Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20230326 - Philip the Apostle: Follow Me! - John 1, 6, 12, 14
Transcript
- 0:05Welcome to the study of God's word recorded live at Calvary
- 0:09Church in Aurora, Colorado, to learn more about the many
- 0:12resources available, through abounding Grace, Media, or to
- 0:15tune into our live stream Services.
- 0:18Visit us online at Calvary. Co dot church or download our
- 0:22free Calvary Church app now. Let's open our Bibles and study
- 0:26God's word. The Gospel of John and we're
- 0:33going to be doing something a little form that's different.
- 0:38It's called a character study. And what a character study is is
- 0:42you take a particular person that's mentioned in the
- 0:46scriptures and you follow them in the scriptures and you
- 0:50examine what was going on when they are mentioned each
- 0:55situation. And there's something to learn
- 0:57in doing a character study, it's a different way is still
- 1:01Diverse. It's still, you know, you're
- 1:03looking at it, wanting to observe the text interpret, the
- 1:06text and then apply the text. But there are four places in the
- 1:10Gospel of John, where the Apostle Philip is mentioned
- 1:14specifically. And there's this interaction
- 1:17between Philip and Jesus that communicates to us, something
- 1:22about what it's like to follow Jesus.
- 1:26And the process of following him and our whole life journey and
- 1:30following him, As we'll talk about.
- 1:32And so I'm going to take these four sections and I'm going to
- 1:36put them in these titles. So those of you taking notes,
- 1:39you can write these titles down and follow along.
- 1:43The first section is John chapter 1 verses 43 to 46 and
- 1:48I'm entitling that called to follow.
- 1:52The second time we see, Phillip mentioned in John's gospel.
- 1:56Is John chapter 6 verses 5 through 7 and I've entitled That
- 2:01challenged in following. The third part is in John
- 2:07chapter 12, verse 20, through 22, and that's, I've entitled
- 2:12connecting others to follow. And the fourth one is in.
- 2:18John 14 verses 6 through 11, and I've entitled that Clarity in
- 2:23following. So it really centers Upon Jesus.
- 2:28Command follow me. And that's the first one that
- 2:32we'll be talking about here. And I want to suggest to you
- 2:36that all our lives as Believers. That two-word phrase applies.
- 2:45Because when you're at the end of yourself and you don't know
- 2:48what's next, follow me, the chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ is
- 2:55the the final answer, it all comes down to that, we want the
- 2:58methods, we want the details, and sometimes we got to take
- 3:02that and put it aside and say just follow him because he is
- 3:09currently leading Us by way of the Holy Spirit.
- 3:13And so, after the message will be celebrating communion
- 3:17together. And so this message will go lead
- 3:20right up into that. And this will be a wonderful
- 3:23time between us and the Lord. And by the way, if as I'm going
- 3:27through the word, God begins to speak to your heart, about some
- 3:30things going on in your life, write it down.
- 3:36Don't just go, that's coincidental.
- 3:38No, no write it down because the Lord knows you're here.
- 3:44And I'm some random old guy talking to you from the Bible
- 3:49and you're here, and it seems like it's just coincidence.
- 3:52But as not, God knows you're here.
- 3:55And he wants to speak to your heart because the work of the
- 3:58church is done out there. When you go out these doors, you
- 4:02enter your mission field. God puts you where he puts It's
- 4:05you on purpose, and he knows what's going on.
- 4:08So let's start with a word of prayer.
- 4:10And let's see what the Lord has for us today.
- 4:14Father, God, we thank you for your word and we're looking
- 4:17forward to how you might minister to us personally and
- 4:22collectively as a congregation and even Lord.
- 4:25It's Going Beyond this way. These walls to those that are
- 4:29watching online and those who will be watching online, maybe
- 4:33years from now. And so we We so this just like
- 4:37seed into the ground that you might bear fruit in our hearts
- 4:41and wherever you see it wants to go in Jesus name, amen?
- 4:47Okay, let's take a look. First of all at John chapter 1
- 4:51verses 43 246. Before we read it here where we
- 4:57are is John, the Baptist is baptizing in an area.
