

I have no idea how it's gonna end.

Maybe it all goes downhill.

I don't know.

But so far I'm pretty impressed.

And some of you, actually, I know this because I have friends like this.

Some of you have had people tell you to watch the chosen, and you're just wired that if someone tells you to do something, you don't want to.

And so you're like holding out.

And if that's that's fine, but it's I think it's really good.

But the chosen, it's about Jesus, but it's called the chosen because it really focuses a lot on the people he chooses.

And you get to kind of see Jesus through their interactions with him.

So the chosen, those are his followers.

And sometimes when I think about the people that Jesus chose, I'm I'm a bit confused.

Because I actually have a fair amount of experience picking teams.

I do.

I mean, it sports, that was something that I did for most of my life.

I've I've I coached youth sports for a while.

I'm probably gonna start doing that again with my third son as he's starting to want to play, and uh we'll see how that affects my marriage.

But it's gonna be great.

Um I mean, I've I've I've been in those environments where I'm literally like picking second graders to be on the team.

Like, I want that kid.

You know, it's weird to do that with second graders, but you gotta win.

Um I've picked teams, you know, as far as someone who leads an organization.

You know, you get to pick the people that you want to do the certain tasks that need done and you know, develop your team.

And so I've got a lot of experience picking teams, and I'm sure all of us do to some degree.

You've you've been involved in picking a team or being picked for a team.

So you can put yourself in that headspace pretty quick.

And and the way that Jesus goes about picking his team just doesn't make a lot of sense.

Not in the way that we tend to think about it.

For example, if you get to pick a team and you know that the people you you pick are gonna say yes, who's who do you use your first pick on?

You use your first pick on the sure thing.

The sure thing.

That's what pick number one goes to.

Like, you want the person who it's not even like a question of whether or not they'll do well.

It's like, boom, they're they're awesome, they're great, they're experienced, they're ready.

You use your first pick on the sure thing, on that person who you just know they have it, they got it, I got an all-star if I pick them.

And if there's one person among Jesus' followers in the early church, the apostles is what they were often called, that is a sure thing, it's it's Paul.

But Paul's the last one picked by Jesus.

In fact, Jesus doesn't even pick Paul until after he's died, risen, gone back to heaven, and then he kind of like comes back, oh yeah, Paul.

Hey.

And maybe that's why if you know the story of Paul's conversion, Jesus like blinds him physically, and he's like, hey, you're blind now.

Sorry.

Uh, but you gotta take it seriously, what I'm about to say.

So go to this town and meet with this guy, he'll pray for you, the blindness will go away.

Like, Paul can't really say, like, now I'll just stay blind.

But Jesus doesn't even pick Paul while he's walking around the earth.

It's it's kind of interesting, right?

But Paul, he's the sure thing.

He's number one, like he's a Pharisee.

He, meaning he's an expert on the faith, like the Jewish faith, all the laws, all the scriptures.

Paul's got it memorized.

He's incredibly well educated, he's incredibly intellectual.

In fact, Paul was actually mentored by a rabbi who to this day is considered by the Jewish people as one of the greatest rabbis to ever walk the earth.

So Paul has like a pedigree.

Paul was also a Roman citizen, which is a really cool thing because none of the other disciples were.

Because Paul was a Roman citizen, he had rights that the others didn't have.

He had access to places and people that the other disciples didn't have.

He was able to have certain audiences that no one else could have but him.

And so Paul, he's like clearly the sure thing.

That's why he writes about half of the New Testament, including what we're studying right now.

But Jesus doesn't pick him first, picks him last.

Jesus is different.

Well, let's say you're picking a team and there's no sure thing available.

Maybe, maybe Paul was just too young at the time.

You know, maybe maybe Paul needed a few more years of seasoning before he was ready to be picked, and so Jesus is like, yeah, Paul's not ready, so I'll push him.

If you if you don't have a sure thing, who do you use your first pick on?

And the answer is someone who has a tremendous amount of upside.

