Andrew

The SOAP passage today is John 1:35-51. The part that really jumps out to me are verses 40-46. It's amazing what happens here. After being introduced by John the Baptist to Jesus, Andrew is so excited he goes to find his brother, Simon Peter (who goes on to be the first leader of the Jesus movement). Philip finds Jesus and he has to go tell his brother, Nathanael.

This is an awesome progression! John brings Andrew to Jesus, Andrew brings Peter to Jesus. On the day of Pentecost, Peter's preaching brings thousands to Jesus. Acts 2

I think the longer we know Jesus, the easier it is to take him for granted. We forget (or in my case have never really known) what it's like to be away from Jesus. A life lived for Christ is the life we were created to live. A life lived a part from Christ is going against God's intentions for our lives, which is why it brings so much heartache and pain. The farther removed we become from our pre-Christ days, the easier it becomes to forget the pain of not knowing Jesus. Which then results in us becoming apathetic about investing in unbelievers.

My wife is an exception to the rule. Her sensitivity to the guidance of the Holy Spirit puts her in places where she can point people toward Jesus. On Sunday, I shared how Erin spending the night in the hospital with our potential birth mom and the mom's friend allowed her to bring the presence of Christ into a terrible situation. I didn't go into a lot of details about this story, partly because that friend was sitting in the congregation. But Emily has given me permission to begin sharing part of her story. But since Emily is such a great writer, I'll let you read her own words here.

If you just skipped over that link, believe me, you want go back and read what Emily wrote.

Yesterday I received an email from Emily telling me she couldn't limit herself to five for our Fave Five. She asked me if it's okay if she had ten, afterwards she listed her ten.
This is Andrew's story. This is Philip's story. When we first encounter Jesus, it's so life-changing and powerful that we must go share it with others. We can't keep it to ourselves.

What happens to us as the years go by? Why do we tend to become so self-centered, focusing upon Jesus and me? This is why if we're going to continue to focus upon connecting with unchurched people, I need to be investing in and empowering the newest Christ-followers among us.

My prayer for TFC today will be that God sends us more Andrews.

What you've just read is my SOAP journal entry of the day. Rather than keeping it hidden in my notebook, I wanted to share it with all of you.