- 5:02North of the Dead Sea? Just north and east of the Dead
- 5:05Sea. In a tributary that's dumping
- 5:07into the Jordan River. And all these people are coming
- 5:10out to John, even Jesus came down from Nazareth and he was
- 5:15baptized by John and then he ends up 40 days in the mountains
- 5:21called the Mount of Temptation, where he's tempted of the devil
- 5:24during those 40 days. And after those 40 days, he
- 5:28comes back to where John the Baptist is baptizing with all
- 5:33these people around him. And listening and pondering and
- 5:38trying to get their lives, right?
- 5:40So here's where we enter this in chapter 43.
- 5:43Excuse me. 1:43, the following day.
- 5:48Jesus wanted to go to Galilee and he found Philip and said to
- 5:54him, follow me. Now, Philip was from bethsaida.
- 5:59The city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said
- 6:05to him. We have found him of whom Moses
- 6:08in the law and also the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son
- 6:12of Joseph and Nathaniel said to him, can any good thing come out
- 6:17of Nazareth, Philip said to him, come and see.
- 6:23This is the first time in all the gospel.
- 6:25Records were Jesus initiates a call follow me.
- 6:31When you look at all four gospel records in the timeline, this is
- 6:35the first follow me that we hear from Jesus. 19 times.
- 6:40We hear it through the four gospel records and the last
- 6:44follow me was also in John's gospel.
- 6:47As Jesus said to, Peter follow me because Peter was saying, NG.
- 6:53Well, you told me what's going to happen to me?
- 6:54What about John, what's he going to do, which is what we all do.
- 6:57We look at everybody else and think, hey, how come they get to
- 7:00do this? And I don't know that the point
- 7:03is follow me. So the last follow me, was Jesus
- 7:07words to Peter saying, you keep your eyes on me.
- 7:10And what I'm doing in your life is the most important thing,
- 7:13never mind about him. And so, here we are now in
- 7:17chapter one. And I want you to see in verse
- 7:2143, I want you Underlying these three words in verse 43, he
- 7:27found Philip, that's important. How many were they gathered
- 7:33there at John's baptism? All there were scores of people
- 7:38that were just wanting to get their heart right wanting to get
- 7:41their lives together and and what was going on with John was
- 7:45an amazing move of the spirit and so they're going to check it
- 7:49out and they're going to be baptized by John and that
- 7:52baptism was a baptism of repentance.
- 7:55It was saying, I want to get rid of my old life and I want a new
- 7:59life pleasing to God. That was the expression of
- 8:02John's baptism, a baptism of repentance, And with all those
- 8:07people there Jesus comes up to Philip and he says, follow me.
- 8:15Why didn't you say that to everybody?
- 8:19Because the father was watching, Philip.
- 8:24And when you think about it, those of you that are believers
- 8:27in here. Do you realize that God had his
- 8:32eye on you the whole time? And he knew what you were going
- 8:36to go through and I know you got a lot of questions about all
- 8:40that happened. But, you know, he he pursued
- 8:45you. He sought you out of a crowd and
- 8:48he comes. He came to you and he says,
- 8:51follow me. Because when Jesus seeks you out
- 8:56and finds you, that's his command follow me.
- 9:01It's like, okay, what am I supposed to do?
- 9:03Religiously. Follow me.
- 9:07Those two words, clear out the closet.
- 9:13But then take a look at verse 45.
- 9:18Philip gets excited and he goes to Nathaniel his buddy.
- 9:22And he says to him, we have found him.
- 9:26Wait a minute, that's not how it was.
- 9:30Phillip just didn't find Jesus. Jesus found him.
- 9:35And then Phillip goes and says, oh, we found him.
- 9:38But let's get it. Let's get it straight.
- 9:41If Phil, come on now, he found you.
- 9:45And isn't it the witness of our life with you as a Believer?
- 9:48The reality that God found you. and his command to you is follow
- 9:55Jesus, Jesus is the focus, Follow Me, Jesus said, Two years
- 10:06later, actually. Three years later.
- 10:09Jesus spoke to the disciples in John 15, and he affirms to them
- 10:14in verse 16, you did not choose me, But I chose you.
- 10:21And I've appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and
- 10:26that your fruit should remain that, whatever you ask, the
- 10:29father in my name, he may give you these things.
