Once again, we come to this time where we can open up the Word of God. And I would invite you, if you will, to turn to Mark chapter three, we'll use this as a launching pad. Once again, we're looking at the appointing of the 12 apostles. This is the second part of that study. And in a few minutes, we're going to read that text, let me just say, it's important for us to get to know the apostles. That's why I'm taking some time over a few weeks here to remind you of who these men were. There's at least two reasons why I would say that, first of all, according to Ephesians, two, verses 19. And following, we read that the church has been, "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple and the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." And the second reason why it's important is because when we look at the lives of the apostles, we see the miracle of regeneration and sanctification being played out in their lives. And they are frankly, an example to all of us. And as I look at their lives, as I look at the difficulties they dealt with, as I look at the flaws in their lives, or as we say, in the horse training world, as we look at the holes in their program, I have hope that the Lord can continue to work with me, right? And with us. Well, I'm reminded in John 15, remember, Jesus uses that great metaphor of the vine and the branches, the vine being the source and, and sustenance of life are the branches, referring to Jesus giving life to believers, and he speaks of, of fruit bearing vines, which refers to Christians, and those who are truly born again, and then also fruitless ones that are unbelievers non believers. By the way, there's no such thing as a Christian that does not bear fruit. And the vine, of course, is Christ, the vine dresser, is the father in that great illustration that the Lord gives us. And he speaks of, of fruit bearing branches, and there were 11 of them with the apostles 11 that bore fruit. And there was one that did no,t referring to Judas. And of course, all of that was to help them see that not everybody who calls themselves a Christian truly is one. And Jesus said in John 15, to have every every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. And the original language, the term prune carries the idea of, of cleansing. It was a farming term, it was used to speaking of cleansing, the husks of grain or, or even cleaning the soil before crops. But in this metaphor of the vine, it refers to cleaning shoots off of the branches. And the key method that we see in that text that the Lord uses is suffering, and trials. And we know that whom the Lord loves, according to Hebrews 12, six, He chastens, and He scourges every son whom he receives. So we know that the pruning of the vine in our lives can be difficult. And we see this in the lives of the apostles. He went on to say in verse 10, of Hebrews 12, for thy referring to our earthly fathers, indeed, for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. And, of course, the tool of the vinedresser is the word of God by the power of the Spirit. And we see all through Scripture, certainly in the lives of the apostles, and in our lives as well, that the father uses the tool of the Word of God, and adversity and affliction, to really sharpen our sensitivity to the truth of Scripture. Charles Spurgeon said quote,"The word is often the knife with which the great husbandman prunes the vine. And brothers and sisters, if we were more willing to feel the edge of the word, and to let it cut away something that may be very dear to us, we should not need so much pruning by affliction. It is because that first knife does not always produce the desired result that another sharper tool is used by which we are effectually pruned," emd quote. And I think we can all identify with that. As my dad used to say, "Now son, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." I preferred the easy way. And of course, as we look at the lives of the apostles, and we see what the Father did in their life, and how they bore more fruit as time went on, we want to ask ourselves, Am I bearing fruit for the glory of Christ? Is that what people see in my life? Do I find strength and nourishment in Christ? And am I responding to the Father's pruning?

So, we come to this fascinating account. Let me read it to you again. Mark Three, I'm going to begin in verse 13. I'll just read the the section here that Mark gives us. He says, "When Jesus went up on the mountain and summoned to those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him, and Happointed 12, so that they would be with Him, and that He could send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons. And He appointed the 12, Simon, (to whom He gave the name Peter), and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them, he gave the name Boanerges, which means 'Sons of Thunder'), and Andrew, and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him."

