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John 1:35-51 Bridge 5.26.19 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  John chapter 1. I had the privilege just last week, Wednesday night, of speaking at the Jefferson Academy Baccalaureate. Some of the parents who had been recruited to be the Baccalaureate committee called me and said, we would like you to be the guest speaker. Would you be willing, Pastor Danny, to consider being the guest speaker at our Baccalaureate service? And I said, absolutely, I would be honored. And as soon as I got off the phone with them, I said, hey, Siri, define Baccalaureate.
• 0:30
  I had no idea what it was. I've never been to one before. I thought, you know, the root word has got to be bachelorette. And I thought, that's a weird, what am I speaking at? You know, what did I just commit to? And I really did. I Googled it and found out that a baccalaureate is a religious service commending and commissioning graduates. And typically...
• 0:52
  secular schools, public schools will have these baccalaureate services because they're not a part of a Christian school and not a part of a church. And so they'll have this religious service to commend those who are religious in the school. And I was nervous about it for a few reasons. And you've got to know, I don't get nervous with public speaking anymore. I mean, I am at this point in my life, thousands of sermons in. And so I don't get nervous, but I was nervous about this one for a few reasons. Number one, it's a public school.
• 1:22
  And so the name of Jesus is not often invoked on this campus. It was on their campus, and there was even some debate and some argument over whether it could be even on the campus. Can the school even provide a building for it? They did end up doing it, however. It's a public school. The second reason was that although there are many believing families at the school, the overall sentiment...
• 1:50
  toward Christ and the church at the school is not favorable. And then third, the service was supposed to be, and the word they gave me was, interreligious. Interreligious, which means it's a religious service. It's not a Christian service. It's a religious service. And so any religion that wants to be a part of it can be a part of it. So you can proclaim the name of any God you want. It's supposed to be a representation of...
• 2:20
  the religious kids at the school. And so when they asked me to speak, I told them that I only talk about one God, right? If you want an interreligious speaker, you didn't get him. I only talk about one God. I only preach in one name. And they replied with, we know who you are and that's totally fine. I said, okay. I got 15 minutes.
• 2:50
  To preach in this one hour service, I got up there just like I am in front of all of you. I got up there. I opened my Bible just like I do with all of you. And I began to preach from Matthew chapter 14. And I told them that they were going to hear probably what is a pretty typical baccalaureate message. In fact, I said.
• 3:11
  East Coast to West Coast, from preschool all the way through college graduates, probably the same baccalaureate message is being given everywhere. I told them, you probably already guessed the passage that I'm about to preach. And then I turned to the beheading of John the Baptist. And I thought, because if a Baptist is going to get up and preach, there might be one more beheading. I thought, I don't know. And I told them the story about John the Baptist being beheaded and how...
• 3:43
  senseless his execution was that he'd been imprisoned for preaching against king herod and his immoral affair with the woman that was his sister-in-law and his
• 4:00
  This young girl during this party that he threw dances. You guys remember the story. He likes the dance so much and likes this girl, is clearly infatuated with this young girl, promises her up to half of his kingdom. She goes home, talks to her mom. Her mom is a vehement John the Baptist hater. Her mom asks for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. And I thought, what a ridiculous request. Who would do that?
• 4:26
  Well, it turns out King Herod would. In Matthew chapter 14 and verse 9, you find out why. It says, because of his oaths, he made promises that were just foolish. And because of his dinner guests, his friends were idiots. He executed the man that was the last of the Old Testament prophets, the forerunner to the Christ. The man who Jesus described in Luke chapter 7 as the greatest man who ever lived. Among those born of women, none is greater than John the Baptist, Jesus said.
• 4:57
  And because of this ridiculous man's promise and his ridiculous choice of friends, maybe the greatest man that ever lived was executed. And so I began to commission these students about keeping careful commitments, finding faithful friends. And then I went to John 3, verse 30. John the Baptist, maybe most famous thing that he ever said, right? He must increase, I must decrease.
• 5:23
  John the Baptist was being flooded with popularity. And yet he points at Jesus and says, follow him instead of following me. And that's what I concluded the message with. You mind what matters most. You can succeed in a lot of things. And yet if you fail at this, you failed. You can be a success financially and in business and with a family and in school and with education. You can be a success in all of those realms. But if you fail at Jesus, you fail.
