Come and See

Introduction

I noted on the morning that Reverend Jenkins preached as a subpart of his message, He referred to the phrase “He who has an ear let him hear” to the churches in the Revelation found in the Bible. God calls us to hear Him. But we learn today that God also calls us to “come and see.”

Similarly, as I was studying in Houston in my quiet time I was intrigued as to how many times I came across the phrase in the Bible, “come and see.” It is very interesting how much that phrase or that concept is found in the Bible.

If you were for example to just utilize the NKJV and wanted exact wording, we see that phraseology coined 10 times. 7 of those times are the wording of John the Beloved in either the book of John or in the Revelation. The other occurrences are in Psalm 66:5, Isaiah 66:18, or in Philippians 1:27.

Let me get three people to look up these texts:

Psalm 66:5 “5 Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men.”

Isaiah 66:18 “18 “For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory.”

Philippians 1:27 “27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,”

If we do not get caught up in exact wording, but more of a conceptual understanding of the phrase, the phraseology is used 367 times in the Bible.

Why do you think we are called to “come and see” as it relates to the things of God?

Its our nature isn’t it? That’s how we function. We are created in the image of God and God has instilled in our DNA. We learn experientially, kinetically. For example: I have great admiration for someone who works well with their hands. Things have come so far with what we can learn around the home as Mr. Fix it’s from YouTube, but until you get live in the circumstance and you hold a torch, or you torque a bolt, or you have a hands on experience, you never fully learn the nuances of that repair until you have been at ground zero and experienced it.

I can remember my grandmother saying of myself and my brother when we were very young, “they are very curious.” We know young children have to be watched. We have to make sure our home is childproof or child safe when grandchildren come because they are going to go into cabinets, they are going to put things in their mouth, they are going to handle plugs and sockets and the list goes on. That is how we learn.

And, what is interesting is that God gives us some slack for that. Meaning that there are times that we have walked with God a long time and something anew, something different, something has stifled our walk. We have been caught off guard. The Lord does not find offense in calling us to come back and see, come back and be rekindled, come back and see yet again my manifestation of handiwork and goodness, and healing and watch care, and miracles in your life. He doesn’t take offense to it. He knows our frailties. and so the question:

How are you tonight? Are you in a period where God may be calling you back to “come and see?” Be reminded that I am God and I am the same God that has walked with you through every other difficulty in this life. “Come and See?’’ Raise of hands if anyone needs to “come and see” God afresh tonight?

We want to answer tonight that question:

Why does God calls us to “Come and See” moments?

Look with me for a moment at Matthew 11:2-6:

Who would read this for us tonight?

Matthew 11:2–6 NKJV

2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” 4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

1. There are Times We need Affirmation.

Sometimes we need to remove doubts or hesitation or insecurities of where the Lord has us.

This incident comes after John 1:29–34 “29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ 31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.” 32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.””

There was a time that John the Baptist had great certainty of Jesus and His identity.

We can only assume that with all that John the Baptist had been through he needed a moment of affirmation of who Jesus was.

What all had John the Baptist been through?

We know the Bible states that John the Baptist had some Elijah type traits.

Matthew 11:14 “14 And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.” Jesus speaking of John’s identity. I bring that up because we see that John the Baptist definitely had ways as Elijah.

Its always bewildering to us that Elijah can transform in one day from one that seems invincible in the power of God on Mt. Carmel to one the next day that is scared and fleeing and depressed in a cave on the run from Jezebel.

Someone read Matthew 11:11 “11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

What a powerful complement Jesus said of John the Baptist, but that did not erase the fact for a moment He needed affirmation.

Are there times you need affirmation? You are not by yourself. The greatest in the Kingdom at times needed an extra dose of Jesus to bring them back to their feet. We fight doubts, insecurities, uncertainty, fear, the unknown and the blessedness is that Jesus is not offended by that, but calls us to refuel, to have a “come and see” moment.

Now let me ask you this question.

What works for you when you need “come and see” moments of affirmation to overcome those insecurities or fears?

2. There are times we Need Personal Verification in Our Faith Journey

Someone please read:

John 1:43–51 NKJV

43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael 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.” 49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 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.” 51 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.”

Listen to that great promise beyond our personal salvation experience:

John 1:43–51 NKJV

“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.”

Isn’t it encouraging there is more for us to see each day and may we submit from we’ve studied already, we need it.

Another reason that the Lord calls us to “come and see” moments is because Faith requires personal encounter. Faith is not faith under the guise of secondhand belief. For our faith to be real we must touch it, taste it, experience it, experience the supernatural filling of the Holy Spirit, experience the supernatural voice of God at work in our lives. See His miracles manifests in us and around us.

Luke Bond did an excellent job Sunday with his message. We are called to make disciples and He challenged us all to see that one we are going to disciple. Nathaniel was a skeptic, but still he was a seeker. Isn’t it interesting that Philip could not contain himself, he had to tell others what he experienced in Christ Jesus. Oh dearly beloved, if our faith is real we can not contain it, it spews out and God blesses those spewing times in the lives of others.

Philip was compelled to lead Nathaniel to experience Jesus firsthand for himself. Oh dearly beloved we must accept Christ directly rather than accepting what others say about Him.

Ill. You can look at the lake, you can put on your swimsuit and your sunscreen, you can sit at chairs around the edge, yo can dip your toe in the water, but you’ve never swam until you dive in and start paddling. God wants us to dive in and go to paddling.

What better picture do we see of that than Peter.

Matthew 14:22–33 NKJV

22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” 28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

These other men saw the encounter firsthand.

Yes, Peter doubted, but let me ask you a question.

Do you believe this was one more encounter with Jesus to reveal to Jesus who Jesus really was? What power Jesus has?

In other words, in the midst of the failure I believe Jesus used it as a strengthening tool to deepen Peter for His service.

How can we gain that close and personal encounter at times when we need strengthening?

3. Active Participation in God’s Story.

Really this section comes from almost all of John 11. The story of Lazarus being raised from the dead.

Divide these scriptures up and let people read:

John 11:33–44 NKJV

33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” 37 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” 38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

John 11:1–4 “1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” 4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.””

John 11:12–14 “12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.”

As yo have read through this story how many people have been drawn into the story? How many people are impacted by seeing the glory of God revealed in this act?

So let me ask you this question:

Why does the Lord put us front and center to His story lines for our lives?

What do you think we miss when we do not follow His cues to participate in His stories of touch in our lives?

How will this cause you to respond when the Holy Spirit touches you on the shoulder and wants you to engage into a Holy Spirit moment maybe as you are used in the life of another?

What do you think this accomplished in these lives as they saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead?

Some are hard learners? Are you a hard learner? All of us can be at times. But Jesus even has a plan for hard learners.

John 20:27–29 “27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.””

Why do we have Come and See Moments that we are called to with the Lord?

We need affirmation

Some times we need personal verification in our faith walk

There are things we learn when we actively participate in the stories of God’s handiwork.