Now, last week we looked at the sanctifying work that occurred in the life of Simon whose name was changed to Peter, which means rock, and how God took his exaggerated self-confidence and turn it in to a man that was humble. How he took his impetuosity and his hot temper and, and turned it into something where he was filled with, with the real spirit led constraint, if you will, and how he transformed that brash, hot tempered mouth of his into a wise, fearless preacher of the gospel. And then we also looked at James, one of the sons of thunder, He was impatient, he was outspoken, he was very much like Peter, as I say, he was another ready fire aim kind of guy and he had to learn to rule his emotions, rather than his emotions ruling him. He had to harness his passions, tone down his fiery rhetoric, and replace his selfish ambition with servanthood. And today, we want to look then at John again, Mark 3:17. He speaks of John, the brother of James. And that's what we're looking at here today. First of all, so John was the younger brother of James, he was the second part of the Dynamic Duo, okay, the other son of thunder, who shared the same traits as his big brother. So they were cut out of the same bolt of cloth. It's interesting that he was the human author of the Gospel of John and the three epistles that bear his name, as well as the book of Revelation. And as we look at Scripture, we see that next to Luke, and the apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit inspired John to write more of the New Testament than anyone else. And of course, this provides us with much information as to how we can accurately assess how Jesus shaped his life. And as we examine his life, as we examine his ministry and the gospel of accounts, were able to see this this transformation begin to occur the spiritual maturation he went from being zealous for truth without love, to having a proper balance for both. He went from being narrow minded, kind of a sectarian bigot, hothead, and tolerant of anyone else outside of his little group, to being a patient, compassionate, loving, apostle of Christ. He went from being just absolutely black and white to being comfortable with some shades of grey. He went from being self-promoting, from being personally ambitious, impetuous, reckless, to being selfless, self-controlled, a real servant of Christ. And he learned the hard way what it meant really to love his enemies and love them enough to speak the truth in love, and what it means to love one another. He commonly referred to himself as, quote, "The disciple whom Jesus loved." Isn't that interesting, giving Christ the glory for loving such a man. It's like, I can't believe it, but I'm a disciple that Jesus loved. That was the idea. And even in his gospel, he never mentioned himself by name. He never exalted himself. Unlike many self-seeking servants, we see that John never drew attention to himself. The first reference he made of himself is in John 13:23. There we read, "Now there was leaning on Jesus bosom, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved." It's interesting in medieval art, you see how they picked up on this tender side of John which is appropriate, often portraying him as kind of a docile, even an effeminate sissy type of guy, as they would typically do, staring at Jesus with some sentimental self-effacing dove-eyed type of a gaze, but nothing could have been further from the truth if you understand who this man was. I mean, like all fishermen of that day, he was a rugged outdoorsman. He was not some scrawny pusillanimous wimp. He was a man's man. Sadly, anytime you see men blurring the distinctions between maleness and femaleness, you're violating God's purposes in manhood and such a caricature of John is most unfortunate. In fact, in First Corinthians six, nine, we read how that the "effeminate and homosexuals shall not inherit the kingdom of God." So indeed, John was a son of thunder, a robust, vigorous man of the sea. And he was a man that, interestingly enough, outlived all of the other apostles. And he was not a passive man, but an aggressive man. He was zealous, he was ambitious, unyielding, self-assertive. But those were all traits that kind of went a little too far at times, the pendulum was a little bit too far out here. And you know how Jesus does in our lives, he kind of has to bring them back to where they need to be. And that's what we see God bringing balance to this man, for his glory. And our sin nature can cause us to get out of balance very, very quickly. And we see how sin can manifest itself in so many ways, sometimes our greatest virtues can become our greatest vice, right? And that's what we see here.

