Sermon Outline
To beging today’s message I would like you to listen to 3 verses from scripture and see if you notice something
Read
John 1:41
John 1:43
John 1:45
One of the amazing things for me is the way God chooses to connect with us.
The way God chooses to connect with you and me.
Did you notice that in these three verses
God uses people,
ordinary people to put us into contact with Him,
His love
and importantly the future with Him
And also God uses you
to put others in contact with Him,
His love
and the future with Him
Think about all the people who have played a role or influenced your faith.
They maybe parents, a pastor, other members of this congregation or another congregation.
In my life there have been people who have said words of comfort.
There have been others who are great teachers and have opened up the scriptures
There have been others who have helped me see more clearly God’s perspective of life.
There have been others who have been constant reminders of how much God loves me.
There have been people who are great examples of faith not matter what is happening around them
I am thankful for many people, and that God continues to place people in my life who are constantly dropping seeds of faith.
What about you?
Who can you think of that has influenced and helped you with your relationship with God?
And not only are we called to receive seeds of faith,
God also calls each one of us to share these seeds of faith.
Not just once in a persons life, but ongoing.
When it comes to planting seeds of faith,
The best people for us to be doing this is amongst those people whom we are already in contact with.
A friends and family.
Now already I can sense some of you are uneasy.
I find talking about Jesus and us his love and approach to life in some ways the most difficult amongst those friends and family who are not Christians, who avoid church like the plague.
I have come to realise part of this is because I am often more concerned about having a good relationship with them on earth, than them joining me in heaven.
I am too worried how they will react.
But I have also realised that the seeds of faith I plant amongst them will take time.
I can think of two or three people who’s attitudes have changed to Christianity and God because I have maintained a relationship with them
Over time their attitude has altered from very negative to starting to be interested.
And today’s Gospel reading highlights some important things that help us plant seeds of faith in the life of others.
The first is to understand and see what experiences we have had with God.
In verse 45, when Philip found Nathanael he said, “we have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and about whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
This was Philip highlighting how the God of scripture was true in his life.
So understanding our experiences are not so much the supernatural stuff.
So how has the God of scripture been true in your life?
How has God affected your life?
How has God touched you?
Many people have particular verses of the bible that mean a lot to them.
Do you have any?
Another way is to use the Faith 5 approach that we handed out earlier.
It is a simple approach of seeing how God interacts with our lives.
At sometime of each day with your spouse, your partner, family members or a friend you sit down and
Begin a conversation by sharing a high and a low of your day.
It doesn’t have to be too major high or low.
One day my son said, my low for the day was having to clean up my room.
And the high he said was finding some missing lego pieces
Your highs and lows could be anything.
Low I was late for work, and a high I was able to complete everything I wanted to do today
Then you read a passage of scripture.
Now you may want to use the daily bible readings booklet we handed out or you may want to use the readings in the bulletin or some people choose a book of the bible and over time read through that.
Then you talk about what scripture is saying to your highs and lows,
Now at times through scripture God maybe giving you words of comfort
At other times words of guidance and direction
At other times he maybe saying hey you are on the wrong track
At other times he could be simply reminding you that He loves you.
When September 11th occurred
The most quoted and used passage of scripture was not one of God will come and strike our enemies
It was Psalm 23 though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil
Then pray for each other and your situations
Then bless each other.
By doing this regularly you seeing how God is touching your life frequently.
The next thing we need to be aware of if we are going to plant seeds of faith in people’s lives
Is to expect opposition.
For some people whenever God is mentioned without thinking they spray the Godoguard around.
If you were to walk into your workplace tomorrow and say come here I want to tell you about Jesus.
What would be the reaction.
Some may want to listen.
But others would either think you are weird or simply turn off.
Remember human nature is to repel God.
Human nature brings out the Godoguard.
So expect opposition.
But this opposition shouldn’t stop us in planting seeds of faith.
When we talk about taking Jesus to work or school or to your family and friends who want to place God at a distance.
We are not saying grab the bible and ram it down their throat.
Let’s look at what Philip did when Nataneal said,
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Philip’s response was
‘Come and see’
‘Come and discover’
When people initially respond negatively to Jesus and his love, and anything else about him
Don’t enter into a debate with them
Don’t try to answer all their obstacles
Simply invite them to come and see
Come and discover Jesus and what he offers
As disciples of Jesus our role is not convert people
That is what the Holy Spirit does
Our role is to invite people to come and discover the future.
To come and discover Jesus and what he offers.
God does the work of convincing and converting.
When people interacts with God he affects people
Lets hear again what happened with Nathanael
Reading from verse 46
(read verses 46-49)
Nathanael’s attitude changed because Jesus and him interacted.
And that is true also for many people.
Another thing that is helpful is to remember that Christianity is not about the past….
It is about the future.
Yes the life, death and resurrection occurred in the past. And it is important event for all Christians.
However this event made sure the future that God promises us would happen.
Without a future Jesus means nothing.
Jesus is the key to the future.
Keeping the future firmly in mind is essential if we are to plant seeds of faith.
Because faith is about the promises of God.
Most of us can look back at the past and two things often come to mind.
The good old days, how much better they were than today.
And the bad things that have happened.
When we dwell on the past or the present we often miss out on seeing the future.
We find it difficult to move towards the future.
Now focussing on the future is not about ignoring the past,
But looking to the future helps us see where God is taking us.
It helps us see the promises God offers.
And the past will always tell us why we need God.
Also remember much of our past has been affected by sin, and when we dwell on the past we allow sin to mould our future.
However looking to God and his future allows God to mould our future.
In verse 50 and 51 Jesus directs Nathanael’s focus away from the past to the future.
Read 50-51.
So ask yourself what do I need so I can let go of the past and focus on the future?
Now when it comes to planting seeds of faith in our lives God seems to use not one but many people to plant seeds of faith into our lives
Infact as I think about my life and faith.
The picture I have is that my faith is like a huge botanical garden.
With a huge variety of plants and colour.
Shaun Hart the ex Brisbane Lions footballer and now a coach with the Gold Coast Football Club says:
God has used a variety of people to plant and grow faith in his life
His wife, his pastor, various other Christians who have all helped connect Him to Jesus.
In other words God has used many people to help him see the future.
And that is true for you as well.
And that is true for others
So lets be both receivers of the faith and sharers of the seeds of faith.
Amen