• 5:53
  I shared the gospel from John 3, verse 16, concluded in prayer. You know, it was interesting. People were very quiet while I preached. I couldn't get a read on it at all. Even the people who asked me kind of just sat there and stared at me. So I had no idea. I had no idea how it was being received. Some of the administration of the high school was there. They came and listened to the gospel being preached in their auditorium.
• 6:24
  I thought, you know, this might be the last time I ever get asked to do this. I am a coach there. I'm a baseball coach, which is how they knew about me. I thought, I kept waiting for the email. I haven't gotten yet an email saying, you know, you're no longer a coach at the school, and I'm prepared for that. I kept thinking about 1 Corinthians 2 when Paul says, when I came to you, brothers, I didn't come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, but instead I resolved to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
• 6:59
  And I thought, you know what I think that means? I think the Apostle Paul was saying the words that aren't about the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, words that aren't about the gospel are wasted words. If we're not talking about that, then what are we talking about? We're wasting our words. J.C. Ryle said, preach about kings and generals all day if you like. It will come to no result. But preach Christ and souls will be saved. And it was funny when I got done, you know, I walked back out there and...
• 7:29
  I don't know how many people were there, 120, 130 was my guess. Graduates and parents, a few parents came to me and almost in hushed tones. It was funny because it almost, it felt a little bit like the underground church, a little bit like, are we supposed to be here? You know, we're doing this kind of in secret. And a few of them came to me and they said, thank you so much for opening the Bible and preaching from it in my son's school.
• 7:55
  thank you so much for proclaiming the name of Jesus. You said his name, you prayed in his name. And it was interesting because they began to talk about how Jesus's name gets used all the time, but only as a swear word. How are we getting out preached by people who only invoke the name of Jesus as a swear word? Honestly, I felt conviction about that. Like the non-Christian kids say the name of Jesus all the time, unashamed, but I'm such a chicken.
• 8:33
  You know, we have this phrase that we've coined in our culture the last 20 years or so. We say that churches are becoming seeker-sensitive, and that's got a lot of negative baggage and connotations. What we mean by that is they're willing to compromise on the truth in order to grow their numbers, okay? And obviously, based on the last 10 minutes, we are not willing to do that. You know, Christ was not seeker-sensitive.
• 9:00
  The way that we define that. He wasn't seeker sensitive. But I will tell you what, he was sensitive to seekers. People who wanted to know the truth. Man, he was sensitive. And if he was, shouldn't we be? We're going to have a little theology lesson this morning. According to Romans 8, 29 and 30, which we quote often, those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.
• 9:29
  In order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. And what the apostle Paul seems to be doing in Romans chapter 8 is to describe the process of God bringing about salvation in our lives. Although our being predestined to become children of God was determined in some undisclosed past, his calling, his calling.
• 9:59
  Those whom he predestined, Romans 8 says, he also called. And those whom he called, he justified. And those whom he justified, he glorified. His calling, what will be the focus of our text this morning, is the beginning of that process as it relates to us in the present time. So the Bible says that each of us was predestined long before we ever lived. Ephesians chapter 1 says before the foundations of the earth.
• 10:25
  We were predestined to be conformed to his likeness. So those of us in this room who know Jesus were predestined before we ever lived to know Christ. But at some point.
• 10:39
  At some point, the call of God interrupted your life in the present time. At some point, the gospel penetrated your heart and mind and you were quickened. You were given new life. You were made alive. You were given a new heart where there was stone. Now there is flesh. And now you are called a son or daughter of the most high God. That is the calling of God. Now there are two types.
• 11:06
  Of calls of God, what theologians describe as the external call or general call of God, where the gospel is preached to an unbeliever or where a believer is moved by the sovereignty of God next door to an unbelieving neighbor. Make no mistake. You live where you live because God determined it.
• 11:28
  You have the neighbors that you have because God determined it. When they move and new neighbors moved in, God has sovereignly orchestrated you to be there, to be salt and light where you are. Wherever God plops you, you are his ambassador. Across the street, maybe in the same cubicle at work.
