I.
INTRODUCTION
1. One of the
Problem in Christianity – WITNESSING
·
Possible
Cause
o They
do not know Christ very well
o They
thought, it is the responsibility of the pastors and leaders of the church
only.
2 . Laying the
Foundation in Understanding the Gospel of John
·
Frequent
Words
o Believe
– 71 times mentioned in the Gospel of John
o Life
– more than 40 times mentioned in the
Gospel of John
·
Jesus
Presenting Himself in Words – I AM’s (I AM WHO I AM)
o Bread
of Life
o Resurrection
and Life
·
Jesus
Presenting Himself in Works – Signs and Wonders
o Water
turn to Wine – Giving New Life
o Raising
Lazarus – Resurrection
o To
BELIEVE and have LIFE through HIS CLAIMS and SIGNS
·
This is
the Gospel of Witnessing
o Jesus
witnessing about Himself
o Those
whom Jesus met were witnessing about Jesus
§ The
Samaritan woman witnessed about Jesus after
§ Even
the Roman soldier who pierced believed and testified about Christ (v.19:35)
II. BODY
Scene 1 – The
Proclamation of Word
John
the Baptist was preaching. This is the 3rd day of his preaching
(29,35). The two disciples were there and they are Andrew (v.40)and John the
Beloved-the author of the Gospel of John (most probably John,
though the author is not mentioning about himself but most of the time there is
an emphasis : John 19:26, John 21:20, John 13:23).
1. The Witness
Believes in Jesus Christ - How Can I
Believe?
·
There must be witnessing (v.35-36)
o John
the Baptist was witnessing because he was a witness (John 1:6-9)
o John
was preaching, evangelizing, and teaching and all these are witnessing.
·
Witnessing must be done over and over again
o John
the Baptist was keep on witnessing over and over again
§ The
phrase “THE NEXT DAY”
o Maybe
the two disciples were not present in verse 19 or in verse 21
o Maybe
they were there with John the Baptist but did not see the glory of Jesus
Illustration:
Ø Paul
kept on preaching. He went back to the churches where he preached before
Ø Moses
and the Prophets kept on preaching over and over again in the Old Testament
Challenge: Are you
tired of witnessing over and over again to your unwilling family members, and
friends
·
Witnessing focused on Jesus Christ
o Behold,
the LAMB of GOD – the object of witnessing is Christ (v.29,36 – v.7-8)
o Most
of us who are witnessing focus on ourselves and that’s not witnessing
o Verse
7 and 8 of chapter 1 of John is witnessing about the light and it is obviously
seen in v.29,35
THE ONLY WAY TO BELIEVE IS THERE
MUST BE A WITNESSING ABOUT THE LIGHT (Romans 10:13-17)
Transition: After
they heard what John the Baptist was telling about Jesus ..their believing was
seen.
Scene 2 – The
Preparation
The
two disciples respond to the Gospel call. They were convicted to follow Christ.
The Lord asked them what is their intention of following Him and they answered.
The Lord invited to stay where He was staying until 4:00pm.
2. The Witness of
God Hungers to Know Jesus Christ – How Can I Know I Believe?
·
There must be willingness to know Christ (37-39)
·
“WHAT DO YOU SEEK?” – What do you seek in
believing in Christ Jesus?
o Are
you hunger for Christ?
o Are
you willing to know Christ whom you believe?
Illustration :
Judas Iscariot though he was one of the disciples and witnesses many things
about Jesus Christ yet his
intention was not the
will of God
Simon the Sorcerer
though he was baptized and followed Philip in preaching throughout Samaria still
his
intention was against
God’s will
They acted against God
because they really did not know about God.
·
The problem in most who consider themselves
Christians is lack of knowledge of Christ
o Here
are some proofs of Lack of Knowledge about Christ
§ Many
Christians will choose whether they will worship God on Sunday or not
§ Many
Christians are late on the appointed time by which the whole assembly will
worship
§ Many
Sunday School teachers tell the stories in the Bible but they neglect to emphasize
Christ
§ Many
Christians are afraid to bear witness about Jesus
·
The two disciples’ intention was to know who is
this man whom John the Baptist (whom they followed) was talking about so they
stayed with Jesus.
Insight: The
book of John have a lots of encounters or meeting Jesus. For example the
meeting with Nicodemus, Samaritan Woman, Blind man, and royal official and they
knew Christ after the encounter.
THROUGH YOUR INTENTION AND YOUR
ACTION YOU WILL KNOW THAT YOU BELIEVE JESUS CHRIST
Transition: After
knowing Jesus,....One of the disciple is ready to witness about the Lord Jesus
Christ
Scene 3
– The Passion
Andrew
one of the disciple who heard and stayed with Lord Jesus Christ has a passion
to witness about the Lord to his brother Simon Peter. This is the beginning of
his witnessing.
3. The Witness of
God Bears Witness of Jesus Christ – How Can Make Them Believe?
·
There must be a passion to witness about Christ
(v.40-42a)
o Andrew’s
faith in Christ was manifested when he led a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish to
Jesus (John 6:14)
o He
led people from Bethsaida to Jesus (John 12:22)
·
We must remember that before we do witnessing to
others we must test ourselves if:
o We
truly believe Christ
o We
truly know Him
o We
cannot witness if we don’t believe in Him and we do not know Him.
·
These are the 3 Basic Steps in Witnessing:
1)
Finding
·
Andrew was looking for his brother Peter to
witness about the Lord
2)
Telling
·
Andrew told his brother that he found the
Messiah
3)
Bringing
·
Andrew
brought Peter to Jesus
YOU CANNOT PERSUADE THEM TO BELIEVE. IT IS THE HOLY SPIRT WHO WILL BUT
GOD WILL USE YOU FOR THEM TO BELIEVE BY BEING A WITNESS OF JESUS CHRIST
Challenge: As a
witness of Christ we must do these simple steps like what Andrew did to his
brother.
III. CONCLUSION
INSIGHT:
·
Andrew believed Jesus Christ and his passion is
to bear witness about the Lord Jesus
·
There is no record in the bible about his
witnessing
o But
he did the witnessing in northern part (Europe and Russia – He became patron
saint)
·
In Achaia, He witnessed to a wife of a
provincial governor.
o The
wife believed Jesus Christ
o The
husband told to renounce her faith but she did not
o Because
of this, the husband got mad with Andrew because of witnessing
o Andrew
was tied in an X-shaped while being whipped
o They
did not crucified him to prolong his suffering
o But
even during in his execution he kept on witnessing to the passersby
·
He knows the great value of witnessing
Challenge: You are a Christian and a Christian
is a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Are you a witness?
Join
us in witnessing because this is our life
GRACE AND PEACE
TO YOU FROM THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
FIRST MOUNT ZION
PALIPARAN 3/22/12
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