So, as we look at his life, we, we want to remember that the power of sin and the human heart can manifest itself in many, many ways. And also, we never want to underestimate that; how it can manifest, especially it manifests itself, especially in our interpersonal style of relating, and how we come across to other people. So never underestimate the power of sin, dear friends in your heart, but also never underestimate the power of the Word of God and the Spirit of God to change you. And he can either do it the easy way, or the hard way, that by His grace, he's going to do it because He loves us. And he wants to conform us into the image of Christ, that we might enjoy all that is ours in him. So like his brother, the Lord had to shape John. He had to help him learn how to ruler his emotions. Remember, he was, like his brother, he wanted to call down fire on the inhospitable Samaritans. Remember in Luke nine, you know, Lord, let's just smoke 'em, lets just nuke them. I mean, really, we're going to put up, let's be like Elijah, and he also had to replace his selfish ambition with humility. It's one thing to want to honor the Lord and lead, if that's what he would have you do, but it's another thing to demand that. And remember the whole incident with his mother where they were seeking, you know which one's going to be on the right and on the left now, the scriptures provide for us some remarkable insight into this tenderizing process that occurred in John's heart.

So first turn to Mark chapter nine. The context there in Mark nine is Peter, James and John witness the miracle of the Transfiguration of Christ. In verse two, we read, "And He," referring to Jesus, "was transfigured before them, and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on Earth can whiten them." And so somehow Jesus peels back his flesh in a way that we can't even imagine, and the effulgence of his Shekinah Glory blazes forth, and they see this, and they're absolutely terrified. Right before they close their eyes, they see the glory of the Messiah. And to think that somehow he allowed them to witness His Majesty and His power and His glory, a little foretaste of heavenly glory. But of course, they're thinking in their mind, oh, the kingdom, it's about to happen. And we're right here, we're in the inner circle. We know what you would think, you know, you're the only three, Mark nine, four; even "Elijah appeared with them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus." And in verse six, it even tells us that Peter, James and John, were so terrified that they were unable to speak. Now, that was a rare moment, right? They're unable to speak and then a cloud envelops them and God thunders from heaven. "This is My beloved Son, listen to Him." Now, such an experience would certainly be terrifying. But it would also be exhilarating, beyond anything that we could even express. I mean, it would make you want to explode with excitement, wouldn't it? It would make you want to just run and tell everybody. But God had different plans, Mark nine, verse nine, we read and, "As they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man should rise from the dead. And they seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead might mean." Obviously, none of that fit into their scheme of what they were planning on happening.

Now, we all know that people tend to believe what they want to believe, right? I mean, we can all fall into that trap, even when it bears no resemblance to the truth. And they thought his earthly kingdom was about to be established. And they were absolutely convinced of it. And like all of us would be, they wanted cheap seats in the kingdom. One to sit on the right one to sit on the left. But there's three of them. So you can imagine what begins to happen in their mind. They began to fuel the debate, who's the greatest amongst us, right? And certainly the fact that Jesus would do this before these three men, and no one else would naturally cause these three men to think more highly of themselves than they should. By the way, just as an aside, I was thinking about this because I've seen this in my life. There's a principle here that you want to bear in mind, every spiritual mountaintop experience has the potential to breed pride, and elitism. Be very, very careful with that. Great blessings tends to incite great arrogance, much easier than great humility. And certainly that was what was going on with these men. Now notice what happens in Mark nine, beginning of verse 33, "They came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, 'What were you discussing on the way?'" Now, let me pause for a moment. Jesus knew exactly what they were discussing on the way because he knew all things. And these guys knew they were toast because they knew he knew all things. It's kind of like the parent would say after they already know what you did. They ask you, "So tell me what did you do this afternoon that I saw on video?" You know, so that's what's going on here and Jesus asked him, "What were you discussing on the way?" And then I love this, "But they kept silent." Of course they did. "For on the way they had discussed with one another, which of them was the greatest." So obviously, they're embarrassed, and Jesus in his patience and in his love, and in His grace just kind of throws that out, kind of get them thinking, and boy, it worked. And look what he said. Then it says, "Sitting down," in other words, when Jesus sat down, it was time for everybody else to sit down. It's kind of like when I would call even some of my grandkids on the porch, you know, son, come here, Papa wants to talk to you, let's go sit out on the porch well immediately their eyes are big, they know that something's up here. And it's not like I'm gonna be unkind to them, but it's like, we need to talk about something. Well that's what was going on here. "Sitting down, He called the 12 and said to them, 'If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.'" Then it says, "Taking a child," perhaps they were probably in Peter's home, probably one of Peter's kids. He takes a child, "He set him before them and taking him in His arms, He said to them, 'Whoever receives one child like this,'" not referring to children, but a metaphor of speaking about believers. "Whoever receives one child like this, in My name receives Me. And whoever receives Me and does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me." So in other words, he's saying you need to humble yourself here, like trusting little children. And that's how children are, they humble themselves, and we hold them and they trust us. And obviously, Jesus words had a deep impact on John's heart. Because notice verse 38. And by the way, it's interesting, what I'm about to read here is the only time in the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, where John is recorded to speak alone. All right.