It's someone who maybe they don't have the experience, maybe you can see some some pretty big, you know, rough edges that need to be smoothed out, but you can also see the talent.

You see the capability.

You're like, wow, this person, yeah, they're they're gonna need some work.

They're not ready right now to like take over, but I see talent, I see ability, they've got a knack for this, and I really see their upside.

If there's a disciple that fits that description, it's it's Peter.

You know, Peter, I relate to Peter a lot, not in that I think I have upside, but in that he just opens his mouth too much.

He does.

He opens his mouth a lot.

And Jesus actually spends a lot of time essentially telling Peter to shut up.

And I'm grateful that Peter's mouthy because there's a lot about Jesus that we would never have gotten to hear if Peter didn't open his mouth.

There's a lot of teachings of Jesus that are direct responses to Peter saying something dumb.

And I relate to that because my entire life has been a lesson in how to figure out how to talk less.

And I'm getting better at it, but it's been hard.

It has.

I remember in kindergarten, uh our teachers gave check marks, and if you talk too much, you got a checkmark, and I remember having.

Days where I would say to myself, I'm not gonna get a check mark today.

Like, I'm not gonna do it.

And then I didn't for like three.

And it's like it didn't, I didn't mean to.

In first grade, my teacher, Mrs.

Grushevsky, never forget her name, uh really sweet, but she put me on a desk by myself next to her.

All the other kids sat with each other.

No, I deserved it.

Like it's like even looking back, I'm like, yeah, I would have done the same thing.

I was it was called the island, and I lived at the island.

And I sat next to Miss Grushevsky, but she was pretty nice, and uh, you know, I kind of like wave at my friends.

I was just very like, I wasn't hyperactive as a kid, it wasn't like I had all kinds of energy, I just had a lot to say.

Fourth grade, and this is a true story, um, my PE teacher called my mom in tears because she could not get me to stop talking.

I broke her.

Like I, fourth grade me, I don't even remember, I don't even remember talking in her class.

I have no memory of this.

It must have just been so normal.

When I came here on staff, uh, this is one of my favorite moments in life.

First time I ever spoke on this stage, I walked off.

I'd prepared a message, and Steve and Susan, who started our church, asked me to speak, and I was 23 years old, and uh I remember I was really excited.

I wrote this message and I sent it to Steve and he said, start over.

And I was like, All right.

And so message number two, he's like, maybe, and worked with me, and we got there, and I gave the message and I walked off stage, and Susan was waiting for me.

If you knew Susan, just incredibly sweet, incredibly like just a powerful person, and had this way of saying things that were meant to coach you and could kind of hurt, but she'd say it in a way that would make you smile, and then you'd be like, I think that was bad.

Um and so she said, Hey, great job.

You are a phenomenal speaker.

And I said, Thank you.

And she said, and one day you're gonna be a good communicator, too.

And I was like, Yeah, what?

Wait, what?

It was like, oh, wait, what moment?

Because communication is different than talking, it involves listening.

And I've had to work really hard on that, but I'm getting better.

Peter's kind of like that.

He just talks too much.

But he was bold and passionate.

And people followed him.

They followed him.

He had he had that upside, he had that thing, and Jesus saw it in him.

And so you're like, okay, well, if if Peter wasn't a sure thing, he has upside.

Maybe Jesus used his first pick on Peter, but he didn't.

Peter's early.

He's one of the first disciples, but he's not the first.

In fact, we see the story of the first disciple called by name in John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

John chapter 1, 35 through 40.

John 1 · chapter mention

The following day, John, and this is talking about John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin.

The book of John is written by John the disciple.

Uh not the same John that is talking about here, it's a little confusing.

So the next day, John the Baptist was standing again with two of his disciples.

John was a prophet, and he was speaking on behalf of God.

He was preparing people for Jesus, and he had disciples who followed him just like people followed Jesus.

It said John was standing with his two disciples.

As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, Look, there's the Lamb of God.

And when John's two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.

Jesus looked around and saw them following.

What do you want?