- 10:32I command you that you love one. Another God not only has chosen
- 10:38you, he's called you, he's appointed you to bear fruit and
- 10:43that that fruit should remain. And what is that fruit in the
- 10:46context? It is the fruit of the spirit of
- 10:49God's love because when God's at, when God's love, saturates
- 10:54your heart and impacts your life from the inside out, You're not
- 11:00focused on self, you're focused on what he has done for you and
- 11:06it impacts how you communicate with others that you interact
- 11:10with. You can even love your enemies
- 11:13with the love that. God puts into your heart.
- 11:15You can't manufacture that. Love it.
- 11:18Has to come from heaven. And so here Jesus is saying,
- 11:23love one another. This is the fruit.
- 11:26When loves saturates your heart. Then you can ask the father,
- 11:30whatever you will, and he'll do it because it's not
- 11:33self-focused. It has to do with his heart for
- 11:37other people. And so why was Philip even down
- 11:44there? He's From Galilee.
- 11:47He's a grown man what made him leave Galilee and go down to the
- 11:53area. North of the Dead Sea where John
- 11:55was baptizing? Something was stirring in his
- 11:58heart. And I want to suggest to you
- 12:01that often times, when you take a look at those of you that are
- 12:06believers, when you take a look at the process that God brought
- 12:10you through to bring you to the point of Follow Me.
- 12:16God was working. There was something stirring and
- 12:19Philips heart as well as Andrew and Peter and John and all the
- 12:26rest of them that had made their way they prompt.
- 12:29I'm sure they knew each other but they came down there because
- 12:33there was something that they just had to get.
- 12:35They had to figure it out. God was working and stirring,
- 12:39and all that stirring led up to meeting Jesus.
- 12:44And it changed their life. It was an impact moment in their
- 12:48life that they never knew was going to happen when they left
- 12:53Galilee. And by the way, some of you may
- 12:57be here today, And it's an impact moment for you because
- 13:04God has been watching you this whole time and he knows what
- 13:09you're going through and he knows that you don't have the
- 13:12answers and he's giving you the first answer and that's followed
- 13:17Jesus. Yeah.
- 13:19But how's it going to pay the rent?
- 13:21You know, I've got rent to and I've got this do.
- 13:23And what about my marriage? It's all messed up.
- 13:25And, you know, how's that going to work?
- 13:27And you have to take all those things and kind of scrape them
- 13:31together. Put them in a basket and set him
- 13:34before Jesus, and and then be good with follow him.
- 13:40Because it's a journey day by day, and it's an adventure.
- 13:44And you don't, you don't know the answers, but at least he
- 13:47does and he'll probably do it different than you would plan
- 13:51just to put you back on your heels because you're not in
- 13:55charge. He's God, God, incarnate, follow
- 13:58me is what Jesus said. So what piped Phillips interest?
- 14:03It's because John said this after Jesus came back from his
- 14:09time of Temptation John 1:29 234 here's what John the Baptist
- 14:15said to he those that were gathered he points to Jesus as
- 14:19Jesus came back. He says Behold the Lamb of God
- 14:23who takes away the sins of the world.
- 14:27This is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks before
- 14:31me because he was before me, I myself, did not know him.
- 14:37But for this purpose, I came baptizing with water that that
- 14:42he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness.
- 14:47I saw the Spirit descend from heaven, like a dove, and it
- 14:52remained on him. Notice the past tense.
- 14:56I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with
- 15:01water said to me, he on whom you see the spirit descend and
- 15:06remain. This is he who baptizes with the
- 15:11Holy Spirit and I have seen and have borne witness that this is
- 15:17the Son of God, man. That's a major statement in
- 15:21those days because there were religious rulers that were
- 15:25standing around. And and this was blasphemy to
- 15:28them, but it was reality. it was Jesus, the son of God, God
- 15:35incarnate Philip, it says, here was from the city of bethsaida
- 15:41on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee and the text also
- 15:45records that Andrew and Peter were from that same Village.
- 15:48This isn't a metropolitan town this is like a village so
- 15:52everybody knew each other and this is important because we're
- 15:56going to refer to it in the next section.
