WEBVTT 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:01.919 Wow. 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:06.799 Listen, it is so exciting to see baptisms take place. 00:00:06.959 --> 00:00:10.640 It is, it is, it just blesses my heart so much. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:11.599 My name's Russ. 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:13.599 I'm one of the pastors here at Church at the Grove. 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:19.039 And there's a family that visited with us last week. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:21.519 It was so cool to meet them as they left. 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:24.079 And I never met them before. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:34.399 They came at the invitation of some friends, but they have spent most of their life in the country of Turkey as missionaries. 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:48.719 And so they are at home basically on a furlough to get two of their older children checked into college, and then they'll head back to Turkey with uh younger their younger children. 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:51.439 But here's what they said on the way out. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:59.439 They said, it is so refreshing to see baptisms in church. 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:06.480 And I didn't know how to respond to that. 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:11.920 I was like, we I you know and I found that I I take for granted what God is doing here. 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:13.519 It's so easy. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:23.920 And they said that, hey, when we're when we're in the states, um typically we we end up in churches where there are no baptisms. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:30.079 Many churches where there are no young people, there's no children, and there's no no teenagers. 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:42.640 And and so I I just don't want us to lose sight of the significance of what God is doing in this season in the life of our church. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:56.959 Um, statistically, I mean you could go uh check this out on chat GPT and and you find out that the majority of churches in our country do not baptize one person a year. 00:01:57.280 --> 00:01:58.400 Not one person. 00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:07.760 And so it is so significant to be in a place where we're seeing baptisms take place the way they are, and it is such a blessing. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:37.680 Um, we're in this series called The Empty Chair, and it's really about it's about us looking with intention at the relationships that God brings across our path and investing and inviting people to come to church, but ultimately to bring them to a place where they understand that Jesus died for them and they put their faith in Jesus. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.199 And so many of us, all of us have a story. 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:42.719 We all have a story. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:49.439 And you you've heard my story probably many times, or at least parts of it many times, but but I'm I wasn't a church boy. 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:57.439 I wasn't in a church family that went to church, and I had two older brothers that both came to Christ uh before I did and had tremendous influence. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:16.800 Both of them had influence in my life, and and particularly my my oldest brother, um uh he was he he grew up not going to church and he met this girl, her name was Terry, and she was a Christ follower, and she made it clear if you have any interest in me, then you need to you need to uh talk to two people, God and my father. 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:22.639 And and so that led that led to him putting his faith in Christ. 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:28.960 And my my uh my uh middle brother Eddie that that has been in heaven since 1992. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:43.039 Um Eddie uh ended up in a whole different set of circumstances, uh ended up in being invited to play in a band that was in a church, a local church, uh, that was led by a guy named Ed Roland, who ended up founding a band called Collective Soul. 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:48.879 And through that relationship, Eddie came to faith in Christ, and both of them influenced me toward Christ. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:04:07.520 But then after, later on down the road, my brother left, my oldest brother left the business world, went into ministry, and in 1991, he invited me to join him at a camp called Impact Camp, where they ministered to middle school and high school students. 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:17.120 And I walked onto that campus, and the very first worship gathering on that campus, which was on the weekend, before all the kids got there, was just all the adult leaders. 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:24.079 There was a girl standing up on the stage singing, and she was good looking, and she sounded really good. 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:26.319 And I and I said, I want to meet her. 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:27.439 And I did meet her. 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:38.399 I ended up marrying her, and and and God used, listen, God used just a simple invitation for me to just go volunteer at a youth camp to change my life. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:50.240 It's at that camp that I met my wife, it's at that camp that God began to work in me a call to leave the business world myself and to go into ministry full time. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:05:00.639 And then I became a youth pastor in 1995, and and and and I could I could I could talk about all the chain reactions, but I'll just mention one. 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:03.920 There's a young man that was that started coming to youth group. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:06.800 He was a basketball player at North Hall High School. 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:08.560 Uh his name is Walt Avra. 