So something remarkable is happening here in this context, in John's heart, as he just finished hearing this gentle rebuke, verse 38. "John said to Him, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name. And we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.'" Now, if you're not thinking, you would think, my goodness, why is he changing the subject? You know, this is a non sequitur. I mean, where's this coming from? Well, not at all. You see, he understood the implications of what Jesus was saying. And his heart was under conviction, he was moved. This is like confessing his sin. In other words, John was so convicted over what Jesus said that He, immediately his mind went back to this act of elitism that he and others had committed. And remember, again, he had just witnessed the manifestation of the glory of the king, and thought that for sure, I'm in the inner circle here. But now he recognizes his ungodly proclivity to sectarianism, to elitism, to his own arrogance, to his narrow-minded intolerance. "Us four, no more bar, the door," and boy, folks, it's easy to fall into that trap, as believers. Jesus answered in verse 39 and following, "But Jesus said, do not hinder him." In other words, that man casting out the demons in my name, "Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able to soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For He who is not against us is for us." So here, John learns, and the others as well, as they're listening, here, John learns that the only legitimate test of a person's ministry and Christianity is basically doctrinal as well as the fruit that they bear. And we should never reject people simply because they're not in our group.

As an aside, we can have fellowship with all believers unless they violate a couple of things. If they have disregard for the authority of Scripture, there is no fellowship, no fellowship, or if they pervert the gospel, you can't have fellowship there. Later John would write interestingly enough in First John four one following, he says, "test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world." You see, there's the doctrinal test, you've got to be careful. I get this all the time, I would say at least two or three times a week, people that listen, people that aren't a part of this church, or some that are a part of the church that want to know, hey, is this a good church? My friend is moving to this area. Is this a good church? Well, you know, the first thing I have to do is look at the doctrinal statement. And that gives you some idea. That's not the whole story, but at least it gives you some idea of where they are biblically. First, John two beginning of verse four, you have the kind of the character test, “The one who says I have come to know Him, and does not keep his commandments, he is a liar. And the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word in Him, the love of God has truly been perfected. By this, we know that we are in Him, the one who says he abides in Him, ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." So in other words, just because a person claims to be a Christian doesn't mean that they are, you look at their life. And if their life is one that is filled with sin, the person conducts themselves in a way that is unchristian, then they have no basis to claim genuine saving faith. And as you read the inspired writings, you will quickly see that John was absolutely passionate for the truth. But the pendulum was a little bit too far on the black and white. All right, it needed to come back. And you know, sometimes there are some gray areas. Sometimes we have to be careful that we present the truth also in love. Notice how he writes in first John three beginning in verse eight that we read earlier, "the one who practices sin is of the devil." Well, I mean, that's, that's real forthright, okay? You say you're a Christian, but you're constantly living in sin, you're of the devil. All right, well, that's true. And he goes on later, and he says, "No one who's born of God practices sin, because his seat abides in Him and he cannot sin because He is born of gods." So he's real black and white. He's passionate for the truth. He goes on first John two verse 15. Just as another example, he says, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." In other words, you say you're a believer, but you love the culture, and you want to be a part of all of the culture and do and act like all of the people that absolutely hate Christ, then don't call yourself a Christian; very black and white. First John four, another example, beginning in verse seven, through verse, eight, "Beloved, let us love one another." There you see the love, tempered with the truth, "for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, the One who does not love does not know God, for God is love." Verses 19 and 21. "We love because He first loved us. If someone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen." So there's the truth, there is black and white, but then it's also tempered with love and this commandment we have from him that the one who loves God should love his brother. Also, another example, Second John, in verses one and two, to the elect, lady, he writes, "and her children whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, for the sake of the truth which abides in us, and will be with us forever." And in verse six, he says, "And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments." One final example of how truth is tempered with love with John, we see this developing. Third John, verse four, "I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." And isn't that true parents, grandparents? I have no greater joy as your pastor to see you walking in the truth and so forth. You know, folks, truth without love is oppression. Right? And love without truth is just sentimentality, is just superficiality it's nothing more than the saccharin, Jesus is my boyfriend garbage, that you see some of these phony teachers preaching and speaking about.