- 16:01Jesus found Philip and then Philip found Nathanael and I
- 16:06want to suggest you. That's how evangelism is.
- 16:11Jesus works in your life and then he uses you to touch other
- 16:15people. Well, yeah, but I don't know.
- 16:18All the theology did Philip know the theology.
- 16:22All he could say to Nathaniel is, we have found Jesus.
- 16:27How did Philip deal with? Nathaniel's objection that
- 16:30Nazareth wasn't part of the Prophecies of the coming
- 16:34Messiah? Which he missed regarding the
- 16:36branch. By the way, it's another study.
- 16:40And you know what Phillip said? Just come and see.
- 16:45And that's what evangelism is. You don't have to play Holy
- 16:48Spirit with people, you just have to invite them to meet
- 16:52Jesus. Personally, he'll he'll answer
- 16:55the questions. He'll meet you in the way,
- 16:58whatever your situation is it's him.
- 17:02And and that's really the heart of evangelism.
- 17:06You can start there, my wife. And I when we go to a place to
- 17:11eat I always like to put the waiter or A waitress on the
- 17:16spot. So we're ordering our meal and
- 17:19all and they're, they're taking the order.
- 17:21And then I say, okay, now, once your name again, what's your
- 17:25name? And they tell me the name and
- 17:27their name and I says, you know, we're Christians here and we
- 17:30usually pray for our meal and we'd like to pray for you.
- 17:33What can we pray for you about? And it's like they're staring at
- 17:38their pad and they're going I don't think I've ever had this
- 17:41happen to me before. And sometimes, they'll say,
- 17:45well, you know, it's from my distant relative, just kind of
- 17:48pushing themselves, you know, I don't want to, but then
- 17:50sometimes it's a Divine appointment and tears well up,
- 17:55and they go. I don't know what to do.
- 18:00Yeah, I would have really appreciate prayer and all the
- 18:04sudden you're in a Divine appointment with a waiter or a
- 18:07waitress, it's not the, you got to stand up in the table and
- 18:10preached to the whole restaurant.
- 18:12But that one interaction is so easy to do after all.
- 18:17They want the tip and they're not going to leave, you know.
- 18:20And so so you got kind of have a captive audience, you know, and
- 18:23and and so and then so that, you know, they'll share with you
- 18:27generally. and then, Pray right then.
- 18:32Don't wait till the meal comes. Because sometimes a different
- 18:36server will deliver the food. All right, then because God
- 18:41wants to just use those simple moments.
- 18:43It may break into something more deep, it may break into a whole
- 18:47relationship than and you want to follow up with them and just
- 18:52see what the Lord does. Jesus found Philip and Philip
- 18:57found Nathanael let's go on John.
- 18:59Chapter 6 is our second area Challenge and following.
- 19:03And in John, chapter 6, where we are in time is 2 years later.
- 19:08And all these people are following Jesus up north and
- 19:13they end up in an area east of the area of bethsaida where
- 19:17Philip was from, where he grew up.
- 19:20And so it's kind of an empty field area.
- 19:24And all four gospels record this miracle of the feeding of the
- 19:29five thousand men plus women and children.
- 19:32And I love this section because it includes statements that have
- 19:37been one of my life verses. So, all these people are,
- 19:43they're, they're hanging out listening to Jesus.
- 19:46They've been there a long time. The sun is starting to go down.
- 19:52And here's what Jesus says. Verse 5 chapter 6 of John then
- 19:59Jesus lifted up his eyes and seeing a great multitude coming
- 20:04toward him. He said to Philip Where shall we
- 20:09buy bread that these may eat? But this he said to test him
- 20:16for, he himself knew what he would do.
- 20:20Philip answered him, two hundred denarii, what the bread is not
- 20:23sufficient for them. That every one of them, a little
- 20:27one of his disciples Andrew Simon Peters brother said to
- 20:31him, there's a lad here who has five barley Loaves and two small
- 20:35fish, but what are they among so many then Jesus said make the
- 20:40people sit down Now, there was much grass in the place.
- 20:44So the men sat down in number about 5,000 Why did he come to
- 20:51Philip? Because Philip knew the area,
- 20:54but he also was testing, Phillip Phillips seems to be a guy that
- 20:58calculated things pretty quickly.
