John Chapter 1:40-51

Jesus saw the end result of who Simon would end up to be, not the denier. Oh, he knew that.

Not somebody that would stick his foot in his mouth often. He did that too. But he saw Peter, and he saw a strong man in the Lord. He saw a man that had denied him a few days before but then stood on the steps of the temple and led 3,000 people to the Lord. And then turned to the spiritual leaders of Israel when they said, you've got to quit talking. He said, you know what, I'm going to obey God and not man. He saw that. And if he saw that in Peter, guess what?

He sees that in you. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. And we're glad to have one of David Magee's associate pastors, D.A. Brown, here with us as Pastor David continues through the book of John. Bob, sometimes we hesitate to come to Jesus or hesitate to talk about Him with others because we think that we're not perfect yet. Listen, we just come to Jesus, and He'll do the transformation. We can trust Him with our life, and He'll make us into something and someone that exceeds our imagination and expectation.

And I'd rather Him do that in my life because I have no idea what He can do with me, but He does. So let's listen as David Magee finishes up teaching in the Gospel of John chapter 1. We are in the Gospel of John chapter 1. We are in the midst of Jesus calling some of the disciples. One of the two who heard John, verse 40, speak and follow Him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. We see several ways how people are drawn to Jesus. Here when they heard John the Baptist speak, they were drawn to Jesus. Verse 41, he first found his own brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which has translated the Christ. Verse 42, and it says, and he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, he said, you are Simon, the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas, which is translated a stone.

So he's a little rock, but he was going to be a big rock. He brought Simon to Jesus. We don't follow a lot of what Andrew does after the Gospels, but boy, he sure hit a home run when he brought Peter to Jesus, didn't he? See, you never know. You never know who you're witnessing to. You might be witnessing to the next Billy Graham, the next Greg Laurie, the next Louis Palau, the next fill in the blank. You don't know. And here again, we see in the original text, we see John translating for the Gentile who didn't speak Hebrew or Aramaic.

Guys, you know what? Don't miss something here. This is an extremely encouraging verse when you stop to think about it.

Why is that? Because when Andrew brought Peter, Jesus didn't look at him and go, oh my gosh, look what that cat drug in. He didn't say, oh man, you know what? I'm going to spend a whole lot of time on you and you're going to end up denying me. He didn't say any of that, did he?

Why? Because Jesus, oh, don't miss this. Jesus saw the end result of who Simon would end up to be. He saw the end result of who Simon would end up to be. Not the denier. Oh, he knew that.

Not somebody that would stick his foot in his mouth often. He did that too. But he saw Peter and he saw a strong man in the Lord. He saw a man that had denied him a few days before but then stood on the steps of the temple and led 3,000 people to the Lord. And then turned to the spiritual leaders of Israel when they said, you got to quit talking. He said, you know what?

I'm going to obey God and not man. He saw that. And if he saw that in Peter, guess what? He sees that in you. He sees where you're going to end up.

He sees where you're going to be. Praise God. Because the end result was Jesus turned him in this man into a rock. And do you understand it's the same power of God that wants to change us? The power of God hadn't changed. Well, it was the apostolic power of God.

No, don't give me that. It's the power of God. The power of God is the same. See, in life lesson number two, God accepts us the way we are and loves us too much to lead us that way. And God not only desires to change us but gives us the power to change. God can change us. Let's say that. God can change us.

Say that. God can change us. Some of you aren't sure. Let's do it again. God can change us. Some of you are still on the fence again. God can change us.

You know, let's make it a little more personal. God can change me. God can change me. Do you believe it? He can do it.

He can do it. You're looking at a Gentile heathen dog that God got a hold of. I wasn't born a pastor but God got a hold of me. In verse 43, the following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee and he found Philip and said to him, follow me.

I love that. Follow me. He didn't give him some big dissertation on eschatology. He just said two words, follow me.

And he did it. Guys, we get so distracted so easily spiritually, don't we? We get our eyes off of Jesus. We get our eyes on other things.

We get our eyes on other people. And Jesus is going, hey, over here, over here, over here. Follow me. Pick up your cross daily.

Follow me. You ever notice how Jesus repeats himself a lot? It's different. You know, Paul didn't really repeat himself very often. He would, you know, follow this little logic and awesome teacher but Jesus repeated himself a lot.

You know, I was confused about that when I was a younger Christian but then I had children. And you know what I find myself doing? Repeating myself. Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that.