• 11:53
  Maybe you've got an unbeliever that you sit within 10 feet of 40 hours a week. You are there to be salt and light to them. Where an unbeliever stumbles across Highland, this happens all the time. Not even knowing why, just decides to check us out. You know, we had a visitor this last week in the church office. A guy came in, just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. He said, I drive by here on Sunday morning. Sam and I talked to him. He said, I drive by here on Sunday morning and the place is always packed. There's always cars.
• 12:23
  And he said, man, he said something interesting too. He said, because that's not true at all churches. I thought, well, that's a sad commentary. He said, I drive by here on Sunday mornings. What are you guys doing? That's the general call of God. What we might describe as wooing, wooing an unbeliever into his kingdom. That is the Lord calling people closer and closer and closer.
• 12:55
  to his kingdom when Jesus said that the man who had answered wisely was Jesus, Jesus's words, not far from the kingdom. That's what he meant. He was being wooed in. Now, by contrast to the external call, there is the internal call or what will be described as the effectual call of God. Now that's when the gospel penetrates your heart and so becomes effective for the salvation of that soul. We get a glimpse of this in Acts chapter 16 and verse 14.
• 13:26
  When Luke, speaking of his ministry with Paul and Silas, describes the conversion of Lydia, the woman from Thyatira, who sold purple goods. And it says in Acts chapter 16 and verse 14, as they began to preach, it says the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
• 13:47
  The Lord opened her heart. And so the general call, the external call became the internal or effectual call of God for her. She became saved. Now, what does this have to do with John chapter one? In our text this morning, we're going to see two things. Number one, that is that the Lord is seeking followers. That's what Jesus does. He came, he says, to seek and to save the lost. He is sovereignly.
• 14:12
  orchestrating his people so that the gospel message is being proclaimed to unbelievers. This is the external or general call of God. The Lord, we will see, is wooing people into his family, but we will also see that the Lord's followers, a.k.a. you and I, should also be seeking followers. That Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, and that that mission spills over onto us.
• 14:41
  That we also must become seekers. And as the Lord's people proclaim the gospel faithfully, we begin to see new followers of Jesus joining their ranks. We begin to see the internal effectual call of God at work. John seeks Andrew as soon as Andrew is found. His goal becomes to seek another. Jesus seeks Philip as soon as Philip is found. His goal becomes to seek another. And this church is more.
• 15:11
  and harvest fun fairs and singing and basketball and insight, men's breakfast and quilting and basic dinners. This church is a place where we come together for encouragement and equipping so that we can seek more followers of Jesus, right? This is the place where we come together for encouragement, spurring one another on all the more as we see the day drawing near to go out and do good works.
• 15:38
  This church is just a gathering place to get inspired to go out and live our lives like Jesus would have us live. He is a seeker, and we must be seekers also. That is what we're about. That's all that we're about, and that is the seeking of more followers of Jesus Christ. Amen? So let's get into our text this morning. Notice in verses 35 to 40, John seeks Andrew. John seeks Andrew. Look at verse 35. The next day, again, John was standing with two of his disciples.
• 16:08
  And he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, behold, the lamb of God. Now, we at one point in this church said that John was just a nobody telling everybody about somebody who could save anybody. Right. John didn't care about his own fame. He didn't care about his own popularity. He said, follow him. Don't follow me. Let my followers become his followers. And here we see again this third consecutive day. If you read the gospel of John in chapter one, third consecutive day where he is just telling people, pointing people.
• 16:39
  To Jesus, behold, the Lamb of God. And his persistence pays off. His faithfulness finally begins to bear fruit. This is three days in a row he's been preaching. Now, Scripture does not record any other believers during that three days of preaching until now. Can I just encourage you, if you have been sharing with your unbelieving neighbors and friends and family members and co-workers,
• 17:10
  And it seems as though you're just hammering your head against a wall. Nothing is getting through. That John the Baptist experienced the same thing day after day after day at times, preaching the same message and yet no followers. And here finally, finally, the same gospel becomes effective. Billy Graham Foundation, what is called the Billy Graham Evangelical Association.