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:16.000 And Walt had been in a church, but he was in a church that was not preaching the gospel of Jesus. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:17.600 I don't know what they were doing. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:24.639 I don't know if the pastor would get up and just maybe recite a poem or or tell a good story or warm and fuzzy kind of thing. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:39.120 I don't know what it was, but he they he was in a church, had been in church most of his life, and never heard the gospel, came to the youth group there at the church that I was part of in North Hall County, and he gave his heart to Jesus. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:42.959 And I I could I don't want to tell you every story. 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:45.040 He ended up going to college at Stanford University. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:52.560 Then he went to what's called the Bethlehem Institute in in Minneapolis, Minnesota, founded by Pastor John Piper. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:06:06.000 And then he met a girl while he was there, and and they both gave their, they both received this call and they were obedient to it to become missionaries. 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:12.399 And I remember the day they packed up all their stuff and they got on a plane and they went to Pakistan. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:18.240 And their heart was to reach Muslims. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:34.079 And I could keep going on down the road to tell you about all of these chains that line up that brought about the possibility that I would move to Walton County. 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:49.680 Had no idea really for sure about where I was going to plant a church, but it ended up being right here in the metropolis of Walnut Grove. 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:56.720 And I could go on there. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:00.240 Listen, we all have stories, and all our stories have chain events. 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:10.560 Somebody, somebody reached out, somebody had a conversation, somebody talked to you, somebody planted a seed, somebody watered it, a preacher gave a sermon. 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:13.040 Whatever, you all have stories. 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:19.040 Some of you, hopefully, if you don't have one of those stories, you'll have one that begins today. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:25.199 And so this morning we're coming to the end of the series called the empty chair. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:29.920 We've basically said, hey, there's three knots. 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:32.480 There's three knots that we want you to be aware of. 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:35.600 N-O-T, not K-N-O-T, N-O-T. 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:37.519 Three knots that we want you to be aware of. 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:46.879 And we connected these knots to characters in the story of the Bible where Jesus interacts with each one of these people. 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:48.480 And the knots are this. 00:07:48.560 --> 00:08:02.480 The first knot was when you hear, when you hear someone is not in church, it ought to trigger an automatic response that, hey, I need to be willing to reach out and ask that person to come to church with me. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:03.839 And who did we look at? 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:05.839 We looked at Zacchaeus. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:07.759 Zacchaeus was not in church. 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:10.160 Zacchaeus was a tax collector. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:11.920 He was a chief tax collector. 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:19.600 And because of his role in partnering, he was Jewish, but he partnered with the Roman Empire to oppress his people. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.000 He wasn't allowed to go to worship. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:23.279 He wasn't allowed in the temple. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:24.879 He wasn't allowed in the synagogue. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:33.440 It was so far from him, his mind, to think about going and being part of a worship community because he had sold his soul to the Roman Empire. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:40.720 But he heard about this Jesus that taught differently, with a different authority, that healed people, that was casting out demons. 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:44.879 And we know the story, Zacchaeus was a wee little man. 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:48.240 He climbed a tree so he could see Jesus. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:54.000 And so Jesus says, I'm going to your house, Zacchaeus, we're going to have a meal at your house. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:09:00.480 And it began this chain reaction where Zacchaeus filled the empty chair. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:04.000 And then the second knot is this. 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:09.440 The first one is when you hear someone say, I'm not in church, that ought to cue you to invite. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:11.600 Invest and invite, invest and invite. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:21.279 And then there's the second knot that says that when you hear somebody say, It's not going well. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:24.240 It's not going well. 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:26.240 It ought to cue you. 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:29.440 Maybe somebody is dealing with a diagnosis. 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:38.399 They're dealing with a death in the family, or there's financial issues, or there's marriage issues, or whatever it is, it's not going well. 