It Only Takes ONE

But I want to stop now and praise God that in the midst of a worldwide pandemic when it seems the whole world is shutting down, the Church, the Bride of Christ is still alive, still active, and is still thriving.

We often bemoan technology, but by the graciousness of God and by the creative minds He has empowered, we are able to meet together in this way to sing praises to our God, to open His Word and hear from Him, and to commune together even if we are far from one another.

This isn’t where we would want to be, but today we will praise our mighty God for His grace as we embrace the opportunity to gather.

PRAY

The Significance of One

Pam’s family has mastered the art of chocolate chip cookie making.

Many of you can attest to this fact.

One thing about the Lahey family chocolate chip cookies is ONE is NEVER enough.

I have heard people say “Sure I’ll take one” only to see them a few moments later grabbing their 3rd and 4th.

To think you only get ONE just seems like you are missing out on so much.

This isn’t true only in cookies or sweets, one seems insignificant in a lot of areas of life.

One dollar just doesn’t seem like much at all, party of one is not nearly as fun as a party of more (says the extrovert).

But ONE has great value in God’s economy.

ONE person could change everything, especially in the days we are in.

John 1:35–42 ESV

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

Andrew and John (all kinds of ideas of who it was, but he is the most widely excepted) were with John the Baptist.

They were disciples, or spiritual apprentices, of John so they would have been with him most of the time and were learning as they were following him.

The previous day John had made a declaration to his followers about Jesus “Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.”

That is a huge statement that likely provoked some curiosity in John’s disciples.

So the next day, when they see Jesus and John again speaks about Him, the disciples begin to follow Jesus

Their curiosity gets the best of them and they begin to follow Jesus.

They were curious. “Who is this guy? What is he all about? What does he have to offer us?”

With all that is going on in the world around us

In the midst of chaos, confusion, and unease you may be curious what Jesus and His followers have to offer.

If that is you then I am so glad you are here and I believe it is a wonderful place to begin a journey.

I believe Jesus felt the same way with those 2 men.

What are you seeking?

John 1:38 ESV

38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”

Jesus asked them a question that at one level is very simple, but at another level is hugely significant.

What are you seeking?

Practically he is asking “Why are you following me?”

But at a deeper level He is asking “What are you looking for in me?”

Maybe this is a good question to ask you today.

With all that is going on in the world around us, perhaps you are curious and you are here today seeking something.

In the midst of chaos, confusion, and unease you may be curious what Jesus and His followers have to offer.

So what brings you here today?

Maybe it is comfort in the chaos and unease that is all around us.

Maybe you are seeking answers to deep and unsettling questions.

Or perhaps you are seeking hope in the middle of the constant barrage of depressing and anxiety-inducing news that seems to flow constantly.

I believe you have come to the right place.

Not EHBC and not me, but to Jesus.

Come and you will see

John 1:38–39 ESV

38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

John 1:38–40 ESV

jn 1 38-

The men answer Jesus question with an innocence I admire.

“Where are you staying?”

they don’t come to Jesus with a list of things they want Him to fix or a list of questions for Him to answer.

They don’t come with a bunch of arguments He has to try to overcome on why He isn’t who He says He is.

They don’t come with an agenda beyond “Can we hang out with you today?”

“Come and you will see.” I imagine Jesus saying these words with a smile, “Yeah guys, come on, let’s go talk.”

John tells us that they “stayed with him that day” from about 4pm potentially through the whole night.

Can you imagine the conversations, the questions, the meals shared, the stories told?

We don’t know the details of what happened that night, but we know what happened after.

Jesus is the One

John 1:40–41 ESV

40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).

jn 1 40-

The 2 men found in Jesus something that changed everything.

Verse 41 says “He first”, referring to Andrew, John is saying “The first thing Andrew did when he left Jesus was run to his brother Simon Peter’s house.

Something had happened to Andrew and John in the hours they spent with Jesus, and Andrew could not wait to tell his brother what he had found.

Andrew had found the ONE.

The promised one that every Jewish boy had learned about their entire life.

The one the whole world was waiting on, even if they didn’t know He was the one they were waiting on.

The one

He tells his brother, Peter, “We have found the Messiah, the savior, the one who will make things right in this broken world.”

Jesus is the One

Andrew and John didn’t understand everything about Jesus, they were just beginning their journey with Him.

But their lives were never going to be the same.

John was writing these words most likely 50 or 60 years after it happened, likely thinking “I had no clue just how significant that night really was for me.”

Jesus changed everything

And He is still the One who changes everything.

Jesus is the ONE who brings PEACE to our chaos.

John 16:33 CSB

33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

Though the world around us may be chaotic, though the future may be uncertain, in Jesus we can find peace.

Because the very things in this world that threaten us have been conquered in Him.

Romans 8:37–39 ESV

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:37–38 CSB

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

Jesus is the ONE we must turn to for peace in the midst of any and all trails that we may face.

37-

Jesus is the ONE who brings HOPE to our despair.

1 Peter 1:3–4 NLT

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.

1 pete

1 Peter 1:3–4 NLT

In a few weeks we are going to celebrate Easter Sunday, the resurrection of Jesus and the day that death was defeated.

Peter speaks of the significance of resurrection for those who trust in Christ in these verses.

Our hope is not in something that may happen, our hope is based in something that has ALREADY happened.

Our hope is also not in SOMEONE who may be able to fulfill all that he has promised, but in SOMEONE (THE ONE) who has ALREADY fulfilled all that He has promised.

Our hope is a LIVING HOPE because the ONE in whom our hope is found is a living savior who has defeated death.

Jesus is the ONE who brings ANSWERS to our most unsettling questions.

Peter

1 pet 1 3

Revelation 21:3–5 CSB

3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. 5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”

What have you found?

Revelation 21:1–5 ESV

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Peter wrote this letter years after his brother Andrew came to

The passage ends in a very significant way.

John 1:41–42 ESV

41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

John also wrote a book of the bible that can often be confusing, but there is nothing confusing about the end of it

jn 1 41-

When Andrew gets to his brother, Simon Peter, he declares to him “We have found the Messiah!”

And then John records “He brought him to Jesus.”

Andrew’s life had been transformed and he could not stay quiet, he could not keep this to himself.

This is a challenge for us today that have found THE ONE, in Jesus.

If Jesus is THE ONE and He has saved you and set you free from sin, and given you an everlasting hope, then what are you doing with it?

Jesus asks those that are curious “What are you seeking?”, but perhaps the question for us believers is “What have you found?”

We have been asking the question over the past few weeks “Who is your ONE?”

Who is the person God has placed in your life that does not know Jesus?

Who is the one God is calling you to share the hope of Christ with?

Andrew was one dude who was so transformed by Jesus that he had to go and share with at least ONE.

Imagine the implications

Andrew shared with Peter and Peter began to follow Jesus and became one of the most important followers of Jesus in the history of the church.

One might seem insignificant, but you have the opportunity to change the someone’s life here and for eternity simply by sharing about the ONE who changed everything for you.

Closing

What are you seeking today?

Regardless of what brought you here my challenge to you is simply this.

Spend time learning about Jesus

We would love to help. Click the “Connect with US” link in the video description.

Under “How can we help” check the box “find out more about Jesus”

Click the link below and listen to our past sermons.

For the Christians watching right now I want to ask: What have you found?

Have you found the ONE who brings peace to the chaos of life?

Have you found the ONE who brings hope to your despair?

Have you found the ONE who brings healing to your brokenness?

If so then who in your life needs to hear?

It is not too late to text that name to the number in the description.

Who is your one?

Let’s pray.

Related Media

Related Sermons