• 17:39
  says that most believers, at least in our country, hear the gospel seven times before they finally believe. Seven times. They hear clear presentations of the gospel. And can I just encourage us, don't stop at six. Don't stop at six. Keep going. Keep preaching. Keep telling them the good news. Maybe one will get saved. You continue in verse 37. The two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus. We have these first recorded.
• 18:10
  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 saying? You notice John's followers becomes Jesus's followers. And though the church would still be years from being born at Pentecost in Acts chapter two, it has found its first converts. This is the first time the full gospel message has been preached. And these are the first two to believe. And they asked the Lord simply where.
• 18:37
  Are you staying? They figured he had some temporary dwelling and no doubt that he did. Verse 39, he says, he said, come and you will see. So they came and saw where he was staying. And I love this. If you guys like to underline your Bibles, underline this phrase. And they stayed with him that day. They stayed with him that day. Can I just encourage you again? If you find Jesus, stay with Jesus. If you find him, stay with him. It doesn't say that they just go with him until he gets home and then they take off and they go back to their house.
• 19:09
  It's like we have here, and this is kind of a funny idea, it's like we have a little tiny glimpse of the rapture. We've got a couple of believing converts. That's it. And we have Jesus. And that's it. The entire church is all gathered together. Worldwide church here under one roof. What do you suppose they talked about? I can only imagine. You think of the fellowship and benefit that can be had by dwelling with Christ. Only a few years.
• 19:42
  From this chapter, you'll get to Acts chapters 4 and 5, where some of these same first converts will be standing before the Sanhedrin after the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, and will be commanded to no longer preach in Jesus' name. Right? That's where you get the famous phrase, Peter, James, and John, there before the Sanhedrin, and they say...
• 20:05
  Whether it's right or not for us to preach in his name, you decide. But we cannot help but speak about what we've seen and heard. We are not going to stop. Command us to stop. Beat us for not stopping. But we're not going to stop. And in Acts chapter 4 and verse 13, it says that the Sanhedrin was astonished. Those religious leaders were astonished because these men were ordinary and untrained, unschooled. They had no educational background. They had no credentials.
• 20:34
  but they had been with Jesus. That was the only credentials required in order to be a disciple of Jesus, was to be with Jesus. And these first converts learned that lesson. They stayed with him, ordinary and unschooled. So notice first.
• 20:57
  That's first. John seeks Andrew. You find out in verse 40 that one of the two who had heard John speak who followed was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. John seeks Andrew, but notice it continues because then Andrew goes and seeks another. He seeks his brother. Look at verse 41. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which means the Christ. 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. All of those.
• 21:26
  Both of those are the same name, one in Aramaic and one in Greek. So John seeks Andrew and Andrew seeks Peter. No sooner does Andrew believe than he finds his brother to tell him about it. Andrew is only mentioned three times in the gospel of John. John chapter 1, John chapter 6, and then again in John chapter 12. Three times in the gospel of John and all three, he is bringing people to Jesus. You know, there is no need to wait a single minute to share the truth.
• 21:59
  that you've discovered. There's no need. Most of the time when I ask people, why not share your faith? Do you share your faith? Why not share your faith? Most of the time they reply with, I don't know enough. I don't know enough. I'm afraid I'll mess it up. Maybe you've been tempted by that same excuse. I don't know enough, right? And so I don't know what to say. And so I just don't say anything. I'm afraid I'll mess it up. But can you imagine this? Andrew was less than a day old in the Lord.
• 22:32
  He didn't know anything, yet he took the truth that he discovered and he faithfully brings it to his brother, Peter. He says, we have found the Messiah. What a simple way to share your faith. We found him. We found what everybody's looking for. We found the solution to mankind's heart problem. We found the solution to our government's problem. We found the solution to political and financial problems. We found him. We found.
• 23:06
  The Messiah. Can you imagine what would happen in our city if the 250 Highlanders all committed to be like Andrew? Just very simply took the truth that they have and went and shared it with another. We found him. So you notice, John seeks Andrew, Andrew seeks Peter. Followers seek followers. But next, Jesus seeks Philip. Continues.
