Andrew Series

Sermon: Andrew

The man behind the scenes leader of the message of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Thesis: Andrew was the behind-the-scenes apostle – the silhouette behind Jesus. He was close to Jesus – one of the 4. He was different, we do not see him get caught up in the drama, the battle for power, or for leadership like Peter, James and John. All three close to Andrew!

Introduction:

He was a quiet reserved leader and content to be the support person for others and especially for Jesus. He surfaces in scripture bringing people to Jesus’ time and again. He is portrayed in a positive light like bringing the young boy with fish and loaves to Jesus. He is never rebuked by Jesus like the other three were.

I had to talk about the other brother – no not to James and John the Sons of Thunder who preached Thunder – God’s Truth- God’s Word and Love but the other brother. He was most likely a lifelong friend and partner with James and John.

Yes, Jesus would call families to serve Him – in the case of the 4 it equaled two families and 4 brothers. The brother of Andrew was Peter’s – yes Peter had a brother who always seemed presented in the background as a leader. He is never shown in Scripture speaking to large crowds or planting a church or even writing an epistle. The brother and friend in the shadows of three very strong personalities is our man of the hour Andrew!

I preached two sermons on Peter a month or so back. We saw his zeal and willingness to defend Jesus with the sword! His boldness to even try to rebuke Jesus from His divine mission (to protect him), his being the first to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior and His fall from grace denying Jesus 3 times as Jesus predicted. But we also witnessed his restoration too by Jesus. We see a lot written about Peter in Acts, the spirit filled leader of the 12.

We discovered a lot about John but not much about James because he was the first of the 12 to be martyred. But you hear even less about Andrew – as a matter-of-fact Andrew is not mentioned in Acts after Pentecost.

But Andrew was one of the first disciples to follow Jesus. He was with John the Baptist when John proclaimed Jesus as "The Lamb of God". Don’t miss this point!

But Andrew was a leader – he was just more reserved, behind the scenes and quieter than the other 3 – could you imagine growing up in their shadows? But do not underestimate Andrew’s relationship with Jesus he too had a strong connection with Jesus!

I. Andrew is seen leading people to Jesus – introducing people to Jesus!

a. I do not want you to underestimate Andrew’s contribution to Jesus’ ministry and most likely to his brother Peter’s ministry.

i. The most important spiritual task we can accomplish in life is bringing people to Jesus! Would you agree?

ii. I have a big question for you today – Bible quiz time: Here is the big question: Do you know who led Peter to Jesus?

1. Let’s read John 1:35-42 now: Jesus’ First Disciples

a. 35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Petera).

i. Did you know spending a day with Jesus will change you!

ii. Who have you introduced to Jesus lately!

iii. I want to tell you that when Andrew spent a day with the Lord he said to himself, “This isn’t right, I’ve got to go tell Peter!”

1. Did you hear that – I am not keeping Jesus to myself – I must share Him with others.

2. Higgins states, “Listen, when you spend some time with the Lord, when you encounter the Jesus of the Bible, you’ll not be able to help but tell somebody what you’ve experienced! I’m telling you that the reason you and I don’t talk about Jesus to the people we know, and meet is because we haven’t been spending time with the Lord. Now I don’t know about you, but I find the fact that for all we know and admire about the apostle Peter, very little is said in the Scriptures about his brother Andrew, especially considering that Andrew brought him to Jesus.”