So John learned to speak the truth in love. And we see over the course of his life how he had to have repented of his selfish ambition and his desire to pursue a place of prominence. And he learned that well at the feet of Jesus, especially, and think of this, especially when he stood at the foot of the cross, and watched his precious Savior, suffer and die. He's the only apostle recorded to have been there. He learned well, but Jesus said in Luke 18:14, "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." So originally John and his selfishness and his arrogance, wanted a place of prominence to exalt himself. And you know what? God gave him a position of prominence, but in a way that John would have never imagined. The Lord allowed him to be banished to a small island, off of the coast of Turkey, an island called Patmos. He was sent there by the Roman emperor Domitian. And there he quietly suffered as he lived in a cave, slept on a rock stone for his pillow. But there was the place of prominence that God gave him this side of glory an exalted position before Almighty God and the heavenly hosts. And here's why I would say that because it was there when the Lord Jesus Christ, came to him and revealed to him his coming glory. In the book of Revelation, the "Apokalypsis lesou Christos" the revealing, the unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation one beginning in verse 10. Here's what he said, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like the sound of the trumpet, saying, 'Write in a book what you see,' verse 12, and "I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands and in the middle of the lampstands was one like a Son of man clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His breast with a golden girdle. And His head and His hair were white, like white wool, like snow. And His eyes were like a flame of fire, and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace. And His voice was like the sound of many waters." Verse 17, "And when I saw Him, I fell at his feet as a dead man. And He laid his right hand upon me saying, 'Do not be afraid, I am the First and the Last.'" Yes, it was Jesus once again, appearing to the disciple whom Jesus loved. What an indescribable joy must have filled his heart. Tradition says that John became the pastor of the church at Ephesus, years later, the church that Paul had founded and in his commentary on Galatians Jerome, who was one of the early church fathers, tells us of John's final days, he was so weak and frail, we read that he had to be carried into the church. And there was one phrase that was constantly on his lips, and it was this "My little children love one another." And when asked why he said this so often, he replied, quote, "It is the Lord's command. And if this alone be done, it is enough." And John died around AD 98 to 100. We're not exactly sure during the reign of Trajan. He was approximately 94 to 96 years old. What an amazing testimony of a man that God shaped in ways that were so difficult.

