Follow Me
John 1: 43 - 51
Intro: This morning, I want to talk about evangelism by telling you about 2 fishermen. Fisherman #1 we will call Nate. He went and bought the best fishing rod, reel and bait he could find. He brought them home and went to his backyard swimming pool. There he dropped his line into the water and waited for the fish to bite.
Fisherman #2 we will call Sam. Sam bought some hand grenades, got in his boat, rowed to the center of the lake, pulled the pin on a grenade and threw it in the water. When it exploded he scooped up the stunned fish. A game warden happened by and ranted and raved that Sam couldn’t do that. Sam calmly pulled the pin from another grenade and put it in the warden’s hand and said, “Are you going to stand there and talk, or are you going to fish?”
I When was the last time you invited someone to “come and see” anything.
A Maybe it was a new restaurant that opened in town. I’ve heard there is a new one in Frankston that has really good food.
B We could have movie night in Robinson Hall. How many would come and invite a friend to come and see?
C VS. 46 – “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and See,” said Philip.
II In many churches (ours included) we do evangelism like the two fishermen I mentioned earlier.
A Like Nate, we put our “line” in the pool and expect the fish to just jump on the line. The problem is that we may be fishing where there are no fish. That example teaches us that we have to go where the “fish” are and invite them to “come and see.”
B Like Sam, we may have a function that brings the community to us like “First Blessing” shoe give away. How many of you who worked in that valuable ministry actually invited people to “come and see” or just hoped that they would jump into the boat.
C People in our community seek fulfillment and contentment by looking for money, power, drugs, alcohol, sex and other false avenues of contentment. WHAT ARE YOU SEEKING AND DO YOU FIND IT HERE?
III There is nothing that beats first-hand experience.
A You go to the recommended restaurant and the food is unbelievably good. Your invitation to “come and see” turns out great!
B Look back at VS. 38 “Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” Notice Jesus doesn’t ask them “who do you seek?, but “What do you want?”
C I once saw a large sign along the road that said in big, bold letters JESUS IS THE ANSWER! I asked, “what is the question?” If you really want to know “come and see!”
Concl: A few days ago I had a conversation with a lady who noticed the church logo on my shirt. I told her I was the Pastor of this church and I had to tell her it was the church with the big steeple next to Kroger.
I asked her where she went to church. She responded, “The Cowboy Church because I can wear my jeans and t-shirts there. I would feel out of place with those ladies in dresses and high-heeled shoes.” I told her our church was nothing like that and she should just “come and see” for herself. I doubt that she ever will; but, I did try to EVANGLIZE her! It’s just that simple.
There are 2 lessons to learn here:
1) God accomplishes great things in unlikely places.
2) God uses ordinary people to do His work.