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:45.200 And so the second chair that we talked about that was filled, it was filled by a man who was paralyzed. 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:50.879 We don't even know his name, but he was paralyzed and he could not get to Jesus. 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:57.919 And the house where Jesus was teaching there in Capernaum was so full, nobody could get close to him. 00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:03.679 So he had four friends, four people, four people that cared enough about him. 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:06.960 That would get him to Jesus. 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:10.559 And when he gets to Jesus, Jesus doesn't heal him. 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:12.399 He says, your sins are forgiven. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:13.840 And here would be the tragedy. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:22.159 If Jesus had healed his legs and then just sent him on his way, he would have had the strength to walk, but he would have walked straight into hell. 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:27.679 And so before Jesus tells him to pick up his mat, he says, your sins are forgiven. 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:31.919 And so when somebody in your life says, hey, it's not going well. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:39.440 Somebody at the office, somebody at class, somebody that you do life with or that you work with, they say it's not going well. 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:41.840 That's the cue for you to speak up. 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:44.000 You don't have to be a theologian. 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:50.080 You simply just have to have a story, like these testimonies that we heard this morning. 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:56.080 And then there's the third knot that says it says we're we're not prepared for something. 00:10:56.240 --> 00:10:58.399 We're not prepared for something. 00:10:58.960 --> 00:10:59.919 We're not prepared. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:01.440 Something that's new in our life. 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:04.399 Maybe it's a transfer at work. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:06.480 And we really weren't prepared for that. 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:09.679 Or maybe it's losing a job and we weren't prepared for that. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:12.960 Maybe it's um it's uh it's a blessing. 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:16.799 It's something new that's a blessing, but you realize, man, I'm not prepared for that. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:26.480 I mean, like, and I've been joking about Jonah and Reese, they've got a brand new little baby rocket, man, and he is he is so precious and so beautiful, and and and Jonah's always prepared. 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:36.720 So I know this doesn't apply to him, but for a lot of you that have a baby, you you you take that baby home and you realize, woohoo, whoa, ho, I wasn't prepared for this. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:43.360 And when you hear, I'm not, I we just, we weren't prepared. 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:46.799 It ought to be a cue, it ought to be a reminder. 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:55.360 Hey, this is somebody that I need to invest in and invite in and see, hopefully see the Lord work in their life. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:58.960 And the person that filled that chair last week was Nicodemus. 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:05.600 Nicodemus was uh at the top of the hierarchy of Jewish leadership. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:12.799 He knew everything from the Old Testament, the law and the and the writings and the prophets. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:28.639 He knew it all, but but he heard about this Jesus and he wanted to hear more, and so he goes in the middle of the night to begin to ask Jesus, what's different about you? 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:46.879 And and listen, Nicodemus would have been the one person who would have been prepared for eternal life because he had given his life to ministry, to the God, to the truth of the Torah and the writings and the prophets. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:51.279 He was an expert in the law, he had all the head knowledge. 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:57.039 I love part of the testimony we heard, head knowledge, but not heart change and transformation. 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:07.200 And so Nicodemus, Jesus tells Nicodemus, You listen, you've got all this knowledge, but you must be born again. 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:11.919 And Nicodemus, I promise you, was not prepared like he thought he was. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:19.120 And then he hears the truth and he sits down and he listens and he feels that empty chair. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:22.240 Now there's a fourth chair up here. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:24.159 Who's that chair for? 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:31.039 That chair is not for, it's not for Nicodemus, it's not for Zacchaeus, it's not for the man who was paralyzed. 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:38.639 It wasn't, it's not for somebody that comes from 2,000 years ago in the stories that we read out of scripture. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:40.480 You know what who this chair is for? 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:48.720 It's for the one person in your life that comes to mind right now when you think about somebody that needs Jesus. 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:50.799 That's who this chair is for. 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:51.840 Who's your one? 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:52.799 Who's your one? 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:56.559 I mean, don't even get overwhelmed with, well, like everybody. 00:13:56.799 --> 00:14:01.679 I mean, you think about everybody you go to school with, or everybody you work with, or everybody in your neighborhood. 