- 21:01Kind of a realist. You know, some of us are more
- 21:04idealist. We liked, we like the perfect
- 21:06thing, but Philip was kind of a realist.
- 21:10And so he comes to Phillip to test him to test him and the
- 21:15test wasn't to destroy him or to mock him or to belittle him.
- 21:19The test was to reveal God's glory.
- 21:22Reenter revealed the faith that he had built into Philip
- 21:26already. But Phillip is trying to process
- 21:30it his following, Jesus, two years now, but still every day
- 21:35is different. And by the way, that's a
- 21:39reminder. When you follow Jesus every day
- 21:43will be different. And just when you figure it out,
- 21:46you're going to find out, you haven't figured it out.
- 21:49Oh, you had this, this really Choice plan.
- 21:52Everything was going to everything is working smoothly
- 21:55and all the sudden things happen and a 10, it collapses like
- 22:00dominoes. not Domino's Pizza, But Domino's It collapses and
- 22:08you're going but it was such a good plan.
- 22:10I had it all set. How, how did I not see this
- 22:14coming? Will you can't see everything.
- 22:18I mean, you have an enemy of your soul Satan and just wants
- 22:22to tear down your life. He comes to seek to kill and to
- 22:25destroy. But the chief Shepherd is with
- 22:32you. You know what?
- 22:34John says, here. He's the only one that says
- 22:35this. He just throws his random
- 22:38sentence in. There was much grass in the
- 22:40place. Now, when I was running a
- 22:42Christian house, you guys saw the movie Jesus Revolution, my
- 22:46wife and I ran two of those houses.
- 22:48Okay, that's that's how far back we go.
- 22:51And I remember one Bible study hearing of this hippie that was
- 22:54in there and says, oh look at this, there was much grass in
- 22:58the place and, you know, it was marijuana and then so that's
- 23:01what that's what it's saying here.
- 23:03It's okay to smoke dope. And as like, wow, there is
- 23:07something called context you when you're looking at this.
- 23:11No, that's not what it means. Yeah.
- 23:13But what's, what's grass meet on the Greek?
- 23:15Okay, it means it means grass, you know, But you know, we just
- 23:24read Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
- 23:28not want. He makes me lie down.
- 23:31We're in Green Pastures. And I think personally, John
- 23:36through this in because that was on his heart, because he saw
- 23:41that Shepherd settling everyone down as well as a disciples in
- 23:46the midst of their questions. Do you realize he has him?
- 23:50Do something. Seemingly random.
- 23:54He gives them something to do. But he is a god of order.
- 24:00And so he says to them, make the people sit down other gospels
- 24:04say in groups of 50. Well, good luck with that with
- 24:07five thousand men plus women and children.
- 24:11So he kept them busy as he sought the father on the
- 24:15process. And I want to suggest to you in
- 24:19your impossible situation. Jesus knows what to do.
- 24:25And He will test you with questions.
- 24:27Like, where we going to buy bread?
- 24:30How we going to handle this? Yes, your mortgage is due on the
- 24:33first, you have no money. Yes, you're ready to lose your
- 24:36house. What are you going to do?
- 24:39Why does he ask us questions? If he knows already what to do.
- 24:41Why does he ask questions? Because he wants us involved in
- 24:46the learning process? Us since we're following him.
- 24:51Can you trust Jesus? Without knowing the how of how
- 24:56it's all going to work? Can you do that?
- 24:59That's what you're called to do in following Jesus.
- 25:02Stop trying to figure it out. And just let him reveal it.
- 25:08Take step one, and he'll show you a step 2.
- 25:12After you taken step one, the disciples woke up that morning
- 25:16and had no idea. This was going to happen, and I
- 25:19love Jesus statement here to Philip, where shall we buy
- 25:23bread? Philip knew the area.
- 25:25He grew up there. This is a small village.
- 25:28There are no kiosks out there. There's no trick fillet out
- 25:31there. You know, where we going to buy
- 25:32bread? Plus, we don't have any money.
- 25:34I mean, this is like 200, denarii worth of bread that this
- 25:38is that six months wages, take your salary right now.
