John 1:35-41
35 Again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and noticed them following Him, He asked them, “What are you looking for?” They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are You staying?” 39 Come and you’ll see, He replied. So they went and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day. It was about 10 in the morning. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed Him.41 He first found his own brother Simon and told him, We have found the Messiah! (which means Anointed One), 42 and he brought Simon to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, He said, You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas, which means Rock.
35 Again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and noticed them following Him, He asked them, “What are you looking for?” They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are You staying?” 39 Come and you’ll see, He replied. So they went and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day. It was about 10 in the morning. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed Him.41 He first found his own brother Simon and told him, We have found the Messiah! (which means Anointed One), 42 and he brought Simon to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, He said, You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas, which means Rock.
Context:
•
John the Baptist was a preacher. John constantly explained who Jesus
was to those around him and many of them became followers of Jesus. One of the
men, Andrew, immediately began to share his faith with others. Andrew was not a
preacher, he was just a guy who had been changed by his faith in Christ and
wanted others to experience that blessing too.
•
The first person Andrew shared his faith with was his own brother,
Simon. Andrew told Simon he had found the Messiah and then brought Simon to
Jesus. When Jesus saw Simon He gave him a new name. In that culture a person’s
name meant everything. Changing one’s name was rare and normally only happened
when a person’s life was so changed that they were no longer the same person
they were before. That happened to Peter and he became a powerful preacher and
one of the key leaders of the early church.
•
Many of us came to faith because a preacher told us about Jesus. We
came to understand who Jesus is and committed our lives to following Him. Like
Andrew, we have an obligation to share our faith with others, even if we are
not preachers. We should start by sharing with those closest to us, including
family and close friends. We should want every one of our family and friends to
come to faith in Christ. Imagine if one or two of them become powerful leaders
in God’s church like Peter did!
•
But how do we share our faith with our friends? One way is to share our
testimony with them. Our testimony is simply our story of how we came to faith
in Christ and what Christ has done in our life.
A testimony has four key parts:
1. What our lives were like before we became
Christians. We do not have to
include every detail, because we do not want to glorify sin, but we need to set
the stage of our life before Christ.
2.
What caused us to first
begin to turn to God. This is not the
actual moment when we became Christians, but what caused us to realize our
relationship with God was not what it should be.
3. What were the circumstances of how we received
Christ into our lives. This is where we talk about the moment everything clicked in our minds
and we personally made a commitment to Christ.
4.
How did our lives have
changed as a result. If Christ has really come into our lives, then our lives will be changed
in some way. We must share those changes with others.
When we share our
testimony, it is often helpful to give a sample prayer our friends could use to
accept Jesus if they want to and then invite them to pray and receive Christ. Make
sure they understand it is the grace of God that saves themes them, not the
specific words of a prayer, so they should not get overly concerned about
finding some specific prayer to pray.
What
kind of response might we expect from our friends when we give them the
opportunity to accept Jesus?
- • Some will receive Jesus
- • Some will want to think about it
- • Some will want to ask questions
- • Some will reject it
How they respond is between them and God. But it is our job to tell them
about Jesus. Are we willing to do it?
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Terry Dorsett has been a church planter and author in
New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy
husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He
is a cancer survivor and believes that God works
powerfully through times of suffering. Find all of his
books at:
I have faced opposition when sharing my faith pastor.. Some meekly listen.. some argue.. some "hate us"..!!
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