He asked them.

They replied, Rabbi, which means teacher.

Where are you staying?

Come and see, he said.

It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him for the rest of the day.

Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and followed Jesus.

The very first disciple that follows Jesus, that is chosen by Jesus to follow him.

Because Jesus could have said, uh, when they said, Hey, where are you staying?

I'd rather not say.

Like Jesus could have done that.

But he invites them in and they become his followers, his first disciples.

Andrew's the first one named.

And here's the thing about Andrew uh he didn't write any scripture.

None of us can open up our Bibles and read what Andrew wrote.

So he didn't contribute to our faith in that way like many of the others did.

Matthew wrote one of the gospels.

John, the disciple of Jesus, wrote several of the books we have in the New Testament.

Peter wrote some, Paul wrote a lot.

Andrew didn't.

There's not really any stories of Andrew that are incredible.

There's no moment where Andrew does something and you're like, oh my gosh, that's amazing.

I wish I could have just been Andrew.

There's nothing really spectacular about him.

Yet he's first.

Why?

He's not the sure thing, and he's not the guy with all the upside.

I think we find out in the very next few verses.

John 1, 41 and 42 says, Andrew went to find his brother Simon and told him, We have found the Messiah, which means Christ.

Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus.

Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, Your name is Simon, son of John.

A different John than the other Johns that we're talking about.

But you will be called Cephas, which means Peter, and it means rock.

And so Andrew, immediately after following Jesus, he goes, he finds his brother Simon, who Jesus will call Peter, and he brings him to Jesus.

And Andrew was a bringer.

And Jesus chose to start there.

Who do I want my first disciple to be?

Not the sure thing, not the guy with all the upside.

The guy I know will bring people to me.

It's important as Jesus' followers that we're we're ready to tell people about our faith.

In fact, 1 Peter, and I think it's so great that Peter wrote this because he's the Mowvi guy, so it kind of makes sense that he'd tell us to talk.

1 Peter 3, 15 says, if someone asks you about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.

That's actually a very popular scripture.

Many of you have probably heard it.

Very few people like to say the second part though.

Verse 16 says, but do this in a gentle and respectful way.

Very important.

Always be ready to tell people about the hope you have.

We have to be people like that.

We have to be ready and willing.

Open to those opportunities, even though it's nerve-wracking.

I was I had a great opportunity this last week to talk with a young guy, 19 years old, about my faith.

I was at the gym playing basketball with him, and I've played with him a few times.

And so, you know, we've played a little bit and I've gotten in, I know his name, and got to learn a little bit about him.

He recently got engaged, and so we've just had a chance to talk a little bit.

And last week we're playing together, and in between games, we start talking about faith.

And he lets me know that he has recently converted to Islam, that he that's how he's deciding to follow God.

And I was like, well, that's really interesting.

And number one, I have tremendous amounts of respect for people of faith, like people who recognize there's a God and someone's bigger than me.

I'm like, okay, I have common ground there.

We can talk.

Obviously, I've come to very different conclusions, but there is common ground in those faiths because much of their scriptures is in ours.

You know, Abraham and those stories.

Jesus is actually in the Quran, the virgin birth of Jesus and the return of Jesus are in the Quran.

So there's there's overlap.

So I've like, okay, I've got common ground, let's have a conversation in a way that's gentle and respectful.

So he tells me about a story, and I get the impression that he's had kind of a rough past, and the thing about Islam is that there's a lot of structure.

I mean, he has he has a calendar every day, and he's got to pray at these times and do this at this time and at that time, and so he's really getting a lot of value out of that structure, and that's great.

But we're talking, and so I asked him a question after a while.

I said, let me ask you in your perspective, does God love you?

And he was like, Yeah, I absolutely do.

He loves me.

He he created me, and I think he loves all people.

He does, he loves me.

And I was like, that's awesome that you know that.

I said, Well, okay, follow-up.

From the perspective of your faith, when your life is over, and it's all said and done, and you've done all the things that you know you can do, will you be accepted by him?

