Grace For The Journey

What is your top priority in life?  Is it your marriage?  Your family and raising your children?  Perhaps it’s your job and climbing the ladder of success?  Maybe a special relationship with someone?  Maybe it is a favorite recreation or hobby?

Today we’ll see what the first priority is to be for those who are in Christ.  The Bible says in John 1:40-42, “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.”

What a remarkable passage of Scripture –

One that is both instructive and inspiring!

The first thing Andrew did after hearing John the Baptist say, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (John 1:35) was to find his brother, Simon.  He told him about the Christ and brought Simon to Jesus.

It would be great if that was said of all of us – that the first thing we were known for doing was bringing others to Jesus!  Andrew, who lived much of his life in his brother Peter’s shadow, is known for doing just that.

The Bible also says of Andrew in John 6:8-9, “Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’”

Andrew brought his brother Simon to Jesus; later he brought this little boy with the loaves and fish to Jesus.  In reading through the New Testament, it is striking to find that – outside of John’s Gospel – Andrew is only identified in the lists of the apostles.  We read of his brother Peter in a variety of circumstances: from walking on water . . . professing to die with his Savior . . . to actually denying Him to a servant girl . . . and to preaching at Pentecost, where 3,000 were saved.

It seems that Andrew lived

An anonymous life

For the Almighty

Compared To his brother,

And yet we see him

Doing what every believer

Is called by God to do:

Bringing others to Christ

. . . Sharing the Gospel

With those who

Do not know Jesus.

Now, before you start thinking you need to quit your post and get into full-time vocational ministry, know this:

God is calling

All of us to simply

Sow His Word

Where we are planted.

And our growth is to be marked by the growing number of people whom we tell about Jesus.  Take a moment to talk with someone about Jesus today and invite someone to come to church or to a Bible study where they can learn about Jesus.  God will be glorified and you will be blessed!

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

 Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”