Come To Jesus

if you want to know Jesus come and see don't don't don't take my word for it come and see I need two or three more witnesses here who came and saw and my shout my testimony it's not based on what somebody told me I came and I saw [Applause] [Music] come to Jesus that's what I want to preach about this morning coming to to Jesus most of chapter one of the gospel record of John John the Beloved Disciple has been about John the Baptizer John the Baptist who is the forerunner the announcer the Herald of Jesus Christ John was born as a matter of fact to announce the coming of Messiah he says there is one coming after me whose shoes I'm not even worthy to unloose i baptize you with water but there is one coming after me who will baptize you with the fire and the Holy Ghost and John preached a message of repentance the kingdom is at hand the Messiah is coming he announces he trumpets he heralds the news that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and he's on his way and when Jesus appears John who is an itinerant preacher wearing camel's hair an 11 girdle has been for some time announcing his arrival and when Jesus comes on the scene John retina shouts behold the lamb of God and the disciples who have been listening to John preached the disciples who had joined John's Church the disciples who had been mentored by John following John attached to John apprentices of John when Jesus shows up they leave John and follow Jesus without John being offended because John did not come to announce John I wish I had a witness John came to announce Jesus John did not come to make disciples for himself but to announce the coming of Messiah and my preaching and your teaching or not be about amassing a crowd to come to you but to point people to Jesus preaching is not about your opinion it's about Jesus talk to me if you can leadership in the church is not about getting your crowd is about pointing people to Jesus the sinner of attraction in every worship is Jesus he's the sinner and the circumference he's the root from which all else grows he's the fountain from which all else flows everything ought to be pointed towards Jesus every song we sing every prayer we play every sermon we preach or to have eyes pointed toward Jesus you may have noticed that I get kind of annoyed in the worship and the brothers did that last weekend that's what they do read brother Matthias place where he is and I think I'm nothing against that that's what they do over there but we don't read over here when somebody gets ready to sing they start to clap for them applaud for them like we are at some show it's not about you it's about Jesus talk back to me if you can worship is not crowd-pleasing it's about honoring God and whenever we become the sitter of the worship and Jesus becomes displaced because of our egocentricity it's not worship it's a crowd devil his word says where two or three are gathered in my name I wish I had a witness here it's not about you you are not the center of that classroom on Sunday morning you are not the center of the pulpit on Sunday morning Christ is the center talk back to me if you can [Applause] but when life becomes all about you and you become so self-centered and self-absorbed God will demonstrate that what you think is a strength is really a weakness because he will step out of your situation and so you can handle it by yourself go right ahead somebody here to help me testify without God I can do yes John John pointed to Jesus and when Jesus shows up believe John without John being offended John says behold the lamb of God and then Simon and Andrew but Andrew comes first and meets Jesus and then he goes and finds his brother Simon and brings him to Jesus Simon Peter meets Jesus and gets his name change names bring up character names bring up background but to be real name means that the one who has just renamed you has authority over your life he said before you got to me you were Peter but after you leave me you got a new name Cephas when you came you want a pebble but when you leave you'll be a rock now Peter wasn't a rock when he came Jesus just saw a rock like qualities in him and folk may not look like much when they first come but after you spend some time with Jesus he doesn't see you for what you are he sees you for what you can become I wish I had somebody here who can remember what you were before Jesus got his hands on I wish I had a witness it now something you're too proud to remember that some of y'all too arrogant to remember that but I remember when I didn't have a dime and the March stepped in right on time and God's been good to me God has been good to me God has been good to me and I want to tell somebody I wasn't much when I came but look well the Lord has brought me when he came he was Peter but before he left he was Cephas because Jesus saw rock-like qualities in him God sees in us what others can see I wish I had one or two more believe God sees in that drug addict or preacher God sees in that divorced woman a missionary God sees and that woman who's never bought a child somebody's mother because you don't have to have children to mother somebody God sees in that man who's down on his luck somebody who will get up and then pull some other people up because he remembers that he used to be down your name is Peter but from now on you will be called Cephas and they said to him Lord where you live where you're from in other words what are you up to and Jesus said come see intellectual knowledge is not enough to see because there are a lot of people who've heard about Jesus but they don't know him and the only way to get to know him you got to come and see I'm gonna come back to that in a minute and then he went along in the Galilee and met silly and then Philip went and got his brother Nathanael the Philip says we have found the one that laws is preached about who's mentioned in the law and prophesy he is Jesus of Nazareth and the Fanueil who knows that Nazareth is a new nowhere place one stop sign no grocery store no Alma can't even mail a letter in NASA no post-office no no CVS no Galleria yeah no Williams Tower no no Four Seasons no Hyatt Regency no Hilton of America's Nazareth is on the way no way and the Fanueil says Nazareth can there any good thing come out of Natalee we suggest to me brothers and sisters it's not where you're from because a whole lot of us are from no way I wish I had somebody to help me I'm fitting the shout right now when y'all got it ready to call a preacher here Lily Grove you could have gone to Chicago New York but when you wanted some real preaching you went to a little town with five stoplights we just got a Walmart five years ago it's not where you're from I wish I had some help here Jesus does not look at where you come from because many of us come from situations that dictate that we ought not be where we are I wish I had my 7:30 cry because there was some folks who had a better chance than us who didn't make it and here we are starting behind but God brought us because it's not where you're from is where you're headed can there anything good come out of Nazareth Philip says come and see my brothers and sisters you hear me these disciples in the text represent for me for us the various kinds of personalities that come to church that God uses no matter what your personality type no matter what your town of origin no matter what your sinful background if you just decide to come and see God will do something with your life and rude whenever you meet Andrew when you meet him in Chapter 12 of John's Gospel Andrew is always going to get somebody to bring them to Jesus in