And he said, I don't know, which is the correct answer according to his faith.

He he I was actually impressed because he knows his stuff.

He said, I don't know.

And I'll never be able to know.

Because that that's for God to know, not for me, and and what I'm trying to do is if I if I I mean this is like the religion that we talked about earlier, right?

It's if I follow the rules and I do it just right, I'm hopeful that he will, but I have no idea, and and I'm just trying my best.

And I said, huh?

I said, I want you to like think about this this week.

And I actually said, why don't you pray about it?

Because he prays to God every day.

I said, pray about this.

Just be open to this.

Because it's hard for me to understand how those two things compute.

I said, what would it be like?

And you can those of you who know me well, I brought up my children, I talk about my kids a lot.

I said, I have four kids.

And each of them, if you asked, Does your dad love you?

They all answer, yes.

I make that very known to them.

But then if you asked, hey, when you get home today, when you get dropped off the bus, or or you know, if you get back from school, whatever, will your father accept you into his home?

None of them would say, I don't know.

I hope so.

It depends on how my day has gone.

You know, if I've done it, if I've done good today, then I I hope that my dad will open the doors and receive me.

No, it's like, of course.

I'll be accepted.

I'll be welcomed in his presence because he loves me.

And I said, I just want you to to pray about that because you've told me that you know that God loves you, and yet you're not sure if he will accept you, and I don't understand how those two things compute.

Because real love accepts.

And he said, I can tell you he was just thinking, and sometimes it's good to just shut up when someone's thinking and let them work it out with the Lord.

So I haven't talked to him since, but I'm actually looking forward to talking to him this week, and I'm looking really forward to the opportunity to hopefully be able to bring him here or bring him into a different conversation at some point.

It's important that we're ready to tell people about the hope that we have.

But I think it's interesting that Andrew was more than just a teller.

He didn't just go tell his brother, Peter, hey, I found the Messiah.

He goes a step further and he brings.

It says, then he brought Peter.

And and we don't really know from the the context if Peter wanted to go or not.

You know, some people, you know, you can bring someone willingly.

You can drag people sometimes.

Like some of you have have been dragged places before where someone's brought you kind of against your will.

Maybe you're here today against your will.

I'm sorry if that's the case.

If you just came because someone's been bugging you, but they love you enough to bug you, that's a good thing, so at least be comforted by that.

But Andrew brings him.

Brings him to Jesus.

And man, look at the result.

Wow.

It's interesting because Andrew is always described in the Bible as Simon Peter's brother, which is so funny because he was there first.

You know?

He's like, I was the first one.

In fact, I'm the reason Simon Peter is Simon Peter.

He was just a Simon before I brought him to Jesus.

But you get the impression that Andrew's fine with that.

He's the bringer and he's first.

First picked.

In fact, every single time that he's mentioned in Scripture doing anything, he's bringing someone to Jesus.

For example, John chapter 6, verses 1 through 9.

John 6:1–9

After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias.

A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick.

And then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him.

It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.

Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him.

Turning to Philip, he asked, Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?

He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.

Jesus is funny like that.

I love that about Jesus.

He's like playing a prank on him.

Philip replied, Even if we worked for months, we wouldn't have enough money to feed them.

Then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up.

Hey, there's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish, but what good is that with his huge crowd?

Now, those of you who know the story know that Jesus is about to do something crazy.

He's about to feed thousands of people with just a few loaves of bread and some fish.

But who's the one who brought the boy who had the food to Jesus?

It was Andrew.

He's the bringer.

John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

Verse 20.

Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration paid a visit to Philip, who was from Bethsaeda in Galilee.

They said, Sir, we want to meet Jesus.

These are it's the first example we really have of, well, one of the first examples, there's one more, of people who aren't Jewish who want to be in the presence of Jesus.

They said, We want to see Jesus.

Philip told Andrew about it, meaning Philip's like, I don't know if they can.

They're not, they're not one of us.

They're they're they're Greeks.

They're foreigners.