• 23:36
  In verse 33, the next day, so this is now the fourth day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, follow me. Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Fourth day of ministry, and Jesus decides to go to Galilee. He finds Philip, and the good shepherd has found Philip, and Philip has found him. The Lord has been calling Philip, and that calling has become effective for Philip's salvation. You see all of that? Philip wasn't necessarily seeking it, but he sure found it.
• 24:07
  Still, my favorite testimony I've ever heard. I love testimonies. They're my favorite thing we do here at church. Most of the time we do them on Wednesday evenings. We just have people start our time with a testimony about God's grace in their lives, about something God sustained them through, or about how they came to know the Lord. And still my favorite one, still my favorite one, is our friend Bob Haynes, who's sitting next door in our connect group right now. And Bob Haynes said, I came for dinner.
• 24:35
  Somebody invited him to the basic dinner on Wednesday nights. I'm not kidding. He stood up here on this stage. Some of you guys were there. You remember this day. He stood up here. He grabbed the mic. We said, share your testimony. He grabbed it just like this. Might have even been this mic. And he said, my name is Bob Haynes. I came for dinner, but I found Jesus. And then he set it back down and he walked off. I thought, what a great testimony that is. I wasn't looking for him, but he was looking for me. And I found him.
• 25:05
  Jesus finds Philip and notice what Philip does. Philip goes and seeks Nathanael. Continue in verse 45. And Philip found Nathanael. What a great way to word that. Look again at verse 43. Jesus decided to go to Galilee. Notice what it says. He found Philip. And now in verse 45, Philip found Nathanael.
• 25:32
  And said to him, we have found him of whom Moses and the law on also the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. The sought we see becomes a seeker. The found becomes the finder. Arthur Pink words it this way. The young believer partakes of the spirit of the one in whom he has believed. Say that again. The young believer partakes of the spirit of the one in whom he has.
• 26:02
  You want to know why Philip went out and found Nathaniel? Because Philip himself was found. And that's what found people do. They take on the spirit of him whom he has believed. Arthur Prink continues, the compassion of the Savior for the lost now fills his heart. There's a going out of his affections toward the perishing. He can't remain silent or indifferent. He must tell others of the Savior he has found or rather of the Savior who has found him. Philip.
• 26:36
  finds nathaniel look at look at verse 46 we'll continue nathaniel said to him can anything good come out of nazareth and so philip says we found him his name is jesus and he's from nazareth and that nathaniel replies with well can anything good come out of nazareth and philip says come and see nathaniel proves to be a man who is open and honest his question was an honest one nazareth at the time had a very poor reputation it literally
• 27:08
  A poor reputation. Christ, born and raised to poor parents, would have lived in a town that was outside of the more well-known and reputable areas. In modern terms, Jesus would have come from the city kid's neighborhood. Nothing wrong with the city kid neighborhood, right? But it ain't Boulder. You see what I'm saying? Can anything come? Anything good come?
• 27:34
  Out of that neighborhood, can a kid be raised and succeed in that neighborhood? Philip just says, come and see. Come and find out. Can anything good come from city kids? Yeah. Yeah. Man, you guys, can you imagine? I've told you about that young man before who said that he wanted to be the principal of our church. Remember that?
• 28:04
  Just last summer, it was less than a year ago, he came from City Kids and I was leading his little class and he came to me and says, who are you? Well, I'm Pastor Danny. He had no idea, what's a pastor? He asked me, what's a pastor? But I don't know, I'm in charge of some things and help to do some things and whatever. He said, oh, it's like a principal. Yeah, it's like a principal. He said, well, can I be the principal here someday? Yes.
• 28:32
  you've got to stop hitting your friends, okay? You've got to stop. That needs to stop now, okay? But yes, you guys, and I am, man, I think you guys know me well enough at this point to know I am dead serious when I say that. Lord, raise him up. Lord, we'll train him up. If he wants it, Lord.
• 28:54
  And I have told him and I continue to see him. He comes on Wednesday nights. I continue to see him. You stay in school. You keep working hard. You keep getting good grades because this is a hard job. Do you still want to be the principal of the church? Yeah. You keep working hard, right? Yes. Man, you know how fast, do you know how fast I would get out of the way for that kid? If the Lord put his anointing on him, we had Pastor Edwin. Can you imagine that? Where'd you grow up? City kids right over there.