- 25:42Six months wages. We don't have that in the bank
- 25:45Judas. I don't know what he's doing
- 25:47with the money, but he we don't have that kind of money.
- 25:51And then there's no places around here.
- 25:53I mean, how we going to feed all this, this is ridiculous.
- 25:56And sometimes the Lord brings us to ridiculous.
- 26:01Just so that we're convinced it's impossible.
- 26:05Do you know that every miracle that was done was done at a time
- 26:09of impossible? There was desperation every
- 26:13single time before a miracle occurred.
- 26:18We want to we want the miracle life really, really So, what's
- 26:24that look like, right before the miracle, according to the
- 26:27pattern, and the gospels? These are going to get pretty
- 26:30rough for you, if that's what you're looking for.
- 26:34As man, I tell you what when you're at the end of yourself
- 26:37and there is nothing. Nothing nothing.
- 26:41And you're in going through Brokenness.
- 26:45You're confused, you're hurt, you're doubtful, you're upset,
- 26:49you're angry, you blame other people.
- 26:55Follow Me, Jesus said, because I lead you through valleys of the
- 27:00shadow of death. I want you to learn to fear.
- 27:04No evil because I'm with you. I've got a rod to take care of
- 27:09your enemies. I've got a staff to pull you out
- 27:12of the ditches. Can you believe that?
- 27:15I mean, we memorize Psalm 23, but that's so important.
- 27:22Verse 6 is huge, but this Jesus said to test him for, he himself
- 27:28knew what he would do. What's your situation this
- 27:33morning? Do you believe that Jesus knows
- 27:38what to do? You might say, well, yeah, but
- 27:42he's not talking well, okay. He doesn't have to talk to you.
- 27:46You just have to follow him. He doesn't have to explain
- 27:50everything he does before he does it.
- 27:53Because that's part of the mystery of following the Lord.
- 27:57Why do we demand answers? He's the Lord.
- 28:01He's God. And even if he told us, as a
- 28:03matter of fact, he told the disciples, you know, I'm going
- 28:07to, but you don't understand yet, but you'll understand
- 28:11later. At least you'll understand
- 28:14eventually. Hindsight hindsight is a
- 28:17wonderful thing. By the way, when they got done,
- 28:24they took this little kids, Happy Meal of five, barley
- 28:26Loaves and two fish. Do small fish.
- 28:29These are like sardines. I mean, these aren't like
- 28:31tilapia big, big plate of Ventures a small fish and it's
- 28:35it's fish. That's dried and salted for a
- 28:38lunch. You don't put fresh fish in a
- 28:40kid's lunch. And so five barley loaves.
- 28:44That's like, you know, small Peter loaves of barley which is
- 28:48like Health Food, how come health food, always tastes bad.
- 28:52I mean it just it it always is you bite into a cliff bar and
- 28:56you lose 3/4 of your feelings, trying to get it out.
- 28:59Why is that it just frustrates? Me.
- 29:02That's off a cliff to me. Okay, sorry.
- 29:05But barley loaves are the basis of grains.
- 29:08Barley is what was part of horse feet.
- 29:11So this was want something like super special.
- 29:16And so they took these kids Happy Meal, which is about what
- 29:19for shekels, .99 or something, you know, on and so they they
- 29:22brought it to Jesus. What is this?
- 29:25And sometimes all you have to offer.
- 29:27Jesus is is so insignificant. But he takes what you offer to
- 29:34him and he does amazing things with it.
- 29:38And I want to I'm just real impressed to tell you some of
- 29:41you have been holding back from the Lord with who you are
- 29:46because you just don't think it's worth much because that's
- 29:52what your parents told you. That's what you feel about
- 29:56yourself. And God wants to just speak to
- 29:59you saying, I want to take what you have, and I want to multiply
- 30:05it. But I need to do it when you
- 30:09give it to me first. And how do you do that?
- 30:19You just say, Lord here I am. Whatever it's worth.
- 30:29I give my life to you. I don't know how you're going to
- 30:36use me. I don't know what's in store.
- 30:39But I need my, I need you to clean my life up. you know, when
- 30:46Ezekiel God promises to do that, It is equal 36 25.
