“bring Them To Jesus Or Throw Them In The Fire”

“Bring them to Jesus or throw them in the fire” John 1: 35-46

How far will you go to bring someone to Jesus?

The question I need to ask, this morning is, should we be concerned about the lives and eternity of our family/friends or should we just mind our own business?

Is their eternity really any of our business?

Lately my burden for getting our families and friends to Jesus has increased tremendously. So I will tell you up front that these next two weeks the messages may be tough and you may not like what you hear…BUT

Think about something. How far did Jesus go for you? All the way to Calvary.

Was there someone in your life that God used to reach you? So how far should we be willing to go to get others to Jesus?

I want to look at two men who encountered Jesus and what they did IMMEDIATELY following their experience with Jesus.

1. The first was Andrew. Verses 35-39a. [Key words “Come and see”]

Andrew heard John the Baptist tell about the coming Messiah and he even pointed out Jesus as the One who was to come. That was the moment everything in Andrew’s life changed.

Andrew met Jesus and realized that Jesus was the answer to the prayers of his heart. He knew that Jesus could fill him with the peace and the joy that had been missing from his life so he accepted the Way, the Truth and the Life and immediately followed Him.

Look at verses 40-42a. Andrew gets lost in the big picture and many don’t know that he was one of the first two disciples called by Jesus.

How many used to hate when someone said of you, “Oh you’re so & so’s brother/sister”…

Yet Andrew loved his brother enough to bring him to Jesus…Andrew played a key role in bringing one of the major players to the 12.

After surrendering to Jesus, himself, Andrew’s first concern was for his brother, Simon Peter and he couldn’t wait to tell his brother about Jesus.

For some, we have been saved for so long that we seem to forget what we have been saved from…We have forgotten the joy and what it felt like to have the burden of sin lifted from our souls.

Do you know someone who could use some of what you’ve found in Jesus?

Look at verse 42b. When Andrew brought Peter to meet Jesus it says here that Jesus “LOOKED” at Simon. The KJV uses the word “Beheld” This is so much more than a passing glance. The word means “to look at intently” or to “concentrate on.” In other words, Jesus focused on Simon Peter, looking into the very depth of his soul.

There are two things I want you to see here.

a. Jesus looks at the heart of a person and this will be either a relief or a warning to that person. It really depends on how the person responds to Jesus.

Think about this. Jesus knows more about you than you know about yourself…

Guess what… He knows more about that family member than you will ever know…

b. Jesus sees the potential in every person, even when we don’t…Even when they don’t see it in themselves.

I am so glad that Jesus didn’t give up on me as quickly as those around me did.

Jesus longs to unlock the potential in each of us. His desire is to make us into men and women that we never thought we could be or would even strive to be…35+ years ago you would have never been able to convince me that I would standing in front of EBC or any church for that matter, preaching…pastoring. I could never have imagined that I would gain a college degree…Especially knowing that I didn’t even have a High School diploma.

As a matter of fact you would not have been able to convince me that I would be a follower of Jesus Christ…

All of this happened in my life because ONE person never gave up on me…Grandma Bessie never quit. When everyone else, including myself gave up, she kept praying…she kept witnessing…she kept loving. She never saw me as a lost cause. She could only see a grandson that she loved very much and refused to leave this world without seeing him come to Jesus. And I praise the Lord Jesus today that He allowed her prayer to be answered before she left this world. Grandma Bessie could go to glory shouting praises to her King.

How about you? Is there someone you would love to see come to Jesus, before you die? Have you given up on someone as a lost cause?

May I be the spokesperson for lost causes everywhere and say, “PLEASE DON’T GIVE UP ON US.”