Chapter 12 a little boy had his lunch and the crowd was hungry and they needed to feed the multitude it was Andrew who went found that little boy with his lunch and brought him to Jesus Andrew is always bringing somebody to Jesus that's his personality he's a he's an evangelist he's always out seeking somebody to bring the Jesus and then we have Peter who is a type-a personality he's bossing he's impetuous he speaks before he thinks he has foot-in-mouth disease his mouth is always getting in gear before his brain gets in motion but God can even use somebody like that and then that's Philip who is gentle in nature Philip is kind-hearted because you remember it was Philip who when those Greek speaking Jews wanted to see the Messiah it was Philip who brought them because they said to him Sarah we would see Jesus and then as Nathanael who is a skeptic Nathanael who is not quick to believe that something good can come out of Nazareth just like these disciples in the text represent different personality types following Jesus there are different personalities in this church this morning no two of us in here today are the same in personality but all of us have one thing in common we are sinners in need of salvation never got a witness here so that makes no one of us better than any of the rest of us because all of us were on our way to hell these show us this morning that times their oath I'm sure but I can think of three ways that people come to Jesus they come first of all by pulpit Proclamation John is at the Jordan preaching he's not he's not tuning it up he's not trying to dump the house he's not trying to mop the floor with him he's not trying to shout them he's not trying to get an offering from him he's at the Jordan flat foot preaching and people are getting offended because preaching when it is real or Finn don't get quiet on me now be careful of a service you leave feeling good that has not challenged you about your sin problem I wish I had a witness here now preaching tears up some stuff preaching gets under your skin have a got a witness preaching points out some things that you ought to be doing that you're not doing talk back to me if you can preaching ransacks your secure lifestyle to make you recognize that the Holy Ghost comes not only to comfort the afflicted but to afflict the comfortable listen young preached and he called Herod a fox and they came to hear him and he called them a generation of vipers he didn't have a church and when he finally got a trial he told them the truth about their sin and the church and the preacher and Sunday morning is there all in place and time and pressin you come every week to hear him tell you about your sin you don't go to the club to hear about your sins as a matter of fact you go to the club to sing oh I wish I had time to stay right there the church is the only place you show up every week to hear me say the same thing you would well I almost said you wouldn't go to the concert to hear the same thing but you go here to Frankie Beverly and he sings the same song every time so that's not a good illustration let me move on preaching when it is honest and sincere and from God I will talk about that at eleven o'clock it really unearth some things in our life and it is not that the preacher who is preaching is better than the one he's preaching to we just have this treasure in an earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us many of us came to Jesus through pulpit Proclamation we heard the word and our heart in the words of John Wesley our hearts got strangely warm and we came to Jesus and then there those secondly who need private visitation Jesus pulled Peter off on the side to visit with him privately he didn't do this with any of the disciples that he called because he knew Peters personality type and and although membership in the church is one size fits all coming to Jesus is not one size fits all because when you go fishing and I've never been but I'm told by people who have that when you go fishing if you're fishing for trout you use a certain kind of bait if you're fishing for bass you use a certain kind of bait talk back to if you can and when we go fishing from end because Bethsaida where Jesus found these people is the house of fish that's where they fish that's where their livelihood is fishing so Jesus goes there purposely to enlist some fishermen because he wants to make them fish for men and everybody does not bite on the same bait [Applause] if there were more if there were more than one person in your family if you were raised in a large family or when the family are more than than two children or if you were not an only child there were three or four in your family your parents approach was not the same for everybody unless nobody told [Applause] look that that went right over somebody's head lemon they would come in and say who did it and if nobody talked everybody got it [Applause] but when my mama would drive up in the yard I said Gwen did it I never liked kissing the widow I never liked being guilty of somebody else's sin I got enough of stuff of my own I got to pay for let alone me taking on some of your stuff and so my parents dealt with us differently because all of us were of a different personality type my older brothers were hard and rough and when I saw her my parents dealt with them I didn't want none of that you know my sister Gwyn would just she just do stuff she knew she was gonna get a whipping from but she said she ain't gonna kill me I'm gonna get a whipping but she ain't gonna kill me and I'd be crying like a little sister pump for her and I'd be said God mommy gonna kill you he said no she ain't I said what she gonna have kill you and I don't want to be half killed just go all the way and kill me I don't want to suffer just kill me I couldn't take hollering and people beating on me and pushing me and hitting on me but my sister didn't care because that was her personality type and likewise God deals with all of us in different ways because all of us came to Jesus a different way some people that took a long time because you wasn't tired of your sin talk back to me if you can some of us it took something sudden and drastic to happen in our lives and then we just looked at some of us just looked at somebody else's example and said if God can do that for them I want God to do that for me it wasn't hard to bring some of us to Jesus then some of us have to be dragged through a burning house I know it's right but I don't want to do it I know it's godly but I don't want to put my hands on it which leads me to the first thing I want to say some folk come by pulpit Proclamation some come by private visitation and then some come finally by personal confrontation thank you for tuning in to a call to joy it is our prayer that the Word of God has brought joy strength and faith to your life we would love to have you as I guess that little grow of Missionary Baptist Church where we are exalting the Savior equipping the Saints and evangelizing the center for your convenience we have a 7:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. worship service every Sunday morning and 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday nights lily Grove is located at seventy thirty forty Westar Street Houston Texas 77021 or feel free to visit our website at www.teamclarke.org [Music]

Channel: lillygrovembc

Views: 92,624

Rating: 4.7642279 out of 5

Keywords: Reverend, Terry, Anderson, Pastor, Lilly, Grove, Missionary, Baptist, Church, Houston, Texas

Id: QDyZN0i1Rxo

Length: 28min 26sec (1706 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 04 2013