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:03.279 I mean, there's a lot of people. 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:06.639 I love Friday night football. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:22.000 I went to a football game Friday night, and I just, I mean, I saw so many, many people that I know, but I looked out across the crowd and I'm just like overwhelmed by how many people I don't know that live in my community. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:28.960 And I guarantee you, 80 to 85% of those people are not in church today. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:36.799 And so God's here, here, here, here, listen, here's what we want you to see throughout this series. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:50.559 There's people all around us that are far from God, and we need to be proactive in investing and inviting people ultimately to lead them to understand the good news and to put their faith to repent and believe, like Jesus said. 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:53.919 And this morning, that fourth year is what I want to focus on. 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:56.799 And so I want you to imagine who is it? 00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:57.600 Who's your one? 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:09.600 Write it down, write it in the margin of your Bibles, write it down on your prayer list, write it in your in something that you take notes on and you put that name somewhere and you pray over that name. 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:12.720 And here, here's the big idea. 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:14.080 Here's the truth. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:17.200 Majority of us in this room have put our faith in Christ. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:23.759 We were lost one time at one time, but now we are found. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:28.559 We're in the kingdom of darkness at one time, but now we're in the kingdom of light. 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:30.000 And here, here's the truth. 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:37.279 Here's one of the, actually, it's one of our our it's one of the values that we have for our church, and it's this that found people. 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:40.799 Say it with me, find people. 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:43.120 Found people, find people. 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:43.840 Let's say it together. 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:44.879 One, two, three. 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:46.000 Found people. 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:48.960 Found people, find people. 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:51.200 Found people, find people. 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:52.480 That's the truth. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:16:00.480 And that's that's my my prayer is that God would would would would show us, remind us of somebody, and help us to understand. 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:05.519 We're gonna be in John chapter one here, we're we're um, and that's easy to find. 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:10.080 John chapter one, it's the fourth book in the New Testament, uh, the fourth gospel. 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:15.279 And and and and Jesus has really not made his appearance yet. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:17.600 And the Gospel of John records it. 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:26.240 It starts with a character by the name of John, but it but it but it's not the same John that that wrote uh the book of John. 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:27.279 It was a different John. 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:30.159 He went by the name John the Baptist. 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:43.200 He's not in the temple, he's not in a building, he's not in a synagogue, he is way out in the wilderness by the Jordan River, and he is preaching the good news about what is to come. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:44.240 One will come. 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:49.840 And the crowds part, and here comes the Messiah, Jesus. 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:55.840 And John the Baptist sees him and he says, Look, look, behold, behold. 00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:57.759 Which means, look. 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:03.759 The Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world. 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:12.319 And so Jesus comes and and and they have this little conversation, and and and John says, Jesus should baptize him. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:19.200 Jesus says, No, uh, to fulfill uh the prophecies, to fulfill uh what is written, you baptize me. 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:31.759 And so Jesus comes out uh of that of the water and and the Holy Spirit descends on him in the form of a dove and and and there's another, there's a beginning, a new chain that's in, that's set in place. 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:37.759 And so John 1 is where is where we see uh the beginning of the story. 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:41.200 People begun begin to follow Jesus. 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:44.240 Look at verse 35 in John chapter 1. 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:48.319 It says that the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:50.160 So the ministry has already begun. 00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:57.599 Jesus is beginning to preach, beginning to teach, and they they they know who he is, and and he's standing with two of his disciples. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:17:59.519 He's already called them to follow him. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:05.759 It says in verse 36, when he's when he saw Jesus passing by, he said, Look, the Lamb of God. 