Don't do that again or you're in big trouble. That's why Jesus repeats himself. He reminds us, hey, follow me. Follow me.

Why? Because he understands that we are so easily distracted and we need to follow someone. That's reality. You, friend, you're going to follow somebody. Only decision that you have to make is who are you going to follow? Are you going to follow Jesus? Are you going to follow yourself?

I really wouldn't encourage you on that one. Because following yourself is kind of like, well, the mental image I get. You ever seen a dog run around circle chasing its tail? He's following himself. Is that right or is that wrong? There's the back end.

There's the front end. He's trying to follow himself. Don't follow yourself. That's as disastrous as trying to find yourself.

Well, really, I mean, think about it. You're the one that's lost and you're going to find yourself? I'm confused, but the truth is within. That's not right. But you're going to follow something.

You better pick something that's worthy of following. You ever been in a caravan of cars and picked the wrong guy to follow? That didn't go well, did it?

And then maybe somebody in the line got confused about who was leading. Praise God for cell phones, huh? Where are you? What are you doing?

Where are we going? Follow Jesus. Follow Jesus. Now, Philip was from Bethsaida, a house of fish, the city of Andrew and Peter. And Philip found Nathanael and said to him, of whom Moses and the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Now, notice what Philip does when he found Jesus. He goes and tells Nathanael.

So here's somebody. We had John the Baptist, his teaching leading somebody to the Lord. Now we've got the personal testimony that Philip has. This is the ministry of Philip of telling people about Jesus and bringing people to Jesus.

It's awesome ministry. In John chapter 12 verse 20, it says, Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew and Philip told Jesus. So that was a ministry of bringing people to Jesus, of telling people about Jesus. Inviting people to church is a ministry. See, we think of ministry as something that's just lofty and hyper-spiritual, but ministry is very practical. Ministry is doing what needs to be done.

It might mean cleaning the floor, taking the trash out. It means serving, and it might mean inviting people to church. Time after time after time after time after time again, somebody has brought a friend or a family member who came here and received Jesus as their Savior. I didn't invite that person to come to church here.

You guys did. And they came, and the Holy Spirit convicted them, and they received Jesus as their Savior. What an awesome ministry.

And you can tell them about the changes in your life. See, a lot of times, guys, the only thing they know about Christianity is what they've seen on television. Or maybe they've been... Yeah, there's no other way to say it but to say it, maybe they've been to a dead church that has nothing to do with Jesus.

And they said, you know what, I don't need this. And when we get excited about what God is doing in our life, about what God is doing in our fellowship, God's... That's contagious. When people come and they see a room full of people excited about worship, what's going on here?

We have people that stop by. There's probably some people in here this morning that just go, what are they doing in that building? It's not a church building. It's a warehouse.

It used to be a warehouse. Now it's God's house. Amen? You get excited, and you tell them about something that's real. Because chances are they're tired.

They're tired of the empty hypocrisy. Here's a visual. You put your money in the soda machine.

You push the button, and nothing comes out. How happy are you at that point? That's some people's church experience. They think, you know what, I want to be closer to God. I desire to have a relationship with God.

I'm going to take the time to go to church this morning and try to receive from the Lord. And then they go, and they get nothing. They put their money in, push a button, and nothing came out. And they're upset.

And I believe firmly that these are the guys who are so angry that you see bashing Christianity. Whenever I see somebody angry like that, I go, what happened? What happened to this lady? What was her name? Madeline O'Hare or whatever? That's what I thought about.

I thought, what happened to this lady? They're tired of two-faced religion. Invite them to some reality. It's hard to deny the power that's changing your life.

They may deny this, deny that, but it's hard to deny that part of it. Life lesson number three, God wants to change us. God wants to use us to change our world.

God wants to change us, and God wants to use us to change our world. See, oftentimes we get this little mistaken, and I know it's been reinforced by pastors, but we get this mistaken notion, oh, you know what, I need to call pastor and get him to pray for this one guy who doesn't know the Lord. Well, if you call me or you email me with that, I'll tell you in advance what my reply will be. Hey, you know him. You know the gospel. Go for it.

You're authorized and deputized and go do the deal, man. Now, sometimes if it's family, I understand it's difficult and we'll prayerfully consider, and we'll send somebody out to share the gospel with them. I don't mean to downplay that, but don't overlook the fact that that person that God wants to use to share with that person might be you. We'll be right back with more from David McGee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from associate pastor D.A. Brown.

