The Valued Life

Introduction

Recap Series

Week 1 - Fishers of Men

Week 2 - Healing the Paralytic

Week 3 - The Importance of One - Calling of Nathan

Week 4 - A Story of Hell

we looked at what Hell really is…

what good things that Hell has in it

Today… The Valued Life

Last week was Sanctity of Life Sunday…

I do not normally plan out my sermons based on national days

this week it fit, so we will talk about it a little bit

March for life this last week…

this is a bog deal…

President Trump was the first sitting President to speak at the national rally

That is a big deal in recognition of the movement, as other pro-life presidents have only sent videos or other people to speak for them

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated “the Christ”), and he brought Simon to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, he said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated “Peter”).

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated “the Christ”), and he brought Simon to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, he said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated “Peter”).

Tell what is happening…

Andrew was one who was looking for the messiah, and was interested in spiritual things.

He was a disciple of John the Baptist, who proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God, who came to take away the sins of the world.”

John the Baptist, who also baptized Jesus

Andrew was one of the two disciples who left John the Baptist and followed Jesus

Remember Jesus asked them, what is you want

they asked where he was staying and Jesus responded come and see...

Andrew left after spending the day with him… and found his brother

I have always assumed that Andrew was the younger brother because he is always referred to as Peter’s brother

maybe he is the older and Peter gets the attention because he more that type of personality

I mean he did get out of the boat to walk on the water

He did not just tell him… He brought Peter to Jesus, Jesus instantly tells him of the name to come.

Simon son of John, you will be called Cephas, which means Peter.

Andrew did not try to start a movement… He saw value in telling one…

He Saw the Value of Individual People

Sanctity of Life

We are not pro-life because it is the political correct thing to do

I think that we have to be careful not to allow our political leanings determine what we believe.

the Bible and everything it says should guide us

Speak of how man was created in

So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.

Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.

7 Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

Jesus died for the sins of the world… , but goes and searches for the one that would come to him

What do you think? If someone has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go and search for the stray? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over that sheep more than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

We are not and cannot be pro-life with the unborn, but with every life on this earth!

Every person that walks on this earth needs the gospel of Jesus and should matter to us, if we believe what we say we do

My aim is to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I will not build on someone else’s foundation, 21 but, as it is written, Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.

My aim is to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I will not build on someone else’s foundation, 21 but, as it is written,

Those who were not told about him will see,

Andrew went and found his brother, seeing the value of individual people

and those who have not heard will understand.

the ripple effects are amazing

the series calls for me to give an example of D.L. Moody coming to know Jesus

It was his Sunday School teacher that went and shared the gospel with him

He was nervous and didn’t really know what he was going to say

D.L. Moody was not the type of kid that you would want your kid to be like

“you will be called, Peter.” this is not in contradiction to the conversation that we see Jesus have with Peter in when Jesus calls him peter...

our passage, you will be, , you are

We see Peter throughout the gospels act impulsively

We got to see him wither away when Jesus was arrested, and deny him three times

Yet in Acts we see him preach and 3000 were saved,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

What if… I don’t like to go down that road.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

What if Peter would not have been told…

What if the person with the cure to cancer was aborted

God is sovereign and and what if’s kind of assume that we are in control

Our motivation is not what if we do not… but because of imago dei… all created in the image of God, each has value and each needs to hear the gospel.

He Saw the Value of Insignificant Gifts

Can we be honest, a lot of times we look at people and value them on what they have to offer.

we do this in the church too… people come and go, for some reason, if people of stature, of service to the church go, it is a big deal, but if somebody who sneaks in, sits in the back and sneaks out, at times, we barely notice when they are not here.

We can do the same with sharing the gospel

unfortunately with the gospel, we can think that some are not worthy, they don’t have anything to offer us

unfortunately the opposite is true… we look at people

if we ever could get that person on our team… watch out!

There is nothing in the text that suggests that Andrew looked at Peter and thought that he would end up the Peter that stood for Christ so boldly as to get crucified upside down.

Every person is gifted by God and is important in the body of Christ.

I know I stand here and preach, that is an important part of the church, but the body of Christ, is not functioning properly unless was have all body parts serving

Andrew saw the importance of insignificant gifts

Feeding of the 5000… tell the story

Jesus had compassion, disciples want to know, how are we going to feed them

Jesus tells them to feed them,

Andrew, here is a little boy with five loaves and a couple of fish, but what is that for so many?

Here is this, I do not know how that will work with all these people but here it is…

We tend to look at the gifts of people and what we can do with them

If we truly value all gifts, then the size of the gift doesn’t matter, only the size of the God that it is given to

this doesn’t matter if it is a physical gift, or gift of service

What matters is the gift from the heart

remember the widow of .

all the pharisees giving gifts and broadcasting how great their gifts are

the widow gives out of her poverty, all that she had

We do not share the gospel out of what they have to offer us as a church, you as a person, or even what we think they can offer God

out of the love of the individual

He Saw the Value of Inconspicuous Service

Inconspicuous = not clearly visible or attracting attention

Andrew is the person who works quietly in the background

He is not mentioned a lot in the NT, yet he is one of the four brothers and inner circle of Jesus

He is always listed as one of the 12

He is talked about when telling Peter

He is one of the four brothers who were told they will be fishers of men

He was the one who brought the young boy in the feeding of the 5000

He was with Peter, James and John when asked Jesus about the end times

He is listed as one of the 11 after Jesus ascended in the book of Acts.

Andrew was just in the back, serving Jesus...

I know a lot of people that say that is the way that they like to serve.

but I have noticed that those that say that, they are almost always talking about physical acts of service

doing some sort of task that does not require them to be out front.

those tasks are important, but they do not excuse us from sharing the gospel

Jesus command in the great commission was not only to those who do the teaching and preaching

it is not for those who feel comfortable speaking about spiritual matters

but instead, all are called to share the gospel

Who is your one?

Andrew, though he served in the background, was not immune to the sacrifice and suffering that came with following Jesus

Tradition holds that he went north and told others of Jesus

he shared the Gospel with a Roman Governor’s wife, he was mad and embarrassed, demanded that she recant

when she would not he had Andrew crucified. he was hung on an x-shaped cross

but he was not nailed to his cross, but tied, which made the suffering last that much longer.

He was a man that served Christ in the background, and died in the background as well

but those who he led to Christ, would never think that that service was not valuable!