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:09.359 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:16.000 When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, What are you looking for? 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:24.079 I think there's a lot of people looking for something in life. 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:28.799 Everybody's looking for something. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:32.640 And they may not know exactly what it is, but you know what it is? 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:35.119 They're looking for a sense of peace. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:38.880 Hope, purpose, significance. 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:41.039 What is this life about? 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:42.960 This is a messed up world that we're in. 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:45.039 There's a chaos and there's confusion. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:50.000 In the middle of the chaos and the confusion, there's this voice that comes. 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:54.640 The voice that comes through the power of the Holy Spirit that whispers, Jesus. 00:18:55.599 --> 00:18:56.480 Jesus. 00:18:58.240 --> 00:18:59.200 So what are you looking for? 00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:02.319 And they said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:06.079 And then Jesus says this come and you'll see. 00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:07.440 Come and you see. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:10.240 Some translation just says, Come and see, come and see. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:15.920 So they went and they saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, and it was about four in the afternoon. 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:17.759 And here we here we see names. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:23.680 Verse 40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him. 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:25.200 We're gonna see a chain here. 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:32.799 We're gonna talk about this chain reaction and how one relationship influences another and another and another. 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:35.920 And it continues down through history. 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:46.400 And it says in verse 41, it says he first found his own brother Simon and told him, We have found the Messiah, which is translated the Christ. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:49.200 And he brought Simon to Jesus. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:50.000 Do you see it? 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:51.279 That was his one. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:52.960 That was his one. 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:57.200 That was the one who could fill the empty chair. 00:19:57.440 --> 00:19:58.400 That was the one. 00:19:58.480 --> 00:19:59.920 That was the person closest to him. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:01.599 And he brought Simon to Jesus. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:11.599 When Jesus saw him, he said, You are Simon, son of John, you will be called Cephas, which is translated as Peter. 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:20.000 I believe he's the one. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:22.079 He's the one that has been prophesied about. 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:24.480 He recognized that Jesus is the Messiah. 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:28.720 Andrew, being one of the first people to see Jesus as the promised Messiah. 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:31.440 But what's the first thing that Andrew does? 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:35.839 He goes and finds his brother Simon, whose name Peter. 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:40.480 You see this multiplying impact of the gospel message. 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:53.599 One person tells another person who tells another person or two, and then they continue on, and all of a sudden, you begin to see this community grows. 00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:55.680 And so here's the question. 00:20:56.559 --> 00:21:05.599 I wrote down in my notes, what if Andrew had just decided to keep Jesus to himself? 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:12.480 Now I know I know that God is sovereign. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:30.720 But just imagine with me for a second how if Peter had not been reached, if Peter had not been invited, if Peter had not been been been asked to come and become a part, we miss out on what? 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:33.279 Just so many significant aspects. 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:36.240 Peter was one of the pillars of the early church. 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:47.119 On the day of Pentecost, um, the Holy Spirit comes, and Peter is the one that stands up and gives the sermon, the first sermon preached as the church is born. 00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:50.559 3,000 people are saved in a single day. 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:59.759 Peter is willing to stand up against religious leaders like the Sanhedrin, the same people that had condemned Jesus, and he boldly says, We are unable to stop speaking. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.359 Speaking about what we have seen and what we have heard. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:21.759 Peter is the one that God sends to the Roman soldier named Cornelius that initiates the good news and the gospel being taken to people that are outside of the Jewish faith, which are known as in that time would have, they would have been called the Gentiles. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:28.559 And so through Peter's account is where we get the gospel of Mark. 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:35.759 And I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that without the life of Peter, we may not be sitting here today. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:38.720 I mean, listen, I know that God is sovereign. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:44.480 God can, if somebody, if Peter hadn't responded, God is going to see his purpose fulfilled. 00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:52.799 But just imagine for a second how different it would have been if Andrew had not invited his brother. 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:55.599 We know we don't really know a lot about Andrew. 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:00.400 The only one he only shows up a few times in the gospels. 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:03.920 But every time we see Andrew, he's bringing somebody else to Jesus. 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:05.119 He's not famous. 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:07.119 We don't know if he ever wrote anything. 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:11.599 We don't know if he ever published or spoke or preached. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:23.119 But God used him in a dramatic way to reach one person that has influenced the last 2,000 years? 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:29.920 Peter now certainly has a place in heaven. 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:34.079 Listen, let me give you an example of this chain reaction. 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:38.720 In 1934, a 24-year-old farmer named Albert McMahon. 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:41.519 How many of y'all ever heard of Albert McMahon? 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:43.440 Anybody heard of Albert McMahon? 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:46.240 Anybody? 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:47.759 Not one person? 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:51.519 Albert McMahon. 00:23:51.680 --> 00:24:01.039 He was determined to get local teenagers in Charlotte, North Carolina to this tent revival in his neighborhood, 1934. 00:24:01.599 --> 00:24:11.680 He filled his truck up with young people every night, but one specific 15-year-old boy in the community flatly refused to go. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:13.920 I'm not interested. 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:17.680 He didn't care about religion. 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:23.200 And he dismissed this idea of going to hear this traveling preacher. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:28.400 He called it, he called it tabloid speaker, is what he called him. 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:30.079 And Albert did not argue. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:35.920 Instead, he used a little clever strategy based on what he knew about this boy. 00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:44.160 So the bait was, he said, we know he knew the teenager was absolutely obsessed with cars. 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:47.119 Boys and cars. 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:48.400 Right? 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:49.839 Love cars. 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:51.359 And so he offered him a deal. 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:56.160 Albert says, hey, I'll let you drive my truck to the meeting. 00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:01.839 I'll let you drive my truck to the meeting if you will agree to come and sit with us. 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:08.400 And all of a sudden, the boy who has no interest is like, man, I get to drive the truck. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:13.119 I don't care about going to the big tent thing, but I'll go if I get to drive this truck. 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:19.920 And so the offer to get behind the wheel was too good to pass up, and the reluctant teenager finally agreed to go. 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:25.599 Albert had no idea that this simple, practical invitation would change history. 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:30.400 He he just so desperately wanted to see more people come to know Jesus. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:39.680 He wanted people to know what he knew, which was a relationship that would transform you, give you peace and hope, and change your life and give you something to live for. 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:48.720 And that night, the boy who only came to drive the truck ended up walking down the aisle and he gave his life to Jesus. 00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:53.279 Now I just asked if any of you knew who Albert McMahon was. 00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:56.000 And I didn't see one hand go up. 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:03.119 But that teenager's name was Billy Graham. 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:07.359 Now, how many of you have ever heard of Billy Graham? 00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:17.920 Probably preached to more people than any other single person in the history of the world. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:20.960 And so you see the chain. 00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:30.000 Billy Graham would go on to preach and he would advise presidents, and he he would he preached and he went to he was willing to preach behind the iron curtain. 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:33.440 He was willing to go to places where people would criticize him. 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:36.000 He was a man who had integrity. 00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:38.880 He lived his life to share the gospel. 00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:57.039 Listen, we don't know the impact that a simple invite can have on a person's life, the power of the one empty chair being filled by one invitation that literally would change one life, but ripple, have a rippling chain reaction. 00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:00.319 There's always an impact. 00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:04.400 There's always a chain of impact, and we can't overestimate it. 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:10.799 Let's go down, look at history just a little bit from way back to modern days. 