Hey, Bob. We want to take a minute to pray for our listeners in these cities. In California, we have Joshua Tree, Lake Isabella, Lakehead, Las Cruces, Laurel, Lompoc, and the San Jose area. God, we thank you for these cities. We pray for the leaders in these cities, that you would give them wisdom and discernment. We pray that people would be following you with all their heart, all their soul, and all their strength, and they would be sharing with others the hope that they found in you. We pray that many would accept that offer of hope and eternal salvation, and that they would get plugged in Bible-teaching churches, and they would begin to grow in their relationship with you and be a blessing to other people. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. What we need, what I need, what you need, what the church needs is a radical revolution, because we've gotten so far from what Jesus told us to do.

And I don't think it's a matter of just kind of altering the course a little bit. I think it's about being a radical. We need people to stand up and say, you know what, this is right, this is wrong, and the good news is we can't earn salvation, but Jesus provides it from the cross. Guys, it's not about living this nice Christian life.

Where did we get that? I don't see that in the life of Jesus. I see somebody that was radical for God, went into the temple, turned over tables, and made a whip. That's not being a nice little fuzzy Christian. And if that picture is inconsistent with what you believe a Christian to be, guess what needs to change?

Your perception of what a Christian is. Well, one day I'll start doing all that. Theodore Roosevelt said, and this is a great quote, do what you can with what you have where you are. Not tomorrow, not the next day, today. Make a commitment in your heart to follow Jesus.

Make a commitment in your heart to tell other people. The Lord wants to use what we have, and somewhere we get in our mind that, you know, we need to do this, we need to do that, and after we do this, that, and the other, then God can begin to use us. What a trap. God wants to use what you have, excuse me, right where you are right now.

You see it in Scripture, all through Scripture. Hey, Moses, what have you got in your hand? A stick.

Okay, that'll do. We can use that stick. We can use that stick to challenge the power of the world's most powerful leader.

We can use that stick to divide the ocean. Well, that's just one example. Are there any more?

Throughout the Bible. What David, what you got, David? I got these five stones. Don't know what I'm going to do with them. I know what I'm going to do with them.

Let me show you, David. Those will do, that'll do nicely. Let's use what you have.

And he took down a giant of a man, the widow. What do you have? Empty pots, empty pots. What are you going to do with empty pots? The Lord said, you know what? I can do something with those empty pots.

I can do something with whatever you have right now. That's what the Lord's saying this morning. What about the little boy?

We got to feed these thousands and thousands of people. Has anybody got anything? What if he wouldn't have said anything?

The little boy probably felt a little silly. He said, well, I got these two fishes and these five pieces of bread. Jesus said, that's enough. That's great. We'll feed thousands.

That'll do. Isn't that amazing? I don't know what you have this morning, but God wants to use it. I don't know what gift he has imparted to you or what he's put into you, but he wants to use what you have, where you are right now. Life lesson four, a little becomes a lot when we put what we have into the hands of our powerful God. A little becomes a lot.

As it's been said, you and God are a majority. Verse 46, and Nathaniel said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, come and see. Jesus, knowing that Nazareth was not a good town, was born in Nazareth.

He was the wrong side of the tracks, if you will. That's what it's talking about. Part of what it's talking about in Philippians chapter two, verse seven, it says, made himself of no reputation. Come and see.

See, that answers the arguments. Well, come check it out when you're inviting somebody to church and they're, ah, I've been to church before. Come on, check it out.

Come and see. Verse 47, Jesus saw Nathaniel coming towards him and said of him, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom is no deceit. Now, I wonder here from a translation standpoint, and some of them say, in whom is no guile. But if you remember, there's some, and there's some speculation about what Jacob actually meant, heel catcher or deceiver. The comment very well could have been, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom is no Jacob. It's just a theory.

You can file it in your theory file. I have a reason to believe that because we'll see in a couple verses. Verse 48, Nathaniel said to him, how do you know me? Jesus answered and said to him, before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.

Jesus sees us. And Nathaniel wasn't just an Israelite in thought. He was an Israelite in deed, not just in words. And Nathaniel answered and said to him, Rabbi, you are the son of God.

You are the king of Israel. So again, we talked last week the son of God, like produces like, if he is God's only unique begotten son, he is God. And Jesus answered and said to him, because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?

You will see greater things than these. And he said to him, most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man. That's a reference to Jacob in this discussion with Nathaniel.