- 30:51It says then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall
- 30:56be clean. I will cleanse you from all your
- 31:00filthiness and from all your idols, And I will give you a new
- 31:05heart and put a new spirit within you.
- 31:09I will take the Heart of Stone out of your flesh and give you a
- 31:13heart of Flesh. I will put my spirit within you
- 31:17and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my
- 31:21judgments and do them. How how would you reject that?
- 31:30That's what the Lord wants to do.
- 31:33But you got to bring your life to him and let it go get.
- 31:37Take your hands off of it. When we take communion at the
- 31:43end of the message, this is going to be that point when
- 31:47you're going to say to Jesus, I'm all-in.
- 31:51And so consider that but where you need to go on to part 3
- 31:55here, connecting others to follow Jesus.
- 31:58John chapter 12, let's go over. Now to John chapter 12, this is
- 32:03the third time that we see Phillips name show up in the
- 32:06Gospel of John. John chapter 12 verses 20 to 22
- 32:12where we are in the time, is right before the Passover, the
- 32:16last passover before, Jesus is crucified thereafter.
- 32:20And so there in the temple area in the temple area, in herod's
- 32:25Temple, they had different courts leading up to where the
- 32:29temple was. They had the outer Court, called
- 32:32the court of the Gentiles. Those are for those Gentiles who
- 32:36were proselytes to Judaism and then the next court is called
- 32:42the court of the women. It was a smaller court and then
- 32:45inside that was a smaller area called the court of men.
- 32:49And finally Inner Court called the court of the priests
- 32:53wherein, was the altar of burnt offering.
- 32:57So it's important to note how John remembers this?
- 33:00And he says, he writes here in verse 20.
- 33:03Now, there were certain Greeks among those who came to worship
- 33:07at the festival. These were Gentiles that had
- 33:10converted to Judaism then they came to Philip who was from
- 33:15bethsaida of Galilee and asked him saying, sir, we wish to see
- 33:21Jesus, Phillip came and told Andrew and intern, Andrew, and
- 33:26Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered them saying
- 33:31the hour has come that the son of man should be glorified, most
- 33:37assuredly, I say to you unless a grain of wheat falls into the
- 33:41ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies it
- 33:46produces much grain, he who loves his life will lose it and
- 33:53he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal
- 33:56life. If anyone.
- 33:59Serves me let him follow me and where I am there.
- 34:03My servant will be if anyone serves me him.
- 34:08My father will honor. It doesn't say that Philip and
- 34:13Andrew brought these Greeks to Jesus.
- 34:16At this point, they just came to Jesus and going what do we do
- 34:20with this? And Jesus is saying fellas.
- 34:25The hour has come. This whole kingdom is going to
- 34:31be filled with Gentiles that will believe on my name.
- 34:36And it's interesting that Philip and Andrew were Greek names.
- 34:40And so, these Greeks came to them and said, we want to see
- 34:44Jesus. And, and I want to suggest to
- 34:46you that the Lord still wants to use us.
- 34:51When people come to us, and they say we see Jesus in your life
- 34:57and we We want to know him. How can that be possible?
- 35:02We'll listen, God is using your life and other people are
- 35:07watching. You, you know what, work, the
- 35:10one employee that just always gives you a bad time because
- 35:13you're a Christian always sets things up and and just you know,
- 35:17sets you up to mock you and all You know, the phrase a good, a
- 35:22good of a good defense is a, is a healthy offense.
- 35:26And so what they're doing is they're being offensive,
- 35:28offensive offensive because they don't want you to know they're
- 35:32inquiring. They would like to know.
- 35:35I saw that in my life before I came to the Lord, such a big
- 35:40defense. That was my offense, just
- 35:43belittling them laughing at them, mocking him Come on.
- 35:47Well, you know, I'm just and the Lord just say, you know, the
- 35:52Lord says, you know, Bob you have issues and I have the
- 35:56answers and so I'm going to put these guys in your face and wear
- 36:00you down. And then there's going to come
- 36:03that time when the Holy Spirit takes the drawstring and goes
- 36:07and all of a sudden, it all makes sense.
- 36:09In you, then you get a little scared because you go, oh my
- 36:12goodness. This could be real.