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:28.960 1735, a man by the name of John Wesley and his team traveled to a colony, at the time it was a colony called Georgia to become missionaries, particularly in the area that we now know as the coastal area around Savannah, Georgia. 00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:40.160 In 1746, Jonathan Edwards appeals for prayer for world missions, and out of that comes the first great awakening. 00:27:40.400 --> 00:27:50.799 In 1787, a man by the name of William Carey is ordained in England and soon begins to urge and pray for worldwide missions to be undertaken. 00:27:50.880 --> 00:28:02.240 In 1845, at the first Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia, there's this denomination that is formed called the Southern Baptist Convention. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:14.880 In 1836, seven people in a little town called Social Circle start the first Baptist church of Social Circle, 1836. 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:32.160 Then 1993, a little over 150 years later, Social Circle, First Baptist Church, would plant a little church called the Summit in Loganville, Georgia. 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:52.960 Summit Church would exist for 14 years and then would plant by sending money and families and staff to a little community called Walnut Grove where there would be a new church birthed in 2006 called Church at the Grove. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:29:04.079 And five years later in 2012, Church at the Grove would start their second campus back in that town called Social Circle. 00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:13.119 And shortly after that, we would plant another church in Aradia, Romania, through the obedience of Joy and Pat Harden. 00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:22.640 Now I could, I could, I could tell you, I could, I could continue that story, but I hope you you get the gist of what I'm talking about. 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:38.079 I could tell you about the church that we've planted in Pennsylvania, and pastored by Joseph Villarde, who has become one of the most influential leaders in that area and one of the fastest growing churches in the northeastern part of the country. 00:29:38.240 --> 00:29:48.160 I could tell you about all the other churches that we've either given money to, we've sent people to, or we've literally helped start. 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:50.559 I mean, the change reaction continues on. 00:29:50.720 --> 00:30:01.519 We still have vision about who we're gonna see reached in communities around us and even where we're gonna continue to do ministry worldwide. 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:08.319 And so go back to the text here in verse 43 that says the next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. 00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:11.839 He found Philip and told him, Follow me, follow me. 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:15.839 Now Philip was from Betheda, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:22.559 Philip found Nathaniel and told him, We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and so did the prophets. 00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:26.160 Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth. 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:28.640 And he asked this question. 00:30:28.880 --> 00:30:33.599 Nathaniel asked this question about Philip, can anything good come out of Nazareth? 00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:40.079 I mean, I kind of feel like maybe Nazareth and Walnut Grove are kind of similar. 00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:45.039 Can anything good come out of Nazareth? 00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:47.599 And here's what Philip says come and see. 00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:49.599 Come and see. 00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:51.200 Come and see. 00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:57.759 And so Jesus now meets Philip, a man that Andrew and Peter probably would have grown up with. 00:30:57.839 --> 00:31:07.519 Philip goes and gets Nathaniel, but in the process of telling Nathaniel about Jesus, Jesus process of telling Nathaniel about Jesus, he messes something up. 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:18.079 Philip calls Jesus the son of Joseph, which is not the case because Jesus is the son of the heavenly father, not Joseph, the man. 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:22.240 When Jesus wasn't Joseph's son, remember he was born of a virgin. 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:30.000 He also says that he was from Nazareth when Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem, which is what all the prophets have pointed to in the Old Testament. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:34.319 Philip is working off one day of information. 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:38.720 So his theology is thin, but his heart is right. 00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:44.799 Which means you don't have to get everything right. 00:31:45.119 --> 00:31:47.119 God will still use you. 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:53.839 You can mess up the gospel presentation, and God can still use you. 00:31:54.799 --> 00:31:55.759 Which leads to this. 00:31:55.839 --> 00:31:58.480 Listen, I want you to look at a observe a couple of things. 00:31:58.559 --> 00:32:01.839 And the first one is this you don't have to have all the answers to be used by God. 00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:05.039 You don't have to have all the answers to be used by God. 00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:13.119 This is one of the main objections I hear from people when they when they're when we preach hard about you trying to invest and invite people. 00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:20.480 Listen, I get nervous when I talk to people about Jesus. 00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:23.680 I still get nervous because I don't want to be rejected. 00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:25.599 I don't want people to blow me off. 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:29.279 I struggle with the same struggles that you struggle with. 00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:34.960 Because we can come up with all kinds of objections. 