Like, I know, I'll ask Andrew.

So Philip told Andrew, and what does Andrew do?

Takes him to Jesus.

It says then they went together to Jesus.

So the Greeks come to Philip.

Philip goes to Andrew.

Andrew's like, let's go to Jesus.

And he brings them to Jesus.

Every time Peter's talked about, he's bringing someone to Jesus.

And here's what I love about that as we wrap up this morning.

Not many of us, if any of us, could be a Paul.

There's a special combination of things that made Paul who Paul is.

And I just like he's the most well-read author in the history of the world, probably.

More people have probably spent time reading what Paul wrote than any single author ever.

And so, you know, that's why I'm always really careful when I meet a Jesus follower who like uh thinks they know more than like someone like a Paul, and they find that they have the ability to like reinterpret scripture that's never been interpreted a certain way, being like, actually, um, I'm like, man, it God should have picked you instead of Paul.

He just was well, you know, I have that feeling sometimes.

There are people that are like that.

And most of us shouldn't be Peter.

Uh in fact, if we if you have like more than one Peter in a church, it's a disaster.

Like Peter's just he's just a lot.

And so, you know, if if God ever said, Hey, Justin, I'm gonna fill your church with with people like Peter, I'd be like, really?

Because Jesus only picked one of Peter, and he seemed to have a hard time with him, and I don't think I'm ready, right?

But all of us can be Andrew.

Every single one of us.

There's not one person here, not one person watching from home who does not have the capacity, the ability to be the bringer.

And that's the one Jesus picked first.

Apparently, Jesus must value this tremendously.

And the joy, imagine the joy that Andrew had seeing his brother follow Jesus.

Imagine the joy that Andrew had when Jesus said, From now on, I'm calling you Peter, and I'm gonna I'm gonna build my whole church on the declaration that Peter made that Jesus is the Son of God.

Andrew got to experience so many amazing things and knew that he did this one simple thing that made so much of it possible.

He just he just brought.

And so, what would it be like if we were a church full of bringers?

People, and I'm not I'm not talking about bringing people to church.

I think that's that's part of it.

But bringing people to Jesus, if we actually viewed it as a mission for our lives, that I want to bring the people God has put in my life with me.

I don't want to follow Jesus alone.

I want to bring people alongside me.

I want to follow Jesus with them.

So I'm gonna bring them.

Even if I have to bug them a little bit.

I'm willing to because I I want to be a bringer.

And so I want to finish with a question.

I'm gonna take a really brief bit of time to pray about something.

Um who will I bring?

Who am I gonna bring?

So on your your uh seats this morning were sheets of paper that say, Who will I bring?

and there should be a pen.

And uh some of you were overachievers, so you like got ahead and you're like, oh, this is probably about so you filled it out, and you shouldn't have done that.

Um that's what you get for being an overachiever.

Okay?

But if you did, there's so much grace and forgiveness for you.

It's okay.

You know, what Herb said is true.

You gotta forgive, just forgive yourself.

Either grab another sheet of paper or amend it, scratch it, do whatever you want.

It doesn't matter.

But there's three names.

There's three names.

And here in a second, we're gonna pray and ask God to help us with this a little bit.

Because I think it's important sometimes that while we're here together, we just go ahead and like, let's let's do what we're saying we're gonna do.

And so, number one on that list, if you have it, you have a pen.

I want you to think about a person that just makes sense to you.

A person that you're like, I know that they they need Jesus, and I know it's almost like a person who's you see it, you're like, they're right there.

If they if they could just click with Jesus in some way, it's you you see it, and they make sense, and they're someone you love being around.

Maybe you enjoy their presence and being friends with them, whatever, it's a family member, and you're like there, they make so much sense.

I've I want to be someone who helps bring them to Jesus.

That's that's number one.

And so if you want to fill it out now, you can.

Maybe there's someone who's like an obvious choice to you.

You can do this later if you want to.

But I do want to create some space for us to do it now.

I think it'd be cool if we walked out of here and we had some we had some names.