If you remember, in Genesis chapter 28 verse 12, it says, then he dreamed and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth and its top reached to heaven and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Notice Jesus calls himself the son of man. We're going to see that a lot in John. Why is that interesting?

Let me ask you a question. He refers to himself as son of man 84 times in the gospels. Son of God, five. I find this incredibly intriguing.

You know why? Because let's just say, let's say, well, I'll use Billy Graham. Let's say Billy Graham was my father.

I would be very likely to talk like this. I would say, you know, Billy Graham, you know, who's my dad, once told me, you know, father-son talk because he's my dad and I'm his son. He said to me, son, because he's my dad. He said, son, you know, because that's what a father calls a son. He said, son, sit down with me and talk with me since I'm your father. That would irritate you, wouldn't it?

But I would be likely to do that. Do you realize Jesus had the option to identify himself with God stronger than he did? But he chose, he chose to be identified with us and call himself son of man. That's humbling to me. That's very humbling to me. And Jesus is announcing in this verse that heaven's open.

Think about it. Because of Jesus Christ, heaven is no longer barred shut, but the gates are open wide for you to go in. And Jesus also told us in John 14, 6, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.

And maybe you're here this morning and you've never done that. You'd been told to being a Christian was just doing the best that you could. That's not the good news. That's not the gospel. The gospel is Jesus Christ died for you, for your sins so that you can be forgiven. He invites you to come and see this morning. Jesus said, follow me. He didn't say do this, that, and the other.

He said, follow me. That's real simple. But you know what the reality is? There will be some people in here in this room this morning who have sat and listened to this message and they will decide not to follow Jesus.

I don't understand it. You see it in the New Testament. Jesus is the truth, but some won't receive the truth. Jesus is the way, but some won't follow him.

Well, he is the light of the world and he won't be put out. And that's what he's saying to each and every person in here this morning, follow me. What's holding you back? What's in the way? I'm afraid I might mess up. You will mess up. As a matter of fact, Jesus has made provisions for your mess ups. Don't let that hold you back. Jesus said, follow me.

That's real simple, guys. And he'll deal with the mess ups, and he'll deal with the tragedies, and he'll deal with the pain, and he'll deal with the hurt, and he'll deal with the failures, and he'll deal with the disappointments. But don't you dare let those things keep you from following Jesus.

Because, guys, that's something that we all deal with. What if I said, well, whenever I get this Christianity thing perfect, I'll begin teaching again? This pulpit would be empty. Who do you say he is? If he is Jesus, then follow him and quit following other stuff. Quit following yourself.

Quit following the latest trend, this book or that book. You know, Jesus proclaims simple truth, doesn't he? I mean, follow me is not something we can get confused over. Follow him. He doesn't say follow him if you got it all figured out. Follow him as long as we're not gonna make another mistake. Let me ask you a question. Did Peter make more mistakes?

Oh, you betcha. But he followed Jesus. I invite you to have that kind of honesty and that kind of boldness this morning and say, you know what, I will follow him, and I'll run to the cross when I mess up and when I need forgiveness. Let's pray. Lord, if there's those in here this morning who don't know you as Savior, I ask, Lord, that you would begin to stir their hearts, even as you have been, to accept you as their Savior, to ask you for the forgiveness of their sins, knowing that time after time after person after person has approached you. You've done exactly what you said you would do, and you forgave them, and you set them free. But, Lord, there's also people who have said that prayer, who have asked for forgiveness in here this morning who are not following you. And, Lord, I ask that you would stir their hearts as well, that their shortcomings, their mistakes would no longer hold them back.

Lord, thank you that Peter didn't hold back, even though he made mistakes. Lord, you saw the end result of a man of God who would stand in power and in anointing. And, Lord, that's what you see when you look at our lives.

Lord, you want us to do with what we have. Lord, some of us come to you this morning with shattered lives, broken homes, broken marriages. But, Lord, we still want to come to you. We want to come to you because you can fix us. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned, and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27117 and share how God is working in your life. Well, D.A., before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee.

That sounds good, Pastor D.A., and again, it's been great to have you with us on the program today. But tell us, what else can our listeners find on crossthebridge.com? If you're not able to make it to your home church this Sunday, why not join us for our livestream at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, or on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. Eastern Time? Just visit crossthebridge.com and click on our livestream link. There, you'll experience a live service from David's home church, The Bridge in North Carolina. Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.