John 1:19-51
September Memory Verse: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3 (ESV)
Read: John 1:19-51
Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect? I am sure that many of you have, but if you haven’t, here is what it says. A butterfly flaps its wings and on the other side of the world a typhoon is caused by the butterfly. The concept behind it is that small things can have major impacts.
This is exactly what we see in our passage today. John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus (v. 19-28). John was not focused on gaining popularity or the success of his ministry, his focus was on pointing people to Jesus (and he did just that).
As Jesus walks by, John calls out, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (v. 36), and two disciples of John leave him to go follow Jesus. One of them being Andrew (v. 40), who then goes and tells his brother Peter (v. 41-42), who then becomes a disciple of Jesus. And this doesn’t happen in our story, but Peter goes on to be one of the main leaders in the early church. Peter preaches a sermon so powerful that 3,000 people got saved in one day (Acts 2:41).
And how did this all start? Because one man, John the Baptist, was focused on pointing people to Jesus. The butterfly effect.
A professor of mine told a story in class one day. While he was in college, he made it his goal to have a conversation with every classmate about Jesus. But there was one guy in his class who he decided not to have a conversation with because the guy talked hatefully toward Christianity. Well one day, my professor and the classmate were sitting together, and the classmate asked my professor, “How come you never talk to me about Jesus? Am I not good enough to be saved?” And my professor was shocked, because the guy had talked so badly about Christianity. So my professor explained the Gospel to his classmate, and that guy prayed to receive Jesus that day.
God can do the same thing with you. He can take your small investment and use it to do mighty things for His kingdom. Don’t miss an opportunity to act like Christ. Don’t miss an opportunity to share about Jesus. You never know what God may be doing in someone’s life.
By: Brice Stockton
Read: John 1:19-51
Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect? I am sure that many of you have, but if you haven’t, here is what it says. A butterfly flaps its wings and on the other side of the world a typhoon is caused by the butterfly. The concept behind it is that small things can have major impacts.
This is exactly what we see in our passage today. John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus (v. 19-28). John was not focused on gaining popularity or the success of his ministry, his focus was on pointing people to Jesus (and he did just that).
As Jesus walks by, John calls out, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (v. 36), and two disciples of John leave him to go follow Jesus. One of them being Andrew (v. 40), who then goes and tells his brother Peter (v. 41-42), who then becomes a disciple of Jesus. And this doesn’t happen in our story, but Peter goes on to be one of the main leaders in the early church. Peter preaches a sermon so powerful that 3,000 people got saved in one day (Acts 2:41).
And how did this all start? Because one man, John the Baptist, was focused on pointing people to Jesus. The butterfly effect.
A professor of mine told a story in class one day. While he was in college, he made it his goal to have a conversation with every classmate about Jesus. But there was one guy in his class who he decided not to have a conversation with because the guy talked hatefully toward Christianity. Well one day, my professor and the classmate were sitting together, and the classmate asked my professor, “How come you never talk to me about Jesus? Am I not good enough to be saved?” And my professor was shocked, because the guy had talked so badly about Christianity. So my professor explained the Gospel to his classmate, and that guy prayed to receive Jesus that day.
God can do the same thing with you. He can take your small investment and use it to do mighty things for His kingdom. Don’t miss an opportunity to act like Christ. Don’t miss an opportunity to share about Jesus. You never know what God may be doing in someone’s life.
By: Brice Stockton
4 Comments
In my early years of my ministry in Hazlehurst, Georgia, my wife Pat ask me to visit and elderly man who was in our local hospital. This man was very bitter and not nice, to say the least, to the nursing staff who attended to him. I kept visiting him and we began talking one day and we became friends. It is at this time I began to share the gospel with him, so I ask him if he had ever ask Jesus into this heart to save him? His answer was this; "No one has ever ask me about me about accepting Jesus before"! I was stunned! Luke McCrory was his name and he was almost 80 years old. Almost 80 and never witnessed to. After a short time of sharing Jesus' offer of salvation he ask Jesus into this heart and an eternal friendship began. Not only was heart and eternal destiny changed but Jesus changed his attitude to others. He truly became a changed man inside and out. There are many people out there waiting to listen; we just need to share the blessing of what we received through the witness of another.
"He can take your small investment and use it to do mighty things for His kingdom."
Sometimes we resist doing anything because we assume God will ask us to do big things when all He wants us to do is one small thing at a time. He is the one who does great things through our small acts of faithfulness.
Thanks Brice! I love seeing the excitement here! Newly exposed to Jesus, Andrew is excited and immediately goes to share with Peter. Then the next day, Philip met Jesus and couldn’t contain his excitement, so he went to share with Nathaniel.
The passion and excitement of new believers continues today. Even if you don’t have all of the answers about Christianity, all you need to share is your excitement and the Gospel. I pray that CPC would develop this passion to see people in their sphere of influence to come to know Jesus too.
So encouraging, Brice! Thank you! I once heard a speaker who was an atheist say, “If you are a Christian and really believe people will go to hell without knowing Jesus, you must really hate someone not to tell them about Jesus”.