Number two, that's the person who you're like, they're the least likely person.

Like that seems like a long shot.

I know if I ever talk to them about my faith, if I ever, I mean, goodness, if I invited them to church.

But I want you to write that name down.

Whoever you're like, this is a person that you know that you have a relationship with.

It wouldn't be weird if you called them and they answered.

But you just know that they're like, they're the least likely.

Here's why they should be on your list.

Jesus' entire ministry was filled with people who were the least likely.

And oftentimes the people who were the least likely ended up being the closest to him.

It's something about him.

He works really, really well with underdogs, he works really, really well with outsiders.

And so if there's someone here like, I just, oh, I don't know, then put them on your list.

And and pray and look for an opportunity for God to give you a chance to share your faith and invite them to something, to a to coffee, even for you just to be with them, to church to something.

But put them there because God's really good at the least likely.

The third one that is God's to give to you.

That is where you go, Lord, who?

Is there anyone that maybe I haven't even thought of?

And you have put me in their life.

I sit next to them at work, I live next door to them, I have these interactions.

I was a friend of theirs when I was younger, and I recently bumped into them, whatever it is.

But is there someone that God maybe wants you to bring to him?

And maybe it's not something you would think of on your own or someone you would think of on your own.

That third spot is a place for you to fill based on what God says to you.

It's it's God to speak to you.

So here's what I want to do.

I want to I want to take literally like two minutes, uh, and I want to give us a chance to just pray a little bit.

This is not like get on your knees and pray time.

This is just sort of like a contemplative, hey God, give me something.

And if he gives you anything, write it down.

And then as this ends, we're gonna have uh a little preview of something that's kind of a softball for all of us to bring someone to if we want to.

All right, so with that said, uh, guys, if you want to bring the lights down a little bit, let's pray, let's make a list.

All right.

Is there anyone, Lord, that you have uh that you've put me on this earth to play a role in them knowing you?

Don't sell yourself short.

God wants to use you, He absolutely does.

Can all be bringers.

Just out of curiosity, anyone have three already?

Anyone fill yours up at all?

How about how about two?

Okay.

Anyone like I've drawn blanks?

Anybody drawing blanks?

No blanks?

That's awesome.

Maybe you're just a shame.

You shouldn't be ashamed if you have blanks.

I've got two.

I'm still waiting on the third.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you so much.

Uh Lord, I want to specifically thank you for giving us a church that I honestly get excited about the opportunity to bring people to.

But it's not about at the end of the day, anything other than you, Lord.

You are the answer that we need.

Jesus, you are the answer.

You are everything this world is looking for.

When there's people in our in our world that are angry at perceived injustice and they want things to be right, Lord, you are justice.

You are you are righteous and good, and everything you say and everything you do is right and good.

You're the answer for that.

Lord, when we see brokenness in our world and it breaks our heart, you bring healing to brokenness all the time.

You are the answer for our brokenness, you're the answer for the pain.

Lord, you're the answer for all the confusion that's in our world.

So many people are so confused, but you are truth.

You said that you are the way, the truth, and the life.

Lord, you are the answer that we need, and we want people to know you.

Lord, we don't want to be people who contain what you've given us, who hold on to it, who cling to it.

Lord, we want to be people who share it.

We want to be people who take this love and this freedom that you've given us, this acceptance, this joy.

We want to be people, Lord, who share it, who spread it everywhere we go.

But God, it takes courage for us sometimes.

Sometimes it's just because we're we're introverted.

Sometimes, Lord, we we get ahead of ourselves and we we don't want people to think that you know we're judging them if we talk to them about you or if we invite them to church or whatever.

Whatever it is, Lord, we we can convince ourselves that it's a lot more complicated than it is, God.

But I know that you have you have put people in our lives and in our path because you desire for us to be like Andrew and to just bring him to you.

So Lord, help us be bringers.

Help us be those people who are who are like the one that you picked first.

And Lord, give us lots and lots of opportunities to bring.

Amen.