Well, today I'd like to also look at Andrew, are you open for one more today, this morning, one more? Isn't it wonderful to see how God works in the lives of others? This is like testimony time, right? I love to hear testimonies. Love to see them. Verse 18 of Mark three, we just read him, he says "and Andrew," by the way it means "manly." He was a fisherman from Bethsaida. We're not real sure we know really, in terms of where it was. Generally, I don't think they've been able to excavate it completely, but it was real close to the Capernaum and he was a godly Jew looking for his Messiah. But very little is said about Andrew, his name is not even mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, except in the list of the 12 disciples. And John's gospel gives us just a little bit of information about him that we will see now. Andrew was never as intimate with the Lord as Peter, James, and John and he's usually referred to simply as Peter's brother. We know that he shared a house with Peter in in Capernaum, and they owned a fishing business together, there at the north end of the Sea of Galilee. But we never see him in a public role. We always see him in the background. He was a quiet, faithful, humble, steady kind of guy behind the scenes kind of man. John's Gospel reports how Andrew first was a disciple of John the Baptist. And so you can glean from that, that he was a guy that was comfortable living out in the wilderness, another outdoorsman, just like all the fishermen would be, a man comfortable living an austere type of life like John the Baptist would have done, as he lived and ministered primarily in the wilderness. Who knows he may have, he may have liked locusts and wild honey like John the Baptist, the text doesn't say. But he first went to his brother, we read, and tells Peter that "I found the Messiah," and he introduces him to the Lord. And as we look at the little things that we can see in Scripture about his life, we see that he had just a fearless enthusiasm, to introduce others to Jesus, and that became really characteristic of this apostle. Now, let's look at John one beginning of verse 35. The context here is Jesus has just been baptized and we read in verse 35, of John one, "Again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as He walked and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus." Now, traditionally, the identification of the two disciples was John the Evangelist, the beloved disciple that we've just talked about. And we know the other one for sure was Andrew, according to verse 40. So obviously, they wanted to know more. From the very lips of Jesus, they wanted to engage Jesus naturally, if somebody says, there's the Lamb of God, there's the Messiah. It's like, okay, let's go talk to the Messiah. That's what's going on here. And remember, again, the messianic expectations at this time was at a fever pitch. And we read "And Jesus turned and saw them following Him and said to them, 'What do you seek?' They said to Him, 'Rabbi, (which translated means teacher), where are you staying?'" In other words, let's don't talk here. We want to follow you. We want to go no, let's share a cup of coffee here. "And 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 10th hour." So Jesus was probably staying in some kind of a shelter in the wilderness. They didn't have, you know, Hiltons in those days. Sometimes they would rent places from other people, who knows where they stayed. But it was someplace obviously, where they could sit together and talk. You know, whenever I read these things, I just I, my imagination goes wild. What would that be like? To be able to sit down and talk with Jesus? Absolutely astounding. I mean, if it would have happened today, you know, the phones would be out, we'll be taking selfies, it'd be all over Facebook, right?

By the way, we'll know what it's like to talk with Jesus one of these days, won't we? Verse 40, says, "One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother." And then we read in verse 41. "He found first his own brother Simon, and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah,' (which translated means the Christ).

By the way, this is such a great test of genuine saving faith, isn't it? The first thing that people want to do when they truly come to saving faith in Christ is tell other people about Christ. Not about me, but what Christ has done for me and what he can do for you. By the way, just think about how you were introduced to Christ. Somebody had to tell you, right, somebody had to communicate to you. I remember growing up as a little boy, it was the constant conversation in my, in our house. My parents were always talking to me about Jesus. I remember when Dad bought a series of books about this wide, it was called the Book of Life. It was all kinds of age-appropriate Bible stories. And it started, you know, one for little kids, and then it got increasingly more difficult. And we read through those books and so it was just part of our family life, to talk about Jesus. And I had great Sunday school teachers and youth leaders and people that discipled me, and you all could tell the same story. And beloved, don't ever think that the only way you can be effective and serving Christ is by having some kind of a public teaching or preaching ministry, because that is just not true. We read with Andrew, there was never any indication that he never preached anybody, any of the multitudes, he never taught anybody, but he was always there introducing people to Christ as we will see. I remember I grew up with Nancy in a little, it's actually the first Swedish Baptist Church in the United States there in Moline, Illinois, a lot of the Swedes came to work for John Deere and so forth. Bethany Baptist Church, and I was trained by primarily godly little Swedish women with a Swedish accent. I remember one of my Sunday school teachers, Sallie Mae Land, and she was about probably five feet tall, I could probably pick her up with one arm. And I could still see her with the flannel graph board, teaching me about Jesus. I can think of Nancy and I, Mike Rutherford, if he was here. He's couldn't be here today. But he remembers some of these people, Francis and Ethel Becker and Ethel Peterson, Margaret Peterson, Ethel Pearson, and so on and so forth. I remember these godly Sunday school teachers that taught us that poured their lives into us. Now, I can't remember everything they taught me, but the Spirit of God uses that right? Little by little to bring us to a place of genuine saving faith and my how I thank God for you parents, and you, Sunday school teachers and youth leaders and all of you that are pouring your lives into other people. And that's what we see with Andrew and we need to take every added advantage of every opportunity to do that.