- 36:14But if this is real, I lose everything.
- 36:17All the sin that's important to me.
- 36:20Well yeah that's the point and so he starts working.
- 36:25God uses us. I remember back in the mid-70s.
- 36:30When genius oldest sister came to us in the middle of our youth
- 36:35ministry, there in Oregon and she says to us, you're probably
- 36:41wondering why I came down to see you and we want.
- 36:44Yeah, they say, well, I've been watching your guys's life.
- 36:50And I want what you have and it was like, what really?
- 36:57I thought? You thought we were crazy, we
- 36:58were in some kind of cold. Now, I've been watching and I
- 37:02need what you guys have so we let her to the Lord.
- 37:06I mean we had no idea, God has people watching you and you may
- 37:11never know, g Get To Heaven who they are, but it's called
- 37:15treasure in heaven, that's fine. And so, when I look at this
- 37:19here, I see the Greeks coming. The proselytes coming and and
- 37:24saying, we want to see Jesus because we know you're one of
- 37:27his followers. Well, let's keep on going this
- 37:30finish out, John 14 verse 6 through 11, and now we are in
- 37:35this Special discourse between Jesus and his disciples before
- 37:41he is betrayed and let up to be crucified.
- 37:45John 14 verses 6 through 11. This is the fourth place where
- 37:49Phillips name is, is mentioned. He says here in verse 6, Jesus
- 37:56said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life.
- 38:01No one comes to the father, except through me.
- 38:06If you had known me you would have known my father also and
- 38:11from now on you know him and have seen him Philip said to
- 38:17him, Lord show us the father and it is sufficient for us.
- 38:23And Jesus said to him have I been with you so long and yet
- 38:29you have not known me Philip he who has seen me has seen the
- 38:34father. So how How can you say show us
- 38:37the father? Do you not believe that I am in
- 38:40the father and the father in me the words that I speak to you.
- 38:44I do not speak on my own authority but the father who
- 38:47dwells in me does the works, believe me that I am in the
- 38:52father and the father in me or else believe me for the sake of
- 38:56the works themselves. Here is Philip at the end of
- 39:01three years, still trying to process things and Jesus makes
- 39:05these statements and he's going Well, I haven't.
- 39:10I am seeing the father show us the father and will be
- 39:13satisfied. And and notice how Jesus answers
- 39:18him. He doesn't reprove him, he
- 39:21doesn't rebuke him. He kindly responds to Philip
- 39:25after three years and he says to him, Have I been with you so
- 39:31long? And you haven't known me,
- 39:34Philip. And I want to suggest you that
- 39:39the this is a line. I think the Lord uses regularly
- 39:43with us because we have our doubts, I don't know how that's
- 39:46going to work out. What, what are you saying?
- 39:50What's this mean? And he would say, have I been
- 39:54with you so long and yet you haven't known me my heart.
- 39:59Sometimes we overlay Upon Jesus and God the Father.
- 40:04The abuse that we received growing up and we think God is
- 40:08like that. And we need to learn fresh.
- 40:12What the heart of God is like we need to unhook from what we have
- 40:20had happened to us deep in our soul.
- 40:23We've got to unhook it and let him reveal himself fresh.
- 40:29Because when you get to know Jesus, it changes you from the
- 40:34inside out. Show us the father.
- 40:43And will be satisfied. No, Philip.
- 40:50You know, you've walked with me for three years.
- 40:54It's you and me, that's what it's all about.
- 40:58Because whatever I hear the father say those are the things
- 41:01I speak, whatever I see the father do, those are the things
- 41:05I do. You're seeing God In Action
- 41:09because I am God incarnate. And so, as we close here, I just
- 41:16want you to know that the Lord sees you.
- 41:21And he deals with you, he's not looking to push you away.
- 41:25He wants to draw you in. We pray that you've been
- 41:29encouraged by this Bible. Study delivered live from the
- 41:32sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
- 41:34Call us at 877, 30 Grace. That's eight 77304, 2:53 to
- 41:44listen to this message in its entirety or to join us for our
- 41:47live stream Services. Visit us online at Calvary.
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- 41:55blessed as you worship Jesus this week.