00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:38.720 And you don't have to have all the answers to be used by God. 00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:53.519 I believe the tool of the enemy, Satan, is to is for you to believe that God could not use you, or because maybe something isn't perfect in your life. 00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:59.680 It's not about being perfect, it's not about having all the answers perfectly answered. 00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:08.079 It's really just about being open and obedient to what He says he calls us to do, which is to go and make disciples of all nations. 00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:12.559 I mean, listen. 00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:29.599 People can argue with you about theology, people can argue with you about creation, people can argue with you about religion, but they can't argue with you about your story. 00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:33.519 It's one of the most powerful things. 00:33:36.480 --> 00:33:40.400 Tools that God gives us as our testimony, our own personal story. 00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:49.759 And I can't, I'm telling you, the person that I admire that blows me away, that is so bold and is faithful, is Pat Hardin. 00:33:50.720 --> 00:33:53.200 Man, Pat will talk to a stump. 00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:57.680 And he's gonna talk to Jesus, to that stump. 00:33:57.759 --> 00:33:59.680 He's gonna talk about Jesus to that stump. 00:33:59.920 --> 00:34:04.160 I mean, he'll talk to anybody for any length of time. 00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:15.440 And I say all that, that's, I mean, and so you know, the testimonies you hear typically that it's like, what was my life like before Jesus? 00:34:15.599 --> 00:34:17.039 How did I encounter Jesus? 00:34:17.119 --> 00:34:19.679 And how has my life been changed by Jesus? 00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:27.760 And so we realize this that so we don't have to have all the answers, but we realize that God is already at work in your one. 00:34:28.239 --> 00:34:30.400 God is already at work and you're one. 00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:34.239 Listen, God is already at work. 00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:41.440 God is working in somebody's life long before you offer the invitation. 00:34:44.719 --> 00:34:53.119 Then Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said about him in verses 47 and 48, here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. 00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:54.639 How do you know me, Nathaniel? 00:34:55.199 --> 00:35:00.159 Jesus answered him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. 00:35:01.840 --> 00:35:03.599 That's kind of spooky. 00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:05.360 But you know what it is? 00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:07.679 It's the Holy Spirit, it's the power of God. 00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:11.679 It is the holiness, it is the God of the universe. 00:35:11.760 --> 00:35:16.880 He can't, he, he knows, he knows your past, he knows the present, he knows the future. 00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:18.639 He is already at work. 00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:20.000 A.W. 00:35:20.239 --> 00:35:26.559 Tozier, one of my favorite writers, he says this before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man. 00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:29.360 So God is already working in somebody's life. 00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:32.159 The Holy Spirit is already working in somebody's life. 00:35:32.239 --> 00:35:33.199 And you know what? 00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:44.880 There's a mystery about how the sovereignty of God works in somebody's life, but also works in such a way to give us the chance to be a part of it. 00:35:45.920 --> 00:35:52.159 And the reality is somebody has to be moved by the Holy Spirit. 00:35:52.639 --> 00:35:59.199 And sometimes you don't know how the Holy Spirit is working until you offer the invite and get into the conversation. 00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:02.159 And they may even reject you at that point. 00:36:02.239 --> 00:36:06.960 And God may use that conversation weeks, years later. 00:36:07.760 --> 00:36:18.000 And listen, what you've done is you've sown a seed, somebody else might water it, somebody else might get the credit, somebody else might actually lead them to Jesus. 00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:22.159 And so we we see the sovereignty of God at work there. 00:36:22.880 --> 00:36:28.880 Where God is already working on your one that belongs in that empty chair. 00:36:29.119 --> 00:36:35.840 Henry Blackaby, some of you probably know who Henry Blackaby is, wrote a book called Experiencing God. 00:36:36.239 --> 00:36:37.199 It's just a simple one. 00:36:37.519 --> 00:36:40.960 Henry Blackaby never had pastored a megachurch. 00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:45.760 He never was a famous, you know, traveling preacher. 00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:53.039 I mean, he's he's now known worldwide because of that workbook that he wrote called Experiencing God. 00:36:53.679 --> 00:36:55.519 But he says, here's what he says. 00:36:55.599 --> 00:37:00.960 Here's one of the major themes that Henry Blackaby would share. 00:37:01.039 --> 00:37:06.000 And he says, watch to see where God is working, and then simply join him in his work. 00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:22.159 See, God's called us to be a church that is aware that there are people that we're gonna come across our path that are far from God, and he's called us to be a part of seeing people come to Christ. 00:37:22.239 --> 00:37:24.719 And and but and he could do it himself. 00:37:25.039 --> 00:37:29.039 He could do it without us, but he gives us the privilege to be a part of it. 00:37:32.960 --> 00:37:47.280 And so we come into this room, as I said early, you know, we we see growth in a church, and we we want to talk about, you know, church people get together and talk about how how have you seen this church, how big this church is, and how many people they have on a Sunday and this. 00:37:47.440 --> 00:37:48.480 We don't, you know what? 00:37:48.719 --> 00:37:56.079