Verse 42, we read that Andrew "brought him to Jesus" and I love this. Andrew literally led his brother to Christ, right? That's what happens here. Andrew brought him to Jesus. And then I love this. "Jesus looked at him and said, 'You are Simon, the son of John, you shall be called Cephas', (which is translated Peter). Well, that's a great way to be introduced, right? I mean, I'm sure there were some other things that were said. But that's what is recorded. And then it was several months later, after Jesus had gone to Jerusalem and cleansed the temple and stirred up the hornet's nest with all of the Jewish leaders that Jesus went back up to the north end of the Sea of Galilee up to Capernaum and called Peter, Andrew, James and John to leave their fishing career and follow Him as we read in Matthew four. And in Luke's account recorded in Luke five, Andrew's name was never ever even mentioned, and yet he was there. So he was the behind the scenes kind of guy. It's interesting, too, that he's always bringing people to Jesus. Another example, the feeding of the 5000, which is really about 25,000, if you included all of the rest that were there beyond just the men, everything was stressed. If you read the account, everything was chaotic. You got people everywhere. You're kind of out in the middle of no place, there's nothing to eat. You know, there's no food trucks pulling up, no place to go. Philip is in a panic. And he says in Matthew 14:15 "This is a deserted place and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away Jesus that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food." I love Jesus reply, they don't need to go away. You give them something to eat. Okay, and then we read in John six, nine what happened? Andrew comes on the scene. And he responds. "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish." In other words, let's just take what the Lord has provided and see what he does, right? This is all we got so let's go from here. You see a guy that's just got this settled confidence in the Lord this, just a faithful servant that trust the Lord and believes in his omniscience and his omnipotence to do what only He can do. I like to think of Andrew as the steady Eddy as we call them. The steady Eddy, that calm, decisive poised guy. He's always relaxed in God's sovereign care, doesn't get flustered; he just exudes strength and stability. He is the opposite of a person that gets panicked and flustered and running around like a chicken with their head cut off, you know, John 12, beginning of verse 20, we read of, of some Greeks, Gentiles, and they come to Philip and they ask Philip, to have him bring them to meet Jesus. And you can almost see if you read the account, Philip basically say, Oh my, these are Gentiles. Oh my, what are we going to do? Oh, my, what should I do? So what does Philip do? He goes to, you guessed it, Andrew. Verse 21, "Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew and Philip, told Jesus. You know, as you think about it, ministry is filled with uncertainties, you never know what's going to happen. When the phone rings, I never know what's going to be on the other line. And it can be very stressful. And boy, it's so great to have people in the church that are calm, that are collected that are steady. You know, a steady hand at the helm of the ship, when the storm is blowing things every which way. And that was Andrew. I think of Apollo 13. Houston, we have a problem. And if Andrew was there, he would have said, I'll handle it. That's kind of who he was. We never see him complain about his position, his role. He's never tried to run under the spotlight. No indication that he wanted to make a name for himself. He you know, he's the type of servant that every pastor in every church longs to have. And by the way, we've got so many of you here at Calvary, I am so blessed, we are so blessed. He lived in the shadow of his brother, Peter. But yeah, he was a bold, decisive man. And he is to the church what stone is to a foundation. You cannot build without it. But you never know it's there. That's who Andrew was. I found that some of the most devastating forces in a church can be a person that is ambitious, that wants to make a name for themselves, that wants to be affirmed and promoted and so on and so forth. Spiritual bullies, rather than gentle shepherds. Those people will drive the sheep and not lead them and scatter them in every direction. Very, very dangerous. Oh, Andrew was the opposite of that. By the way, you show me a man or a woman who is willing to serve the Lord in obscurity, and I'll show you a man or a woman that God will use to change the world. And that's what we see here.

Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland. And one Scotsman Daniel McLean wrote this of him, "Gathering together the traces of character found in Scripture about Andrew, we find neither the writer of an epistle nor the founder of a church nor a leading figure in the apostolic age, but simply an intimate disciple of Jesus Christ, ever anxious that others should know the spring of spiritual joy and share the blessing he so highly prized. A man of very moderate endowment, who scarcely redeemed his early promise, simply minded and sympathetic without either dramatic power, or heroic spirit, yet with that clinging confidence in Christ, that brought him into that inner circle of the 12. A man of deep religious feeling, with little power of expression, magnetic more than electric, better suited for the quiet walks of life than the stirring thoroughfares. Andrew is the apostle of the private life, the disciple of the hearth." He's the type of man you want to sit around the fire with you know, build that fire in the mountains when the horses had been put away and you want to talk with Andrew. There's no record of him again preaching or founding a church never even mentioned in the book of Acts or the the epistles, but I praise God for all of the Andrews in my life and all of the Andrews here in this church, Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, just so many people that serve in so many ways. By the way, what a contrast to his brother, right? Peter versus Andrew, what a contrast, yet what a team, a team that God used to change the world. I hope this gives you hope in what God can do in your life. Well In closing, tradition tells us that Andrew took the gospel north as far as Scythia. According to Eusebius, ancient historian, he was considered not only the patron saint of Scotland, but also of Russia. And he was eventually crucified in Achaia which is southern Greece, that would be somewhere near Athens. According to one account, quote, "he led the wife of a provincial Roman governor to Christ. And that infuriated her husband. He demanded that his wife recant her devotion to Jesus Christ, and she refused. So the governor had Andrew crucified. By the governor's orders, those who crucified Him lashed him to his cross instead of nailing him in order to prolong his sufferings." Tradition says it was a Saltire that's an X shape crossed, sometimes now it's called the Cross of St. Andrew. "By most accounts, he hung on the cross for two days, exhorting passer buys, to turn to Christ for salvation." Be fun to talk with Andrew someday won't it? What a legacy of godliness, a faithful soldier of the cross, that fought many, many battles that no one would ever even know anything about, except the all-seeing eye of his general. And now his reward is great beyond comprehension. Beloved, even as Jesus shaped these two men, he shaping us and we need to humble ourselves before his word and submit to His cleansing work in our lives. Amen? I wrote a little poem reflecting upon this and I'll close with this thought.

I stand in all of all my sin. Selfish lusts reside within, Nare does a new day dawn, but what my heart more sin doth spawn. Yet by His grace and gift of faith, my sins forgiven, the dead erased and slowly still, my life he shapes until like him, my soul, he makes. Let's pray together. Father, we rejoice in the miracle of regeneration. And that ongoing work of sanctification whereby you can form us evermore into the likeness of your precious son, our Savior. Thank you for the testimonies of these dear men that you called to be your apostles. And I pray that we like them will submit to your pruning work in our lives, that we might bear much fruit, to the praise of your glory, and for our eternal joy. And Father, if there be one here today that's living a life of ungodliness, a life of hypoxia, see, a life that is well known for its wickedness. I pray that you will break that heart and cause them to run to the foot of the cross and cry out for forgiveness for mercy, that you will grant so quickly and so freely to those who are truly broken over their sin. May today be the day that they will experience the miracle of the new birth. Thank you for your word. Thank you for its power in our lives changes evermore for the glory of Christ. For it's in his name that I pray. Amen.