• 29:24
  Man, praise God for that. Praise God for that. That would be awesome. Can anything good come from Nazareth? Philip just says, yeah, come and see. Continue in verse 47. Now, Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. Nathanael is a truth speaker, right? Nathanael said to him, how do you know me? And Jesus answered, before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. We get a little glimpse into the omniscience of Jesus.
• 29:54
  I saw you. And Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. Jesus answered, because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree. Do you believe you're going to see greater things than these? And he said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. Christ saw Nathanael and could read his heart before they'd ever even met. And this is exactly what Christ has done.
• 30:23
  with each of us. There is nothing that can be hidden from God. And isn't that great news? Are you guys ever tempted like I am? Are you ever tempted to only let people see the best parts of you, the ugly parts and the dark parts? We don't put those on display, do we? We don't talk about them.
• 30:51
  We come into the church and we shake hands and we do all of that, right? Isn't it the best of us that we put forward? We all do that to some degree. And the answer about why we would do that, why would we do that? Why don't we just spill everything? And the answer is because we don't want people not to like us. Certainly you would think different about me if you knew everything about me. You'd think differently about me. What if that were true about the Lord? What if he didn't know everything?
• 31:22
  What if there were some parts of our hearts and our minds that we could actually hide from God? Wouldn't you be terrified that someday you would be found out? That he would find out and say, you know what? I didn't know that about you. Wow. Yeah, it's not for you. I mean, the blood of Jesus goes so far, but that one's not covered. I know that we get this a little bit anxiety, like God knows everything about me. I can't hide. But honestly, that is great news. It's great news.
• 31:54
  Because if he knows every single awful thing you've ever done and still says, but you're my daughter, you're my son, I still like you. Oh man, can you imagine the liberation, the freedom you feel? For those of you who are young, we've got these kids coupling up and getting married and we rejoice in that. There is such liberation the longer you're married because you don't have to pretend. Do you remember what it was like when you were dating?
• 32:26
  It was hard. You have to be careful about which side of you she even sees, about which side of your car she sees, right? I only keep her on that side of the car because this side's got a big old dent and I don't want her to see it. This is, I mean, it's anxiety. I don't want her to think poorly about me. You get married and then she's stuck. Can I get an amen? Amen. And then you just.
• 32:53
  You know, there's such liberation in that. Honestly, real liberation where you're like, you know what? My wife knows everything about me and she still likes me. All right. Nathaniel finds that in the Lord. I saw you. I know you. Nothing can be hidden. I see you. For those of you this morning that have been pretending spiritually, Christ sees you. For those who have been laying low, Christ sees you. He can't be deceived. And yet he loves you. And we end this conversation in verse 51 with.
• 33:28
  this remarkable revelation that he is the anti-type or the fulfillment of an Old Testament symbol given in Genesis chapter 28. In Genesis chapter 28, Jacob has a dream. It says in verse 12 that there was a ladder set up on the earth. The top of it reached to the heaven and behold, angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And he didn't even fully understand what that meant, except that there would be the real
• 33:57
  presence of God, an opening from heaven to earth in the form of this ladder in Genesis 28, this weird dream, Jacob's ladder, right? And Jesus says in John chapter 1, I am the fulfillment of that dream. You want to know what connects heaven and earth? It's me. I am the open door. I am the ladder. You want to get to heaven? I'm it. That is me. Jesus, we find in John chapter 1, is the bridge.
• 34:26
  for a lost and dying world to reach heaven. But you know what's interesting is that we are the bridge for them to reach Christ. Jesus is the bridge from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven, but we are the bridge from the lost world to Jesus. The Lord has called us. The external call of God at some point became the grace of God effectual for you.
• 34:50
  Someone faithfully declared the truth to you. The Lord allowed that message to penetrate your heart. And now our goal must be that faithful message, communicating that faithful message to someone else. Jesus is the bridge to God and we are the bridge to Jesus. Let me pray. God, thank you for this truth. Thank you again for your love for us and communicating this truth to us and giving it to us. And Lord, I pray again a blessing.
• 35:19
  Over the preaching and hearing of your word. And it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.